Clear Left...

Alberta Rose

2012-01-23T01:09:00.002-05:00

Well, only 31 flight reports on the blog in 2011. In 2010 I had 52, an average of one per week. Stacking up 31 reports for 2011 was not bad considering I did not have my main motivator Onur there to push me on.

No matter what, I did clobbered Onur's ass in the flight totals (he did one flight report in 2010!). Don't care if he moved and got promoted, I still kept at it (wink)!!

My first flight in 2012 is in Alberta (wild rose country) and it is a flight I have flown as a passenger on with WestJet back in 2007, in a brand spanking new 600 no less.

WJA #144 is a short hop in the 737-600 from CYEG (Edmonton) to CYYC (Calgary). It's winter in Alberta, with CYEG ATIS saying wind 150/12kts and cloud's 16'000 few with 20'000 broken. And a coldish -4C (down right balmy for Edmonton in January!).

WJA144 at CYEG gate 14

119 Passengers are making the trip to Calgary this afternoon. Departure procedure for CYEG was the CYEG.3 SID off runway 12. This has you fly past the ZAB (Leduc) ADF with vectors to the first fix of BACOS and then onto the J508 airway to CYYC.

Taking to runway 12 at CYEG

Departure was routine and I am in love with the sound of the PMDG NGX. Click HERE for an HD video clip of the take off....

After over a month off the "virtual" line I was pretty rusty to say the least. I got really behind the airplane to be honest. As fast as you get her up you're bringing her back down on this leg. I admire the crews that do these short hops even more after flying this route.

ATIS at CYYC was saying winds 180/09kts and clouds 18'000 broken at -6C. Calling for a EPLUR.DUVNO2 arrival on to runway 16. I got a great view of the city of Airdrie while on final to runway 16.

The foothills off to west (right side of photo)

Airdrie below and the Q.E. II highway

Using a VREF of 135 and flaps 30 the landing was a grease job with the forgiving 600 and the extra long runway 16.

Final for runway 16 at CYYC

I logged 41 minutes on this leg gate to gate. The PMDG NGX 600 depicts reg C-GPWS. I actually shot C-GPWS at CYYZ this summer, click HERE for my picture of it I posted over at FlightAware.

The Outback

2011-12-16T18:00:00.000-05:00

I can't get enough of the PMDG NGX. So I figured with the recent release of Alice Springs airport by ORBX it was only fitting that I take the NGX on a trip to the outback.

QFA796 is a morning flight in the 800 by Qantas Airlines, YMML (Melbourne) to YBAS (Alice Springs). YBAS is located in one of the most desolated areas of the world, the outback of Australia. And in typical ORBX fashion they out did themselves with their rendition of it. Combined with the Australia Region DVD I picked up a couple years back it creates some great immersion (that DVD was what got me to start trying FSX).

Pushing Back at YMML

YMML weather was great this morning. Wind 178/14kts with clouds 3'000 few and a warm +20C. Using the KEPPA7 departure off runway 16 I had some great views of a company 747-400 heading to KLAX who was slotted just ahead of me (I recently ported over my FS9 WOAI traffic).

Holding short runway 16

The departure was smooth as silk and took us north west as soon as we pulled the gear in. The two and one half hour ride up to the outback was supposed to be smooth, only some chop forecast as we cross the frontal boundary over the middle of Australia.

Departing YMML on KEPPA7

Not much in terms of sight seeing on the way "out back". As we trekked further north, each mile that passed us seen the landscape below became less and less interesting. It looked like Mars below us with nothing but red sand, dotted by endorheic basins below (saline rift lakes like the Dead Sea). The largest rift we flew over being Lake Eyre. Not only is FS immersing, FS also gives you a great geography lesson, flying in areas you would never investigate otherwise (yes, I had to look it up, I am not that clever on my own folks). Educational and fun....

Lake Eyre below

Arrival weather for YBAS was calling for wind 300/12kts and no clouds. The temperature was a blistering +35C!! I suppose this is why the area looks completely scorched with weather like that. For some reason though active sky had the weather wrong on my arrival setting up a crosswind and only +18C. No arrival is needed at YBAS so I flew the runway 30 VOR approach but instead of passing over the AS VOR I vectored myself in (as they would do in real life I am sure). Auto brake 2 and flaps 30 with a VREF of 144kts for the runway that is just shy of 8'000ft long.

Short final runway 30 YBAS

The landing was not bad even though I floated it a bit, the NGX is really tough to master that last 50 feet. The approach views looked like I was landing on Mars with the red landscape and McDonnell Range hills that separate the town of just under 30'000 from the airfield. What a great back drop. I really flet like I have been there now.

Taxi to the ramp at YBAS

Flying to the outback was a great FS adventure, would be fun to try in a single engine plane too I bet (AOPA had a great story on this last month in their magazine).

As if I did not have enough options already, ORBX also just released their New Zealand South Island scenery. I already picked it up and plan on doing some flights over the Tasman Sea very soon. Then again, I have not flown the MD11 in a very long time either. The choices are endless but the time we have for simming is not.....

Rapid Rewards

2011-12-09T03:13:00.001-05:00

Rapid Rewards for doing two SWA legs!

This is a flight I did as a passenger in the real world last spring. We are flying the exact same route today as we did in the spring to boot. SWA3167 is a continuation flight from KLAX (Los Angeles) to KLAS (Las Vegas), after originating in KSFO (San Fran).

Just after push back KLAX

Weather at KLAX was wind 260/07kts with clouds still 25'000 broken and a warmer +17C. The runway in use was 24L using the OSHNN3 departure to the DAG VOR.

24L at KLAX

You get a great view of L.A. after you turn left over the Pacific ocean and start to head north east towards Vegas. A little less hazy in the sim today than it was when I flew to Vegas last spring.

Los Angeles below

It was another short hop, only getting up to FL290 before having to start back down again. Weather at KLAS was wind 210/08kts and clouds 25'000 few. A chilly +10C (chilly for Vegas). Using the KEPEC2 arrival on to runway 25L. It brings you down wind of 25L with a great view of the Vegas strip off the left wing.

Down wind with the strip below

You then turn base over Lake Mead and the Hoover Dam for final onto runway 25L and another great view of the McCullough Hills. In real life we were vectored to our base leg much sooner as we did not fly over Lake Mead.

Lake Mead and the Hoover Dam

McCullough Hills Sim (Mega Scenery VegasX)

McCullough Hills Real (I shot this last spring)

The landing was only so so at best as I floated it down the runway with little flare. Not my best but certainly not my worse. Click HERE for a 1080P video of the landing...

Short final 25L KLAS

One hour eleven minutes gate to gate.

You can see my post for the first leg of this flight by clicking HERE

And check out my pictures from Vegas (including some of the Hoover Dam) by clicking below.

Free Bags Fly Here

2011-12-08T13:30:00.000-05:00

I have had a love hate with FSX since it was released, more on the hate side. But visually FSX really shines. And with photo real scenery it is a treat to the eyes to say the least. Now with the addition of the PMDG NGX it made things even better. My love for FSX was getting a little more even with the hate but FSX was still such an unstable and finicky platform.

At the gate KSFO

I was getting many g3d.dll errors (as were many other FSX users) and it made flying FSX not much fun. In steps Peter Dowson, he fixed the g3d.dll errors with his FSUIPC.dll software (free to boot). With that fix in hand I decided to mimic some South West Airlines flights in the NGX to one of my favorite places on this earth, California.

Leg one is SWA3167 KSFO (San Francisco) to KLAX (Los Angeles). KSFO weather was wind 010/03kts with clouds 22'000 few and +11C. Using the PORTE3 departure off 28L we flew to the AVE VOR. I gate off a bit late from the gate but figured I could make the lost time up while in the air.

On to the active...

I am using Mega Scenery Earth California and Mega Scenery Southern CaliforniaX for photo scenery. Man did it knock my socks off, from the second I rotated off 28L at KSFO. I had to pinch myself as the combination of the NGX and the photo scenery was totally immersive. The most realistic flight sim session I have had to date! It blew me away.....

Departing KSFO

It was only a short flight down the coast while enjoying the views, smooth air and clear weather. I was at TOD and got the latest weather from KLAX, it was wind 070/03kts and clouds 25'000 few with +13C. Calling for a SADDE6 arrival onto runway 06L.

Short final 06L KLAX

I actually made a nice landing for a change and managed not to bend the jet. I was in awe all the way down the coast at the great visuals MSE provided. One hour and ten minutes block time....

At the gate in T1, KLAX

For the record, I was flying the "Free Bags Fly Here" livery. I seen the real livery while at KLAX last spring....

I shot the real deal at KLAX...

For leg two click HERE

UAL274 to the Bay

2011-11-25T19:13:00.001-05:00

I did this flight last Sunday but only found the time to post it today. KSEA (Seattle)- KSFO (San Fran), a flight down the Pacific coast.

UAL274 is normally a 757-200 flight but I love the LVD 767 so much that I took the liberty and changed planes for the airline. It also covers two of my favorite spots in the real and flight sim world.

N Terminal at KSEA

We started out at the N Terminal at KSEA with ATIS reporting wind at 047/03kts clouds 1'000 scattered and five miles visibility and -2C. Using runway 34R and the HAROB4 departure.

Our turn at 34R KSEA

Once we broke out on top we got a great view of the Olympic Mountains on the flight deck with full sunshine. Looks like the clouds were hanging around the Puget Sound.

Olympic Mountains from the flight deck

We took the Q1 airway down to the PYE (Point Reyes) VOR on the California Coast. I have actually been to Point Reyes to see the awesome lighthouse they have there Featured in the original film "The Fog". It was a smooth flight and we seen some really mild temps over northern California. As warm as -3C at FL370, maybe a bug with active sky?

Arrival weather at KSFO was wind 084/08kts with clouds 1'200 scattered, 5'000 broken and +10C. Calling for a GOLDN6 arrival onto runway 19L. I have not landed on 19L for a long time, years! So this was sort of a new procedure for me to follow. The arrival takes you over Oakland with a great view of both Oakland and San Fran off the right wing.

San Fran and the bay off to our right

FlightBeams KSFO has the glide path missing so I hand flew the landing from 2'000ft. It was a greaser as the LVD 767 is a very forgiving airplane. I recently got a fix for that (Thanks Pitts!) so the next time I fly into KSFO glide slope will not be a problem.

Final for 19L KSFO

To see some images I shot around KSEA click HERE. And for some images of KSFO click HERE. And for a shot of Point Reyes Light House click HERE....

Parked at KSFO

Not sure where I am off to next. Maybe KLAX?

Alaska

2011-11-14T03:47:00.001-05:00

Been a very long time since I flew in Alaska and with the FSX version of Anchorage (Can't wait for the FS9 version) I had to do a flight there.

At the gate PANC

Alaska Airlines does not do direct flights from PANC (Anchorage) to PASI (Sitka) but I decided to do one anyway. The flight plan is simple enough, ANC V440 BKA.

Pushing back

Weather at PANC was wind 060/11kts with clouds 7'000 few and 11'000 scattered with a chilly -4C. Using the ANC.4 departure off runway 07R.

Lake Hood SPB

The 737-700 was very lightly loaded today and with the short runway at PASI (6'500ft), with poor weather forecast, this made the task at hand a little easier.

I climbed like a rocket and made my way down the coast. Passing over such places as Yakutat on the way.

Arrival weather at PASI was not near minimums but was not great either. Light snow and +1C with wind 278/03kts. Clouds 700 scattered with 2'600 broken and only 2 miles visibility. Using the runway 11 LDA approach the minimums are 400ft with an offset to the runway.

Short final PASI

At the 500ft call I hand flew it and plonked it down very hard and made a little skip with a bounce. A shitty landing to say the least.

Checking for damage PASI

Not a flight I care to remember with some sloppy flying all around. I'm sure if this was the real deal I would be getting a call into the office. All in all it is still a load of fun, and the PMDG NGX is an amazing bird in the FS world. Terrain on the ND is very cool (as is the HUD that I did not use).

Innsbruck

2011-10-24T02:15:00.000-04:00

TUI1510 is a flight from Cologne-Bonn (EDDK) to Innsbruck (LOWI) for TuiFly in the IFly 737-800. This flight can also be viewed on the excellent TuiFly World Air Routes DVD.

At the gate EDDK

A short and scenic flight this morning taking 94 passengers to Innsbruck. Weather at EDDK for departure was CAVOK with winds 110/06kts and +4C. Using a COL1F departure off runway 14L to the COL VOR and then on towards Frankfurt.

Taxi to 14L at EDDK

It was clear over this part of Europe this morning and we had some great views as we approached the German/Austrian boarder. Not to mention a great sunrise too.

Coming to the German/Austrian boarder

Arrival weather was looking good for LOWI with wind 270/09kts and CAVOK at +1C. Using the TULSI3A arrival straight in to runway 26 at LOWI.

Final for runway 26 at LOWI

The TULSI3A arrival on to runway 26 has you coming in high and hot over the valley and calls for the gear to come down early, as well as adding flaps along the way. You fly down the middle of the valley and it is very scenic but hectic as you feel rushed due to the quick descent.

Spotters shot

I took over from the autopilot while I was well out and hand flew to a grease job really. It is a short runway here (just over 6'500ft) so I used a flaps 40 approach with max auto brake.

Parked at LOWI

Fifty Five minutes gate to gate.....

Morning Commute

2011-10-17T03:44:00.003-04:00

Yeah I'm still here. As always real life gets in the way of fun, not to mention blogging about sim flights takes more time than just flying on it's own.

I picked up the DVD version of the IFly 737NG for FS9 over the summer and decided to give it a whirl tonight.

An early AM commute in the 738NG with KLM #1229, from EHAM (Amsterdam) to LFPG (Paris).

Parked at EHAM

Weather at EHAM was wind 160/06kts with only 2 miles visibility in fog. Clouds 1'100 few with 4'700 broken and 8C. Using the LEKKO2E off 18L. It took me ten minutes to push back and taxi with the mayhem of other airplanes at EHAM. I felt like announcing that it would be easier to drive to Paris....

Taking to 18L

A quick departure and away we went. We broke out at FL110 and made our way up to cruise of FL270 for this short flight. ATIS at LFPG was calling for wind 233/03kts with clouds 1'200 broken and 1'900 few. Hazy with 4 miles visibility. Using the MATI4P arrival onto runway 27R.

Climbing

I noticed with the IFly that when it would turn, sometimes LNAV would disengage on me. Made me pay closer attention to the approach for sure. My flying was really sloppy too, this due to not being in the "groove" so to speak.

Short final 27R LFPG

I actually came in a bit high on my arrival so at the 2000ft call I shut off the autopilot and hand flew to a less than desired landing. Chalk that up to being rusty I guess, my landing was not pretty but it got the job done. Add another 10 minutes to taxi to the gate at LFPG!

Parked at LFPG

The IFly is a must have for FS9 owners and miles ahead of the old PMDG offering (considering it's age). The virtual cockpit is great as are the 2D panels. I'm not one for outside views but the landing lights are also top notch.

To be honest my fellow FS9 fans, the PMDG NGX has blown me away. It is really that good.

DLH404

2011-08-09T21:24:00.001-04:00

Lufthansa flight DLH404 is a 747-400 flight EDDF (Frankfurt) to KJFK (New York). The flight leaves EDDF late afternoon German time and arrives in New York just after dinner N.Y. time. You get sunlight the entire flight during the summer months. I was inspired to fly the 747-400 on a Lufthansa long haul route after watching the PilotsEye.TV Blu-Ray featuring senior flight Norbert Captain Wolfle.

DLH404 at the gate EDDF

Departure weather at EDDF was wind 320/09kts with clouds few at 3'500 and scattered at 4'000. Using a BIBTI1F departure off runway 25R. Traffic was very busy here this late afternoon, man I love my WOAI in FS9! Really brings the sim to life.

Ready to go runway 25R at EDDF

With 300 passengers and a ZFW of just over 500'000lbs, add on the 200'000lbs of fuel and we were set to go on our eight hour journey to the west. We would be using NAT track B today, taking us a bit further north than normal due to some CB activity over the Atlantic on the southern tracks.

Good by Europe, heading out over the Atlantic

Crossing the Atlantic we had the normal trans Atlantic gang of traffic crossing with us. An Air Canada 767 heading to CYYZ (he left EDDF at the same time as us), AAL, United, Emirates, SAS and even Evergreen Cargo. The first half of the crossing seen head winds in the 100kt range with lots of cloud cover and the odd CB. While the second half was much better with less than 50kt winds for most of the trip and no clouds at all until we were 600 miles or so out from Canadian shores.

DLH404 0ver the Atlantic

Once over Canadian soil we turned south west towards Kennebunkport (ENE VOR), Boston (BOC VOR) and over Providence Rhode Island (PVD VOR). Then we started our way down into KJFK just after the PVD VOR. Weather at KJFK was wind 150/10kts with clouds 3'200 broken and 1'500 scattered. We used the PARCH1 arrival to a Canarsie VOR approach to runway 13L/R .

Near BOS and PVD

The arrival was a mess for me as I did not turn tight enough (and visibility was near minimums). I planned on a 13R landing but because of my sloppy turn I ended up shooting for 13L and came down hard and over heated the brakes on landing!

Canarsie 13L/R approach KJFK

I think Captain Wolfle would have a few words with me if this was the real deal. This was also one long ass haul for me, 8Hrs and 26Mins gate to gate.

DLH404 at KJFK

The head winds ate into my reserve fuel too and I ended up on the ground with only 14'000lbs left in the tanks. So add the hot brakes to that mess and call the flight something to not be impressed with (love my grammar?). It was still fun even though I flew like shit. On the long hauls I always get preoccupied with dinner, walking dogs, answering the phone and so on. So much for keeping your head in the cockpit....

Norwegian Air Shuttle

2011-08-08T23:55:00.003-04:00

Ever since I watched the Norwegian Air Shuttle DVD many years ago I have wanted to do a flight with them for the blog. But we lacked a good Oslo for FS9 to make that happen. Now that the NGX is out great use could be made of Aerosoft's version of ENGM (Oslo) and ENVA (Trondheim).

At the gate ENGM

Today's flight is a common one for Norwegian Air Shuttle, NAX746 ENGM (Oslo) to ENVA (Trondheim) in the 737-800WL version of the NG.

Weather at ENGM was wind 128/03kts with clouds 200 few and 4'500 scattered and a cool 10C. Using the BBU6D departure off runway 19R sees us make a right hand turn just after take off to the BBU VOR and then onto the UM609 airway.

Ready to go at 19R ENGM

It was a bumpy ride out all the way up to FL280 and as quickly as we climbed up we settled in for five minutes and started coming back down again on the short leg we are flying this morning.

Short ride up to FL280

Arrival weather was calling for rain as ATIS reported ENVA was wind 083/09kts with clouds 3'300 broken, 4'400 overcast and light rain at 14C and only four miles visibility. This would use the TOGA3L arrival onto runway 09 and take us right over the Strindfjorden on our arrival. With only four miles visibility we would not get to do much sight seeing unfortunately.

Just over four miles out from runway 09

Again the PMDG NGX flew like a dream, she is much more slick than her older FS9 version and takes some time and effort to get her slowed down. You have to pay much closer attention to her speed management upon arrival for sure. Do not expect her to fly anything like the old one in that sense.

Hand flying on short final

Once I got a good view of the runway just after the 1'000ft call out I hand flew her in. All went well until I was just above the runway and I floated it again making the great arrival and approach I made moot as I plunked her down hard after floating. UGH! Still have to learn to fly this girl but having a blast doing so.

On the ramp at ENVA

I hanker a trans Atlantic flight soon. And of course testing out the IFly 737NG in FS9. Hmmm the great conundrum in flight simming these days is that we have so many choices and so little time....

And BTW, hats off to Captain Gunleiksrud who did the landing at Alta (ENAT) in the Norwegian Air Shuttle DVD. Onur and I both agree that the landing this guys does there is worth the cost of the DVD alone! I also hear Onur may be back in action soon after his move!

Turkish Airlines

2011-08-07T15:33:00.000-04:00

My first Turkish Airlines flight! And why not do it in the new and exciting PMDG NGX?

TKY1883 is a morning flight from LTBA (Istanbul) to LOWW (Vienna) in the 737-800. The load was low with only just over 100 passengers and the weather was looking good for departure, arrival on the other hand was looking like IMC.

TKY1883 at the gate LTBA

Weather at LTBA was wind 046/06kts with clouds few at 2'500 and a warm morning of 23C. Using the FENER1N departure off runway 06. The traffic was sparse here at LTBA this Sunday Morning making for an ahead of schedule departure. I did get a great view of a Singapore Airlines 777 landing as I taxied to the runway.

Singapore 777 very short final for 06

I had to manually add power as I have no idea where the click spot is on the MCP to arm T/O thrust! Like everyone else I am new to this bird but loving every minute of learning it. I got a great view of the Dunya Ticaret Merkezi bulidings just after gear up.

Dunya Ticaret Merkezt Buildings

Enrotue was very tranquil and great weather. Handing off to Varna, Bucharest and Budapest center along the way. Even flying right over LHBP (Budapest) at FL380 just before our TOD.

Heading down got a little bumpy and ATIS at LOWW had things improving. I had originally anticipated a runway 11 arrival using the GIGOR 1W with a BALAD1K transition. But they issued me a runway change at the last minute to runway 34 using vectors for a 15 mile final. Giving me time to get down and slowed down. Weather at LOWW was wind 035/05kts with clouds few at 3'100ft and 21C.

Short final for 06 at LOWW

The NGX auto pilot flies like a dream and it also flies like a dream by hand. Not to mention the amazing little details the plane provides (the night lighting in the V/C is second to none). My landing was not that great as I floated a bit tyring to put her down as soft as I could due to the fact the NGX has a damage and maintenance model. So if you plant one down hard you can blow a tire and so on. The slight cross wind there did give me some fits......

Taxi to the gate

2Hrs and 06Min gate to gate and what a treat it was flying the NGX in the TKY livery. The freeware LTBA is also a great little addition to the FSX world. Keep an eye on the blog here if you are a 737NG fan as I have recently picked up the Ifly 737NG for FS9 too. I can see many 737NG flights in the very near future....

Walk around for the return leg

For those wondering, the NGX performance is better than the J41 just and below the MD11 for me. One big thing I noticed was when the mouse pointer is visible the frame drop 10-15 FPS. As soon as I move the pointer over to my second monitor the frames come back up. On short final there at LOWW I was in the low 30's.....

Heading to Seattle

2011-07-20T00:19:00.000-04:00

Leg two is UAL339 KDEN-KSEA (Denver to Seattle). Again United Airlines normally operates the 757 on this route but I love the LVLD 767 too much to let proper airline operations stand in my way.

Pushing back from Gate B47 KDEN

After a two hour stop over and coming in from KDFW (click HERE for leg one) we were set to go to Seattle. Wind has shifted as a front is making it's way through, 010/06kts with clouds 8'000 broken and cb's in the area. Still a warm 31C and expecting lots of chop on the way out. Using the YELLO.6 departure off runway 35L.

I actually got lost on my way to 35L and as long as it took me to find my way around the massive KDEN airport I could have driven to Seattle. That aside one BIG mistake I made was using a de-rated thrust for my take off. A mile high and hot weather I used up all 12'000ft of runway to get our 331'000lbs of 767 off the ground and into that hot thin air.

YIKES!

The ride out for the first hour was bumpy as I expected due to the frontal boundary we had to cross and dodging in and out of build up's. We sat in at our cruise altitude of FL360 and had a nice Chili dinner with coffee and chocolate chip cookies for dessert. Read a bit of the news paper and checked the forecast for KSEA.

View of Barr Lake as we fly over Denver

Arrival weather for KSEA was looking good with wind 191/14kts and clouds 6'000 broken and 5'000 few in a much cooler 21C. Some showers reported in the area but conditions were great for our arrival. Using the CHINS.6 for 16C, we would get a great view of Mount Rainer on our way in.

Mt. Rainer off to our left

Seattle is one of my favorite places to fly in the sim. I took a trip there in real life back in the spring of 2008 and was smitten by the area. The views are nothing short of spectacular. And sim flying is no different as the approach to any of the runway 16's take you right near the city and over Boeing Field (KBFI).

Final for 16C KSEA

My landing on 16C was terrible, I guess I was looking around too much even after flicking off the auto pilot. No matter what, it was great to fly into Seattle again, even if I only got here in the sim. A short taxi trip to the N terminal and count me in at 2 hours 46 minutes gate to gate.

N Terminal at KSEA

You may have noticed the screen grabs above are now 16:9 as I have a new monitor running at 1920X1080. I got a great deal on a 32 inch LG 32LK450, it replaced my older Samsung 2433 monitor that did 1920X1200. I miss the extra 120 pixels but the massive size of the LG more than makes up for it. Not to mention I am running a three monitor setup now too.

To check out some real life images I took around the N terminal at KSEA click HERE.

Denver and a mile high

2011-07-19T23:35:00.001-04:00

Been a while since I did a post and a flight for the blog, but today the time gods looked down upon me and granted me plenty, enough for a dual leg journey.

Leg one is UAL763 KDWF-KDEN (United Airlines, Dallas to Denver) is normally operated by the 757 but my love affair with the LVLD 767-300 is still strong after all these years and she was the choice for the ride today.

Ready to go at KDFW

Weather at KDFW was hot and sticky at 35C with wind 063/06kts and clouds 5'000 few. Using the FERRA.3 departure off runway 35L we made our way through the traffic on the ground and in the air all the way up to FL340.

Line up and wait 35L KDFW

Arrival weather for KDEN was looking good but the heat has made it's way to the mile high city. Wind was calm with clouds 8'000 few and temps at 33C. Using the QUAIL.5 arrival on to runway 16L.

Flying over Dallas

I made a great landing and didn't get lost on my way to gate B47. It would be easy to do here at KDEN with it's massive size. I am using the Imagine Sim V2 of KDEN, and although it is not top quality like some payware stuff, it fits the bill nicely for the much needed KDEN. Something that was lacking in our flight sim world (a decent KDEN that is).

Short final 16L at KDEN

Think I will look fellow blogger Jerry up on my short stop over here at KDEN and have a coffee with him in the terminal (I will have to find my way over to the AAL terminal).

They call for thunderstorms to roll on through Denver later this afternoon so I'm hoping to make it out of here to KSEA on my second leg sooner rather than later....

Gate B47 KDEN

Click HERE for leg two.

JetBlue

2011-06-22T02:15:00.001-04:00

The one big thing we lack in the flight sim world is a proper Airbus. Most of the current payware ones have their own little nuances that make them not so much fun, if not impossible to fly. CTD with this one, erratic behavior with that one and so on.....

What to do if you need an Airbus fix? Enter the Aerosoft AirbusX.

I use FSX sparsely when airline flying. This is due to the fact FSX is crappy at rendering AI traffic in any amount. I use it mainly for VFR flights, but I got the AirbusX on sale last xmas at J&R.com and decided to give it a go tonight with the amazing Mega Scenery Earth for NYC.

Tonight's flight is one of the most traveled passenger routes in the world, KBOS (Boston) to KJFK (New York). Jet Blue JBU885 is an A320 evening flight along the east coast.

JBU885 at the gate KBOS

It is a great night for flying, weather at KBOS was wind 200/09kts and clouds 8'000 few with 9'500 scattered and a mild 21C. Using the LOGAN departure off runway 22R we headed for the PVD VOR and then to the DPK VOR on Long Island.

Ready to go 22R at KBOS

We got up to FL220 and then came right back down again. Weather at KJFK was wind 216/06kts with clouds 5'000 few and 22C. Using the ENE arrival (as best as I could with the limited FMGC) I vectored myself to the DPK VOR and flew to my IAF for 22L at KJFK.

Over Long Island

The landing was a no brainer and as much as I love the way FSX does photo scenery and other graphics (check out those landing lights!) I hate the way FSX does AI traffic. KJFK was dead as a door nail, in FS9 she is always jam packed.....

Short final 22L KJFK

It was a 43 minute flight gate to gate.

KJFK is almost empty!

Not to sound like a review here as this is not my intention. I only like to inform fellow simmers of what I think (my ego huh, as if anyone cares).

The Aerosoft bus is a beautiful bird inside and out. Amazing attention to detail as you really feel like you're sitting in an airbus cockpit (click here to see one). The night lighting is just awesome to boot. It is also easy on the frame rates. The systems model is also really well done, from pneumatics to electrical, such as the engine idle speed increase while the anti ice is on.

Saldy the FMGC is lacking. You can program an approach and departure manually (I used the default flight planner with an exported VRoute PLN) but you cannot select a SID/STAR as you can on a real deal bus (BOO!). Nor can you select a runway! What I did is enter the IAF for my runway at KJFK in the DIR/TO section and tuned the ILS, armed the approach to fly me down to 200ft and I hand flew the rest of it. You get the meat of the route ok with managed climb and so on. But the front and the end of the flight have you vectoring yourself. Sort of like eating a hot dog with no bun.....

With that the Aerosoft Bus will fill the gap when I need an airbus fix as I did enjoy flying it and it performed well on my system too. It also looks great and behaves in flight.

I understand too that Aerosoft is making a V2 with a more complete FMGC, I will be fist in line for that one.

A great way to fly!

2011-05-23T21:42:00.000-04:00

That being the motto of Singapore airlines. I again decided to do a short middle leg series, only this time in Europe.

SIA328 comes to us from WSSS (Singapore) when arriving at EDDM (Munich)for a short stop to unload the German bound passengers and then continues on to EGCC (Manchester) to unload the rest of the passengers. Then SIA327 loads up at EGCC and does it all over again, only this time heading east.

SIA328 at gate 101 EDDM

EDDM to EGCC is an early morning two hour flight normally done in the 777-200ER but I have decided to do it in the PMDG 747-400 because Tom Goepel did an excellent version of their new livery for my favorite bird, just look his name up in the AVSIM library for some of his excellent repaint work.

I was reading too that SIA was phasing out it's 747 passenger fleet by 2012 so I wanted to fly one passenger leg in the 747 while they still do. I may get around to doing a leg in the 777 one of these days as I seen on the AVSIM forums that someone released a virtual cockpit texture upgrade to the PSS 777 I own.

Taxi to 26R at EDDM

Weather at EDDM was great this morning for flying with wind 300/04kts and cloud's 3'700 scattered at +16C. Using the GIVME5W departure off runway 26R. It was very bumpy on the way out and with the traffic over Europe in the early AM it took me a while to climb to my cruise altitude of FL380.

Line up and wait....

It was like a European tour as we passed over many of the larger European cities en route. Flying over Frankfurt, Brussels and London to name a few. Of course we encountered loads of traffic along the entire route keeping me busy on the radio and watching the PFD TCAS.

Other heavy traffic near EBBR

Just after passing over the city of London we started our way down to EGCC. Weather there was was a gusty 190/16kts with clouds 2'600 few and 2'900 scattered. I also noticed on the METAR that the wind at 5'000ft was 250/50kts and at 3'000ft 230/35kts!

Short final 23R at EGCC

Using the DAYNE2A arrival to runway 23R I hand flew the last 2'000ft or so as the Boeing auto pilot has no trouble with those changing winds. I floated it a bit and it carried me down the runway where I had to use manual braking so I would not miss my turn off.

Ramp area at EGCC

Just over 2hrs on the log for this leg. In the real world I imagine the crew would fly the return leg to EDDM and then call it a day, returning to WSSS the next day. I know Air Canada does this with their CYYZ-SCEL-SAEZ flight. And that gives me an idea for my next leg, maybe down in South America.

Sharing the World, Flying Together....

2011-05-18T19:26:00.001-04:00

Is the slogan for Eva Air Cargo who are part of the Evergreen Group air cargo operators.

Cargo ramp KDFW

EVA691 is a real deal flight leg based in North America, Dallas to San Francisco. The next leg would take us on the PANC but I'm only doing the first leg of the day then staying in San Fran while the other crews carries on. So today's flight is in the 747-400F for Eva Air Cargo, KDFW to KSFO. I was in San Fran back in 2009 and fell in love with the place, it's been a while since I have flown there in the sim too....

Over Dallas

Weather at KDFW was a very warm +26C with wind 172/17kts and clouds 2'500 scattered, 3'200 broken. A short hop from the cargo ramp to runway 17C using the SLOTT3 departure.

The ride out was smooth enough with the typical AAL traffic over Dallas as we climbed our way to FL380. We were expecting some trouble with the weather between Albuquerque and Las Vegas with a frontal trough dipping down over California and Nevada today.

CB's north of KLAS

We flew a little over 100nm north of Vegas as we encountered some CB's with tops around FL350 and we actually had to slow to turbulent air speed as it got very bumpy just before our TOD near the OAL VOR.

San Jose and KCSJ off to our left

Weather at KSFO was looking good with +17C and wind 280/11kts gusting to 15kts. Clouds were 2'700 few and 4'700 scattered. Using the MOD3 arrival on to runway 28R that takes you right over San Jose at the south end of the bay area before turning west for final.

Final for 28R KSFO

The landing was a greaser as I hand flew the last 1'100ft and made the long run down 28R to the end and the JAL cargo area at the far west end of the airport. The wind switched around on me as I made my way along the final approach as you can see in an HD video I shot by clicking HERE.

Cargo ramp at KSFO

3hrs 27mins on the log, think I will head to the Cliff House for dinner.....

El Pueblo de la Reyna de los Angeles

2011-05-03T23:05:00.002-04:00

Or L.A. for short.

While I was over at FlightAware and reading through the legs between KLAS (Las Vegas) - KLAX (L.A.) I noticed that Delta some times has an early morning flight using the 757-200. I love the PSS bird and fancy a go at her again so I flew the leg using Delta Airlines FLT #1802 that departs KLAS at 7 A.M.

At the gate KLAS

Weather was fantastic for flying this early AM. With temperature at 17C, wind 200/03kts CAVOK. We used a McCRN3 departure off runway 25R to the HEC VOR. It was a quick climb up to FL280 for the short flight this morning.

Heading the 25R KLAS

I recently did this flight in real life with SWA, instead of 25R we used 01R for deoarture and got a great view of the Vegas Strip after take off. You can see a Video HERE and an image I shot HERE.

The strip just after positive rate

Back in the sim, it was hazy but smooth. En route we seen traffic galore as we crossed the state line. As quick as we went up we were ready to come back down. Barely enough time to scarf down a coffee and muffin.

Near Ontario California

Weather at KLAX was wind 056/06kts, CAVOK with a balmy 23C. Using the REEDR2 arrival to runway 07R. The STAR has you fly towards the airport at 8'000ft and go down wind for a right handed approach to 07R, turning base for final some 14 miles out. In real life we landed on runway 24L and I shot a neat video from the rear window, click HERE to watch.

Short final 07R KLAX

Back here in the sim it was hazy over the ocean as I made my down wind and turn for 07R and as I got closer to the field it started to clear. At 1'000ft I hand flew to a smooth landing although holding a little long on the flare set me up for a bit of a float. I wanted to carry down the runway a bit anyway as my turn off point was the GOLF intersection.

T5 KLAX with the encounter behind us

On the way back to T5 I got a great view of the iconic Encounter restaurant that sits between the north and south aprons.

Another 1hr 08mins on the log. Was thinking of going to Mexico from here, but that is a good problem we have with FS now, so many great destinations and so many excellent birds in the hanger make the choice of where and what to fly that much harder.

To see some real world shot's I took while laying over in the T1 and T2 terminals at KLAX, click HERE.

San Diego

2011-04-27T16:38:00.004-04:00

Hey it has been a while since I posted but I am still here. Real life gets in the way of simming for sure but I did have some time to do a couple short legs today.

Part of the reason for not having time to sim fly was I recently did a real life trip to Southern California and Nevada that included stops in L.A., San Diego and Las Vegas. I actually flew into L.A. and then on to Las Vegas. Although I did not get a chance to fly into or out of San Diego I did get an hour or so of spotting there.

SWA1435 KSAN to KLAS (San Diego to Las Vegas).

Pushing Back KSAN

Weather at KSAN was wind 337/03kts CAVOK with a mild morning temperature of 16C. Calling for a take off from runway 27 using the PEBLE.3 departure route.

Holding Short of 27 KSAN

Strangely almost all the flights from KSAN to KLAS head north to LAX and then turn ENE towards Vegas, instead of a more direct route. Must be some airspace restrictions as the reason for this.

Weather was CAVOK all around as we made the quick run up the coast cruising along at FL290. The turn over L.A. gave us a great view of the city.

Turning ENE over Los Angeles

Arrival weather at KLAS was wind 056/08kts and 15C CAVOK. Using the CLARR2 arrival onto runway 01L gives us a great view of the strip on landing.

On final runway 01L KLAS

I hand flew the last 2'000ft on my own and my rusty sim pilot skills were showing as the landing was nothing to be proud of.

Parked at Gate C14 KLAS

Off to KLAX next leg...

To see some images I took around KSAN and KLAS click HERE.

To see a real life video I shot of us landing in a SWA NG at KLAS click HERE.

Aeroperú

2011-03-21T05:12:00.003-04:00

After doing my check ride in the PMDG J41 and then having it all go to hell in a hand basket with my pre flight engine fire I decided another flight in South America was the best thing for me, this time in the PSS 757-200. It's an oldie but still a great plane with an excellent systems simulation.

Aeroperú had six 757-200's in their fleet and went the way of the dodo bird after the tragic crash of flight 603 on October 2nd 1996.

The flight today is PLI#991, a mid afternoon leg from SEQU (Quito, Ecuador) to SPIM (Lima, Peru). A touch over 735nm.

At the gate SEQU

Weather at SEQU was a cool 14C but figuring that we are almost 10'000ft above sea level here it only makes sense it would be cool. Wind was 350/02kts with clouds 1'000 few and 2'000 broken. Using the 3A SID off runway 35 that has us make a right turn while climbing after take off heading east, then turning back west towards the QUI VOR at FL160 and on to the UG426 airway to Lima.

Waiting at runway 35 SEQU as a 737-200 lands

It was a long take off roll but the 757 is akin to a rocket ship in my eyes and took to the air with ease as we made our way in and out of cumulus clouds along the departure route. The Quito area is very scenic but we did not see much due to the cloud cover.

Positive rate, gear up....

En route we seen fair weather as we made our way south into Peru, crossing over the Marañón River near Ciro Algeria. Some light chop was encountered but nothing bad. Sky was mostly cloudy with rain showers as we made our way down towards Lima.

Maranon River off to the right

Weather at SPIM was wind 290/06kts with clouds 13'000 broken and +23C. SPIM has no instrument approaches for runway 35, so considering that the tail wind is only six knots for a runway 15 approach. Using the KARPA 1A arrival on to runway 15 I noted that the remarks noted bird hazard on the runway.

Final for runway 15 SPIM

The approach to runway 15 takes you over the Pacific Ocean and a great view of the city of Lima in front of you. Latin VFR did a nice job on this airport.

Spotters shot at SPIM

At 1000ft I hand flew her the rest of the way in and came down on the left main gear first. Not my best landing but not a bad one either.

At the gate SPIM

1HR 58MIN on the log. I head to California and Las Vegas for real next Monday. Hope to get another sim flight in before then. Might take another stab at the J41 as it is evident that I need the practice!

For the record, I seen no birds on the runway upon my arrival at SPIM....

La Aurora

2011-02-28T01:00:00.001-05:00

What is more fun than flying into an airport at night surrounded by big volcano's? Maybe flying into Kai Tak but La Aurora international airport in Guatemala City Guatemala is an adventure as well.

Tonight's flight is with American Airlines in the ever steady LVD 767-300ER. AAL#2162 on an evening route, KDFW (Dallas) to MGGT (Guatemala City).

Gate D21 KDFW

Weather at KDFW was wind 163/18kts gusting to 26kts with clouds 2'900 few and a warm evening temperature of 24C. Using the DARTZ3 departure off runway 36C not far from my gate at D21.

Pushing back

Typical busy traffic with the slew of American and American Eagle flights making the way in and out of Dallas, with the multiple runway use at KDFW I had no fear of waiting around and was off quickly.

Holding short 36R with the setting sun

The SID tracks you back south, then north and out over the the city to the DARTZ way point and then you are on your way. For me that was heading south towards Houston and then along the B753 airway out over the Gulf Of Mexico towards southern Mexico and Central America.

Climbing over Dallas

Weather en route was mostly overcast until I was mid way over the Gulf near the MARTE way point where we picked up Meridia Centre. As we kept tracking south we then picked up CenAmera center towards Guatemala along the A770 air way. At our T/D point we could see light thunder storms in the vicinity and we had a little turbulence. MGGT ATIS was reporting decent conditions for the landing with wind 178/08kts with 4 miles visibility in haze and clouds 1'400 broken. Not perfect but decent enough and well beyond minimums for a VOR/DME approach on to runway 19.

Traffic over the Gulf at FL350

This approach sees me track the A770 airway along to the AUR VOR, turn right while over the field and then fly a 15 mile DME arc around again to a VOR DME approach to runway 19. Only a PAPI for vertical reference with no glide slope.

Over Guatemala with Mt Agua off to the right

It was a bit unnerving as we flew in and out of haze over the airport at 15'000ft and then onto the arc at 11'000ft with the two massive volcano's that surround the airport sprouting up on each side. Agua was the volcano along my DME arc and it did pass directly in front of me but due to the haze I did not see it.

Final for runway 19 MGGT

As I made my 15 mile final I hand flew the last 1'400ft to what I will call a plant down and not landing. It's not that my landing was hard, on the contrary it was very soft, but the nose cam down a bit heavy and considering how easy the situation was I should have fared better. But with flight simulator every landing is fun, even the bad ones....

At the gate MGGT

Quick note on the MGGT scenery by Latin VFR. It is terrible at night and fairs much better during the day. It does not look as good as some freeware to be honest. I think the next time I will fly in/out here during the day as it looks much better then. Not really needed to say but I will anyway, FSDT version of KDFW is splendid as usual. Three hours gate to gate......

กลับไปที่กรุงเทพฯ!

2011-02-22T02:02:00.003-05:00

Back to Bangkok! Leg two is flight THA#561 that is the return leg to Bangkok.

For Leg one click HERE

VVNB (Hanoi Vietnam) to VTBD (Bangkok's smaller Don Mueang Airport)

Done pushing back

Weather at VVNB (Hanoi) was improved in our really short turn around. Wind was 140/05kts with 2 miles visibility in haze. The rain has stopped and the clouds are lifting a bit. Now seeing 600 scattered and 1'700 broken. Warming up a bit to 18C.

Waiting at runway 11R VVNB

Using the VIN1A departure from runway 11R has us turn WSW after takeoff towards the MC NDB and back onto the R474 airway. It's a hazy ride up to FL380 mind you.

On the roll...

The cruise portion of the flight went by in a hurry and we did encounter some head winds but nothing serious with them clocking in at 38kts.

747-400 flight deck at FL380

It was a bumpy ride and we had to reduce speed for about 50 miles until just before our T/D point due to the chop. It looked like convective activity but no t-storms were reported anywhere along the route. The weather in Bangkok was hazy and humid.

ATIS reported weather at VTBD as wind 229/03kts, 3 miles visibility in haze with no clouds and a very warm 29C. Using the BETTY4A arrival to runway 21R.

Final for runway 21R VTBD

VTBD may be smaller in size but it still has it's share of traffic. On my way in I heard a Cathay Pacific 747-400F heading out from there and two sister Thai Airways flights on their way in. One being an A310 and the other a 747-400.

PLONK!

I hand flew the last 1'000ft and bounced on landing, I came back down on the right side mains first, then left and slowly lowered the nose. An ugly landing for sure! But still loads of fun.

At the gate VTBD

The return leg took me 1 hour 45 minutes, had to be those head winds!

For a look at that terrible landing in HD click HERE

Big shout out to the gang over at Thai Flight Simulator. Lots of free downloads of really high quality Thai scenery (including VTBD).

They also have a great rendition of VTCC (Chang Mai). I planned on heading there next but I don't want to get too far ahead of Onur this year (hehe).

You do have the register at Thai Flight to download, but it's free and painless (and I have yet to get any spam from them).

Boeing 747-400 to Hanoi Vietnam

2011-02-21T23:48:00.002-05:00

Gotta love flying in the far east. The mass of people they move from one city to another using the 747-400 just due to the capacity of the airplane makes it 747 captains dream.

So some short hauls are in order today with Thai Airways in the 747-400.

Leg one is THA#560, VTSB (Bangkok's Suvarnabhumi airport) to VVNB (Hanoi Vietnam).

Weather at VTSB this early AM was wind 130/02kts in haze and 5 miles visibility. Clouds were 2'000 few and 12'000 scattered and a very mild and humid 25C.

Pushing Back from the gate VTBS

Using the JORGE1B SID from runway 01L that takes you straight out on the runway heading to the R474 airway. Talk about direct!

Only thing is some altitude restrictions due to the close proximity of the still in use VTBD (Bangkok's Don Mueang). For the first thirty miles or so your stepping into your climb very slowly. First to 6'000ft and then in 18 miles your only going up to 8'000ft. In fact for the first 42 miles you cannot bust FL160! Once at the ALBOS fix you're on the R474 airway and free to climb as you wish.

Cimbing to FL160

Couldn't see much on the way up anyway due to the haze. Once in cruise I could see convection all around but no thunder storms. It was a short cruise phase and we are headed back down in no time. ATIS at VVNB was not looking that great.

Weather reported as wind 131/04kts, 3/4 mile visibility in light rain. Clouds 200 scattered and 500 broken with a cool 16C, and a dew point to match. Using the MC1A arrival on to runway 11L ILS approach.

Short final, 300ft VVNB runway 11L

As I made my way down the slope I seen nothing until just after the 300ft call and then I took over hand flying, again setting up a bit of a float down the runway as I flared just a touch too early. But with 11L being over 10'000ft I had little problem with the landing.

Not pretty but we got there! Spotters shot VVNB

The visuals today were just as immersive as the ones in FSX yesterday! Only exception being I was getting well over 40FPS, all this while capturing HD video to boot!

Checking out the Russian Iron at VVNB

After 1hr and 36min of flight time we are doing a quick turn around and heading back to Bangkok but this time to VTBD, Don Mueang airport.

Oh yeah, the HD video of my terrible landing can be seen by clicking HERE

And leg two can be seen by clicking HERE

Qantas

2011-02-21T02:54:00.003-05:00

This would be my first airline flight in FSX for the blog. And of course I am choosing to fly down under with the very well done Orbx FTX Australia and a couple of add on airports they did.

Today's flight is for Qantas Airlines, QFA#702, YMML (Melbourne) to YBCS (Cairns), a 1'200nm plus flight in the PMDG 747-400.

Gate 11 YMML

Departure weather at YMML was wind 178/16kts and clouds 3'200 few with 6'00 broken with a warm 17C. Using the COORS6 departure off runway 16 that takes you south out over Port Philip Bay, turning back north and a great view of the city off to your left.

Positive Rate, Gear up.....

We headed our way north after flying around the down town core of Melbourne and quickly climbed to FL380. Encountering strong winds from the west of over 70kts at times due to Cyclone Carlos on the NW side of the country, remember that storms rotate clockwise south of the equator!

Cruise was as boring as ever as I watched some cartoons and twiddled my thumbs. FSX is even more drab and blurry at FL380 than FS9!

Crusie at FL380 over Queensland

As we headed over Queensland and started our way down I tuned the ATIS at YBCS with reported winds 012/11kts, clouds 3'000 few and a very warm 31C. YBCS noise abatement rules specify that most traffic are to land and take off from runway 15, today was no exception.

I put the BIB1A arrival into the box and planned on hand flying the last 1'000ft or so into the nice and long runway 15 at YBCS.

Approach to YBCS over the Coral Sea

The view on the way down over the STAR takes you over Baron George National Park just west of Cairns. It is nothing short of spectacular as you skim the hill tops surrounding the airport as you turn right on your base leg and then you come out over the Coral Sea for your 15 mile final. This is where the Orbx crew really gives you that immersion factor that makes you rub your eyes. FSX can really shine down low....wow is all I could say.

Final for runway 15 YBCS

At the 1'500ft call out I took over from the computer and started bringing her in. The cross wind was giving me fits and it was a much more difficult landing than I expected. I floated it a bit but the 10'000ft plus runway was more than forgiving and once down it was a quick taxi to the gate. 3 hours and 9 minutes on the log.

Spotters shot of the landing at YBCS

No need to discuss the frame rate heavy FSX, even on my I7 CPU that is O/C to 3.8Ghz and banging away with dual 1GB 460GTX video cards in SLI mode.

At the gate YBCS

When you toss in a complex plane like PMDG 747 and a wonderful add on airport like the Orbx guys did, we are talking mid to high teens on taxi, take off and approach. Too "light" for my liking, call me greedy, I want at least 25FPS!

Not to mention I had to turn the AI down (and FSX AI is just as simple minded as the FS9 AI).

This rig of mine can clobber FSDT KJFK with 100% AI in CATII conditions and still hold it's head above water. Take that FSX!

I hope to do a leg series in FS9 with Thai Airlines tomorrow as it's a holiday here in the Great White North.......

FedEx coast to coast

2011-02-14T06:13:00.000-05:00

I am pulling another long haul tonight. I pondered an EHAM-OMDB pairing but then I got to thinking that it has been some time since I was in the PMDG MD-11.

So tonight's flight was FDX#181 for FedEx in the MD-11F doing KBOS (Boston) to KPDX (Portland). Not been in the virtual cockpit of this bird since July 20th last summer. I had to clear the rust and cob webs from my head and go over the FCOM and FCTM for a little refresher. She is just different enough from a Boeing that I could get into some trouble with her if I was not careful.

This is an evening flight departing KBOS at 7:30PM and planning on arriving at KPDX around 10:50PM local time. A little over five and a half hours round trip. With the head winds enroute it was going to be a stretch to make it in under six hours mind you.

Cargo Ramp KBOS

Weather was good at KBOS and the ramp was pretty quiet too. Wind was 040/08kts, CAVOK with +1C. Taking off from runway 04L using the LOGAN.4 departure to the MHT VOR, then heading west.

Taxi to runway 04L

First thing that hit me right off the bat is how great the PMDG MD-11 virtual cockpit night lighting is. I forgot how great it is to be honest. You can back light the panels, flood them or even turn on the dome light. Very immerse with those features, and not to mention the sounds are simply the best of anything else I have flown. I feel like I am really in the cockpit of an MD-11, even though I would have no idea what that is really like as I have never even set foot inside an MD-11 let alone flown in the cockpit of one. I have seen a few MD-11 cockpit DVD's though.

Look at that head wind

The route took me north west over the great lakes to the SSM VOR and along the J140 airway, hugging the USA/Canadian boarder. With strong head winds of over 100kts at times I was glad I took a little extra fuel.

It was overcast once on the west side of the great lakes basin. And all the way west of the great lakes it remained overcast until Bismark. The head winds were still not any better and we were not expecting them to be as the FL340 charts show winds in the 90+kts range all across the continent and even into the 115kt range at times. These head winds put us behind on our arrival time by over half an hour.

We are possibly expecting some poor weather at KPDX upon arrival too. The forecast was calling for rain later in the evening. We may be in before the weather hits with any luck.

Checking with ATIS once we started our way down weather was looking much better than expected as we beat the rain in. Weather at KPDX was wind 091/08kts, clouds 2'500 few, 5'000 scattered with temperature +7C.

Just before the panel reset

Using the BONVL6 arrival via the PDT VOR it would take us right down the Columbia River Gorge and to the north of KPDX where we would turn left to land on runway 10R. But wouldn't you know that Flight Simulator was up to it's old tricks again!

Final for 10R at KPDX

For some strange reason the bird reset the panel state while over the Columbia River Gorge. It was a mad scramble to get things running and set up again (thank you to that pause button) but it did mess up the rest of my arrival and the landing was nothing to be proud of even though I did hand fly the down wind onward, all the while staring engines and half ass putting the arrival into the FMC again. That is while you will notice the clock went from 5hrs 54min to 17min after the electrics reset...... UGH!

Cargo ramp at KPDX

Turning off the active and turning on the APU with a short taxi ride to the south cargo ramp we can pack our things and head to the hotel for the night. The wicked easterly winds aloft that helped me along over the Atlantic to Amsterdam yesterday, put me over 40 minutes behind tonight.

Amsterdam

2011-02-13T02:55:00.001-05:00

You gotta love KLM's fleet. As of December 2010 they had twenty two 747-400's and ten MD-11's in active passenger service, among the bevy of 777's, 737's and Airbus A330's they also own.

I shot the KLM 747-400 pictured below at CYYZ last fall and even have a 1/200th scale model of it in my office....

KLM 747-400 at CYYZ

I have not done a trans Atlantic flight in a very long time, in fact my last long haul over the water was last year when I did KSFO-PHNL in the 747-400 for United Airlines. And my last Atlantic trip was in the summer of 2008 with British Airways in the 747-400. Oh sure I have done some long hauls since then but none over the open water where keeping an eye peeled for an alternate is your main focus, and watching that fuel. And I love pulling out my trans Atlantic plotter too.

Tonight's trans Atlantic route on the Plotter

So I was due for a trip over the pond and things adding up as they were I decided to mimic the real world operations of KLM#644, KJFK (New York) to EHAM (Amsterdam) in the 747-400. This flight departs KJFK at 7:30PM NY time and arrives in EHAM at 8AM Amsterdam time.

KLM#644 at the gate KJFK

We are taking 160'000lbs of fuel and have a ZFW of 539'900lbs with a TOW of 719'800lbs. Weather at KJFK was a very windy 290/20kts with clouds 6'000ft broken and +4C. Using the MERIT3 departure off 31L. It was not a very long taxi ride from our gate to the active. The wind was rocking the plane as we took the taxi ride and followed an Aeroflot 767 who departed just before us.

I hand flew the departure that has you make a quick left hand turn after take off for noise abatement and then the SID takes you south to avoid KLGA traffic. The SID then has you turn left again to loop back over JFK heading north all the while climbing. It was a bumpy ride out too and once at FL100 I turned on the A/P.

Taking off runway 31L KJFK

The ride north took me over Providence and Boston before heading on to the maritime provinces of Canada and then out over the Atlantic on my track east. The flight started out at FL330 and shortly after CYJT we step climbed to FL350. Just before heading over the Atlantic onto the track system eastward we went tank to engine and crossed over the DENDU fix that seen us on our NAT now with just under 40'000lbs of fuel burned so far.

We had a great 100kt tail wind as I followed a Lufthansa A340, Virgin Atlantic A340 and a Corsair 747-400. As we neared the 5240N fix we were half way there and thirty minutes plus ahead of schedule due to the great tail wind. We also had 96'000lbs of fuel left with more than our minimum for reserves.

In cruise over the Atlantic

Now that we are well into our cruise portion of the flight it is time to kick back and have a great in flight meal. Tonight the cabin crew was serving T-Bone Steak and Potato with Broccoli. Cheese Cake with fresh ground hot coffee was for dessert.

In flight meal

At 80'000lbs of fuel we went tank to engine and did our final step climb to FL370 near the 5330N fix, half of our fuel is gone since we first spooled up the engines at KJFK some 3 hours and 39 minutes ago.

Forecast for EHAM was not looking great as they were calling for fog and mist all morning. For our arrival they forecast 2.5 miles visibility in fog/mist with clouds 300ft scattered and 500ft broken. We will get an ATIS report as we start to head down but as it looks now I am planning on an 18C landing using the LAMS1A arrival.

Approaching the Irish coast

Crossing over MALOT we are now off the NAT system and headed into the NOTA area before being handed off to Shannon center. This is where we see the first glimpse of some light starting to pop up as the sun is soon to arrive. With the forecast at EHAM not looking any better this may be my only chance to see it.

We started heading down over England, descending as we cross the North Sea into the Netherlands. Setting up for a runway 18C landing using the LAMSA1A arrival.

Just breaking out of the clouds on final EHAM

Weather was better than forecast with wind 230/07kts and visibility 5 miles. Clouds 600 broken and +4C. Making for a much better landing situation. At the 1'000ft call I clicked off the A/P and hand flew the landing. A/T coming off at the 500ft call.

Short final 18C EHAM

A long taxi ride to the gates and seeing the mass of early Sunday AM traffic getting set to depart EHAM had me holding for taxi traffic.

At the gate EHAM

But even though the taxi traffic was bad at EHAM I was still in 29mins ahead of schedule with the flight lasting 6 hours 31 minutes gate to gate.

서울 한국

2011-02-07T04:30:00.000-05:00

Seoul South Korea!

Because that is the destination today.

I had planned on a route in the USA but as I was searching for timetables in PDF format I came across All Nippon Airlines site and then it hit me. I have not done a flight over Japan in a long while. And with all this great Simmers Sky payware Japan scenery that I own I was due for a trip over the land of the rising sun.

Not to mention I can take the PMDG 747-400 out for a spin and head to another great scenery done by the same gang, that would be Incheon International Airport. Two large International airports only a couple hours from each other makes for a great route with lots of heavy action.

Flight # ANA225, RJAA (Tokyo, Narita) to RKSI (Seoul). It is an early Monday afternoon flight and was scheduled for just over two hours gate to gate. I was loaded pretty heavy due to the fact I took little fuel for the short trip, with my ZFW at 537'000lbs plus, 143'000lbs of that is just the cargo and passengers. Gotta love the lift power of the Queen.

At the ANA terminal RJAA

Departure weather at RJAA was wind 330/13kts, clouds 4'000 few and +13C. Using the SWEY4 departure off runway 34L I had a quick taxi to the active and was off in no time. Heading North at first then some DCT short cuts that took me directly over the city of Tokyo as I headed west. I got a great view of the city but en route it was much too cloudy below to see Mt. Fuji.

JAL 747-400 landing 34L RJAA

We had some pretty good head winds at FL380, pushing into the high 80kts and low 90kts at times. Weather was good enough along the way with no problems and mostly scattered clouds well below our flight along the route.

As I crossed over the Sea Of Japan and into Korea near Busan it got bumpy enough that I had to reduce speed (.82 for the 747-400). And it continued bumpy until my T/D point.

Over the sea of Japan

I started to double check the weather at RKSI and it was not looking too bad. When we departed RKSI they had forecast winds 240/07kts, 3 miles visibility in haze with no clouds and +1C. But a couple hours of afternoon air cleared the haze around RKSI and we were looking at winds 337/05kts in light haze with 5 miles visibility. Setting up a landing onto runway 34 and a KAKSO1S arrival.

Short final runway 34 RKSI

I flicked off the A/P at the 1000ft call out and hand flew the last thousand on my own to the long drawn out 13'000ft runway below for a real grease job. Plenty of heavy action in the area too with an Air Canada 767 landing just ahead of me and an Asiana 747-400 just behind me, that ended up going around as I dragged myself off the runway slowly.

With other heavies at the RKSI gates

2 hours 12 minutes on the log and time for a "Hanjeongsik" and maybe a couple Hite beers before bed.

The Tropics

2011-01-31T00:53:00.004-05:00

Can't beat the warm breezes and the sun shine you get in the tropics. And with me getting sick of winter already I had to get myself into a tropical state of mind. A flight to the islands was in order.

My friend Stu who flies for ACA said it's no secret he bids on the warm routes during the winter just so he can do a pre flight walk around in short sleeves....

Today I'm flying the PMDG 737-800 for the now defunct BWIA (Beewee for short). KFLL (Fort Lauderdale, Florida) to TNCM (Saint Maarten). It was tee shirt weather all around.

Pushing Back KFLL

BWA883 has 141 passengers for today's journey. In real life they flew out of KMIA but I wanted to depart where I last left off and I did not want the insane amount of waiting you might endure at KMIA.

Taxi on TANGO to 27R

Departure weather at KFLL was wind 060/07kts with clouds 3'600 few and a mild 22C. I was offered runway 31 for takeoff as it was close to my gate near Terminal 4, but due to small runway length of 6'930ft I decided to play it safe and use the longer 9'000ft runway 27R even though it was a long taxi ride on the opposite side of the field.

Using the BAHMA1 departure I headed east out over the Atlantic and then turning south once over the Bahamas onto the A555 airway.

27R KFLL

The ride down to TNCM was very smooth at FL370 and I encountered little traffic, the odd American Eagle or American Airlines flights heading to San Juan, the Turks and Cacao's and the US Virgin Islands.

I had time for a real life shower on this flight and even ate a nice pasta dinner for my in flight meal. Not many cruise images due to this! After a hot shower and meal, I choked down a coffee and it was time to start heading down for the approach into TNCM.

Using the the one and only arrival into TNCM, ULUBA the weather was setting up for a runway 10 VOR approach. Wind was 120/08kts with clouds 2'100 broken and a tropical 27C. The arrival route was a bit bumpy but no convection in the area during this mid afternoon landing. I called for a flaps 40 and auto brake max.

The arrival took me almost straight in from the JUICE fix for a 10 mile final that is offset from the runway slightly. Some traffic was coming and going, a Delta 757 to Atlanta, American 757 going to Miami and a Lear Jet on it's way to Milwaukee.

Short Final runway 10 TNCM

I went visual and hand flew from 4.8nm DME and 1'600ft, no glide slope at TNCM so your on the PAPI on your way in.

This is the time you need that extra brain and set of eyes and hands in the cockpit. I forgot to arm the G/A and reset the MCP altitude for missed approach. It was a good two minutes or so of hand flying the landing, critical time I normally use for setting up my landing configuration and going over the checklist.

The landing was not half bad considering I did most of it, I touched down smooth enough but did a slight one wheel bounce. I was aiming to try and get slowed down fast enough to use the turning bay 2/3 down the runway that the Jepp chart requested, thus the reason for the called flaps 40 A/B MAX. In a 747 that is impossible, your going all the way to the end to turn around. I flew the 747-400 into here a couple years back and talk about a white knuckle approach. Much easier in the 737-800 thank you very much, but just as exciting.

At the gate TNCM

Surrounded by palm trees and sun the entire route. And then 27C at TNCM, can you imagine! Makes me want to fly in shorts and have a tropical drink......

Florida Leg Two

2011-01-24T02:01:00.000-05:00

For Leg One click HERE.

At the gate KTPA

Ready for leg two now with SWA#2323. KTPA (Tampa) to KFLL (Fort Lauderdale). A quick turn around at KTPA and we were ready to go, adding 4'400lbs of fuel for 10'400lbs total on this short hop over Florida.

KTPA weather was a little different for departure with wind 012/08kts and CAVOK with temperatures at 18C. This was what I was expecting on arrival as they were now using the 36's at KTPA. Departure was the TPA.3 SID (vectors) off 36R it also happens to connect me direct to the arrival route into KFLL this pair is so close together.

Ready for taxi at KTPA

I was only planning a climb to FL250 where the wind was a little better than FL380 at 262/61kts. I was not in cruise very long but I was kept busy as the weather at KFLL was wind 012/08kts, clouds 4'200 few and a very mild 20C. No matter how I sliced it I was looking at a cross wind landing on either 27R or 09L.

Of course what ever I added to the FMC was going to be wrong and I would need to change it en route. True to Murphy's law, KFLL ATIS reported 27R in use and I had selected 09L. On a positive side the change in arrival would take me almost over KMIA (Miami Intl) and the excellent view of Miami beach on my arrival. For a real world shot of Miami Beach that I took while coming in to land at KMIA last spring click HERE. It is an amazing view flying north or south.

Arrival route over Miami

I encountered much more traffic in the Miami area due to the two major hubs in close range of each other. KFLL had much more traffic active than KTPA did on this Sunday. I had an AAL MD80 and US Air A320 ahead of me in the pattern for 27R.

This flight was much more orderly with a great flow to it and at the 1'000ft call I hand flew the final with the light crosswind that really did blow me off to the left as you can see in the shot below. I also found I had trouble on this landing with floating, not used to the light feeling the PMDG 737 has after flying the LVD 767 and PMDG 747 of late.

Short final 27R KFLL

After landing I took the long taxi back to the SWA gates near the 27R threshold and got a great view of the city of Fort Lauderdale in the distance.

KFLL gate and city of Fort Lauderdale

Quick note fellow simmers, I used two freeware city add on packages from Free Flow Scenery. Fort Lauderdale City and Miami City, both add fantastic cityscape to the airport areas around KFLL and KMIA respectively. I also used the Shipping scenery they have that adds shipping traffic in and around most of Florida. It really adds to the immersion as the buildings are a great back drop at both airports in the real world as is the shipping traffic, with many cruise ship ports in the area.

Check out the real world pics I too around KFLL/KMIA last spring by clicking HERE.

An afternoon in Florida

2011-01-23T22:29:00.004-05:00

With the cold temperatures here in the east (a low of -20C tonight) heading to Florida was a good idea today, even if it was only for a virtual afternoon.

Leg One: SWA2322

It's 9:30AM here in Buffalo and the pre flight and NG I am flying is ready to go. With strong south westerly winds forecast for the ride down south I added an extra 2'500lbs of fuel for the trip for a total of 19'400lbs.

I decided to follow what a Southwest Airlines crew did, doing two legs today. The first leg is KBUF (Buffalo) to KTPA (Tampa), then a short hop KTPA (Tampa) to KFLL (Fort Lauderdale).

Ready to taxi

Weather at KBUF was typical of winter in the north east during January. Wind 340/13kts with clouds 2'200 few and 3'600 broken, temperature was a cold -9C. Using runway 05 for take off and the BUF.2 departure (vectors to your first fix).

Heading for runway 05 KBUF

Traffic seems pretty sparse this Sunday morning around KBUF with only a few planes on the ramp. Their was no waiting and I was off a little early. I would need it due to the strong head winds.

I got a little distracted during this flight as I finally set up MSN on my laptop to chat with fellow simmer Onur and much to our delight it has video streaming through the laptop web cam.

So for the first time ever a fellow simmer was in the cockpit with me. This also showed me how important a sterile cockpit is.....
I set the FMC up (as I always do) with what the forecast said. But the wind was different than forecast so I had to do a last minute runway change from 32L to 18L in the FMC as I was mid way through the descent phase. Equally I had to adjust the rest of the way points on my arrival. With the added distraction of someone else in the cockpit chit chatting I got way behind the airplane and way too high on my approach (Using the DADES1 arrival).

ATIS for KTPA was reporting weather as winds 203/03kts clouds few at 4'000 and 7'000 broken and a balmy 18C. Just the type of warm weather I was hoping for and an insuing discussion of who got to go out side to do the walk around.

My terrible short final at KTPA runway 18L

After missing many things on the checklist I did manage to get set up nicely for the landing on 18L and at the 1'000ft call shut off the auto pilot and hand flew until touch down. It was not a pretty landing as I was way off the slope and floated it in 1/3 of the way down the runway, making for a long taxi ride back to my gate (C34). I also forgot to shoot lots of images during the landing.....been a while since I was in the NG too!

Gate C34 KTPA

It was great having a fellow simmer in the cockpit and well worth the distraction! And my hats off to the real world crews that have those million things going on and still can focus on the job at hand.

Ready for the next leg

Check Onurs blog as he did a flight Chicago O'hare to San Antonio today that should be posted later in the week.

For leg two of this series, KTPA-KFLL click HERE.

NFL Game Day

2011-01-17T02:37:00.001-05:00

It was NFL game day here in the Americas. Many televisions were tuned in to watch the games this weekend.

I had mixed feelings today as I am a Seattle Seahawks fan and I also lived in Chicago for a few years and couldn't help but become a fan of "da Bears".

These two teams were playing each other today to see who made it to the NFC championship game next week (and the winner of the NFC plays the winner of the AFC for the Super Bowl after that).

So I decided to do a flight between the two city's as they are also among my favorite places to fly in the flight sim world...

UAL985 from KSEA (Seattle) to KORD (Chicago O'Hare). It was an early morning flight leaving KSEA at 07:00 arriving in Chicago some four hours later at 13:00hrs CT.

N terminal KSEA

Departure weather at KSEA was not great and typical of the PNW this time of year. Wind was 200/12kts with clouds 900 broken in light rain with a temperature of 12C. This called for a MTN.5 departure from runway 16L and it was a bumpy ride out to say the least as a frontal boundary was directly over northern Washington state.

Taking to the active KSEA

Once I climb to my flight level of 35'000ft I enjoyed a great view of the sunrise and an awesome 135kt tail wind! I was eating up the real estate on my way east and running well ahead of time saving lots of fuel on the way too. Light snow flurries were forecast for Chicago later this afternoon but I would be in well ahead of them.

Sunrise in the 763 cockpit and a 135kt tail wind!

The trip east was mainly overcast the entire way but once I reached Illinois the clouds coverage started to break up. KORD arrival weather was wind 320/07kts with clouds 3'400ft few and 12'000 broken with a chilly -11C. KORD is nuts with many runway in use and busy KMDW (Midway) in the same vicinity as KORD.

I used the JVL.4 arrival on to runway 32L. In the real world you would get vectors to your approach but I had planned on flying from the last fix on the STAR KRENA, then flying down wind to the CGT VOR and turn base to my IAF JEEFF for 32L and a very long 30nm final!

On loooong down wind for 32L at KORD

I passed just east KMDW near the LUMPY fix at 5'000ft and was in and out of clouds all the way down until the 2'000ft call out. I shut the A/P and A/T off and hand flew the rest of the approach.

Short final 32L KORD

It's was a very quick 3hr 21min flight. For the record the Bears won.

Turn around at KORD

Maybe it will be a Bears vs Jets final and I can do a KJFK-KORD-KDFW run?

(the Super Bowl is in Dallas this year)

Muchalat Inlet

2011-01-09T23:25:00.001-05:00

Many moons ago, 1980 to be exact, I visited Muchalat Inlet on the west coast of Vancouver Island.

My brother in law was working for a pulp and paper mill in Gold River back then when I made my visit. I toured the mill he was working at that backed onto the sound and the view from the docks west out the sound is still etched in my brain like it was yesterday. Awesome wonder to put it lightly.......

I also just finished reading the book by Marin Faure "Success on the Step" about the late Bob Munro and the Kenmore Air Harbour. It is a great book that tracks the early years of Kenmore Air and some of it's founder Bob Munro's great flying adventures, many of them taking fishing charters to the west Vancouver Island area that I had visited back in 1980.

So a float plane flight was in the cards and the first one for the blog. I decided to use the excellent Carenado 185F on floats. Bob Munro was flying 180's before he got hooked on the DHC-2, so if it was good enough for Bob it was good enough for my VFR flight to Vancouver Island. Plus I picked up a POH for the 185 on Ebay for $5 a while back that goes great with my sim plane.

WAC chart with plotted route and 185 POH

I was flying from Orcas Island (KORS) in northern Washington State to Gold River Seaplane base (CAU6) using only my ADF and a WAC chart. The route was some 180nm, first climbing to 7'500ft and heading to the Nanaimo ADF, then turning WSW to the Torfino ADF. Once over Torfino and on the Pacific coast I would head WNW following the shore and my WAC E-15 chart and once near Nootka Sound I would point the nose of the 185F east into the Muchalat Inlet where the Gold River SPB is. To add to the fun and suspense, like Bob Munro's adventures that I had read in the book, I took off at 3:30PM to give me an hour and a half of day light, cutting it close on my arrival.

On the shore near KORS

Weather at KORS was cool but clear for the most part. Wind was from the north 050/15kts with a chill +1C and CAVOK. I pointed the 185F north and took off in no time heading towards Nanaimo. My seaplane flying needs work as I bounced a bit on take off.

Some great views were in store as the sun was setting and winds were bumpy but not too bad. 26 minutes later was the time from off the step until I passed over the Nanaimo ADF. Then I swung the SkyWagon WSW towards Torfino, tuning the Torfino ADF while turning. I noticed some patchy clouds at my flight level ahead and over the mountains towards Barkley Sound on the Pacific side of the Island. Maintaining VFR was important due to limited nav aids on my way up the coast.

Turning WSW over Nanaimo

The turbulence was much worse once over Vancouver Island. I hand flew the entire route and was really working the controls to keep the plane on course and at the proper attitude, the haze over the coast was also making things hard to see in the setting sun. With little head winds from the NE I was not behind by much but I could afford to lose no time due to the sun setting.

As I passed over the Torfino ADF and headed WNW up the coast I could see scattered clouds at 5'000ft up the coast and haze making it hard to spot land features and compare them to my WAC chart.

Near Torfino

I was feeling better once I spotted Flores Island through the clouds and haze and also seeing Estevan Point just ahead with little light to spare. I soon swung the plane ENE over Nootka Sound and headed in to the Muchalat Inlet.

Coming up on Estevan Point

It was getting pretty dark in the shadows of the inlet when I checked to weather, winds 310/04kts with clouds few at 5'000ft and a chilly 2C. It was not a long ride up the inlet before I made my turn back west to land and put the 185F down facing the Gold River SPB dock.

Heading through the Muchalat Inlet

1hr and 38min for the log book. For the sake of the awesome views I should have done this flight in full daylight. BTW, my seaplane landing was very similar to my take off, piss poor! Ahhh the fun of flight simulator though. What other way can I visit a place that is still in my mind thirty some years later from the comfort of my home office?

Gold River SPB

Also of note is the great PNW scenery done by Orbx FTX. The landscape matched my WAC and Sectionals to a tee.....well done Orbx team!

Hong Kong and happy new year!

2011-01-03T02:12:00.003-05:00

Ask any pilot or aviation enthusiast the most challenging approach and Hong Kong's Kai Tak runway 13 IGS is usually the first one they mention. Sadly it is now closed in the real world but we are fortunate to have it still in flight simulator. The freeware 9dragons is very well done and the payware FlyTampa version (used here on my blog) is even better...

I have done a couple flights into Kai Tak here on the blog, back in July 2009 and March 2009 as well. The flight sim world did not have many add on airports close to Kai Tak in the past so it was a destination rarely visited, but with the awesome freeware Thai flight sim stuff and even the payware WSSS by Imagine Sim it is becoming the jewel of a nice city pairing with some great add on airports (can't forget to mention Overland Sim's RKSI and Japan Airport Series, the later stuff they have done is amazing).

In late November along came another little payware gem from Thai Creation. Hanoi's Xin Chao Intl Airport for FS9. It's a great scenery and a short 500+ nm flight to/from Kai Tak.

So today's flight is for Cathay Pacific Cargo in the 747-400F. VVNB (Hanoi) to VHHX (Hong Kong Kai Tak). Flight CPA389.

Loading cargo at VVNB

We are pretty heavy for this leg, with the short flight we are hauling a little under 220'000lbs of cargo back to Hong Kong. Our ZFW was 584'000lbs and with 60'000lbs of fuel and our TOW is 644'000lbs meaning a fuel dump if we had any problems on take off. We are well under our max land should the trip go well, which we expected.

Weather at VVNB was wind 030/12kts and 14C with clouds scattered at 1'800ft and broken at 4'000ft in haze and 4 miles vis. Using 29L for take off and the HAK1B departure. Taxi out called for lots of throttle with the weight of the cargo.

Moving on runway 29L at VVNB

The trip east was fairly quiet and short with overcast most of the way along the R474 airway. Departure saw a little chop but nothing serious. My mind was on that awesome arrival at Kai Tak.

In my sim I have both Kai Tak (VHHX) and Chep Lap Kok (VHHH) in service with a small amount of traffic coming and going at Kai Tak (mostly Cargo and Domestic flights). And I also have runway 31 closed at Kai Tak to ensure an IGS 13 landing....of course provided the tail winds do not exceed 10kts and today the weather was just within limits, saving me from landing at VHHH.

Arrival weather for Kai Tak was wind 020/09kts with clouds 2'000 few, 2'500 scattered and 12'000 overcast at 11C and 6 miles vis. No Sid as I just flew to SIERA at FL70 and then the approach that takes me just south of Chep Lap Kok at 4'500 feet and the IAF of the NDB SL for a 16 mile final.

Aiming for the checker board

With the tail wind I left the A/T on until almost touch down but I hand flew the final 1000ft (you have to!!) and it was a thrill as always as you can see in the shot's below. I did land left of the center line but with this type of approach I was very happy with the results...

Turning right for short final runway 13

Almost there

I'm not too ashamed of this landing as it is very hard to fly visual while turning hard and looking to the right as well as having to watch the PFD, this is a great time to have a PNF with you to give you some cues but as most sim fliers know, we are on our own!

Unloading at Kai Tak

I also shot a HD video of the landing that you can catch on YouTube by clicking HERE

Tampa Bay

2010-12-31T00:59:00.001-05:00

Well the goal of doing 100 flight reports total for 2010 between Clear Left and Clear Right is going to fall short...

That being said Onur and I have had a blast sim flying and did not fall short by much. We are still at an average of close to one post a week each for the year.

Not to mention, if you added the flights that did not go on the log and the ones that ended up in the trash heap due to a CTD that every simmer has to endure now and then we would have gone over that 100 barrier with ease. (Onur recently canned a BIFK-KBOS flight on short final with the dreaded CTD!! We all hate that!)

On with my flight details....

I continued on with the next leg of the flight that saw me hold up in NYC for a couple days after landing in that horrendous snow storm that plunked almost two feet of snow on the Big Apple.

American Airlines AAL1787 KJFK - KTPA (New York Kennedy to Tampa Bay) in the LVD 767-300ER. We were pretty lite with the fuel for the short route but chock full of passengers that were eager to get moving after spending the past couple days stranded in NYC.

At the gate KJFK

Weather at KJFK was much better this afternoon with wind 325/14kts and scattered clouds at 12'000ft and a mild +2C to help melt that heap of snow. This set up a KENNEDY.1 departure off runway 31L, turning left soon after lifting off to avoid flying over Manhattan. I was expecting a normal flight on the way down with some tough head winds and the busy traffic on the east coast as is typical.

Rocket ship! Lift off 31L KJFK

Riding down seen some strong head winds from the south west that varied between 75kts growing to 110kts as I flew further south. This really ate into my time en route and I ended up being behind by 15mins on arrival.

Look at those head winds

KTPA weather was looking good for flying but not good for shorts and tee shirts as would be the norm in Florida. It was a cool 13C with wind 240/05kts and clouds 25'000 scattered. Using the DADES1 arrival onto runway 18R. I had a BAW 777 landing on 18L as I was coming in but little time to look at him as I hand flew the approach from the IAF at 4000ft and greased the landing.

Final for 18L KTPA

This is the new FS9 version of FlyTampa Rebooted and I hate to say it but the FSX version is much more stunning compared to the FS9 version. They really toned down some features in the FS9 version. Both versions come packaged together so it is great to see Martin and George still supporting FS9. But after test flying around the FSX version I was shocked at how much was left out of the FS9 version. Still a great scenery mind you but once you have had a FlyTampa steak it is tough to go back and eat an egg sandwich.

At the gate KTPA

Wanted to note too that I'm in love with the new winglet version of the LVD 767. What a nice treat from the LVD gang, putting out this free addition to a plane I bought some five years ago.

I also think the LVD 767 is a great looking plane, a blast to fly, works flawlessly, has a full systems simulation and is easy on the frame rates to boot.

I was so impressed at the gift they gave us I picked up the FSX version for $15! Another great deal they give you for owning the FS9 version....(the FSX version also comes with the free winglet addon)

Nor'easter

2010-12-26T20:25:00.011-05:00

I have had this route planned for a while, and little did I expect that when I flew it today I would be headed right into a classic nor'easter headed up the eastern seaboard. Not to mention it is also a weather bomb.

American Airlines AAL400 KDFW to KJFK (Dallas to New York) in the awesome LVD simulation 767-300ER with the recently released winglet version.

At the gate KDFW

Departure weather for the late morning flight was wind 010/03kts with clouds 2'800 few and 22'000 scattered. It was also a chilly 3C in Dallas today. Departure was off runway 36R using the TRISS.3 SID.

Rolling along on 36R KDFW

The route took me east over Atlanta and then north over Raleigh and Norfolk as I headed north up the coast. The center of the low was located just off shore near Raleigh. At some points during the cruise I seen top's as high as my flight level of 35'000ft as I neared Washington D.C.

Arrival weather was very poor for KJFK with wind 350/21kts gusting to 33kts with 1/4 mile visibility in moderate snow. To boot the ceiling was set at only 200ft scattered and 1'000 overcast at -3C, I used the CAMRN.4 arrival onto runway 31L

I flew the first approach until the 200ft minimums and didn't come close to seeing the runway so I executed a missed approach taking me to 3'000ft and vectors back to my IAF for try number two.

After reading about Onur's last flight into BIFK I brushed up on my missed approach and had a plan in action what I would do as the odds were pretty good that I was looking at a CATIII auto land. The problem being the cross winds were beyond auto land limits of 15kts (and anything below a CATI approach was limited to 15kts). But this being flight sim I took another stab at the landing and again I went missed at the 200ft call out.

Short final 31L KJFK

So I decided on an auto land on my third try (even though I suspect it would be against SOP for many airlines). As I flew over the threshold at a touch over 100ft I could see the runway and the wicked crab my 767 was in. I turned off the A/P at the ten foot call out and swung the nose around to the left with the rudder just before the touch down. Not a pretty landing but considering the weather I was pretty pleased at the 767's performance and my landing skills.

Taxi back to the gate was also an adventure as you can see....

Taxi to the gate KJFK

To check out a HD video of the landing click below

HD VIDEO HERE

Crappy weather at KJFK

3hrs 26min on the log and after an hour layover I hope to head south on my second leg of the day to some better weather in Tampa....

(EDIT: The KJFK-KTPA flight was cancelled due to weather. It was even worse as the day went on! Maybe tomorrow...)

Holiday Destination

2010-12-06T00:08:00.001-05:00

With winter knocking on the door across the northern hemisphere nothing beats a flight to warmer weather. It also gave me an excuse to fly to Turkey and use the new LTAI scenery by Aerosoft.

Terrible weather at LOWW

Today's flight is Austrian 285 taking some holiday resort customers from LOWW (Vienna) to LTAI (Antalya) in the 737-700.

Weather at LOWW was winter in full swing with temperature -14C in light snow. Visibility was less than 2 miles with wind 070/02kts and clouds 200ft scattered. IFR weather for sure.....

Rolling along on runway 11 LOWW

Using the SASA1A departure off runway 11 we headed south east over Hungary, Romania and Bulgaria towards the south west coast of Turkey and the Mediterranean Sea. We had a nice 46kt tail wind most of the trip and a calm flight but once over Bulgaria we had some light turbulence all the way down towards Antalya.

Coming down over Antalya

Arrival weather for Antalya was a mild 18C with light winds from the north at 317/04kts, clouds 3'000ft scattered and 10'000ft broken. The published SID I used was BRONZ1D and as you turn for your downwind your at 11'000 or above to clear the mountains to the west of the airport.

But then your really high and hot trying to get down to 1'500ft for your IAF. I had to vector myself out over the Mediterranean south of the airport to bleed off some altitude and speed.

Final for 36C LTAI

I turned north and headed back to runway 36C at LTAI and made a nice landing. Not to mention the weather was thirty degrees warmer than when we left Vienna! Wish we were laying over so I could enjoy a couple Efes Pilsen's on a patio some place here.......maybe next time!

Quick turn around at LTAI

We are still pushing for 100 flights between us (Onur and I). I hope to do some more simming this week......if not for sure next weekend...

F33A Bonanza

2010-11-15T01:21:00.001-05:00

Da dum, da dum da dum da dum Bonanza! As I set my Seattle sectional on fire....

OK, we all know the theme song and opening scene to the old TV show of the same name and so I just had to do it....

Did you know I have been pulling my hair out with HAL_I7? He will run smooth for a few days and then all of a sudden I will get constant BSOD for no apparent reason. Even after setting him back to to default values (after I had him running well at 4.0Ghz) the X58 chip set turns out is really finicky. The memory controller is now on the CPU that has made it a world of fun getting HAL_I7 to run stable.

Anyway, long story short I spent most of the past week tweaking ram timings and voltages instead of sim flying. But I *think* I found a sweet spot and HAL_I7 is running like a champ again.

So with limited time I put my money where my mouth is and did a short hop general aviation flight in the Carenado Bonanza F33A from Stark's Twin Oaks airport (7S3) in Oregon, to Walter Sutton's private air strip (WA79) in Washington state just across the Columbia River Gorge.

The two airports are only 40nm apart but the weather in the area made it fun and challenging. Wind was from the north at 10kts, gusting to 20kts with clouds 5'000 broken and light rain showers in the area at 12C.

Taking off from runway 20 at Stark's I turned north west and then tuned the Newburg VOR and tracked the 340 radial for 35 DME keeping me well clear of the KPDX airspace. Once at 35 DME I turned to a heading of 070 and headed just north of Woodland State airport (W27). Just after Woodland, on the southern shores of lake Merwin, high on the ridge, is Walters Private Strip......

Runway 20 7S3

Walter's is as basic as it gets. Being just a mowed field in the middle of a farm. I have done this flight many times in the sim and always have the same issue, finding Walter's in the middle of all the other farms. I know it is 40 DME on the 010 radial for Newburg and in line with the little hill named "Tum-Tum". But with the rain and me getting knocked around pretty good it was hard to hold my heading, watch the ridges (MSA is 4'900FT) and look for Walter's place down below. I always find it hard to spot......

Walter's Private Strip off my left wing

After finding Walter's I had to circle around the airport about three times to shed some speed and get lined up (the F33A is a racy bugger). Setting up for an approach here is tough as the field is in a bowl of sorts with trees at the west end and a small ridge at the east end. I ended up making a curved approach and salvaged a pretty good landing really for the poor approach.

Best I could do.....

I would end up cleaning the long grass off the Bonanza at the end of the day as I had a tough time keeping her on the small center line of the narrow area that is mowed for the runway. Notice no runways numbers? The are simply called "east" and "west"......

Walter shot this one, scary huh?

In reality I find this airport much easier to cope with in the 172 or even more suited for the Piper Cub. The F33A is a little too sleek for my skills here. It was not a flight to be proud of for me. Not to mention it would be wiser to fly here on a nicer day as far as the weather goes.....
Time to clean the grass off of her......

40 minutes on the log.....I'm hankering for an airline flight, maybe next weekend.....

LOT Polish Airlines....

2010-11-08T03:30:00.004-05:00

At the start of the year Onur and I figured that we could get 100 flights done between us. While that 100 flight mark is still possible, what was looking like a sure thing in June is not looking like it is going to happen at the rate we have been racking up the flight hours the past couple of months. BAH! Just a lack of time. Hopefully December will be much more kind to us as far as time goes.

On a recent spotting session at CYYZ I seen a LOT Polish Airlines 767-300ER and it reminded me how much I love their simple and classic paint scheme. McPhat did a freeware version of the LOT 767-300ER for the LVD.

LOT 767-300ER I shot at CYYZ in October

Today's flight is FLT#LOT285 EPKT (Katowice) to EGLL (London Heathrow). LOT does not do a direct flight like this in the real world (you would have to make a stop at EPWA), this is flight simulator and you can create your own routes....

LOT#285 at EPKT

Departure weather at EPKT was cool and wet. Winds 120/05kts and light rain at 10C. Visibility was good though for this early morning departure to England. Clouds were broken at 3'600ft.

A large low was moving across the Alps region and was creating overcast conditions across most of central Europe. But the track we were using kept us well north of the turbulence. We took the UL980 airway that had us cross over Muenster and Amsterdam before we headed out over the channel.

Coming down over the channel

Scattered heavy showers were all around EGLL as I made my way down over the channel. Even some CB's were popping up. Arrival weather for EGLL was wind 135/11kts with clouds 8'500ft and visibility greater than 10 miles, reduced in showers that were west of the airport.

The arrival in use was the LAM 3A onto 09L at EGLL. From the LAM VOR you fly downwind north of the airport for 34 miles DME and then turn left base for final to 09L.

I want to throw a big shout out to my man Stu who fly's as an A320 F/O for ACA. I have to thank him for the expired Jepp Charts he shoots my way. Last batch of updates he gave me had the 19-XX charts included (Airport Familiarization photo's) for EGLL, very cool to say the least.

Jepp 19-XX charts for EGLL....

You get a 10 mile final on 09L after turning base. As I was on my base leg I encountered heavy showers, just as I was turning final I broke out and hand flew her in for the last five miles and aced it.

Short final 09L EGLL

So I got another flight under my belt and 2 hours 17 minutes on the log. I am only a couple legs away from keeping up my end of the bargain!

Parked at EGLL...

Might do a general aviation flight in the new ORBX Pacific Fjords next.....

Fly Emirates

2010-10-22T22:20:00.007-04:00

SkyCargo that is....

No this is not a flight to Dubai, it is a short haul cargo flight in the ever lovely PMDG 747-400F for Emirates SkyCargo from LEBL (Barcelona) to EDDM (Munich). Heck, with my busy real life fall schedule it's been over a month since my last sim flight and I was due, so I decided on a short hop.

I am hoping to do a leg onward to OMDB (Dubai) later this weekend though. But with the many choices we have with flight simulator that may or may not happen. The Korean F1 GP is on this weekend and I may get a hankering to fly there too. It will be in the 747-400F what ever the flight is.

Enough of that and on with our flight tonight.....UAE133.

Pushed back on the cargo ramp at LEBL

As with most cargo operations this flight was late at night and it makes for a less eventful flight as far as I am concerned. I do love the night lighting around the airports but the sky is sparse with air traffic and you do not have much to look at out the window en route. I missed a good view of the Alps tonight for example. I know on this blogs sister site (Clear Right) Onur's says he loves flying at night better but I would much rather fly during the day. Sorry to have to disagree Onur!

Departure weather at LEBL was wind 353/05kts and clouds few at 2'500. Temperature was 15C calling for a departure off runway 07L using the AGENA1M SID. We were very light tonight with only 65'000lbs of cargo and a ZFW of 430'106lbs.

Rolling along on 07L LEBL

The route took me out over the Mediterranean Sea and then up the west coast of Italy over the Alp's having me approaching Munich from the south.

Short final 08L EDDM

Weather at EDDM was CAVOK with no wind at a chilly 4C. Using the IBIR1M arrival onto runway 08L. I hand flew the visual approach too after getting vectors to my final approach fix for a ten mile final. The Queen is a pleasure to fly and every time I do fly her, I fall in love with her all over again. She is a must have airplane for FS9.

Taxi bridge at EDDM

In reality I should have used 08R as it would have put me closer to the cargo ramp and saved me a few minutes of taxi time. But I wanted to try going over the taxi bridges at EDDM as the Aerosoft version is very well done and even at night the airport seemed alive with service traffic milling about.

Cargo ramp EDDM

Start up to shut down was 1 hour and 50 minutes on the log and I got to try out the two new Aerosoft scenery's LEBL and EDDM, both are top notch (Done by Sim Wings and The German Airports Team). Toss in the PMDG Queen Of The Sky and it was a perfect flight. Keep an eye on the blog this weekend as I do plan on getting in another flight or two.....

I shot this picture of a real life F/A for Emirates last weekend during a horse race sponsored by Fly Emirates....(and yes I got a hat too)

Emirates Flight Attendant

Back to Buffalo

2010-09-13T23:28:00.003-04:00

LEG TWO: (click HERE for leg one)

Heading back to Buffalo is flight SWA#304. KMDW (Chicago Midway) to KBUF (Buffalo). A quick 30min turn around and we were heading back to Buffalo.

Pushed back, two good starts....

Departure weather at KMDW has not changed much. Wind 360/03kts and few clouds at FL200 with a warm 25C. Calling for the MID.4 departure off runway 04R with vectors to the first fix on the flight LEWKE. The 737-700 took to the air with ease. Not sure why so many people claim to have issues getting off the ground at KMDW. Maybe they are over loaded?

Rolling along on runway 04R KMDW

The ride down was great and I gained lots of time with the tail wind that dogged us coming here, now helping speed us along on the way back east. This time flying over Detroit, parts of south west Ontario and over the middle of Lake Erie.

The arrival route was easy as KBUF has no STAR procedures. Just fly straight in to your transition fix. This is where my Bulfer FMC manual is great. Teaching you little tricks on adding your own way points. I added a way point beyond the DKK VOR (DKK090/50) to smooth over the route to the transition of CORVU before my IAP. The ride in was a bit bumpy but nothing serious. CB's were in the area but moving south east and well away from the airport.

Charlie Bravo's in the area near KBUF

Arrival weather was wind 259/09kts and clouds 2'500 few with 4'000 scattered and 22C. Much the same as when I left. Using runway 23 still, auto brakes 2 and flaps 30.

Short Final 23 KBUF

I shut the autopilot off at the 1'000 feet call and aced the landing. One hour and sixteen minutes block time. Fly Tampa's KBUF is, as always, excellently done.....

Yes KBUF recycles....

After shut down we headed across the road over to the Playboy club for a beer and chicken wings (I wonder if it is still there?).

KBUF would be my American home airport. It is only an hour and a half drive from where I live (and only an hour drive from CYYZ) and many people drive down and fly out of there taking advantage of the cheaper flights across the USA.

South West Departing From Buffalo

2010-09-13T19:37:00.005-04:00

SWA#825, KBUF (Buffalo) to KMDW (Chicago Midway).

A mid afternoon flight in the PMDG 737-700. Departure weather at KBUF was wind 260/09kts with clouds few 2'500, 4'000 scattered and 10'000 scattered with temperature of 21C.

At the Gate KBUF

The departure was off runway 23 to the south west using the BUF.2 SID. Vectors to JHW VOR and then to the DJB VOR and on the J60 jetway.

Rolling on runway 23 at KBUF

J60 takes you along the south shore of Lake Erie. Past places like Erie and Cleveland. The headwinds at FL380 were well over 100kts for most of the trip.

Arrival weather at KMDW was looking good though. Wind was 006/03kts, CAVOK, and temperature of 27C. Calling for a GSH.3 arrival on runway 04R.

Short final 04R KMDW

Runway 04R is just a touch over 6'400 feet. I used auto brake MAX and flaps 40. Nothing like plunking your 737 down in the middle of a city block. I hand flew the last 1'000 feet and took over the throttle at the 500 foot call out. Not much room for error here at Midway.

At the gate KMDW

One hour and thirty five minutes on the log.

I would like to do the return leg later this evening if I have the time.

A quick side note, I flew with a heavy heart today. My favorite first officer's old age finally got the best of him and we had to see him off last week. Been a long time since I flew without my dog Chance by my side in the right seat here. The shot below is from last March as we did the briefing into KPDX.

RIP old buddy!

Approach Briefing with my F/O Chance

Grenadines Leg Five

2010-09-01T21:14:00.003-04:00

I decided to take off from runway 27 due to the light winds. It is a tough place to get any ATIS reports to be honest. Mostly unicom channels and lack of other traffic had me looking at wind socks.

TGZP runway 27

A quick left turn south east after take off took me out over the Saline and White Island's. I tuned the POS VOR (at TTPP Port Of Spain) and tracked that south east.

Saline and White Island's near Carriacou

I encountered heavy cloud cover at 5'500ft and was being alert to the possible convective activity that can occur late afternoon in these hot and humid areas. Fortunately I did not encounter any.

I tracked the POS VOR until I picked up the TAB ADF at TTCP (Crown Point). And headed direct for it. Again using the GPS coordinates and my WAC chart keeping tabs on where I was over the open water.

Over open water heading towards TTCP

I planned on using the ILS/DME to runway 11 at TTCP. Once I was 12 miles DME from the runway I made my final approach.

On final for runway 11 TTCP

Just as the sun was setting I touched down. I could still taxi to the ramp in daylight.

Taxi to the ramp

This leg was 1hr 02 minutes. For a total over the five legs of 3hrs 03 minutes.

Grenadines Leg Four

2010-09-01T21:03:00.003-04:00

Leg four is TVSU (Union) to TGPZ (Carriacou). Another short hop.

Power coming up at TVSU....

After take off was a climbing right turn out over Palm Island heading south. Towards the west side of Carriacou Island where TGPZ is located.

Palm Island

TGPZ has a 2'600ft runway with a road going through the middle of it. No cars today as I repeated my intentions on the unicom.

Short Final TGPZ

All along the routes today Fly Tampa has places AI ships and sail boats moving around, adding to the immersion. I found the autogen to be lacking though.

TGPZ ramp area.

This leg was a short 10 minute hop. The next leg south east back to TTCP (Crown Point) is a little over an hour with the head winds. And dusk is upon us too...

Grenadines Leg Three

2010-09-01T20:48:00.003-04:00

Leg three is another short hop.

TVSM (Mustique) to TVSU (Union Island).

TVSU actually has the shortest runway of the airports we visit today at 2'500ft dead on.

Taxi out from TVSM

I actually skipped a visit to TVSC (Canouan) that is included in the FT version of the Grenadines. But flying over the islands covered in the series was a treat.

Powering up at TVSM on runway 09

Such as this little spot of paradise. Mayreau Island. No airport there and it lies between Union and Canouan Islands.

Mayreau Island

TVSU is a little tricky as runway 08 is hidden by a hill side and requires a steep approach. Remember I'm winging it here in a bird I have little time in and some airports I know little about.

Final for runway 08 TVSU

At least the weather was on my side. I had a bit of a cross wind there but the BN2 is very forgiving.

Almost down

Leg time was 19 minutes.

Off to TGPZ (Carriacou Island) next

Grenadines Leg Two

2010-09-01T20:36:00.003-04:00

Next leg is from TVSB (Bequia) to TVSM (Mustique).

Runway 12 TVSB

This leg is a very short hop. Up in the air and then back down again. All the while prepping your mind for the landing at TVSM.

The runway at TVSM is short at a touch over 2'500ft and sloped at both ends. Certified for STOL aircraft only. Like landing in a bowl.

Short final TVSM

The BN2 wants to stay in the air with full flaps. She floats on her own. In all honesty she feels like a Cessna 172! You really have to flare to get her to touch down. And once she is down she stops on a dime.

Down at TVSM

Traffic is very light here as I only have the FT traffic running and no custom AI like I do for FS9.

Taxi off, see the slope?

Again we do a short turn around. Enough time to add some log entry. And open/close the doors and we start her up again.

Leg time was 11 minutes

Off to TVSU (Union Island) next.

Grenadines Leg One

2010-09-01T20:18:00.004-04:00

Yes, leg one of five I did in the Grenadines today. Using Fly Tampa's Grenadines package and Latin VFR's version of TTCP.

I know Liat airlines currently only has Q300's in their fleet. But they used to have BN2-Islanders so this is what I went with. No Liat repaint for her so you will not see exterior shots. She is a real bute on the inside (the Flight1 BN2). So you will love the cockpit shots.....

Today's legs were as follows.

TTCP-TVSB-TVSM-TVSU-TGPZ-TTCP.

Some of the legs very short, book ended with two one hour plus stints from/to TTCP (Crown Point, Tobago).

Weather for the trip was clouds scattered at 3'200 and a mild 32C. Wind was from easterly 115/11kts. It stayed this way through most of the legs today.

Taxi to the active (RW 11) TTCP.

These were my first flights on the log for the BN2. I have done plenty of practice in her.

It is a pleasure to fly, like a giant sized Cessna 172. Much louder than the Cessna, even the F1 version of the BN2 can pound your ear drums into oblivion. My ears still ring after my three plus hours of flight time in her today.

I had trouble finding a POH for this bird but from some of the reading I did find it's a pretty basic bird to fly. Remember 70kts as that is the rotation speed, and landing speed......

First leg was the longest from TTCP (Crown Point in Tobago) to TVSB (J.F Mitchell on Bequia in the Grenadines).

I used the BN2 GPS as my moving map (just using the coordinates and a WAC chart for the Caribbean I have, it has no moving map). And I also used VOR's and ADF's to navigate my way around. I had a nice tail wind for the trip north and was topping out at 12okts....

The landing at TVSB was a greaser with it's big 3'600ft plus length.

Short final TVSB

Leg time was 1hr 21 minutes

It was a short turn around and then off to TVSM (Mustique Island).

Back in the saddle again!

2010-08-25T22:39:00.005-04:00

I know, I know....

It has been over a month since my last flight. But I have been busy as hell and also built a new computer system for flight simming.

You read all about my new system by clicking HERE.

I also had to install all my flight sim software again, For two sims! Not to mention the freeware shit too. Then tweak the hell out of it.

And to boot Jure and Fengz from the AVSIM forums got me hooked on the ENB series gfx modification that caused me to go into a further frenzy of tweaking to get it looking right. (thank you again Jure for your help!)

Enough of that and on with the flight.....

The new HAL I7 at work.....

Back in the saddle is a fitting title due to the fact I am heading to cowboy country. Dallas Texas.

American Airlines flight #532. KLAS (Las Vegas) to KDFW (Dallas). Flying in my old hat the PMDG 737-800. Both amazing scenery were done by FSDT.

AAL#532 at the gate KLAS

Weather at KLAS was HOT! We are talking 39C hot to be exact. Wind was 210/13kts and clouds 11'000 few, 16'000 scattered. Using the COWBY2 departure off the very long runway 25R. I even did a derated thrust takeoff with this heat due to the length (just over 14'000 feet). It seemed like I rolled along forever out there before rotation.

Rolling along 25R KLAS

The ride east was a touch over 900nm and about half way took me over the city of Albuquerque. Lots of South West Airlines traffic in the area along the J72 airway. I used the UKW9 arrival for KDFW and runway 35C keeping me close to my terminal. KDFW is a gigantic airport and we encountered a shit load of traffic. They seemed to be coming from every where on the arrival route.

Weather at KDFW was wind 333/06kts with clouds 10'000 scattered and 26C. You fly down wind after UKW VOR and turn left base to your runway. This is where what seemed like airplanes coming from every which way. Even with AI smooth running. KDAL (Love field) is also in very close proximity to compound the traffic mess. I wonder if someone (like Jim Vile) has done an approach fix like they did for KDEN and KATL. Going to have to check....

Final for runway 35C KDFW

I greased that landing man! I was a bit over my VREF but better a touch too fast than slow. And it has been a while since I was in the PMDG 737 too. It's still one of the best no matter what they might say.

Taxi to the gate.

The FSDT version of KDFW is another piece of art from that team. It looks and runs great.

I also loved the ENB series added to the sim. It seems to give it more volume and looks less washed out and flat. Not that it looked "bad" before. I just love the way the lighting changes as you look around in the VC too. And going from sunny to cloudy.

With my new PC I can turn things up a bit in FSX, like the autogen for example. ORBX looks even better if you can imagine that being possible.

I might do a FSX flight with VFR Germany next (it looks awesome with the autogen cranked up).

Far East

2010-07-20T16:11:00.004-04:00

I'm back in the MD11 for this flight in the far east. China Cargo #881 VHHH - WSSS. Hong Kong's Chep Lap Kok to Singapore. I picked the "new" version of Imagine Sim's Hong Kong up on sale with a couple other airport's they did (they have a bundle deal). By "new" I mean newer than Kai Tak and it was the last airport IS did before the release of WSSS. I did all this when I bought the new Imagine Sim WSSS.

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

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

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

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

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

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.

VFR PNW Leg Four

2010-07-07T00:02:00.001-04:00

Leg Four:

Last leg of the VFR tour. Taking us from 2S1 (Vashon Municipal) to 7S3 (Starks Twin Oaks) via some sight seeing of the mountains on the way down.

I grabbed some lunch on Vashon Island and planned on heading out just after 5:30PM local time.

I hopped in the rented Piper Arrow IV and the fuel tanks were only half full as I requested due to the high trees and power lines at each end of the strip here. And being on grass with the rain we had yesterday made it softer and would account for a slower take off roll.

KSEA ATIS said 323/12kts and clouds few at 4'000ft with a warm 24C.

Rolling along in the grass at 2S1

Taking off from runway 35 I just barely cleared the tree there at the end of the runway as I was making a left hand turn to track south to the end of the Puget Sound and making a left turn east over the port of Tacoma. I snapped over 100 images on this flight and as cool as the port looks in the sim it didn't make the list of finalists for the post!

I climbed to 8'5ooft and cruised along head on towards Mount Rainer and then made a right hand turn after getting close for some shots to head south.

14'500ft Mt. Rainer

The Arrow struggled for air speed in the turbulence blowing down the slopes and as I headed south to get a view of Mt. Saint Helens I descended down to 7'500ft and flew down the Toutle River Valley east bound and made a left hand turn in front of Mount Saint Helens and got a great view of Spirit Lake off the left wing.

Spirit Lake

I kept turning left until I was headed west along the river valley and got a great photo of the snoring giant as I passed in front of her again. If you click HERE you can see a great comparison shot of the real deal I took...

Mount Saint Helens

I headed west for a minute or two to see the Toutle River Valley view to the west and then turned again heading south over the Swift reservoir.

Toutle River Valley

I descended to 6'500ft as I headed south west towards Mount Hood and came over the Columbia River Gorge at the Bonneville Dam and Cascade Locks. My better half Christine got a great shot of the dam in real life, you can compare it to the sim by clicking HERE. ORBX PNW does a great job with the immersion.

Cascade Locks Bonneville Dam

After clearing the gorge we got a close look at Mount Hood standing 11'200ft high. The air was steady and the Arrow was holding out like a trooper at this lower altitude.

Mount Hood

I then swung the Arrow west again headed straight for 7S3, using the GPS to make sure I avoided KPDX air space, staying just south of it. I also descended to 2'000ft and tuned KHIO ATIS to get the weather at 7S3. Wind reported 151/10kts no clouds and a very warm 30C. No matter how I sliced it I was making a cross wind landing. Choosing runway 20 for landing. The airport info I got from AOPA said lots of high trees in the area around runway 20 threshold. The runway is a little over 2'40oft but only 48ft wide!

Glacier Rock Quarry

I used the above quarry as a visual reference point as the airport is just west of it but I actually over flew the airport and had to go around and come back again for another landing. Trees surround the east end of the field and it was going to be a tough landing. In hind sight I should have chose runway 02.

Short final for runway 20 7S3

I had just cleared a tree top in the shot above and had to drop it in to land. It was a smooth landing but I did not have much runway to spare after touching down and I had to get hard on the brakes.

It's a little after 7PM local time and I logged 1 hour and 44 minutes for the 200+ nm trip. Thankful I had that auto pilot as I used it from lifting off at 2S1 until I turned west after Mount Hood.

Parked for the night

I think I'm taking a FedEx MD-11F out of KPDX on my next trip. Not sure where yet.

The PNW is one of my favorite places on earth in real life as well as in the sim and ORBX made it very realistic as did the A2A Cub, SibWings Bird Dog and the Carenado 172N and Piper Arrow IV.

Thanks for looking!

LINKS: