The Office

[padburgess]

Hi

Pictured is what has been my "Office" for the last 3 weeks. I set myself the task of doing, in real time, what I called a "Coastal Patrol" of the Axis Mediterranean area. My rules were simple, apart from intercontinental and inter-island hops, at no time be more than 1km off shore and fly into every bay, and around every island you could not see both coasts of from the cruising altitude of 300m.



I've just finished this, what has become epic, flight. It was both challenging and easy, exciting and "incredibly boring". I did at one point actually fall asleep at the keyboard. Well not actually asleep, just a long blink. As shown by the general route map below I didn't actually circumnavigate the Med, just flew those coasts that were nominally under Axis control at some point. My aircraft was the GroundCrewDesign Bf110G4 done up as a G2 in 9-ZG26 colours. The cockpit gauges are my own selection from my gauge files and approximate a G4 setup.
The flight track shown is indicative only. I flew into every bay and around every peninsular and island. I had one "incident on take off from one strip when the torque reaction got the better of me and I strayed too far left and hit a runway light at low-ish speed. I deemed it a minor accident and waited until the next day to continue after repairs to the undercarriage. My landings have got quite good and I have become adept at putting her down off a curved approach. The best parts were the Greek Islands and Croatian coast, the not best was the coast of Libya (Truly boring).
So would I do this again. ABSOLUTELY. This was flying at its best really. Taking time to actually get there and getting an appreciation of what pilots of the era actually did. OK, I know that no one pilot or unit covered the whole area in one go, but this whole area was patrolled, by both sides. And those patrols would have been, at times, very mundane and boring, and at other times thrilling and potentially and actually fatal. Just to cover the distance in real time gave me a sense of perspective about it. No GPS, minimal naviads and line of sight only with visibility of less than 50km at all times. Unfortunately because of the limitations of my rig I have to fly in benign weather at all times. But hey, it was the sunny Med right.
Total distance, in excess of 10,300km.



Cheers
Paul

[Willy]

Some of the times I've had in FS involve just taking off from the local airport and following the nose. It's about time to do it again.

[b52bob]

I did the "around the world on 80 flights" a couple of years ago. It was great fun. The program itself is just 80 flight plans. The docs point out all the things to see on each flight. Also comes with an Electra which I never used.

it was great fun. Each flight was anywhere from 1 to 2 hours and I mashed the accerator on those long over water stretches. Did one a every day or so with some longer layovers.

you could do this yourself by putting together a series of flight plans. Easy way to see lots of different places. Not many fly down the length of Africa and then visit Madaskar.

[Sundog]

Thanks for sharing your exploits. I might have to fly that route some day in the 190. I love making flights with a "theme" to them. I also know what you mean about blinking out on some of the long boring flights.

I remember when Antarctica was first released and I was exploring it. The mountainous areas I had no problem staying awake over. However, once I made it to the long track of flat white wastelands, all I can say is, "Sheesh, Antarctica is HUGE!" I don't recall when I was ever so happy to finally see a coast line.

[huub vink]

I can't recall how long it took me, but I did the "Atlantic crossing" in Manuele Villa's Savoia Marchetti SM.79P. But I can assure you a cross Atlantic flight with a reasonably slow aircraft is really boring.

Cheers,
Huub

[Willy]

There's a group of us who do "theme" flights on the SOH server most nights (except Sundays). Currently we've been exploring Africa. We started in Lockheed Lodestars in the Canary Islands, flew to Morocco then on down to South Africa. We're now on the return trip and in Nambia although as usual our aircraft choices have changed quite a bit.

Should anyone want to join in the fun, they're always welcome. FS Host is easy to set and use and works with all flavors of FSX. The FS9 guys can join in the fun and they don't have to use FS Host.

We're talking Australia after we get back to Morocco.

http://www.sim-outhouse.com/sohforum...s-Wild-Kingdom

I can't recall how long it took me, but I did the "Atlantic crossing" in Manuele Villa's Savoia Marchetti SM.79P. But I can assure you an cross Atlantic flight with a reasonably slow aircraft is really boring.

One of my around the world flights was in Milton's Beech 18. Definitely not for those who are in a hurry.