After a long train ride back to Hammerfest thought we would soon be airborne in the Beech after getting the ok from Miss Nellie, but a new wrench was thrown in the works, literally. During engine runups the right engine shed the impeller blades on the blower, found those missing wrenches. In the rw the psu on my desktop fried, new one arrived yesterday and it's time to get in the air.
Departing Hammerfest for ENKJ.
Left Hammerfest it was a balmy 28F with scattered clouds, glad to be on the way. Thought I had a nice sleigh ride going till I started taking cross bearings on NDBs about halfway into the flight and realized I was fighting a 15 knt headwind. Frantically made some fuel calculations and figured we might just make it into Kjeller, at least I didn't have to worry much about WCA. Had 51 gallons left after we parked and shut down. Need to a closer eye on the fuel gauges, between taking bearings and updating my calculations almost had the engines shut down as I ran the outer tanks dry. Threw the boost pump switches with one hand and the tank selectors with other right as the engines were sputtering, almost had to change undies after that. Clear weather with light winds in Oslo, found the field no problem and made a straight in approach from the NDB.
Time for a little nap and then on to leg 2.
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Relieved to hear that you got the powerplant up and running. And the "where the heck is that fuel selector?" phrase surely sounds familiar ...
Al, good to have you back with the gang.
-Mike
Thanks MM, glad to finally be up and flying, everyone else is so far ahead of me it's not likely there'll be any adult beverages left at the bar when I do drag myself in. Think I'll stock up in Frankfurt and bring some with me.
After a quick tour of the delights of Oslo it's time to get going again, departing for EDDF, Frankfurt.
Got out of Oslo after a couple hour delay while I tangled with customs. Something about no export tax stamps on my cargo and the bills of ladeing not properly signed. Alot of fuss over some crates of sardines, salt cod, and pickled herring. Think they would be happy I was bringing their products to possibly new markets, wouldn't you?
Nice weather on the way down and I again enjoyed the company on my friend the headwind, can't seem to fly without him along. Low level clouds started forming up about 50 miles out of Frankfurt and thickned up to a solid layer as I got closer to EDDF. Broke through on descent about 2000 AGL to good visibility and came in no problems.
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Ya need a big ol' crate marked Nitroglycerine. Customs will wave ya on through with one of those. Kind of like this one. O'course they make ya park way out on the edge of the tarmac all by yourself though.
Let Being Helpful Be More Important Than Being Right.
Good idea Willy, will have to set myself up with one of those, nice place to stash the high dollar cargo from prying eyes.
Departing Frankfurt, EDDF, for Lyon to set ourselves up for the wandering through the Alps.
Down safely in Lyon but these headwinds are giving me a rash. Had 20+ knt winds to fight this leg, calculated my GS at altitude was about 10 knts less than my IAS. Can't do much else but keep on going and hope to hit more favorable winds in Africa. Will take a short break here in Lyon before the no AP leg into Interlaken.
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Finally got through by phone to a contact in Interlaken, says weather is clear so we're off on the first handflying leg. Departing Lyon for LSMI, hope the weather holds.
That was easy enough, headwinds I've been fighting on the way down became helpful as I turn somewhat in the opposite direction and headed into the beginning of the Alps. Thought the weather was going to head south on me about halfway through as the clouds were building up but mostly cleared up once I hit Bern and followed the lake up to Interlaken.
First Alps leg done, down at LSMI, claiming 1st 15 min bonus.
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Looks like oldpropfan and the Beech are well matched team.
Enjoying your progress sir ... great screen shots and narrative.
Good Luck over in them thar hills ...
salt_air
I was just in GW3 at FAYP ... testing for another run.
You need to go there and check out a building crash I encountered just barely off to the west of RWY 20.
One foot on the runway and one foot off .... turning to park ... say three quarters of the way to the end ... there's no building there at all.
If that happens to you too, then I would go ahead to each airport (menu Go to Airport) and have a check.
Cheers,
salt_air
You have to keep an eye out at some of those out of the way airfields, repair guys don't have much work and the shady ones have been known to not firmly fill in holes and such in the surfaces. Bandits have also been know to lay traps for the unwary. Thanks for the heads up, I'm in FSX though, don't know if I'll have the same issue but will keep my eye out.
Departing Interlaken for Milano, LIML. Another handflying leg, through the Alps for real this time, not just poking our nose in.
Originally Posted by oldpropfan
Ha Ha!
Yessir ... right church ... wrong pew.
Was aiming at robert141 ... missed.
Maybe if you two didn't look so much alike .... :mixedsmi:
Ya gotta laugh.
salt_air
Kind of had that feeling, figured I'd run with it anyway
Down safely at Milano. Flight planning really payed off on this one, weather started out great and turned to c##p as soon as I hit the high passes. My first choice of passes was clouded in but the backup was clear enough to scoot through. Found my valley to lead me down to the plains and followed it though steadily dropping cloud levels. Weather changed to scattered clouds as I came out of the foothills and it was home free. Will post pics as soon as I get them developed.
Claiming 15 min bonus for hand flying from LSMI to fuel stop.
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After some quick local tours to enjoy the food and wine it's time to mount up again and head off to Bolzano, another hand flying leg.
After a nice sunrise departure and a quick cruise through the foothills made it into Bolzano. Not much weather to speak of, some scattered clouds here and there but good vis during the whole trip. Started my descent a little late and had to do a little slipping to get into the airfield. The Beech slips pretty nicely, 1000 fpm descent with a 85 knot IAS, kick it back out and you're at 500 fpm and 90 knts over the fence. Still makes my palms sweaty every time I have to do it though, means I messed up on the approach to start with and this valley doesn't leave much room for go arounds.
2 hr bonus for landing at Bolzano + 15 min for coming in from a fuel stop.
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Going to take a quick break and then try a quick return to Interlaken while the weather seems to be holding.
Quick refuel and freshen up the coffee and it's time to head back to Interlaken, see if we can get that 2nd bonus for staying under 10000 ft. Will have to come back to Bolzano sometime when we can stay longer, looks like a nice place.
I think that was fun, got kind of lost, even with the maps that we made before hand. Or maybe it was because of the maps. I'm sure I was holding them right side up. Anyway, only almost soiled myself 2 or 3 times as I had to throw the Beech on it's wingtip to slide between peaks, and now we're safe and sound at Interlaken again. Think we might take a little rest here and see a nice doctor about some more of those happy pills.
15 min bonus for flight from LIPB to LSMI plus 15 min for staying under 10000 ft.
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It's been an enjoyable tour through the Alps but it's definitely time to be heading south again.
Well, the bonus was for staying under 12,000', not 10,000'. Maybe you should qualify for an extra bonus.Nice job regardless.
12000 ft? That's ok, it made for some fun flight planning and interesting flying to try and stay under 10000 ft. Don't know how I got locked on the lower altitude. Good doctor has us all set and it's time to leave Interlaken and head back to Lyon for one last short hand flown flight.
Fairly quick and painless flight and we're back in Lyon. Don't know what it is about this place but it has the worst turbulence and gusty winds I've run into yet, same thing first time I came through here. Quick break to load up on coffee and jabon beurre baguettes then we head on to Marseille to pickup the mail bags before we hit Africa.
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Already flew this route in the opposite direction so I don't know if I get to bonus again for flying it back out of Interlaken. Won't claim one till I hear the commitee's decision.
And we are down in Marseille, head winds are getting worse, hit up to approx 35 knt on the way down. While the people at the Poste get their act together it's time to get out and enjoy everything the town has to offer, then hope we can find our way back to the airfield to sleep it off.
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The mysteries and legends of the dark continent are singing their songs, drawing us onward, next stop will be in Algeria.
Time to wrap up the fun in Marseille and make the hop across the pond. Departing for Oran, Algeria. Africa here we come
An uneventful flight, only light headwinds this time out. Plotted to make landfall east of Oran so I could follow the coast in and it worked as planned.
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