Dil52's Cape to Cape Flights in the Golden Age Northop Gamma 2A

[Dil52]

Yes Paul, I believe that was a sand storm, rather than steam, now that you mentioned it.

The visibility wasn't at all what I'd expected on arrival after having seen the peninsula clearly from a distance and before descending. Also, I failed to track the DKA NDB in on the correct heading. I was just able to catch a glimpse of the airport on my right and barely made the correction, and landed on the first try before necessary go around....ATC wouldn't have been at all happy watching the apporach!

The funny thing is that, with the Sperry that I (I like to blame it on my mechanic) installed, the AI has a habit of caging itself at times and won't respond? Not to mention that I sometimes forget to reset the gyros after they've drifted off.

Mike told exactly how to fix that, but strangely enough, I kind of like the flaw.
It addes some realism, which perhaps the early aviation pioneers may have encountered.....I believe that I will fix it before going much farther though.
After reading the great article that Willy referenced about Bill Lancaster's attempt to fly the trans Sahara with no instrument lights and a flashlight to check his altitude an heading every so often at night, I feel a guilty by even using all these reliable FS aircraft, nav aids, and instruments.

Fred

[Dil52]

Yes Paul, I believe that was a sand storm rather than steam now that you mentioned it.

The visibility wasn't at all what I'd expected on arrival after having seen the peninsula clearly from a distance and before descending. Also, I failed to track the DKA NDB in on the correct heading. I was just able to catch a glimpse of the airport on my right and barely made the correction, and landed on the first try before necessary go around....ATC wouldn't have been at all happy watching the apporach!

The funny thing is that, with the Sperry that I (I like to blame it on my mechanic) installed, the AI has a habit of caging itself at times and won't respond? Not to mention that I sometimes forget to reset the gyros after they've drifted off.

Mike told exactly how to fix that, but strangely enough, I kind of like the flaw.
It addes some realism, which perhaps the early aviation pioneers may have encountered.....I believe that I will fix it before going much farther though.
After reading the great article that Willy referenced about Bill Lancaster's attempt to fly the trans Sahara with no instrument lights and a flashlight to check his altitude an heading every so often at night, I feel a guilty by even using all these reliable FS aircraft, nav aids, and instruments.

Fred

Whoops, I can't delete this duplicate for some reason? Perhaps an administrator can.......

[Dil52]

OK, We got the right parts and the mechanic made some final adjustments on the AP. It works like a charm......lucky me.

We're about to resume the flight down the coast on the final leg of the mail route, which is Dakar.

The weather doesn't look any better today than when we landed. As long as we keep the sand out of the fuel tanks and the carborator air intake, I can't foresee anything more that could go wrong except for, of course, the nut that's holding the yoke.

After that we'll start heading back toward the eastern side of the prime meridian, through the treacherous congo jungles, then over the South African mountains to the Cape.

[Dil52]

Down safely at Dakar.........
We'll need that 4 hours bonus for carrying 200 pounds of mail from Marseille to Dakar.


The day, for the most part, was not photogenic until we were about two hours into the flight.
Then, all of a sudden, the weather cleared and we were able to grab a sun shot with the sextant.
Shortly after the shot the point on the African continent, which is perhaps the very reason Dakar exists, came into sight.
Dakar.....a rewarding end an otherwise long, non-scenic, flight in thick soup today.


http://fs-duenna.com/flights/ShowFlight.php?detail=flight&value=jJfrcfGBq9KyzDr IePLXEcWOEU0
FlightLog_15-20-33.TXT



1) 2 hours of soup
2) A rare locationfor a sextant shot…N17° 05’ W17° 05’
3) Airport in site......a low slow approach is best in this aircraft with its big, powerful, three bladed, egg beater up front.
4) Sky Chief ex two six five on approach.
5) Fill her up, check the oil, tires, battery, control surfaces, and,Oh yes; please announce mail call!
And, could you please wash the windows.

[Dil52]

My presence in Dakar was viewed by the locals as lackluster as everyone was still talking about Amelia E. and Fred N’s visit just a few short years before.

As I walked into the terminal I couldn’t help but notice there were pictures with her and several local dignitaries, with mechanics working on her aircraft along with much more memorabilia of her visit here…. http://earchives.lib.purdue.edu/cdm4...T=/earhart&t=s


My perspective is set even more into focus once I realize just how many adventurers have visited here in Dakar through many centuries, traveling from land, sea, and more recently, by air.

If I had a choice of places I’d love to visit in the world this would be on my short list as would be Cape Town.

Having said that it's time to shove off once again.


Destination: GUCY – Conakry, French Guinea
If all goes well I should be passing about 15nm east of Bissau in an hour.....just about time to get a good longitudinal reading from ole Sol as she'll be high enough above the horizon to avoid atmospheric distortion.

[Dil52]

Another low visibility approach, but a nice NDB to line up with.

http://fs-duenna.com/flights/ShowFlight.php?detail=flight&value=4HoM7a0KraPM3l2 XIq6KOYUzY

FlightLog_21-55-55.TXT



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For those how are wondering what I’m doing here with the sextant.

The sextant shots explanation. (Note that this is not verbatum out of Dave B or Marks B's very detailed instructions. This is merely an explanation of how I used the sextant on this particular flight)
It passes the time.
(Actually, the whole process takes very little time when everything is set up in the plane. The explanation filled in the boring part of the flight and is what took some time).

Departing at 06:00Z I picked a point 200nm from Dakar in route toGUCY, which should give me an average of 200nm/hour including the climb speed,and turn to course after TO from GOOY etc.
From the USNO website http://aa.usno.navy.mil/data/docs/celnavtable.php I set into the sextant the location I should be in one hour at 07:00Z



Notice that, on the sextant, I set LAT N12°00’ and LON W15°20’


Also after hitting calculate (the second pic) I see that the sun will be at an azimuth (Zn) of 80.9°, or rounded off to 81, set by the course elevation wheel. The elevation (Hc) will be 16°55’ above the horizon set with the fine adjustment wheel on the sextant.

The Center (Spot) of the graph on the sextant is my destination location or where I should be at 08:00Z
The blue line is a reading I took at 07:30z just to get an idea of how I was progressing eastward or longitudinally. The distance read 50nm. The green line was a reading taken at 07:45z and the red line is the reading I took at 08:00z.

So at 08:00z I was right where I wanted to be at that time.

Observations:
1. Being that we’re only 12 degrees above the equator, 1 degree oflongitude is just about the distance of 58nm, or very close to the 60nm at theequator

2. Notice also, on the graph, that the Moon’s azimuth (Zn) is 78.1°andelevation (Hc) is 18° 01.8’ above the horizon as well. Obviously, if it weren’t for the brightnessof the sun we could see the moon as well.

3. Keep in mind that my readings are for April 21, 2012. If you pickan later date the readings will be slightly different.

4. When looking at the sextant graph think of the vertical lines asbeing parallel to the longitude and perpendicular to 90 and 270 degreesrespectfully. When the azimuth of the star, planet, sun or moon are close to anazimuth of (east or west) you’re obtaining accurate longitudinal readings.

5. In retrospect, when the azimuth of the star, planet, sun or moonare close to an azimuth of (north or south) we’re obtaining accurate latitudereadings.
(In the example above the blue, green and red lines are more vertical so thelongitude reading is what’s accurate.)

6. Being that we’re close to the equator, and it’s spring, the sun will not give us an accurate latitude reading any time ofthe day. As we approach the poles, the sun can be used as a tool for reading latitude as long as we take the reading at high noon and ONLY then.

xxxxxxxxxxxxxxx

Dil52

[Dil52]

Just taking the time to refuel here.
It looks like the weather cleared up for now so heading to Abidjan if the winds cooperate.
At some point near W10 I'll take a sun reading, weather permitting, recalculate the fuel, and perhaps need to divert to Monrovia.

[Dil52]

It seems every time I fly a long leg there’s a direct headwind. I can’t remember the wind coming from the east in this case a 20 knot head wind nearly the whole trip until it switched to west at the coast.
http://fs-duenna.com/flights/ShowFlight.php?detail=flight&value=sOxB3UJIYiNzqbw Nb5v6smREgI
FlightLog_11-55-53.TXT

Camera shots:
1) The savanna in Côted'Ivoire makes for and nice scenic flight on a clear day with the differentshades of greens, and blues with mountains and grasslands near stream and lakes.
2) I must be gettingnear the coast, it looks we’re going to get into some weather conditions wherewe once again will need to rely on the ADF to find and airport and runway…..businessas usual this time of year, near the African coast!

3) Not bad, airporst in site.

4)Abidjan and Bingerville, Côte d'Ivoire

[salt_air]

Man this is a fine documentary ... and a fine lesson in some basic navigation skills the MS "team" failed to provide a platform for ... freeware rules!

Great performance Fred ... welcome to the "D" airport codes and my I introduce you to the Congo River ... very soon ... a Central African navigator's best friend ... east to west that is... 8~ P




Keep on keepin' on bud!

[teson1]

Hi Fred,
good flights !
Enjoyed the link to the AE documentation !

[Dil52]

Hi Fred,
good flights !
Enjoyed the link to the AE documentation !

Thanks Gunter,

I'm not surprised you enjoyed that link, as you're our ultimate historian and statistician, never leaving a stone unturned, in your quest for past events in aviation.

Fred

[Dil52]

Since we landed in Abidjan at 12:16 will take a customary halfhour to refuel and head out for Lagos, Nigeria. It’s nice to have the coast as abackup visual reference as we’re honing our skills in navigation before settingout once again across the wild back country of Africa.

[Dil52]

http://fs-duenna.com/flights/ShowFlight.php?detail=flight&value=tLHVX3vdIGvc9j1 S7o4F3cE9Ai4

FlightLog_12-12-07.TXT


When I stuck a wet fingure in the air, before departing Abidjan, I figured the wind was almost directly out of the north and pretty brisk at times as well.

Once I got over land, I guess it had switched more southerly as visual, electronic, and sextant readings all confirmed I was getting blown inland away from the ocean.

Some corrective actiion brought me back more on course.

Crossing over the Volta River.




During this leg I crossed back over the prime meridiansomewhere near N06°00’ E00°00’, 25nm NNE of Accra, Ghana at 13:50z.
The sun will be at an azimuth of 288 and an elevationof 62° 50’, which is just below the highest recommended elevation of a starreading.
Note: A planet, star, sun or moon should be between a Hc of 15 and 65 degrees for accurate readings.

A rare daytime moon and sun shot for a nice location position reading below. This should make for some great daytime sextant navigation for the next week or so since the moon is slowly falling behind the sun’s azimuth and elevation a rate of about 50 minutes a day.
Also Note: The phases of the moon don't match as we observe it real time either FS9 or FSX; however the rise and set times are always right on, which makes celestial navigation in FS always accruate.
Notice the moon over the left wing.... and the resultant sextant shots of the moon (blue line) and the sun (red line)


Sometime between departure and well into the flight the wind must have changed from the north to more southerly as I found myself northof the flight plan. I’ll need to do better once I start across country.
Near Cotonou, Benin I ran into some heavy turbulence.
Found the airport once again, the wind was back from the north..


Dil52

[Dil52]

Heading to Libreville, Gabon (FOOL)

[Dil52]

http://fs-duenna.com/flights/ShowFlight.php?detail=flight&value=u5Qtiv3XODbXIG6 XUFiNDGfY36g


FlightLog_19-12-56.TXT


Time17:00z
SUN Hc + 7° 19.6’ Zn 283.6°
MOON Hc +62°12.5’ Zn 313°
I just managed to get a sun and moon shot at 5:00PM, but while approaching a thunder storm the turbulence is throwing this thing around like it Tom Jefferson’s kite.

I was afraid the Sperry’s was gona to overheat tryin to keep this bird on the straight andlevel.
This was a pretty rough flight. this must be the begining of what might end up as the hurricane somewhere,

Winds were out of the southeast with thinderstorms underneath until descent when we flew fight into them.


sun and moon shot






Dil52