I never saw a purple 'roo,
I never hope to see one -
But I can tell you anyhoo,
I'd rather see one than be one!
A little ditty that we made up while in the cups last night... I made my way to the airfield this morning, and my mechanic was muttering something about needing to do some further tests and tweaking. I sure hope he finishes soon, and that he's slightly more sober than I! I shall lay down for a bit I think, someone shall wake me when it's time to leave, I'm sure!
-Mike
Deciding that my late adventures the night previous calls for a bit of excitement today.
Departing EGUN for LIRU as we speak...
(I also realize that I was supposed to state my weather engine in my first post: ASN)
I'd of loved to report that this first leg went smooth. Alas, that's not the case!
A harrowing adventure ensued mid-flight, in which I ended up amongst the Alps in the clouds. This necessitated a climb to almost 14,000 ft... An altitude which was still not safe - if not for a small break in the clouds I would be camping upon a certain most majestic peak which loomed before me. I eased around it, not over it, missing the topmost rocky crags by perhaps a mere few hundred feet! I stand here in Rome, only due to some good fortune that I know not the reason for!
Although, my poor steed is a bit worn... A bit of a bounce on landing collapsed the left gear I'm afraid, and it'll take a bit of work to make right...
FlightLog_00-50-23.TXT
In my (perhaps foolish) stubbornness, I did not claim Rookie status for this race, so therefore I forgo that claim now.
Flight Time: 04:26:11
Routine Ground Time: 00:00:00
Special Ground Time: 00:00:00
Penalty Time: 15:00:00
What I made up for in tailwind, I lost in penalty minutes!
It's late, but I notice some weird things here in my log...
It shows I only had the baton for 2:24 hours of my flight??
It also shows that I crashed at EGUN??? Which, is apparently located 792.1 nm away from where I took off, at EGUN. The flight did reload upon crashing. I suspect Miss Nellie may want to pay me a visit...
At least the lat/long in the file log corresponds with LIRU.
I'm sure this is all because these strange whirring machines with the glowing windows didn't exist in our proper and decent era of 1934!!!
Impatiently fiddling with his coat, the pilot looks around the hanger before looking over at the mechanic who's banging away on the left wheel pant. The mechanic gives the pilot a brief glare before refocusing his attention on the landing gear of the Caudron. He curses under his breath, something about crazy pilots and abuses they heap onto such beautifully constructed machines.
The pilot stares at his watch for a minute, before shrugging his shoulders and leaving the hanger.
There must be girls here somewhere, he thinks to himself, shaking his head. And whiskey. Going to need at least one or the other to make this time go by a bit quicker.
Well, another day has passed without a flight. My mechanic, an older gentleman who I could understand only every third word of, had just barely finished his repair work on the undercarriage (fine work, but it cost a handsome sum, I assure you!), when I received an urgent telegram from Athens:
all stop[stop]
work on runway[stop]
last aircraft crashed[stop]
will signal when ready[stop]
Sigh. Will I get any further than Europe in this race? Sure, I am getting an education in wine, but I yearn to be gone from here! I am starting to feel like I'll be bringing up the rear!
(After my last crash, I decided to test out LGTT, since I had seen traffic lights on the runway when I was checking for compatibility with the 1934 scenery installed. Sure enough, those lights have a rather large crash box. Some fiddling with ADE and some messing about in the FTX Vector configuration utility has it all sorted out, but my better half will not be pleased should I start my three hour flight at 11:30 at night. Wisdom dictates that I'd be better off flying this leg tomorrow!)
After receiving word that my aircraft was once again in fine shape, repaired, inspected, fueled and ready to go, I made my way to the airfield.
As fine as Rome is, I shall be eager to press forward!
Pretty enjoyable flight! Was itching to press it a little more, but the radio out of Athens was telling me I'd be facing an increasing headwind and some stormy weather, so I perhaps kept the throttle a bit more conservative than I could of. After my last rough landing in Rome, it was a relief to touch down a wee bit smoother as well!
Flight Time: 03:02:47
Routine Ground Time: 00:45:00
Special Ground Time: 00:00:00
Penalty Time: 00:00:00
FlightLog_01-11-33.TXT
A couple early morning shots over southern Italy, and a shot of the building clouds over Greece.
Winging my way out of Athens... into the less luxurious portion of the flight, I'm sure!
A good flight to you!
Roman
Thanks Roman!
I almost had a bit of a navigational error right off the get go. Well, I should say I did have a bit of an error...
I decided I was going to take a rhumb line towards Aleppo instead of trying to keep track of my heading on a great circle track. Which would of worked fine, except that I wrote down the wrong heading on my little workpad... I wrote down 110 deg instead of 100 deg. I then took off, found myself buried in clouds within 20 nm of Athens, looked at my timer and decided to to trust my heading I'd written down. Luckily the clouds broke up before too long. I spotted the island of Agios Kirikos under and to my left, when the course I'd plotted should have it about 20nm or so to my right! I managed to get myself back on track by aiming for the Turkish coast, and a few random peeks in the clouds let me regain my more or less plotted course over a lake that I'm pretty sure is recognizable.
Back into the clouds again, lots of storms. If those cloud hadn't broke for me for a bit, I'd of timed my descent in a couple of hours and found myself mistaking Beirut for Aleppo!
Hoo boy... A wild, wild ride. The storms aren't completely solid, I just spotted Antalya to my right, about where it should be, so at least I know I'm on course. Tons of lightning and thunder. At least the winds are at my back!
And... I started to lose RPM's a few minutes ago, and noticed my airspeed was at zero. Icing up...
Good thing I had those boys at Caudron install a heater!
(hits the 'H' key frantically...)
A bit of a rough start, a ton of storms up where I wanted to fly, then a bit of clear, and then rain and poor visibility for landing. Was thinking of a quick turnaround and off to Baghdad, but I've had enough turbulence to make a Nantucket whaler sea-sick, so I may just enjoy solid ground for a brief spell. Besides, I'm not too sure how well this strange heater contraption will hold up, and I had to use it quite a bit on this last leg! When that ice started forming... well, I figured I'd be dead-sticking it somewhere into a Turkish hillside for sure!
Flight Time: 03:21:49
Routine Ground Time: 00:45:00
Special Ground Time: 00:00:00
Penalty Time: 00:00:00
FlightLog_23-27-32.TXT
Sadly, no great photos of this leg. I figured that the officials wouldn't appreciate the view of the clouds from, well, inside the clouds!
Fueled and rested and ready to push on!
Rain, rain, go away
Come back another day...
Whipping above the desert at 4000' with maybe 10sm visibility and rain is actually kind of atmospheric. More so than if it was clear as a bell. Here's hoping my chosen heading is precise this time, not much to see on the ground...
Pretty smooth leg. Had a nice tailwind out of Aleppo that turned to a ten knot head wind halfway through, but other than that, it was pretty much a perfect flight. Bounced my landing, which made every muscle in my body tighten, but I've learned to just let it float for a bit; the Caudron only comes down heavy if you force it back to the runway. Otherwise, if you let it float, getting your nose back down gently, it settles nicely on it's own. Uses a bit more runway, but hey, less need to find some local chaps that are good with a wrench!
Flight Time: 02:00:44
Routine Ground Time: 00:45:00
Special Ground Time: 00:00:00
Penalty Time: 00:00:00
FlightLog_22-26-53.TXT
Going to study the winds a bit to see if it's a good idea to press on towards Persia.
After poring over the latest radioed in weather reports and consulting my carefully prepared fuel burn at throttle percentage and altitude charts, I've determined that it'd be fine to take in a few of the sites here in Baghdad.
Off to look around!
Good decision. Some guy called NOAA (think he is NOAH but age is catching up on his ability to spell), still seems to have contact with the celestial weather forecasters and an eye in the sky, and he shows a nasty front with CB and clouds coming into to the Persian area.Originally Posted by JimmyRFR
You would have been in the soup looking for cloud gaps again!
Yea, I've flown through enough thunderstorms on this flight so far that I'm sure I've burned up a few lives... I'm going to rename my aeroplane the "Fickle Feline"!
A radio report came in from the next airstrip; a recently landed pilot reported that the winds up top are very favorable at the moment! I grabbed my coat and gloves, and raced out the door.
Off we go!
Rather uneventful, right up until the last several minutes of the descent. Soup, soup, soup. I was trying to maximize my time up high where there was no headwind; I've been trying to time my descent so as to leave a good margin for error, but on this leg I was cutting it pretty close. Started getting nervous at 3000' when I couldn't see the water underneath. Still couldn't see it at 1500'. Finally saw water underneath me at 800', leveled off and squinted until I saw the coast. It came up fast, with the airport right where it should be; I was pretty happy to see it.
Flight Time: 02:02:56
Routine Ground Time: 00:45:00
Special Ground Time: 00:00:00
Penalty Time: 00:00:00
FlightLog_00-50-07.TXT
By the way, Halloween candy makes for good flying treats!
(Oh... I'm looking at the winds, and I really want to press on, but I'm having to remind myself that it would be 3 am over here in Edmonton when I land. Best be getting to bed!)
After being laid up in Bushire for a night - I must have eaten something that really didn't agree with me, could barely move out of bed for the last 24 hours - I'm going to push on to Jask. I hear that the winds are favorable up high once again.
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