Craig’s Cape-to-Cape Voyage of Discovery ‘Due South’

[Craig Taylor]

Paul and Tom Braniff have a great desire to expand their young air service to new markets (I know, it’s a big leap from Oklahoma and Texas routes to Europe and Africa, but you have to dream big!), and have loaned me one of their brand new DC-3s to show the colors, promote the brand, and assess the aviation facilities along the route. They get a great opportunity for exposure in some major European newspapers while I get some much-needed corporate support for my efforts. The venerable (MAAM-Sim) DC-3 is stable, rugged enough to put up with my abuse for nearly half the circumference of the Earth, and has some long legs when I need them. Rumor has it that another Braniff bird was spotted over in Norway recently. I wonder what else Paul and Tom are up to?

I wanted to try to make it all the way to Stockholm for the first hop, but the mechanics convinced me that we needed a stopover at Umea so they could check the ship over for the effects of cold weather operations. We won't need to take on fuel, but at least we'll stretch our legs.

Edit: Experienced some wonky behavior with the throttles and aborted the take-off. Not sure how that's going to appear with the Duenna. Hopefully no crashes registered (at least they didn't in FSX). The Duenna is reporting "yellow" for Wx. Am using ActiveSky 2012 for weather, and it seems to be operating correctly in the sim, but shows as "User-defined Weather." I followed the AS2012 user documentation properly, but I'm open to suggestions if I'm doing it wrong. Anywho, I'm off again.

[Craig Taylor]

Well (he said disgustedly), looks like I caught the dreaded "Overspeed" bug, too. I was probably only about 100 miles from my distinatin, to boot. Ran into 50-kt headwinds and didn't factor that in when I decided to descend to look for clearer air. Overstressed the airframe in about 10 seconds. I thought the DC-3 was more rugged than the Avanti, but maybe not. :mixedsmi:

We'll try this again tomorrow.

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[MM]

Craig, don't worry about the "Yellow" warning on the Duenna for your Active Sky weather. That is normal.
--M

[Craig Taylor]

Thanks, Mike.

I hope the Scandanavian weather gods are kinder to me today. :icon_lol:

I will definitely be a lot more careful from now on, being reminded that WHEN KTAS + wind component > Vne THEN :pop4:.

[spokes2112]

Have a good flight Craig :salute:.. A little pirep for you.. The WX sucks again! I stayed low at first, tested higher @ 9K then right back down to 2000! YUK!

Roman

[Craig Taylor]

My first successful leg is in the books, culminating in a stopover at Umea so the wrench-turners can look the ship over and pronounce her ready to go on to Stockholm tomorrow. The Braniff brothers were none too pleased after what happened yesterday and have insisted that I take some company mechanics the rest of the way to keep an eye on things (i.e., me). After the valuable lessons I learned yesterday, I'm pretty sure they won't have a problem (knock on wood paneling).

Real-life got in the way of this flight, so the duenna file includes about 91 minutes and 55 seconds of <pause>. Based on that, I'm left with 152:22 of flight time.

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Edit: I figured out the <pause> time and flight time, and entered it above.

[Craig Taylor]

Some snaps from the trip.

Launching at dawn.
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We're not going to be following along with the map here, are we?
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Turning final - :applause:
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[jt_dub]

Great Paint on that Douglas Classsic!

[Craig Taylor]

Great Paint on that Douglas Classsic!

Thanks, Jeff! I flew on Braniff quite a bit back in the day, and miss the 'Flying Colors.' I couldn't resist using this one for the race.

[Craig Taylor]

After posting guards on the ship to make sure no one siphons any precious fuel for their snowmobiles (or whatever passes for ground transportation up here), we make ready to push on to Bromma. The Braniff wrench-turners have pronounced that she's airworthy, so let's get those props crankin'!

[Craig Taylor]

The crew was decidedly happy when we made Stockholm-Bromma in reasonably good shape, flying straight down the Gulf of Bothnia. The weather was much better than when we left the Cape. Apparently there was still some skepticism amongst the Braniff bunch about my piloting and navigation, especially when this leg was to be over water most of the trip. We hit all our marks pretty well, though, so everyone is pretty upbeat about the next hop over the Baltic.

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http://fs-duenna.com/flights/ShowFlight.php?detail=flight&value=xYJ0sVVp5TpsqMuOk4P6hRXUn2o

[Craig Taylor]

Wasn't a lot to see here, but it was as fine a flight as these can be (in other words, uneventful :applause:)

Off to a foggy start (Tower view in #2)...
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Which led to a beautiful sunrise.
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I was worried Stockholm would be socked in, but the ceiling was high enough not to cause any problems.
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[jt_dub]

Great pics of that foggy dawn launch. Very atmospheric.

[Craig Taylor]

Great pics of that foggy dawn launch. Very atmospheric.

Thanks, Jeff. I'm really pleased with the way Active Sky 2012 works with FSX.

I also purchased the Scenery Tech landclass for Africa. I'm looking forward to seeing how it all works together when I get down there.

Now it's off to Poznan, in Poland. Hopefully it's a quiet hop.

[Craig Taylor]

We made Poznan with little trouble, although I have to say the Polish didn't make it easy - no VASI/PAPI lights to guide on, and visibility was only about 2-3 miles! Fortunately there were two very handy NDBs to line up with, so I was at least pointed in the general direction when the runway appeared out of the haze.

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http://fs-duenna.com/flights/ShowFlight.php?detail=flight&value=O8DvyrwH0QsPWOEyizapj4yrBk

Easy flight across the Baltic
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East Prussia in sight
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Visibility could be better
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Finally...
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Landed a little long, but plenty of runway left...
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[Craig Taylor]

After a much-needed rest, the crew is itching to head further south. It's off to Balzano and sunny Italy, hand-flying it over the Alps.

Update: Overstressed the aircraft coming down from the mountains, within sight of LIPB. His cry of anguish echoed off the Alps. :173go1:

[MM]

As Julie Andrews might sing, "The hills are alive with the sound of ... anguish."

Ouch.

[Craig Taylor]

As Julie Andrews might sing, "The hills are alive with the sound of ... anguish."

Ouch.

Yes, airplane parts were spread all "Ober Salzburg!"

Oh, well. The fun is learning to fly a new plane. Meanwhile, I am re-approaching Prague in my re-run of this leg.

[Craig Taylor]

We made it to LIPB on the second try (these "dress rehearsals are getting expensive). It was a little more exciting in the Alps due to some unanticipated cloud cover, but Bolzano was clear. Hand flown bonus, but with a crash penalty. If I figure it correctly, I should get 2hrs for LIPB, plus 15 min. for hand-flying in from EPPO (to be offset by the 3-hr crash penalty).

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[salt_air]

I have more time in Dc-3's than the total time in everything else I've ever flown combined ... probably times 3.

It's good to see the Gooney Bird out and about ... like the Braniff uniform she's wearing.




Good Luck on your Venture South Sir!

[Craig Taylor]

I have more time in Dc-3's than the total time in everything else I've ever flown combined ... probably times 3.

It's good to see the Gooney Bird out and about ... like the Braniff uniform she's wearing.




Good Luck on your Venture South Sir!

Thanks, Salt_Air! Your trail-blazing efforts have been an inspiration. I'm determined not to let these set-backs stop me, no matter how long it takes. Still, I expected the DC-3 to be a little more rugged. She's like a boxer with a glass jaw and seems to need some gentle hands on the descent.

[Craig Taylor]

After a much-needed rest-and-repair period, it's off to Interlaken. :running:

Update: I'm getting almost 50 kts of wind off the port bow here. This is what gave me fits over Sweden. Yikes.

[Craig Taylor]

Made it safely into Interlaken. It was an interesting flight. I was able to keep my altitude somewhere between 11550 and 11750 pretty easily, with plenty of room under the keel to spare, so I got a little cocky and cut across the dogleg in my flightplan between my last two checkpoints before hitting Interlaken. This nearly proved to be my undoing as that last ridgeline to the southeast of Lake Brienz had me sweating a little. A final twist was the winds at LSMI, which caused me to use Rwy 05, instead of the nice approach over the lake to 23. Fun!

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http://fs-duenna.com/flights/ShowFlight.php?detail=flight&value=cgUkd8KTMLctcoE1moJNXbboA6M

Bonus time earned: 15 min. for hand-flying between LIPB and LSMI, 15 min. for staying (just) under 12,000 ft.

[salt_air]

Nice flight Craig!



I believe there's a stand alone 2 hour bonus just for making that flight (LIPB - LSMI) in either direction.

After you have landed safely at the next prepared airport out of Interlaken ... more than likely LFLY or LFML ... you should have accumulated a total of 3 hours bonus time ... if you did it all by the book.

One more 15 min bonus to go.



Good luck into Marseille ... That's where I sat for a while and decided which way to go from there.

Let's see ... dessert or beach? ... that's sand either way innit? :mixedsmi:




Cheers,

[Craig Taylor]

Thanks for the encouragement, Salt_Air! I've actually plotted the trip out, looking for the optimal route. I think I'm heading for the waterless beach. I've actually visited the Libyan Sahara in the distant past (via a DC-3, no less). It will be interesting to see how the new landclass compares.

OK, my previous story is worthless without pics, so here are a few.

Getting ready to depart Bolzano for Interlaken
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A nice gentle climb in the Tyrol, hoping that's not a granite cloud.
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Now things are starting to get "interesting"
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Looking for that hole in the 12,000' wall
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Interlaken in sight...I wonder how it got its name?
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First "official" checkpoint!
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I'm sorry I wasn't able to get any pics of the final approach, but I was "a little busy." :cost1:

[MM]

Beautiful pictures, Craig.

[Craig Taylor]

Braniff International now announcing it's departure from Interlaken for Marseille-Provence, with connections to North Africa.

Edit: Just realized I forgot to check the box to disable the autopilot in the duenna. Drat.

Looks like I'll be fighting a 40-kt headwind most of the way to Marseille. Double-drat.

Only making 130 kts groundspeed at my last checkpoint. Ugh.

[MM]

Craig,

You want to restart the leg with the "disable autopilot" box checked...just to assure that you are indeed flying without autopilot. No penalty for the forgetfulness...just ignore the leg as flown and do it over.

--M

[Craig Taylor]

Another successful leg in the books (that's two in a row! Woo hoo! :jump:)

Mike, thanks for the note, but I elected to push on. It's going to be hard to find the time to fly, so I'm OK with missing a 15 min. bonus.

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Some pics from along the way - departing Interlaken.
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I'll miss the wonderful scenery and adventure of the Alps.
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Passing Grenoble.
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Marseille in sight.
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Short final.
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Touchdown on the mains.
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[Craig Taylor]

Braniff International now departing Marseille for Algiers

[Craig Taylor]

Arrived safely at Houari-Boumediene after an uneventful trip across the Med.

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Another dawn launch
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Leaving France behind
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Nothing to see here, move along
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Bienvenue!
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