Piper Comanche – Red Deer to Springbank - Video

[Bruce66]

In my quest for ‘As real as it can be!’ this video is the closest I have come so far I believe. (Of course there will be those who will say ‘Switch to P3D’ and I would if I could but that will have to wait for my next big lottery win!)

Here we have the A2A Comanche, of course, with ORBX Northern Rockies scenery, live weather from Active Sky, the local live textures from REX, the great trees from Turbulent Designs and now the ATC from Radar Contact. Of course this also highlights how much I still have to learn so watch for all my mistakes in the flight (I have tried to hide only simulator technical errors and extremely boring stuff – like long wandering taxiing in the wrong direction).

The flight is a simple one from Red Deer, Alberta to Springbank, Alberta with a slight detour to avoid Calgary airspace as much as possible:


https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=cUjDlUvYHEA


I hope it keeps some folks entertained!:mixed-smiley-010:

[falcon409]

Very entertaining Bruce66. For long flights (over 20nm) I waited till I'm above 2000', activated the AP, let it continue the climb, switch to GPS mode and allow that to track the heading. . .break out the chicken nuggets and dipping sauce and enjoy the scenery.

Good Job though!

[Bruce66]

Very entertaining Bruce66. For long flights (over 20nm) I waited till I'm above 2000', activated the AP, let it continue the climb, switch to GPS mode and allow that to track the heading. . .break out the chicken nuggets and dipping sauce and enjoy the scenery.

Good Job though!

Glad you enjoyed it!

I am not sure the Comanche autopilot can follow the GPS though (I will have to double check that) it is a pretty basic autopilot.

I like the suggestion of nuggets with sauce though! (Might mess up the mic Ha Ha - and I can hear the mouth-full-mumble now!!)

[jpmouse]

Thanks for the well done video. It gave me 45 minutes of vicarious pleasure. I'm on an around the USA/CA odyssey in my A2A V35. Been going on for several weeks at around 100 miles a day. Started in PNW and headed south then east, then north and headed back west as I leave Saulte Ste Marie today. I'll probably spend some time in the Comanche when I arrived back in my home of Bellingham WA.

Happy flying!

JPMouse

[Bruce66]

Hey JPMouse that sounds like fun!

I wish I had more time in sim but RL prevents that.

[srgalahad]

I had to watch, Bruce. After nearly 30 years controlling traffic, 20 years at YBW it was interesting to see from another pilot's point of view.

It looks like you might have your autogen dialed down a bit as my version is more highly populated with hangars at Springbank, although not as nicely as the FS9 add-on scenery version by Adam Bentley, David Madge and Jonathan Gabbert/CanUK.

Also wondered how Radar Contact let you file 6000 as I think the minimum altitudes around YBW would require 6700 or higher, but, hey, it's only a sim. and the Brit voices were priceless.

Rob

[Bruce66]

I had to watch, Bruce. After nearly 30 years controlling traffic, 20 years at YBW it was interesting to see from another pilot's point of view.

It looks like you might have your autogen dialed down a bit as my version is more highly populated with hangars at Springbank, although not as nicely as the FS9 add-on scenery version by Adam Bentley, David Madge and Jonathan Gabbert/CanUK.

Also wondered how Radar Contact let you file 6000 as I think the minimum altitudes around YBW would require 6700 or higher, but, hey, it's only a sim. and the Brit voices were priceless.

Rob


Thanks for watching! Its great to get feedback especially from someone with such experience of the airspace in question.

As to autogen - I have my sliders all the way to max but I have priority set for smooth performance so draw distance probably eliminates a lot. This gives me a bit of trouble with VFR as sometimes I cant see my visual waypoints until almost too late but its a give an take... My Springbank airport is ORBX stock.

Altitude - Yes, I have been reading up on this since the flight and I should have filed a higher altitude in the flight plan. As Springbank is nearly 4000 feet already, 6000 is too low for that flight. Probably why Springbank Approach assumed I was at 7500 and told me to stay there until I had clearance. I guess Radar Contact assumes you know how to plan and file a correct flight plan - which I dont really (more study needed - Always Learning!).

The Brit voices though, what is that about? When I fly in the US they are American, in the UK they are British, in Europe I wont vouch for the accents but not American or British mostly. So then in Canada, in the West as well, British accents! Its a long time since we were a colony!

Ah well, as you say, it's only a sim.

[delta_lima]

Thanks for these videos. I love that these are in the very regions I lived in, grew up in, drove around in, had friends in, etc.

I actually did that very flight in reverse years ago when I still lived in Calgary - a friend co-owned a Piper Cherokee and offered me a “faster” way to visit my girlfriend in Red Deer by driving west 30 min out to Springbank and then a roughly 45 min flight instead of the 90 min drive north. :biggrin-new: Was a great flight, especially on a fall dusk approach. Was definitely a better way to get there, even if I had no car once I got there.

Thanks again.

DL

[Bruce66]

It is so cool that you have flown that flight (in reverse).

I did wonder how frivolous it would be since, as you point out, it would be about the same time to drive - and then you would have a car when you arrived.

I am glad you liked the video.

[delta_lima]

I’m sure you know why....:engel016:

It made the same sense that it makes when on occasion, instead of driving my family car to the office, I instead spend 5 min suiting up, and riding my motorcycle.

I get there alive either way. But on my motorcycle, I’ve managed to live a little bit linger.

So too with flying; experiencing the various ways in which the senses are engaged in the journey - becomes a destination in and of itself.

DL

[Bruce66]

It looks like you might have your autogen dialed down a bit as my version is more highly populated with hangars at Springbank, although not as nicely as the FS9 add-on scenery version by Adam Bentley, David Madge and Jonathan Gabbert/CanU

Rob


I have been looking into this.

My autogen are turned all the way to max and I have no hangers or any other buildings at Sprinbank except the tower. I tried the Global ORBX airport without NA Northern Rockies and it also has no hangers. In FSX stock there are a few hangers so I dont know what is going on here. I haven't noticed any other airports looking empty but if I didn't know I wouldn't notice. I see from Google Earth that there should be lots of buildings but I can only find one image from FSX online of buildings.

Does everyone that has ORBX NA Northern Rockies have the hangers at Springbank or is it generally empty?

Rob is your Springbank just ORBX? Or do you have other scenery there?

[srgalahad]

Bruce,
I have OrbX NA Rockies, OrbX Global freeware Airports, no other add-on scenery anywhere nearby...
scenery sliders are essentially full right.

looking SW, SE and East

[Bruce66]

Thanks srgalahad

That proves I have a problem...

I appear to be missing several building types. I have re-installed the ORBX products and it is still the same...

Time to start a new thread.....