Your most difficult, scary flight in FS! [Archive]

Lionheart

August 27th, 2009, 11:18

What is your most difficult, scary flight in FS?

Here is mine.

I am in FS9, online via VATSIM system, on a Virtual Airlines flight. I am a member of British Airways Virtual, BAV738, Captain rank. I am in a very nice 777, and had just flown from Boston to London. We were allowed to run 4X over the ocean, so it was only about a 2 hour flight. By the time I was over England, in my descent, the sun had gone down, it was actually getting late, and the weather was overcast. I set up for approach vectors and ILS into Heathrow, coming in towards the castle on the RH runway, (sorry, I havent flown there in ages, I have forgotten the runway number).

So, as I am landing, I am waiting to pop through the clouds.. Waiting, descending, riding the ILS beam, in thick, white fog illuminated by the landing lights. 1,000 feet, 700 feet, 500 feet, 400 feet, 300 feet.... Sweating.. I just did a long flight, I do not want to wreck this one. Several witnesses are here online, 3 pilots in flight or waiting to take off, 2 tower operators.. I pass through 100 feet, still nothing. BING!!!! Runway, I pull up, but not fast enough. I had made my descent as shallow as possible, but it is the ILS beam.

I panthered....

I had thought it was clouds and I would break through at some point, but the clouds had blended in with ground fog and there was no real weather to find this out, so.... I lost my bird, crashed.. arrgh.

That always sticks in the back of my mind.

I did get to keep my BAV738 rank and position. Just an FS crash. But for me, it was a long flight and a real bummer to miss the landing at the last point.

Bill

Tom Clayton

August 27th, 2009, 12:16

Sion during bad visibility is always hairy - especially if you're having trouble seeing the mountains. I've come in from the East like that a couple of times. I had to use the GPS terrain function to know when I was past the peaks and could dive into the valley to catch the ILS beacon.

wombat666

August 27th, 2009, 12:21

All of them .........:173go1:

Henry

August 27th, 2009, 12:22

as soon as i start the engines
happens all the time:kilroy::kilroy:
H

cheezyflier

August 27th, 2009, 12:52

:icon_lol: hahaha fog is killer! i did the same thing coming into yyz once. a shorter flight, but it didn't feel anybetter when i crashed

Chacha

August 27th, 2009, 14:13

as soon as i start the engines
happens all the time:kilroy::kilroy:
H

Especially when my daughter is looking over my shoulder and hear her say: "Mommy, you crashed again!" well sometimes mountains popped out without warning on my screen... and even with out fog, the airport runway seems too short and the tarmac tends to elevate without warning. Goodness, I need more practice! Otherwise I am a good pilot, if not very good...

Eli

CG_1976

August 27th, 2009, 14:15

Everytime im taking off from the North Pole or McMurdo Station.

Wing_Z

August 27th, 2009, 14:42

When Fly Tampa released their Kai Tak scenery, I invited my neighbour (retired B747 Captain) to come over and see how good it was.
He brought a mate (retired flight engineer) and reminisced about this and that low dive they had spent an evening in, those years ago.
They then asked for a demo, following the route they had flown themselves, a clockwise circuit from Junk Bay following the coast of Hong Kong Island, over Victoria Bay, and then the checkerboard Rwy 13 approach over Kowloon.

(This was some time ago, but after a little digging, I found some screenshots)

http://i64.photobucket.com/albums/h200/CHARL_photos/Flightsim%202/HarbourTour3.jpg

The hardest part was to act as if you actually knew what you were doing.
No GPS thank you, all NDB and VOR, and a vintage aircraft.
With these two at my shoulder, watching every move, I could feel a light sweat building.
Every time a I made a mistake I could tell they were looking at each other, knowingly.
http://i64.photobucket.com/albums/h200/CHARL_photos/Flightsim%202/Cat5.jpg

I eventually bumbled in to a somewhat bouncy landing...I had a cramp in the joystick hand, and realised I hadn't breathed properly for some time.
Perhaps not the scariest flight, but certainly one of the most difficult because there was no disguising it; it left me in a state of exhaustion ;)

Drake

August 27th, 2009, 16:45

I don't remember where I was at but it was late in real time. I was cleared on final almost ready to touch down and an airlner buzzed over top of me and landed right in front. Didn't need that late at night. LOL.

Drzook

August 27th, 2009, 17:58

Lionheart

August 27th, 2009, 18:38

Got a couple of them:
There was the time I took off in an Aeronca Champ in a blizzard, got about 200 feet up and lost sight of the ground (and everything else for that matter). By the time I got my bearings I hit the Grand River at a 45 degree angle at about 85 mph. Not pretty.
The other time was when I re-enacted John F Kennedy Jr's last flight for the first time. I didn't have a Saratoga so I went with what was more comfortable for me at the time--a Piper Pacer. There were a few times where you couldn't see past your prop. When I got to where I thought Martha's Vineyard was I couldn't see anything; I then looked around and turned out the fully lit runway was directly under me; at that point I knew everything was going to be all right but for a few moments I was feeling a bit stressed.

Thats one awesome aspect of FS is the ability to train you to go by instruments without looking outside for references of where you are. I hear stories from actual pilots that freaked when they had to do instrument training, flying without visual. I do it so much in FS, that I cant imagine freaking (too badly) in real life. I have been flying at night though with family and friends (in real planes). If you dont watch your instrumentation, you are gone... Especially if there are mountains nearby and no city lights below and you arent navigating safely.. Like being in Red Oktober, at the bottom of the sea, with no sonar... lol..

Willy

August 27th, 2009, 20:08

Every time I've had the baton in the RTW race and it's been dark or the weather is terrible. That's when the pressure comes on.

Astoroth

August 27th, 2009, 23:59

Don't remember where I was for sure, but I took off on an FSPassengers flight and inadvertently flew into a war zone! I was all set up on approach when the next thing I knew I started taking small arms fire! You could hear the bullets pinging and whining off the skin of the plane! Then they took out my hydraulics, and 1 engine, had to make an emergency belly landing with no gear! Didn't lose any passengers, but totalled the Beech 18 I was flying. The repairs were going to be more than I had paid for the plane, so I just sold it for scrap metal. Nothing gets your heart hammering quite like an in-flight emergency, lol!

LonelyplanetXO

August 28th, 2009, 02:35

yep Lionheart, thats called learning curve. remember we dont have professional instructors coaching us so we have to figure it out by ourselves. Three learning flights come to mind ~ C-130 into some desert field at night, no horizon (too dark) spot an airfield light and focused on that so much didnt notice the -VSI & airspeeed +++ ...crashed on threshold but luckily managed to hit replay to assess what went wrong. CASA assessment:Trying to fly vfr in ifr conditions...nasty mistake.lesson: no horizon even in clear conditions = IFR (has occurred a few times subsequently - good lesson). 2. Eaglesoft cirrus...dont bother ****, went Auckland NZ to wellington. partway through getting low on fuel - didnt check preflight, can alomst understand the aviadyne flight data, try to find a diversion airfield due to fuel, cloud to 800'...watching the displays and trying to figure out wot thy're telling me...impacted water 13* down & 25*left turn.... pilot overload.Lesson : **** & practice it. Third one similar to second, Kingair on approach ifr ILS to Wellington impacts Wellington harbour 3 miles out...cause: pilot overload due to drunkenness lol.Lesson: dont drink & fly hehehehe

stansdds

August 28th, 2009, 03:00

I hate fog, so any flight that includes foggy conditions is scary and generally not fun. I'm not too thrilled with rain or snow either. High cross winds, both during flight and landing, always tighten my sphincter.

Cazzie

August 28th, 2009, 04:11

Got a couple of them:
There was the time I took off in an Aeronca Champ in a blizzard, got about 200 feet up and lost sight of the ground (and everything else for that matter). By the time I got my bearings I hit the Grand River at a 45 degree angle at about 85 mph. Not pretty.
The other time was when I re-enacted John F Kennedy Jr's last flight for the first time. I didn't have a Saratoga so I went with what was more comfortable for me at the time--a Piper Pacer. There were a few times where you couldn't see past your prop. When I got to where I thought Martha's Vineyard was I couldn't see anything; I then looked around and turned out the fully lit runway was directly under me; at that point I knew everything was going to be all right but for a few moments I was feeling a bit stressed.

No you didn't! :icon_lol:

If it's below 40 degrees F. "Charlie Brown" will refuse to start! Plain and simple, he don't do cold flights!

Too many to name, but always involve full overcast and often bad storms, want something strong to fly above that crap, but you always have to land. :icon_lol:

Caz

Ashaman

August 28th, 2009, 08:08

There was that time I decided to try a flight with the Avro 100 (at the time I still flew jets) from somewhere in the Philippines to another island thereabout (I think it was Manila, though I'm not sure, it's been a while). The Avro I was piloting was a new plane for me, and mistook quite grossly the fuel calculation... I managed to get to the destination airport anyway... on fumes... but what was WAY WORSE was that it was night, there was a CAT III visibility on the airport and the plane I was using was not CAT III compliant, was unable to autoland and did not even had a radio-altimeter... and I did not have the fuel to divert to the alternate... correction, I didn't even had the fuel for a single go-around...

Result was a hard three point landing made by the autopilot all alone... the gear did not fold and made the plane crash only for a miracle, but in protest of the rough landing, while I was taxiing, trying to reach the parking, the engines decided to flame out on me... completely out of fuel. :redf:

Volker Böhme

August 28th, 2009, 11:09

Hi,

2 flights come to my mind.

The first one was in Lionheart's Bücker, a flight from Berlin Tempelhof to Wilhelmshaven. The sun was about to set when I was turning north over Bremen, and at that precise point, I lost my electricity. I still don't know what I did wrong, but I decided to just live with it, I had to do without, just like in real life.
The safe way would have been to descend and land in Bremen right away while there was still enough light. However, my destination wasn't that far away either, and I could already see the location of the bay where the Mariensiel airfield is located.
It was getting dark faster than anticipated and by the time I arrived at the (unlit) field, was really having a hard time making out anything on the ground. I am not sure about the fuel reserves I had, but I was certainly running low on nerves. The terrain is quite flat there, though, so I nudged the plane closer and closer to the ground to check out that brighter patch.
I was scared as hell when I realized that this patch was the hangar roof, just a few feet below me!
I climbed out at full throttle, thinking about alternatives. A bit to the west is Jever airbase, brightly lit, and I was able to land there in pitch darkness.

Something less random, but certainly demanding: The checkerboard approach at Kai Tak, using a Super Constellation. When I watched the replay, my wife asked: You almost clipped that billboard, did you notice?

Best regards,
Volker

Thunderbolt

August 29th, 2009, 11:52

I try a flight with the X-15, a ballistic parable above Nevada and back to Edwards. :kilroy:
The approach and landing are very tricky.

http://i804.photobucket.com/albums/yy326/Torbec/K_242.jpg

http://i804.photobucket.com/albums/yy326/Torbec/K_244.jpg

http://i804.photobucket.com/albums/yy326/Torbec/K_243.jpg

http://i804.photobucket.com/albums/yy326/Torbec/K_240.jpg

http://i804.photobucket.com/albums/yy326/Torbec/K_245.jpg

Edit: another flight near the vacuum

http://i804.photobucket.com/albums/yy326/Torbec/K_251.jpg

http://i804.photobucket.com/albums/yy326/Torbec/K_252.jpg

http://i804.photobucket.com/albums/yy326/Torbec/K_260.jpg

http://i804.photobucket.com/albums/yy326/Torbec/K_261.jpg

fliger747

August 30th, 2009, 13:44

Ummmm When I ran out of fuel in a 737-400 at night during the round the world race, at night in Africa, 20 miles from the field and deadsticked it to land in the first 300 ft of the runway.....

Lionheart

August 30th, 2009, 15:16

Ummmm When I ran out of fuel in a 737-400 at night during the round the world race, at night in Africa, 20 miles from the field and deadsticked it to land in the first 300 ft of the runway.....

lololol....

Goodness! lolol..

That reminds me. I tried a flight from LAX to Hawaii in the 737 (stock FS bird). Ran out of fuel just before the island, perhaps 100 miles out. I tried it 3 times in a row thinking I did something wrong in fuel burn. Found out later that 737's that run to Hawaii are fitted with long range tanks, (in real world). Found that out a bit late, lol.

Ashaman

August 31st, 2009, 06:20

Ummmm When I ran out of fuel in a 737-400 at night during the round the world race, at night in Africa, 20 miles from the field and deadsticked it to land in the first 300 ft of the runway.....

:bump:

This makes me remember an odd yet hair raising accident I had. It was the first times I flew the SGA MD80. Decided for a simple LIML - LICR. My Flight plan brought me over Rome, and overflew LIRA...

How do I still remember this? Simply because when I got just over this airport, at FL300, I had a sudden double flameout.

At today I still can't fathom what the heck happened. I had fuel, everything was in perfect working order, the panel was a simple one with simple gauges with no failure codes, and still the turbines simply whined to a stop in flight. :confused:

Nothing I did, not even repeated instances of the CTRL-E maneuver, was able to start them up again, so I closed the default ATC IFR flight plan, offed the autopilot, and began to dead stick the plane on one of the nearby LIRF's long runways, while all the way cursing and trying to restart the engines.

It was when I was about to line up to the 34R, always trying the CTRL-E maneuver in the by then farther and farther hope for the engines to restart, that after engine 1 failed to start up yet again, engine 2 decided to roar up back to life.

Long story short, with one engine available the landing was a lot less stressful than a dead-stick one, and with a lesser emergency degree as well. I taxied the plane to a parking and, before calling it a day, tried a last time the CTRL-E maneuver... and this time, when it was not needed anymore, engine 1 too started up. :rolleyes:

Ferry_vO

August 31st, 2009, 06:40

I'm not that easily scared; the ATC however... ;)

Every time I've had the baton in the RTW race and it's been dark or the weather is terrible. That's when the pressure comes on.

Yep, I know how that feels!
I think it was my second RTW race when Panaka and me flew a pair of B-2 bombers to an Island somewhere in the Pacific. A three-hour or so flight at high subsonic speeds with a steep descent to the field with a lot of team mates waiting for us. The weather was somewhat rough with a lot of turbulence and with so many other aircraft on the ground my framerates went to single digits on finals.. Fortunately I made it in one piece!

Another RTW flight took us to Flores in the Atlantic. The first baton holder and his wingman had both crashed and I was on attempt #3. By now it was nighttime so I had to put my 777 down on that short field in total darkness, after a long flight. I missed the first approach and decided to go around for another try. Just as I crossed the threshold my mains touched the ground and Fs registered a crash............. My heart skipped a few beats there!

Lionheart

August 31st, 2009, 09:38

Sorry to hear that Ferry.

Sometimes, landings (in FS land) are just doomed... arrgh.

Originally Posted by fliger747
Ummmm When I ran out of fuel in a 737-400 at night during the round the world race, at night in Africa, 20 miles from the field and deadsticked it to land in the first 300 ft of the runway....

There is a famous historic incident where a flight in an Airbus over the Atlantic ocean, ran out of fuel at 40,000 feet. One of the tanks had a leak and as it drained out, the fuel system replaced it with the other tanks fuel to keep the aircraft balanced. The pilots werent aware until the first engine actually ran dry and stalled. Then the second. At that point, the jet became a very big glider. Miraculously, they found a island out there in the middle of no where, that had a runway the length of the Island. (Very small Island). That pilot put it down right in the middle!

I think their glide time was 40 min's, if memory serves correctly. Very famous. As a matter of fact, FSX has the rebuilt scenario as a mission if you want to try it yourself.

Bill

Willy

August 31st, 2009, 10:39

Ferry, I remember the Flores Incident well and still don't know how I made it in the Comet 4B. I do know I had a very low approach and kept the trees in sight using the landing lights.

Then there was the night that you and I were flying into mountains with baton to reach a bonus airport without going over the proscribed altitude. I don't know how many P-38s we flew into the cumulogranite before we gave up and went to a different airport.