DC-4

[Willy]

Nice long overwater flight to Easter Island in the South Pacific. Too bad it's raining there.

Now for some island hopping.

[Moses03]

Yep, we flew from SEST to SCIP, covering nearly 2000nm in under 3 hrs. Not bad except for the weather around Easter Island!

[Willy]

We finally left Easter Island for the Totegegie in French Polynesia. I'm hoping that these long legs are behind us now.

[Taco]

Yes indeed, long flights, sure hope that was the last one! Going like a bat out of heck and it still seemed long. Here are a few pictures of last nights flight.

[Willy]

We left Totegegie and flew over the the French nuclear testing site and then on the support island for at Hao (NTTO). I decided to go a bit stealthy as it wasn't that far of a flight.

From here, things are going to get a bit aquatic....

[Willy]

Time to start some serious island hopping! Right now we're going through Tuamoto.

[Willy]

We went on to Manihi with it's beach hotel with "rooms" out on the water. Manihi is more famous for it's black pearls though. Not that Merc Air would be looking to load up on those though. That would just be an ugly rumor. Uh, put that crate in tail baggage compartment...

BTW, Sid and Pete sure get around....

[Maarten]

Hi Willy,

Please forgive me my ignorance, but what type of flying boat are you flying now?

Cheers,
Maarten

[Willy]

No problem. It's a Sikorsky S43 by Bill Lyons and came with his Golden Hawaii pack. The first payware aircraft I ever bought for FS (I fell in love at the first WIP screenshot) although Bill eventually released it as freeware (search Golden Hawaii at FlightSim). It's pretty old now (2004 payware release?), but IMHO, it has aged very well. Seats 14 passengers and flies about like a DC-2 except that it's an amphibian. The paint is the Inter Islands Airways one that came with it (also has Pan American).

George Diemer did a couple of different versions of the S43 (both single and twin rudders) that are much more recent releases. While I'm not knocking George's work in the least as he's done most of the old Sikorsky flying boats very well, I just prefer the older Lyons S43.

[Willy]

We had taken a few days off at Manihi, but got back at it tonight for the flight to Rangiroa (NGGT).

[Taco]

Hi Folks,

Well, after a little R&R at NTGI we are off again, hehe, take that any way you want, headed for NTTG where I understand we maybe able to do a little "Bidness" something about some little round things that are black and very valueable. Now that sounds like it's right down Flight 19s alley, hey, maybe this junket will show some kind of a profit after all. I understand that maybe the French custom people can be very helpful in this kind of purchase.

Taco

[Willy]

Not too sure where we ended up at tonight, but it sure is a fancy place. (I thought maybe it was King Kong's island from a distance)

[Moses03]

Furthering the cause to Moorea Island.

[Willy]

Before we left the Tahiti area, we flew around the main island, stopping at a resort hotel. After a little "quality time" there, we took off again, flew on around the island and headed on to NTTH. Great flight while exploring some great scenery.

[Taco]

What a great flight! Can't say enough about the addon scenery, hats off to those who produced them! The tour around the Tahiti was one of the highlights of this junket, but we are in the "bidness" of making a few bucks, and this flight was no exception. Can't really mention what transpired in our bidness dealing, but we came out fairly OK. I think!