Meandering over Old Mexico (And Points North)

[Willy]

Flight 19 has gotten permission from the Mexican government to conduct an exploratory flight in general aviation aircraft over Mexico. A few of us got together tonight at Brownsville Texas to conduct a short test flight up the Rio Grande to McAllen. It seems that Cessna Skymasters have become real popular all of a sudden.

We're hoping to get started into Mexico soonest.....

[Willy]

First stop, Monterrey (MMMY)!!

[Willy]

Well we flew on down to Ciudad Victoria with an overflight of Saltillo. Before takeoff at Monterrey, it was looking like a Cessna dealership there.


I did a low alt barrel roll at Saltillo and almost put the Cessna into the dirt.

Nice flight with plenty of company.

[falcon409]

Looks like elevations will be a constant problem between FSX and FS9 on this trip. I installed mesh for all of Mexico, but I believe others did as well. . .yet the problem is obvious from these screenshots. Too bad.

[Taco]

More photos of last nights flight. Due to some net storms the group was scattered all over the Mexican sky. Nice flight, and as noted before, lots of good company.

[Moses03]

Great flight until the netstorms hit. Just managed one photo this leg.

http://i45.tinypic.com/2pqtcg5.jpg

[Willy]

Traded the Skymaster in on a classic Beech for the flight to Tampico. Great flight with plenty of good company.

[falcon409]

Some great shots guys!! Good crowd tonight.

[Moses03]

Ed- Not sure if you are running default or have addon landclass, but the ground texture in your third screenie really captures the feel of where we are. Hats off to the junior sim.

[Willy]

We headed on down to Veracruz and landed in a thick fog. Another great flight and I can't say enough good things about the Carenado Bonanza.

[falcon409]

Looks like the "floaties" are back for this session. . .altitude, altitude, altitude, lol

[Willy]

I was having issues, so I switched to an old favorite that will usually work when nothing else will. Milton's Beech 18. Think I'll stick with it for a while. After all, it is kinda sorta GA.....

[falcon409]

Ah yes, when all else fails (and this seemed to be the night for it). . .go to the Beech, lol. Good choice Willy!!

[Willy]

Flew on to Palenque to check out the Mayan ruins. Also got a couple of pics of the cargo in this Beech....

[falcon409]

Holy Crap Batman. . . .NITRO? lol. . . .
Well, I started out in my Piper Navajo and ended up in the 337 Skymaster. It seems that the converted FS9 Navajo to FSX was causing some serious problems with the FS9 guys and so I had to finish with something a bit more friendly. Found a good FS9 sub for the Navajo, so I'll be back flying the twin tomorrow night (tonight actually). Aside from the graphics problems, there was also the destination airport "Palenque". In FS9 it had one location. . .in FSX it was 200yds away, separated by lots of trees. . .also, in the daytime shot at the end, Willy, Chaos and Mike are actually parked near me, they're just 30 ft below me. . . .it's a long story!

[Willy]

Another great flight out over the jungle.

[falcon409]

Yep, this was the worst leg "scenery-wise" so I may have to do a few in FS9 just to be on the same page as everyone else. These shots don't show the problems but they do show. . .Willy smoking underground, a strange divide in the earth just beyond the turn we made for the final airport landing and a shot that looks quite normal until you discover that unseen to the naked eye, the other pilots are sitting 70' above me and the rwy is covered in a 70' mound of dirt. Oh well!

Note: the first and second shots are switched and I'm too tired to mess with it, so use your imagination!

[Willy]

Another great flight, this time over the mountains in southern Mexico to MMOX.

[falcon409]

Well, I'm back in FS9, strictly for the Flight19 hops...I could never get used to the lack of autogen full-time. On the plus side, we all land at the same airport, we all see the same things and we all park at the same elevation.

[Willy]

Well we made to Hualtaco on the west coast. Nice flight through the haze and mountains.

Pics are a bit scrambled up..

[falcon409]

Well, the Piper Panther ticked me off for the last time with it's nit-picky engine problems, so it's outta here. For the time being. . .it's the Mitsubishi MU-2 Marquise. I'll search more this weekend and see if I can settle on a primary flier, but at least for Saturday night it'll be the MU-2.

[Willy]

Got a deal on this single engine Executive. I'm thinking I could really get to liking this one. Anyway, we flew on to Acapulco (MMAA). As it's spring break time, we're hoping they'll be filming Girls Gone Wild XXVIII or something.

Pics are scrambled up again.

[Taco]

:wavey:Hey there! just a few shots from last nights flight.

[Willy]

Well, didn't get very many pics tonight on the flight to Cuernavaca (MMCB). I went to do a touch n go at MMTO and ended up with a crash n burn. Fortunately Spartan factory service was there and fixed it right up.

Just figured out that Cuernavaca is Cowhorn in Spanish.....

[falcon409]

Fun flight, some very tall hills to climb and a beautiful city of "Eternal Spring" to come home to.

[Taco]

:wavey: Hey There!

Well, here is the story. While doing a check ride in a different aircraft for Flight 19 (AC680) between MMCB and MMPB we were flying near this here big mountian and we must have pooped the bugger off, because it started to shooting out black smoke and red hot lava! Scary! Well, one nice thing it gave us beacon to keep from running into that there mountain in this pea soup.

:ichile: Taco

[Willy]

We headed on in a circular route through the mountains to Mexico City. Nice flight even if the weather wasn't cooperating as much as we'd have liked.

[Taco]

Shucks, must have had a senior moment, or fell asleep! Only got two pictures. hehe :kilroy:

[Willy]

Darn, Taco had the BBQ up and running!

[Willy]

Nice flight to MMMM, but I only got a couple of pics and they're in reverse order

[falcon409]

A few more from tonight's flight.

[Taco]

Goodmorning all, here are some more pictures of AC680 flying from MMMx-MMQT-MMMM.:wiggle:

[Willy]

On to MMZH on the coast!

[Moses03]

Good flight down to the coast to visit Andy and Red in Zihuatanejo.

[Taco]

Here are a few photos from last night flight before this here computer called it a night. Somewhere, I have a conflict between my sceneries that this puter don't like.:icon34:

[Willy]

Headed on up the coast and over the mountains to Colima. Great flight!

[falcon409]

A few more in the fog:

[Willy]

We flew on to Puerto Vallarta with an overflight of Guadalajara. It was trying to get dark on me, so the pics aren't the best....

[falcon409]

Cool pics Willy. . .In this first pic, Willy was passing in front from right to left on take-off. . .looked cool so I shot a pic before he rolled out of view. After the flight I took the Jet Ranger out to the coast and got a shot looking back from the water to the airport. Pretty area, probably a great place to vacation.

[Taco]

:applause: Hey there! Happy days, finally, finished a flight with flight 19 wihout the bloody computer giving up the ghost and crashing! A few snaps from last nights flight. Hehe a very nice flight!

[Willy]

Flew a double header tonight. First it was off to MM1H which is on an island off the Mexican coast where I buzzed the runway and then back to the mainland to land at MMMZ. Great flight and I didn't bend anything which is always good.

[falcon409]

Like Willy said, great flight. . .a few newcomers and a quick stopover at Isla Maria for one of those drinks with the umbrellas (to go). Enjoyed it.

[falcon409]

. . . .and the rest.

[Willy]

We kept it short tonight by just flying to Durango (MMDO). Great flight over some rough terrain.

[falcon409]

Wow Willy, nice Terrain Mesh there. Take a look at my shot with the wheels down and that's what my terrain looked like all the way from the time I mentioned that the 10K altitude setting was just clearing the mountain until I landed. Basically flat as a pancake. Oh well.

[KellyB]

Cool pics Willy. . .In this first pic, Willy was passing in front from right to left on take-off. . .looked cool so I shot a pic before he rolled out of view. After the flight I took the Jet Ranger out to the coast and got a shot looking back from the water to the airport. Pretty area, probably a great place to vacation.

What is the plane in the second and third shots on March 15th???

[Willy]

Kelly, which post #?

[KellyB]

It's #37. Sorry, thought the date was enough. I didn't even notice post numbers till now:mix-smi:

[Willy]

Lionheart's Bellanca Super Viking

(we didn't have a post dated the 15th :icon29:)

[Willy]

Only got one pic tonight from the flight to MMTC. Was having such a good time that I just clean forgot to take screenshots!

[falcon409]

It's amazing the difference between the mesh I installed and the mesh you have Willy. Mine is pretty much flat compared to what I see in your screenshots.

[KellyB]

Lionheart's Bellanca Super Viking

(we didn't have a post dated the 15th :icon29:)

Thanks, Willy.

But now I'm confused: Post #37 appears to be dated March 15 on my machine?

[falcon409]

Nope, we didn't have a post on March 15th....the post in question was done by me on March 14th. We setup to fly on the evening of the 15th. . .had several no-shows and decided against flying without them, so there was no flight that evening to post. Not sure why yours would show the 15th as none of ours do, but that's incorrect.

[Willy]

Kelly, I have no idea about why you're seeing the 15th, but I can ask.

falcon, mine is a former payware mesh by Raimondo Taburet that he used the space shuttle radar mapping data in creating. When he switched to FSX, he made it available as free for short while. MM told me about it and I spent most of a day downloading every bit of it (almost all of the world).

[KellyB]

This is what it looks like in my world...

[falcon409]

Mystery solved. . .I posted those shots at 23:07 CST. . .you are on the east coast, 1 hour later, so it posted March 15, 00:07.

[Willy]

Another great flight but to Topia this time. Kind of a hole in wall up in the mountains.

I've got a lead on a light twin that the locals say the pilot didn't think he could get back out of here, so he just left it....

[falcon409]

Ok. . .I'll say it. . .Damn!!! That's a tough approach Willy. . .I see what you mean about the brick wall. Wow!

Here are my shots from FSX:

[KellyB]

Mystery solved. . .I posted those shots at 23:07 CST. . .you are on the east coast, 1 hour later, so it posted March 15, 00:07.

Now I can sleep better; thought I was losing what's left of my mind.:icon_lol:

[Taco]

:applause:Yep, here we go into the unknown! TOPIA, dirt runway at 2200 feet with a rock wall on one end, and trees and buildings on the other end! :running: Now believe this, it is going to get very darn interesting before we can fire up the BBQ, and enjoy some liquid refreshments. Just a few photos of the flight, but none of the final approach had me bloody eyes closed! hehe

[Willy]

Pulled the trigger on the deal for the "light twin". Once I cleaned out the cabin and put a little gas in it, it was good to go. It was kind of a tight fit getting it out of there though. Had a pretty good flight to MMLM via MMCL.

[falcon409]

Enjoyable flight out of Topia, hated to leave really. . .very nice folks there.

[Taco]

:jump:Hot Dog! It was sure a lot easier getting out of Topia than landing here. At least this time I kept my eyes opened.

[Willy]

Flew on to Chihuahua. Just hoping I don't get bit by some mean lil dog.....

Pics are a bit scrambled up.

[Moses03]

Heading north to Chihuahua as the jungles and forests are giving way to scrub and desert.

Note the peculiar pointy peak off to starboard.

[falcon409]

Back in FS9 and off to Chihuahua:

[Taco]

Hey there! Some more photos from flight #19. Now, most of these were taken before take off.
:ipepsi2:

[Willy]

Fred's collected up so many soveigniers that I had to get a little bigger aeroplane. Anyway it was a good flight to Casa Grande.

[Peacemaker]

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[falcon409]

A few more from last night:

[Moses03]

Rather pleasant flight over rugged terrain to Nogales. (Interesting landings in a tight box canyon). Two Czech planes along for this segment; LET 410 piloted by Falcon and myself in a Avia 57 (on temporary loan).

Willy took out a tamale stand departing MMCG but we distanced ourselves before the local authories could do anything about it.

[Willy]

A thoroughly interesting and entertaining flight. Taking off from MMCG was interesting in that I didn't use enough runway for the Boeing and not to mention the tamale stand, I took the tops out of a couple of trees on the end of the runway. And then when I was leveling off at cruise altitude, otto decided it would be fun to put the Stratoliner into a tail stand. Got that all sorted out and had a decent flight to Nogales. Nogales was entertaining as it was down in a hole and I just barely cleared the top edge of it on final. Then I bounced it hard enough that I was looking back down into the hole again. I did finally manage to get it down and stopped though without too much more tension.

Now to go clean the tamales out of the wheel well.....

[falcon409]

Quite enjoyable, although I missed Willy taking out the treetops, lol

[Willy]

After I got through picking pinecones out of the engines, we flew on to MMPE on the coast. Nice flight, even if I did almost have a mid-air just after takeoff. We're about to run out of Mexico.

[falcon409]

Final few legs and we'll be on to greener pastures (or at least greener scenery).

[Willy]

I was having issues with the Stratoliner, so I swapped for the DC-3 for the flight to Mexicali (MMML). Nice flight and I stayed kind of low.

It's amazing what you can find south of the border! I think I've found my new ride. I'm ready when yall are!

[Willy]

Nice flight into Tijuana. Although apparently my airport scenery is about a half mile from the default...

[Taco]

:running: Heck, we got a late start out Mexicali due to some mechanical problems (Couldn't logon the Muliti player) with the plane, but finally got going and headed for TJ. Hopefully, we will catch up with Flight 19.

[Willy]

We left Mexico and went north of the border to Yuma Arizona. Great flight with good company. Even if there was some talk of Customs looking for me in Yuma...

[Willy]

Rumors are abounding about rainy weather ahead. So, I put the floaties on the Twin Beech...

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[Peacemaker]

What ever floats your boat!

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[Willy]

Nice flight to Victorville. I had to do a quick stop enroute on the Salton Sea to do a float test. There's some pretty good sized hills near Victorville too.

[falcon409]

Nice shots there Willy. . . . .I like the water landing shot. .that was fun.

[Taco]

:costum:A few snaps from last nights flight, for some reason was real busy hand flying, and triming, triming, and triming the DC-3, almost like real world. hehe

[Willy]

Great flight up from Victorville to Mammoth Lake. While some of the guys flew over the hills, I decided to go around them. Took me a little longer, but it worked out fine.

[falcon409]

This was great scenic flight, really enjoyed it and since once again I failed to check the current time, it almost became a night flight, lol

[Taco]

:wavey: Hi everybody, sure hope you all are having a nice Easter.

Wow! What a nice flight last night with Flight 19, what can you say about the scenery we encounted, awsome! The company was just great, and I did learn something new, hehe, I don't know a darn thing about the workings of a computer! As with Ed I had my time set for late in the afternoon, but it sure made things look great with the shadows on the mountains and canyons, you couldn't ask for more.

Taco.

[Taco]

Just a few more snaps from last night. Old Dudley kept yelling at me "You nut case lay off of the picture taking and fly right."

Taco

[Willy]

Nice flight to Sparks, Nevada near Reno. I had a bit of a wild landing though with the throttle for #2 engine jammed full open. Ended up going out through the brush before I could get it back to idle.

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[Peacemaker]

Was having my 6 waxed on the flight to sparks by a marine crusader which had spotted and jumped flight 19. Gear and flaps were not retracted for the entire flight. Followed by a 160kt landing on a grass field!

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[Taco]

:running:Off and running again, from KMMH to NV23 a 7000 foot runway of Nevada dirt! Wasn't to bad, at least the weather cooperated, we had fair weather for all of the flight. Which, with this bunch is really strange. Now on to Lakeview, Ore.

[Willy]

We left Sparks Nevada and headed on north to Lakeview Orygun. Nice flight although it was looking like it was blowing up a storm on us with all the clouds. Final got a little congested on landing, but it all worked out.

[Moses03]

Over the hills to a little place called Lakeview, Oregon in the Convair light twin. There really is a lake and a view!

http://i46.tinypic.com/2dglxfq.jpg

http://i47.tinypic.com/2z5kpyx.jpg

http://i50.tinypic.com/331mvjc.jpg

[Willy]

Nice flight with an interesting landing at the end. We were going to stop at Baker City OR, but we got an invite to Red's Wallowa Horse Ranch, so we flew on into there. The approach is real interesting. I had to buzz about for a bit to figure the best way in. After dodging some trees on short final, it was a piece of cake landing. Too bad Moses missed it in the Convair.....

[Willy]

We made it out of Wallowa and headed on north to Spokane. Great flight as usual.

[Willy]

Got into a poker game with this young Navy Lt and ended up with a Harpoon. Let the invasion of Canada commence!

[Willy]

We got a late start to Boeing Field and ended up flying at night. Had a lot of fun although I almost hit a ridge enroute. I kept the landing lights on after that....

[chaos]

Flying the DHC-2 Beaver to KBFI-Boeing Field.

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[Willy]

Took off about an hour before dawn and running behind the main group, so I had to play catch up. Fortunately I found 'em before we got to CYAZ.

Pics are reversed...

[chaos]

Stopped at CYWH-Victoria for a bit before continuing on to CYAZ.Plus this not so good video:wiggle:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Tp9mVYsClRY
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[Taco]

Just a few photos from last nights flight.

[Moses03]

Unloading passengers and fueling up at Tofino...

http://i47.tinypic.com/10dtphg.jpg

[Willy]

Traded the Harpoon off for something a bit more sportier. Great flight up to Bella Bella with good company.

[Taco]

:jump: Well, I did it again, hehe went ape with the picture taking. These photos are of Fight 19s from CYJQ to CYPR Prince Rupert, and as I understand it that during WW2 was the largest American City north of the lower 48. Interesting conversation from Rob concerning this area.

[Taco]

:wiggle: Here are some more photos, like I said I just went wild with the picture machine. lol

[Willy]

Couldn't leave Bella Bella yesterday with the rest of the guys due to technical difficulties, so I made the hop to Prince Rupert by myself today.

[Taco]

Hey Willy,

Glad you got the technical things sorted out. Cu tonight.:applause:

[Willy]

We made it to Alaska landing at Wrangell. Good flight and it's always nice to have old friends show up.

[Taco]

Howdy :cowboy:

A few photos showing some of the weather that was encounted on last nights flight. Strange thing happened on my approach into PAWG the bloody runway disapeared! Tried to go around but I put another hole in ground. R/L bad weather here and was on back up power and then it went dead. One of those days!

[falcon409]

Glad to see it wasn't just me Jim. . .I also lost the rwy on final. From a distance it looked quite normal, but the closer I got the less I saw of it unto it was completely gone. I seemed to be the only one as everyone else that was parked was about 50' in the air.

[Taco]

Hi Ed, Tried to re-do the landing at PAWG and the same thing happened, and tired rwy #10 and the same thing happened. Now, I went up to Skagway and WOW! the runway disapears or its up in the air, and the plane is about 30+ feet above the snow pack. I flew around and again all looks normal until almost touch-down and bingo the runway again disapears. Well, this said tonight should be interesting.

Jim

[Willy]

Interesting flight from Wrangel to Skagway. First we had to fly through mountains in low cloud cover (I almost became one with the scenery) and then fly up a fjord in a blizzard to Skagway. And to top it off there was a 22kt crosswind on runway when I got there. All in all, nothing much out of the ordinary for Flight 19.

[falcon409]

I highly recommend Holgers "Glacier Bay Ver2" over at flightsim and also AVsim. We may not be in it for a very long time, but if you fly any up in Alaska. . .it's an amazing addon.

[Taco]

Hi All, here are a couple pictures of Skagway after the addition of Glacier Bay Ver 2. Thanks Ed for the HU.

[Willy]

Dang things change overnight in Alaska. Woke up and they'd built the place up here in Skagway!

** Thanks again falcon on the heads up on Glacier Bay!

[Willy]

We left Skagway and headed on to Whitehorse. Great flight and how we got to discussing Buck Rogers, I'll never know.....

[Willy]

Traded the Howard in on something a bit older but a bit more "bushplane-ish". Just think of it as a DC-2 that floats. Same speed and about as many seats. (Actually an old favorite of mine that I don't fly enough these days)

[Willy]

We took off from Whitehorse and headed west to Yakatut Alaska. Nice flight although the S43 is a bit on the slow side. That just gives me more time to enjoy the flight though. Took some pics of the interior for Falcon.

[Willy]

Left Yakatut for Middleton Island. Long over water flight. But I've turned the passengers loose to explore the island. Hope they don't get et by bear or something....

[Willy]

Dang passengers said they'd had enough of the cold and hijacked the Sikorsky back to Hawaii. Good thing my trusty Twin Beech was nearby.

We flew to Homer AK in a good long flight. I did land in the bay, but darn that water was cold so I went on up to the airport....

[Taco]

:wavey:Geeee! it sure is cold up here, but anyway a few shots from last nights flight.

[Willy]

Got kind of lost over Anchorage trying to find Merrill Airport and only got one pic.



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[Taco]

Here are some more pictures from last night.

[falcon409]

A few views of the "Yellow Sky" anomaly between Merrill and Fairbanks this evening.

[Willy]

Great flight from Anchorage to Fairbanks. Those of us that could did a water landing in the lake, then came ashore and taxied to the ramp.

[Willy]

We headed east to Northway and with our usual luck, flew into a blizzard. Interesting flight though and I was testing a new real weather engine that's looking very promising.

[Taco]

:running:Gees, here we go again, it's colder than a polar bears backside here in the state of Alaska, or where ever we are! I sure like the shot of that fellow behind the VW as I was preparing to fire up this bird, and when two are burning. The more I fly this plane the more I like it, thanks M. Shupe and the crew who produced it.

Taco, with green :ichile:

[falcon409]

Yep, I finally tracked it down and got it installed in FS9 Jim. . .gonna do some west coast flying tomorrow when I get some time. Great job as well to Milton and his Team of contributors!

[Willy]

I was so busy testing stuff on the flight to Ft Yukon, that I forgot to take any pics. Anyway it was a great flight as usual and I learned a lot about connecting up to a flight server with FSX enroute.

[Taco]

:wavey:Hi there folks,

Just some pictures from last nights flight, hehe showing mostly of the CDF Tracker and old buildings at the airports that we have been landing at. This has been some junket, from Mexico with it's hot chili, temales and all the good Mexican food, you noticed that I didn't mention TACO, hehe. Now, we are up in the far north where there is plenty of snow for making snow cones! And it is cold.

Taco with green :ichile:

[Taco]

:kilroy:A few photos from our last flight. Gravel runways, so far no busted wind screens, and no gravel sucked into the engine intakes, luck is with us. I think.

[Willy]

Hopefully, I'll remember to start the "camera" tonight.

[Willy]

We flew on to PATA. As usual a great flight. I took floats off of the Beech until I need them....

[Willy]

We headed on west to McGrath. I found it rather odd that at 4am, the sun still hadn't peeked above the horizon....

Pics are a bit scrambled up

[chaos]

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[chaos]

Ran out of fuel about a mile from are destination and landed safely on a dirt road but after refueling took off and winged a tree.:isadizzy:
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