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

[Dil52]

There was a brief thunder shower leaving Nairobi, but 30 minutes into the flight the weather cleared and visibility became unlimited.


I was glad to see that happen since there were some mountain peaks we had to go between and one we actually had to go around.



http://fs-duenna.com/flights/ShowFlight.php?detail=flight&value=roS8HU4kSroWTq8 FX8ybXPpT9k
FlightLog_16-31-44.TXT


It was nice to see the Great Rift Valley that Moses spotted on his flight to from Nairobi to Mbeya. That's quite a scar on the earth's surface.
For anyone who's looking for it, the location is somewhere around S6° 34.00' E34° 21.00', as near as I could tell, using the sextant.
The longitude coordinate is probably more acurate than the latitude coordinate.
The latitude was best guess from DR timing.


Three different sun shots taken about every 15 minutes (blue and green lines) up to the 2 hour flight time reading (red line).
The sextant was accurate this time, which should act as a hint for answering the "Quiz" shot on the previous flight.
No problem, the ADF needle was pointing striaght up as well by that time.
The shot was just for fun at this point.



Rough descent, approach and landing in the Gamma. The quick descent from the mountain to the north, plus the flaps don't slow her down much.
Add a grass field and the beads started forming on the forehead. I almost dumped the egg beaters into dirt while braking to a stop.


Another fun day flying this great adventure created by a great team here at the SOH.

Thanks again folks!

Dil52

[Dil52]

Time to head south again. This will be my flight #23 since I forget mark 22 as complete.

HTMB – Mbeya, Tanganyika [UK] to FLKW – Broken Hill, Northern Rhodesia [UK]




If you see this...........
Sorry Moses, I must have done too much flying yesterday....forgot where I was posting.

[PRB]

Good stuff, Fred. Amazing navigation there. I did my long DR leg using the SC-3B, but still "cheated" in the sense that I used "SHIFT-Z" to tel me what the wind was. My next challenge is to figure out how to use the sextant.

[Dil52]

Good stuff, Fred. Amazing navigation there. I did my long DR leg using the SC-3B, but still "cheated" in the sense that I used "SHIFT-Z" to tel me what the wind was. My next challenge is to figure out how to use the sextant.

That would be great if you do Paul!
If you need any help just give Austin or I a nudge. We're always looking for others who are interested in the hand held USSGPS (Universe & Solar System Global Positioning System)......no batteries required.
It is really very simple once you get past the mystique of it.
It works exactly the same as the GPS only you use planets and stars instead of satelites.

Arrived in FLKW – Broken Hill, Northern Rhodesia
BTW I believe it's leg 22 not 23.

http://fs-duenna.com/flights/ShowFlight.php?detail=flight&value=8NbXXK1Zfs4CXJT TAQHGE9DR5gw

FlightLog_19-27-37.TXT

A couple of shots



Dil52

[Dil52]

Two legs to the Cape or not?

I’m sitting in a local pub in Broken Hill, Northern Rhodesia(Kabwe, Zambia) having a club soda and a table full of what looked to be tourists were sitting around at, what I’d call,a poker table. One of them tells the bar tender to keep feeding me gin or whatever beverage of choice as long as I want to drink it. My total tab was on them!

So, I wink at the bar tender and he serves me up another Shirley Temple.I have a reputation to maintain here ya know. I have to let them think I’m dinkin some kind of jungle juice…..pun intended. J


Now, I’m thinking, why would they do that? They don’t know me, or anything about me, when this super looking female gets up from that very table and comes over and sits down beside me? “Hey Dil, my name is Josephine. You may have seen me in the movies. How about coming over and joining our group?”

“Ah, gulp, gasp, how did you know my name?” I managed to ask.

She just smiled and explained, “I suppose you have two big white circles around your eyes and the rest of your face is sunburned, because you’re a welder that works only outside in the sun…..no just kiddin, you’re that pilot who’s flying the Gamma Sky Chief and have been sitting inside a glass cockpit for the past month.” “We know that” she chuckled.

Then everyone sitting at the table laughed. There was a guy named Johnny and another lady by the name of Maureen and a few others. They were there after making some move here in Africa?? That was news to this ole Cargo/Bush/CropDuster/Pilot. I don’t go to the movies. I wait until there’re out in AMC or TCM’s. LOL

For a minute I felt like the laughing stock of the continent of Africa. But then I noticed that the laugh wasn’t sarcastic, it was more of a friendly laugh, if you know what I mean?

Then another one of the patrons of the establishment said,“Come on over.” “We’re having a disagreement and we’d like you to help settle it.”


Here’s the dilemma in a nut shell. I come to find out that they were talking about what route I was going to fly from here to the Cape and how many legs I had left. The lovely lady who had sat down beside me said she thinks I can do it in two more legs. In fact there’s a whole pile of money in the center of the table related to the decision that I may make.

Three quarters of the pile represents those who are saying I can only fly it in three legs and one quarter representing those who think I can do it in two legs and the odds on that money is now at 10/1 in Vegas. “So what will it be Dil?” “What are you going to do?” Johnny asked?

For a split second I was thinking about asking him how may vines it would take him to get to the river from here, but after seeing what shape he was in I decided that discretion is the better part of valor and let the thought perish immediately.

Wait, hold it hold it! If you know so much about the race don’t you know I couldn’t make it from Hammerfest to Stockholm and on the fuel allotted the Gamma and that was 695nm. What makes you think I can make it to from here to Johannesburg, which is over 700nm, then from there to the Cape which is another 680nm. Well, not only did they know about the failed attempt, they also knew about the 14nm average head wind in cold air that I’d dealt with on the first leg attempt.

Hmm, now they have me thinking. The over 700nm run to Johannesburg is about as straight true south as you can fly from here. I’ve noticed the prevailing winds are pretty much out of the west southwest and even, at times from the west northwest.

OK, I’m game, let’s go for it!

How could I turn down a couple of Olympic competitors and a beautiful move star who believed in my ability, or perhaps more accurately put, insanity, to give it a try.

But first let’s have a big party, it might be my last.

I was hoping that Icould repair my reputation with this committee after the horrific flights I’d made last summer hauling cargo. But, a friendly wager is a friendly wager. In can’t pass it up!

I’ll probably leave here in a couple of days or whenever the party’s over, whichever comes first……

Perhaps you've noticed. I'm not a writer, good writers have good editors.

Dil52

[oldpropfan]

I've been known to lay a wager or two and this one sounds good. I'll put up title to my Beech that you can do it in 2 legs. Good luck on your run.

[salt_air]

Don't forget .... Open Tab at Miss Nellie's.



Good Luck finishing up a and grand journey!

Fantastic Job Sir!

[Dil52]

I'm using Paul's home airport KSUS RW 8L for anyone who wants to try it.

The sextant made simple.
I don't think this is possible in FSX....sorry about that.

Also, I don't intend to take anything away from the great tutorial written by Dave and Mark included with the sextant download.

First, if you don’t have it, go to one of the libraries in FS and get the files by Dave Bitzer and Mark Beaumont.
DC3_BBSX.ZIP (this is the bubble sextant, load it first as instructed)
bbsxa.zip (this is the new added graph)

Go to KSUS RW 8L for this exercise.

Set in the Latitude and Longitude (you can only set them to the nearest 5 minutes, which is quite adequate for accuracy).
(In FS9 I see N38* 39.85’ W90* 40.06’ using Shift Z).
At the top of the sextant LAT(latitude) set in 38* 40’ and LON (longitude) –90 -40 (note that north and east are possitive and west and south are negative values)

1. Without doing anything else just set the azimuth to 0 degrees (true north) and leave the elevation at 0 degrees (which would be the horizon) as well. (If you were going to adjust the elevation you would use the course and fine elevation wheels to the right of the eyepiece).

2. Click on the eye piece on the sextant and, on the left side of the eyepiece, there’s an adjustment for bubble size......I always use 3, the largest one.

3. The theoretical star dances up and down IN THE CENTER of the bubble, simulating the plane bouncing, for exactly one minute. Once it has stopped, at the top of the graph, click on Star 1. (You will see a horizontal blue line across the center line on the graph.)

4. Set the azimuth to 90 degrees (note: there are no azimuth minutes, just degrees)

5. Again click the eye piece and let the star dance,IN THE CENTER of the bubble, for one minute and then, when it stops, click on star
2. (You will see a vertical green line across the center line on the graph.)
(Where the two lines crossed, in the center of the graph, is where you are since you set in your present coordinates)

That’s it, that’s all there is to it. Everything else is simulating the real world. Huh? that was only 5 steps.



What you’ve done so far is read a star that theoretically is straight north and on the horizon and one that was straight east on the horizon or your coordinates you set at your present location. If you would have used an azimuth of 180 and 270 respectfully you would have gotten the exact some results.

The theoretical star remained in the CENTER OF THE BUBBLE because you're reading the coordinates of exactly where you are when you set the latitude and longitude at the top.(those coordinates are also the DOT in the center of the graph)

Like many other navigational aids, such as moving maps, FS Navigator, etc we try to make it more realistic by using the celestial charts located at the USNO site. http://aa.usno.navy.mil/data/docs/celnavtable.php

Practice as a demonstration for farther understanding:

6. Leave the azimuth at 90 degrees east and set the longitude coordinate at the top to -92* -40’

7. Take a shot and notice the theoretical star is above the bubble now. Center it by adjusting the fine elevation wheel. It should be about 1 DEG 30 MIN when centered. Now click on star 3 and notice the distance will be 90nm and the red line will be offset that much. ( you don't use the course elevetion wheel when reading a star...in fact it's not visible )
(It doesn’t matter which star you click on the graph, 1, 2 or 3. They just represent three different stars you could shoot and record.

8. Next set the azimuth at 0 or 180 degrees this time and set the latitude coordinate at the top to 40* 40’

9. Take another shot and notice that the theoretical star is above the bubble again. Center it by adjusting the fine elevation wheel. It should be about 2 DEG 0 MIN when centered. When the eye piece clears notice that the Distance in N. Miles is 120.
Now click on one of the stars on the graph other than the red one and notice the distance will be 120nm on the graph as well.

Where the two lines cross are where you are in respect to the coordinates you’ve offset from your location.

Some more interesting things to note.

You off set both longitude and latitude 2 degrees each from KSUS. Each degree of latitude is always 60nm apart thus 120nm from the coordinate. As you know the longitudinal lines are only 60nm apart at the equator and get closer together as we travel north or south toward the poles. Thus only 90nm for 2 degrees.


Exercise three example for farther understanding of the sextant and reading the sun during the day time.

10. On the sextant set your coordinates bact to 38* 40’ and longitude –90 -40
Set the date in FS to December 21, 2012 time 18:01:00z. (don't worry, the world won't come to an end)

Go to the USNO site and set the coordinates and the date and time the same then "Get data."

Notice that the sun is at a Zn (azimuth) of exactly 180 degrees and an Hc (elevation) of 27 degrees 53.9 minutes. This is what is known as a high noon shot for determining latitude during the day. Any other time during the morning and evening the sun is only ususally good for longitude readings. Understanding this will help you understand the logic in reading anything in the solar system or stars. Also, in the exercise the reason we went to the first day of winter is that sun is fartherest south of us at out present latitude of N40 degrees. Try a high noon reading on June 21st at 18:04:33z, and note that the Hc of the sun is 74* 46', which is too high for an accurate reading.

(Keep in mind: In the real world you wouldn’t read anything with an Hc (elevation) of less than about 15 degrees or more than 65 degrees. At elevations of lower than 15 degrees there is too much atmospheric bend and above 65 degrees the angle is getting too acute for accurate readings.)



One more thingy:
Note: If, when you clear the graph line by clicking star 1, 2 or 3, the Distance N. miles should clear as well. If sometimes it leaves a number there you can clear it by right clicking anywhere on the sextant, then undocking and re-docking the window. The undocking and re-docking won’t change any of your other settings or hurt anything.

EDIT:
Putting it all together when navigating.

You probably have a good idea what the GS of your particular aircaft is.

On your flight plan mark or note the coordinates of where you should be every hour alone the plan.

Then, as you fly, you can take readings every so often, perhaps every 15 minutes as example.

Note that each time you take a reading the line on the graph will be getting closer to the center of the graph or where you want to be after an hour into the flight.

Once you reach that location set the coordinates to the next hour and so on and so on.

Also keep in mind that any Zn "azimuth" other than 0(360) 90 180 or 270 will produce a slanted line across at he graph.....(of course, the line is perpendicular to the angle you're shooting). Think of it is if you were pointing a flat dish at the star.


It helps bordum on long flights as well.....or you can eat supper or something!

Dil 52

[Dil52]

I've been known to lay a wager or two and this one sounds good. I'll put up title to my Beech that you can do it in 2 legs. Good luck on your run.

Now that's what I call pressure!

Don't forget .... Open Tab at Miss Nellie's.


Good Luck finishing up a and grand journey!

Fantastic Job Sir!

Thanks guys, I'm waiting from a more friendly wind direction perhaps in the next few days.
If not that's OK I'm going for it reguardless!

See ya soon!

Dil52

[Dil52]

Off to Johannesburg

[salt_air]

Thumbs up!!

[Dil52]

Made it to Johannesburg!

Not without many computations.
I started with a 20nm crosswind from the east that slowly worked it's way around to a become a 13nm headwind at the end of the flight for a net of 9.5 knots overall.
That beat the 14nm headwind during the initial failed flight, which made the difference.

It would have been nice for that 90 degree true wind to remain, but we're now into the usually Southeasterly Southern Trade Winds.
http://fs-duenna.com/flights/ShowFlight.php?detail=flight&value=u1sSDAZvXxOeVjV qdI4uytRmORI

FlightLog_10-13-55.TXT



The red line was my high noon shot was at 10:03:50z for E28.10S25:00.
I found I was 10nm north and behind schedule,I knew then the fuel would be close.



I broke the soft ceiling once.




Dil52

[Dil52]

Last leg:

Precision Flight from FAGM – Johannesburg to FAYP – Cape Town Maitland

Target Flight Time/Single Leg: 03:05:15

I'm ready to go.

Dil52

Edit False start in Duenna computer USB glitch....no flight controls......restarting

[Dil52]

What a ride!


I encountered what may have been the worst series of thunderstorms that I can recall for over an hour and a half..

Thankfully it settled down for the last 45minutes then got a bit rough on approach, but it’s nice to have arrived at the Capesafe and sound.

Target Flight 03:05:15
Duenna Time 03:04:56


http://fs-duenna.com/flights/ShowFlight.php?detail=flight&value=bzjlm7CKsnouwFv Q8lOnqxTFc

FlightLog_21-12-15.TXT

1 Bad weather good wind direction for a change
2 I almost landed at Cape Town International
3 Looking for Maitland Aerodrome
4 Finally home at last.




OK, now were's this party?!

Dil52
Fred

[robert41]

Congrats all the way Fred.