I do not want to start making this blog like a review site but I do like to give my opinions and will do so at the end of the post. I do find it useful when reading others opinions so I like to give mine.
Cargo Ramp VHHH
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This is an early 6AM departure and weather was a warm 31C with wind 100/11kts calling for a SAND2A departure off runway 07R. Clouds were 2'800 few.
Taking to the active at VHHH
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The route south west to Singapore follows the L642 airway and takes you out over the South China Sea and then over the tip of Vietnam. As I trekked along at FL380 it was pretty calm until I hit the Vietnam area where I came across some CB's and had to keep an eye out, all this after having a shower! Who says you can only do that on the A380? The luxury of sim flying......any plane your in has all the amenities of home.
CB's over Vietnam
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I messed up on my fuel calculations and would be landing with less than 8'000lbs (about 10'000lbs short!). So here was hoping for good weather on the arrival as I would never make my alternate WMKK.
ATIS at WSSS was reporting clam winds with clouds 1'800 few and 15'000 broken. Temperature was 26C and thunder storms in the area around the field.
On my way through the PASPU1A arrival to runway 02C I passed in and out of the mentioned storms. Minimums for a ILS DME on runway 02C was 200ft.
As I hit my FAF I could not see the runway as a storm was passing between my plane and the airport. I finally made visual contact with the runway at 340ft and hand flew her down after the minimums call out. It was a hairy approach and landing as it was not expected to be so hard to see.
Just after minimums at WSSS
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Once I was on the ground the storm passed through but they were still all around the airport passing over it at times. I did pass by the giant A380 on my way to the west cargo apron.
A380 at WSSS
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3hrs and 31min gate to gate. I plan on doing the return leg later on this evening if I have time. Only flying into Kai Tak instead!
Now about those Imagine Sim airports. Thomas Kwong's freeware VHHH is really well done but the Img Sim version is more recent and includes all the new buildings around the airport as well. I'm not sorry I got it at all as it is a nice addition to the Far East (and an even better deal when bundled with two other airports, I picked up the FS9/FSX version of San Jose as well).
I do own Fly Tampa's Kai Tak and both of these work seamlessly together. In fact Kai Tak looked great below as I took off on this flight. The model of the down town area FT did is awesome on it's own not to mention the airport it's self is a thing of beauty. As I said on another flight to/from Hong Kong I use Kai Tak as a cargo airport only (complete with custom cargo AI). So this version of VHHH is a very nice addition. So waiting to get it actually saved me a few bucks (being the scenery whore I am!).
As for WSSS it is also really well done. If your flying in the Far East you really should own it. Img Sim has really excelled with the last few airports they have made.
6 comments:
Good call, Al; I did the same route on Sunday to test out the new WSSS, except I used the Level-D. The Imaginesim scenery is very good, and shows that they are improving with each release, although I did have to add mipmaps to the textures as I usually do with their sceneries to reduce the shimmering.
Great pics.
Yeah the 'ol LVD. One of the best STILL!
I agree on the shimmer 9these last two, VHHH/WSSS are not so bad). But the KIAD they did has a horrible shimmer. Care to share how you do that (add mips)?
I open each texture file with the DXTBmp texture utility from http://fly.to/mwgfx/
Then re-save each one as an "extended bitmap" and "DXT1" type, which serves to minimize/eliminate the shimmering in the sim. I recommend saving a backup of the texture folder first, as sometimes the results don't turn out well.
I've done this with the freeware VHHH, and Aerosoft's Bremen, and several Imagine sceneries. Good results on each one generally.
I agree here, excellent choice with the route. You even got a nice stormy approach with low visibility. The icing on the cake, or, the mustard on the fries, should I say, hehe...
Yeah, my aircraft come with a PS3 for those long flights, no airline offers that IFE!!
I love the line-up shot and the very short final one. I should definitely do a flight this weekend!!
Thanks for the shimmer fix tip Pitts! Sound tedious though....:(
Ya know Onur. I was really NOT hoping for a go around and I did get a little anxious as the RA counted down to minimums, being low on fuel and all. All the while I was loving it though!
Very exciting!
Yes, converting the textures can be a tedious process, but you generally don't need to do much with the night textures, and even if you do just the fences and runway markings, it makes a big difference.
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