Alastair, Alastair....? I think you are the only member of the Flight Club who doesn't ever fly in his own neighborhood! “…plenty of interest…in the western United States”?
Okay, well, before I get to February I want to be sure that everyone is caught up (truthfully) about all of the events of January. One great thing about this Flight of the Month Club is that it lets us have our “other” FS lives too. Not just FS, some of us have Real Lives and Jobs to distract us too! Anyway, at some point each month it seems that we are able to meet up at each destination, but we’ve never met up someplace at the same time.
So in January we had our first-ever “Flight Club Fly-In.” Some of us had completed the January FOTM and others were on the way TO Japan but on Sunday January 18th we all met up in Perth, West Australia. More on that in just a bit but it was really great to see (almost) everyone together!
As for me, I had completed the January FOTM at Yakota AB in Tokyo and needed to find my way (back) to Australia. In his January FOTM Bill directed us to http://www.flightlookup.com/ and I must say, "WAY COOL, MAN!" So, from Yakota I took an S-3 Viking to Fukuoka [Pict. 01] , and then tried to look up some shorter flights which would get me into Perth. I wasn't ready to be told what planes to fly but I was curious about the routes and timing, and this would sort of mirror my own real world tour of the Far East. So here's what I did:
Fukuoka to Taipei like Cathay 511; only I'd fly the Flight Club's A320 [Pict. 02] . Taipei to Manila like EVA Air 271; only I'd fly my own repaint of the Default 737 called Paradise Air. Manila to Kai Tak like Cathay 900; only I'd fly the Cebu Pacific DC-9. (Happy now Tony? I kept it a little closer to home). [Picts 03 and 04 crossing the new HK airport on my way to a rather poor landing] Finally, Hong Kong to Perth, like Cathay 171 (a “red-eye” special); only I'd be flying a gorgeous reflective repaint of the Default Pacifica 777.
[Picts 05 and 06 ]
I arrived in Perth a day early to scope out the scene in the Woodart Design's Dash 7 (Thanks for letting me borrow it Tony). The morning of the Fly-In I felt a bit uncomfortable…since we were flying in Bill’s homeyards I had asked him about “proper Perth behavior” and he had told me some rather strange things, but people in Perth may seem strange to an American, so I followed his directions. I left from Gingin (north of Perth) in said Dash 7. As I flew over Pearce Military AB I was joined by Salina (who at one point thought she was back in her Spitfire and tried to buzz my left wing off!). We flew over Jandakut were Peter and Bill joined us on the flight, and with live voice chat. Alastair and Tony joined us at Perth and then we were off to Rottnest Island. I was circling while Bill made an excellent landing and soon Salina joined him. After a marginal landing on my part I parked up near the others and climbed out of my Shorts (HA! the plane not my ACTUAL boxers). But see, here’s the problem; Bill had instructed me to wear boxer shorts with pink lip prints as well as that shiny white anti-sunburn stuff on my nose! Poor Salina was torn between laughter and nausea! Meantime, Alastair had arrived and our poor “proper Brit” was so shocked (or was that blinded by the WHITE – you see, it’s winter here and my legs haven’t seen the light of day since that Floatplane flight up to Victoria BC) that he struck his head on one of the props of my Dash 7, gashed open his scalp and was knocked unconscious!
Peter arrived and exclaimed, “Bloody hell Ron, put those things away!” So while I looked around for a place to hide, Salina revived Alastair. (Now, don’t jump to conclusions, she used the only thing she had, a 500 ml bottle of ice-cold Mango Nectar Juice). Soon enough Tony arrived and in typical fashion hobbled over to ask, “Hey, what’s going on?” [Picts 07 and 08 ]
Just then I heard the familiar tune of La Cucaracha playing. Instinctively I looked around for the Metallic Blue, Hydraulic-Suspensioned Chevy Impala but this was not the San Fernando Valley, it was Tony’s Cellular phone. “Whhhhhheblackey, Yellow?”
“Ahhhhh, Begrüßungen mein Freund. Warum sind Sie nicht hier mit uns? Mumbai?!?! What the ……. Oh no! Are you okay? Well, good luck then. Oh, no I’ll tell them, you don’t…..” (Tony really is a complex individual who has a much deeper intellect than one might expect – just goes to show that you can’t judge a book by it’s cover.)
Tony explained that Hans was on the way to the Fly-In but had some technical difficulties and a few crashes and was in hospital, unable to attend. Just then my own phone began ringing. It was Hans, explaining that he had been having some problems and would not be making the Fly-In. Well, at least he had made a good effort to get to Perth. Suddenly Peter’s phone began ringing. It was Hans, explaining that…..well, you get the idea. He proceeded to call each one of us to tell us that he wouldn’t be coming to the Fly-In. Meantime, Bill had powered up his plane and “left the session.” (I’m assuming that he felt guilty for giving me bad advice)
Those of us remaining continued on to Pearce Military where Alastair (I’m not yet sure if the slurred speech was from the head trauma or from the sticky Mango Nectar which now clung in long slimy strands from his matted beard), told us to head for “Lath Vegath and den tay tuned for direction on a Gand Canyon Tour” HUH? Over on the tarmac I saw my next flight waiting for me. So I excused myself (and my boxer shorts) from the Fly-In and took a LOOOONG flight from Perth, to Vandenburg AFB, which is just North of Santa Barbara, CA. [Picts 09 and 10 ]
(Even with using the great An225 I needed some virtual mid-air refueling and NO, Peter, I'm not able to actually DO THAT like you can. [See his Sept.'03 PIREP for details.]) I left in the late morning with 50% fuel and somewhere over the Solomon's I selected Aircraft > Fuel > 100%. With waypoints over the Solomons, Kiribati, Johnson Atoll, Hawaii and an approach from the north, I arrived in mid-afternoon. There was just enough time to catch a QUICK flight down to my old High School stomping grounds (See our Extra on the Side Flights); Vandenburg AFB, over the Channel Islands to Pt. Mugu NAS in the F-8 Crusader! [Picts 11 and 12 ]
After a week in the Ventura/Oxnard/Camarillo area I was nearly ready to move on when I received an e-mail from another one of our South American pilots, Brad. He wasn’t sure that he could make the flight as Alastair had laid out, via San Jose and all, so we worked out that I would meet him at Santa Monica after his flight up to LAX. So I arranged with my old Firefighting contacts in the southland to have their OV-10 Bronco delivered to Camarillo for me to pick-up. So, Camarillo, over my old High School, down the Malibu coastline following PCH (Too bad it was a really hazy/foggy morning; visibility was 3 miles up through 2,200 ft) [Pict. 13] in to Santa Monica, then up to Van Nuys (we noticed that the famous HOLLYWOOD sign is half-buried in the default texturing) and along the mountains, [Pict. 14] over Big Bear and Lake Arrowhead. Finally we turned south to land at the CDF “Ryan” air attack base in Hemet, CA. (Where there is a default scenery bug placing the runway about 15 feet below ground level)
At this point Brad and I were without wings. So I pulled some old strings at the CDF and we managed a ride to March AFB in the back of a Fire Con Crew van. After that little experience, Brad felt that he could take care of himself better than I. The last I saw of him he was climbing into a convertible Corvette with a young Hispanic beauty at the wheel (maybe he was right?)
When I was a youngster in Southern California, March AFB was a SAC Airbase housing many B-52 bombers. As for the fate of the airbase now…..we’ll have to ask Harlan or some of our other SoCal pilots about that, I’m not sure what they do with it now. But today, I strapped myself into the Flight Club’s F-86 Sabrejet [Pict. 15] and headed northeast, past Mt. San Gorgonio and on in to Las Vegas. [ Pict. 16 – Notice the speed brakes at the top of descent] That’d be Nellis AFB to be exact!
Leg Two: “Sightseeing”? Alastair, you must be crazy! If you had read Peter’s On the Side flight suggestion from way back last year (Called The Dam Challenge) you’d know that sightseeing is for wimps! So I began making arrangements with the Red Flag/Top Gun School at Nellis to borrow one of their aircraft. I was just ready to sign on the line, releasing the Sepecat Jaguar to me (I thought Alastair would appreciate that) when I was contacted by my old friend Alejandro who was having some problems of his own, due to the cold dryness of the Nevada desert. The freezing cold temps and humidity factors below 25% were causing some serious visual problems for our Venezuelan friend. Thus, he was having headaches, hand numbness and felt that he was unable to fly.
We needed a TWO-SEATER; so they graciously re-assigned me into an “Aggressor” TA-4. “No problem” I assured Alejandro, “I’ll be happy for the company.” (I also read a report once from Bill Smith, which suggested that aerobatics could be used to cure sinus problems…) So, once Alejandro was safely strapped into the back seat, we headed south for the lead-in to Hoover Dam. “AIr, be sure your G-suit is plugged in!”
[Note, I was so caught up in the fact that I had a chance to fly two legs in one day AND the fact that I’d get to shoot some Class 4-5 rapids in the Skyhawk that I set out immediately from Nellis. Later, I discovered that it was nearly 4 PM local time, shadows were lengthening and I was still using real world weather. Framerates were running 12 fps for 5 secs then a 0.5 sec freeze, then 14 fps for 5 secs and another 0.5 secs freeze, then 9.7 fps for 5 secs and a freeze, 11.3 for 5 then a freeze ……I was also feeling a bit disappointed in the default texturing but more on that in the next paragraph. I know that Microsoft has tried to keep things computer and framerate friendly, and I know that there are MANY places in the world that “DESERVE” a little extra attention when it comes to default scenery (Victoria Falls in Africa for one?) but really guys, it seems that we could have gotten a LITTLE BIT better on the Grand Canyon!]
I noted recently that I was flying less then 4-5 fps at default airports so I certainly wasn’t going to try narrow canyons on my aging system with fps like that, (or less). Therefore, I may be the only one out there, but I flew this in default texturing. Two weeks after my first attempt I came back to set local time at 10:30 AM, cleared ALL weather, set temps to a balmy 30°F and took to the skies with Alejandro in the back seat of the “Aggressor”. We flew low over downtown and “The Strip” before continuing on to Boulder City, through that narrow canyon, up the dam, over Lake Mead, [Pict. 17] continuing up the Colorado River and through the Grand Canyon; bobbing and weaving sometimes [Pict. 18] between narrow canyon walls and sometimes hitting 3-4 Gs pulling up and over. I threw in a couple rolls and Cuban-8s just to keep AIr honest but in the end, even I was beginning to feel ill. I guess its no wonder Alejandro showered his cockpit with breakfast! But hey, at least we got his eyes watering again. Finally, mercifully, I was ready to land at Page Muni. [Pict. 19] and spend some quiet time listening live to the music on http://www.plr.org/, I even got to hear my Brother-in-Law this time!
A couple of days after my arrival in Page I was waiting for my next plane to arrive at the FBO when I heard a familiar, Australian voice on the radio, “G’Day Mites! Boron 5-5-9er is requesting visual to lond.” I watched the Flight Club’s Baron fly a textbook pattern and make a greased landing. I wasn’t sure if this was what I’d be flying out of here or not but WHO could make THAT kind of a landing in this wind? As the plane taxied to it’s parking area all I could make out was a big, giant hat inside! After shutting down, our own Bill Smith climbed out. He was wearing a too large black Stetson cowboy hat, a leather, cow-printed jacket with fleece collar; (think Flying Leathernecks meet Woody the Cowboy from Toy Story) tight fitted dark blue-jeans, alligator-skinned cowboy boots with shiny silver buckles and spurs. The antithesis of my own arrival in Perth we all had to clap and cheer as Bill swaggered up to the counter and in his best John Wayne imitation, ordered a drink!
Well, after a few days in the cool clear air of Northern Arizona I was ready to take my assignment and shuttle some sightseeing customers back to Vegas. Finally Hans had caught up to the rest of us and to make up for his absence in Japan he brought along a token of apology. Alastair had recommended something with a high-wing and good visibility; also something with reasonable speed. Well, Hans had done his homework and had gone into the old archives of FS.com to pull out a report of mine and delivered to me a Gandalf Do-328jet! I love this little plane, it kind of reminds me of a baby Orca. It is just a pleasure to fly and the return trip to Vegas was pure joy, a fine way to finish relaxing after a challenging, no, invigorating FOTM. [Picts 20 and 21 ]
Alastair, well done. Even if you DO think your own country is a bit bland, please feel free to continue providing these great flights for us!
One little aside note: About three days after completing this FOTM I was strolling down the sidewalk near the Luxor when I saw the same gorgeous young miss driving the same yellow Corvette down the strip. (Our Flightsim buddy Brad was nowhere to be seen) Brad, did you make it alive?
Okay, well, before I get to February I want to be sure that everyone is caught up (truthfully) about all of the events of January. One great thing about this Flight of the Month Club is that it lets us have our “other” FS lives too. Not just FS, some of us have Real Lives and Jobs to distract us too! Anyway, at some point each month it seems that we are able to meet up at each destination, but we’ve never met up someplace at the same time.
So in January we had our first-ever “Flight Club Fly-In.” Some of us had completed the January FOTM and others were on the way TO Japan but on Sunday January 18th we all met up in Perth, West Australia. More on that in just a bit but it was really great to see (almost) everyone together!As for me, I had completed the January FOTM at Yakota AB in Tokyo and needed to find my way (back) to Australia. In his January FOTM Bill directed us to http://www.flightlookup.com/ and I must say, "WAY COOL, MAN!" So, from Yakota I took an S-3 Viking to Fukuoka [Pict. 01] , and then tried to look up some shorter flights which would get me into Perth. I wasn't ready to be told what planes to fly but I was curious about the routes and timing, and this would sort of mirror my own real world tour of the Far East. So here's what I did:
Fukuoka to Taipei like Cathay 511; only I'd fly the Flight Club's A320 [Pict. 02] . Taipei to Manila like EVA Air 271; only I'd fly my own repaint of the Default 737 called Paradise Air. Manila to Kai Tak like Cathay 900; only I'd fly the Cebu Pacific DC-9. (Happy now Tony? I kept it a little closer to home). [Picts 03 and 04 crossing the new HK airport on my way to a rather poor landing] Finally, Hong Kong to Perth, like Cathay 171 (a “red-eye” special); only I'd be flying a gorgeous reflective repaint of the Default Pacifica 777.
[Picts 05 and 06 ]I arrived in Perth a day early to scope out the scene in the Woodart Design's Dash 7 (Thanks for letting me borrow it Tony). The morning of the Fly-In I felt a bit uncomfortable…since we were flying in Bill’s homeyards I had asked him about “proper Perth behavior” and he had told me some rather strange things, but people in Perth may seem strange to an American, so I followed his directions. I left from Gingin (north of Perth) in said Dash 7. As I flew over Pearce Military AB I was joined by Salina (who at one point thought she was back in her Spitfire and tried to buzz my left wing off!). We flew over Jandakut were Peter and Bill joined us on the flight, and with live voice chat. Alastair and Tony joined us at Perth and then we were off to Rottnest Island. I was circling while Bill made an excellent landing and soon Salina joined him. After a marginal landing on my part I parked up near the others and climbed out of my Shorts (HA! the plane not my ACTUAL boxers). But see, here’s the problem; Bill had instructed me to wear boxer shorts with pink lip prints as well as that shiny white anti-sunburn stuff on my nose! Poor Salina was torn between laughter and nausea! Meantime, Alastair had arrived and our poor “proper Brit” was so shocked (or was that blinded by the WHITE – you see, it’s winter here and my legs haven’t seen the light of day since that Floatplane flight up to Victoria BC) that he struck his head on one of the props of my Dash 7, gashed open his scalp and was knocked unconscious!
Peter arrived and exclaimed, “Bloody hell Ron, put those things away!” So while I looked around for a place to hide, Salina revived Alastair. (Now, don’t jump to conclusions, she used the only thing she had, a 500 ml bottle of ice-cold Mango Nectar Juice). Soon enough Tony arrived and in typical fashion hobbled over to ask, “Hey, what’s going on?” [Picts 07 and 08 ]
Just then I heard the familiar tune of La Cucaracha playing. Instinctively I looked around for the Metallic Blue, Hydraulic-Suspensioned Chevy Impala but this was not the San Fernando Valley, it was Tony’s Cellular phone. “Whhhhhheblackey, Yellow?”
“Ahhhhh, Begrüßungen mein Freund. Warum sind Sie nicht hier mit uns? Mumbai?!?! What the ……. Oh no! Are you okay? Well, good luck then. Oh, no I’ll tell them, you don’t…..” (Tony really is a complex individual who has a much deeper intellect than one might expect – just goes to show that you can’t judge a book by it’s cover.)
Tony explained that Hans was on the way to the Fly-In but had some technical difficulties and a few crashes and was in hospital, unable to attend. Just then my own phone began ringing. It was Hans, explaining that he had been having some problems and would not be making the Fly-In. Well, at least he had made a good effort to get to Perth. Suddenly Peter’s phone began ringing. It was Hans, explaining that…..well, you get the idea. He proceeded to call each one of us to tell us that he wouldn’t be coming to the Fly-In. Meantime, Bill had powered up his plane and “left the session.” (I’m assuming that he felt guilty for giving me bad advice)
Those of us remaining continued on to Pearce Military where Alastair (I’m not yet sure if the slurred speech was from the head trauma or from the sticky Mango Nectar which now clung in long slimy strands from his matted beard), told us to head for “Lath Vegath and den tay tuned for direction on a Gand Canyon Tour” HUH? Over on the tarmac I saw my next flight waiting for me. So I excused myself (and my boxer shorts) from the Fly-In and took a LOOOONG flight from Perth, to Vandenburg AFB, which is just North of Santa Barbara, CA. [Picts 09 and 10 ]
(Even with using the great An225 I needed some virtual mid-air refueling and NO, Peter, I'm not able to actually DO THAT like you can. [See his Sept.'03 PIREP for details.]) I left in the late morning with 50% fuel and somewhere over the Solomon's I selected Aircraft > Fuel > 100%. With waypoints over the Solomons, Kiribati, Johnson Atoll, Hawaii and an approach from the north, I arrived in mid-afternoon. There was just enough time to catch a QUICK flight down to my old High School stomping grounds (See our Extra on the Side Flights); Vandenburg AFB, over the Channel Islands to Pt. Mugu NAS in the F-8 Crusader! [Picts 11 and 12 ]
After a week in the Ventura/Oxnard/Camarillo area I was nearly ready to move on when I received an e-mail from another one of our South American pilots, Brad. He wasn’t sure that he could make the flight as Alastair had laid out, via San Jose and all, so we worked out that I would meet him at Santa Monica after his flight up to LAX. So I arranged with my old Firefighting contacts in the southland to have their OV-10 Bronco delivered to Camarillo for me to pick-up. So, Camarillo, over my old High School, down the Malibu coastline following PCH (Too bad it was a really hazy/foggy morning; visibility was 3 miles up through 2,200 ft) [Pict. 13] in to Santa Monica, then up to Van Nuys (we noticed that the famous HOLLYWOOD sign is half-buried in the default texturing) and along the mountains, [Pict. 14] over Big Bear and Lake Arrowhead. Finally we turned south to land at the CDF “Ryan” air attack base in Hemet, CA. (Where there is a default scenery bug placing the runway about 15 feet below ground level)
At this point Brad and I were without wings. So I pulled some old strings at the CDF and we managed a ride to March AFB in the back of a Fire Con Crew van. After that little experience, Brad felt that he could take care of himself better than I. The last I saw of him he was climbing into a convertible Corvette with a young Hispanic beauty at the wheel (maybe he was right?)
When I was a youngster in Southern California, March AFB was a SAC Airbase housing many B-52 bombers. As for the fate of the airbase now…..we’ll have to ask Harlan or some of our other SoCal pilots about that, I’m not sure what they do with it now. But today, I strapped myself into the Flight Club’s F-86 Sabrejet [Pict. 15] and headed northeast, past Mt. San Gorgonio and on in to Las Vegas. [ Pict. 16 – Notice the speed brakes at the top of descent] That’d be Nellis AFB to be exact!
Leg Two: “Sightseeing”? Alastair, you must be crazy! If you had read Peter’s On the Side flight suggestion from way back last year (Called The Dam Challenge) you’d know that sightseeing is for wimps! So I began making arrangements with the Red Flag/Top Gun School at Nellis to borrow one of their aircraft. I was just ready to sign on the line, releasing the Sepecat Jaguar to me (I thought Alastair would appreciate that) when I was contacted by my old friend Alejandro who was having some problems of his own, due to the cold dryness of the Nevada desert. The freezing cold temps and humidity factors below 25% were causing some serious visual problems for our Venezuelan friend. Thus, he was having headaches, hand numbness and felt that he was unable to fly.
We needed a TWO-SEATER; so they graciously re-assigned me into an “Aggressor” TA-4. “No problem” I assured Alejandro, “I’ll be happy for the company.” (I also read a report once from Bill Smith, which suggested that aerobatics could be used to cure sinus problems…) So, once Alejandro was safely strapped into the back seat, we headed south for the lead-in to Hoover Dam. “AIr, be sure your G-suit is plugged in!”[Note, I was so caught up in the fact that I had a chance to fly two legs in one day AND the fact that I’d get to shoot some Class 4-5 rapids in the Skyhawk that I set out immediately from Nellis. Later, I discovered that it was nearly 4 PM local time, shadows were lengthening and I was still using real world weather. Framerates were running 12 fps for 5 secs then a 0.5 sec freeze, then 14 fps for 5 secs and another 0.5 secs freeze, then 9.7 fps for 5 secs and a freeze, 11.3 for 5 then a freeze ……I was also feeling a bit disappointed in the default texturing but more on that in the next paragraph. I know that Microsoft has tried to keep things computer and framerate friendly, and I know that there are MANY places in the world that “DESERVE” a little extra attention when it comes to default scenery (Victoria Falls in Africa for one?) but really guys, it seems that we could have gotten a LITTLE BIT better on the Grand Canyon!]
I noted recently that I was flying less then 4-5 fps at default airports so I certainly wasn’t going to try narrow canyons on my aging system with fps like that, (or less). Therefore, I may be the only one out there, but I flew this in default texturing. Two weeks after my first attempt I came back to set local time at 10:30 AM, cleared ALL weather, set temps to a balmy 30°F and took to the skies with Alejandro in the back seat of the “Aggressor”. We flew low over downtown and “The Strip” before continuing on to Boulder City, through that narrow canyon, up the dam, over Lake Mead, [Pict. 17] continuing up the Colorado River and through the Grand Canyon; bobbing and weaving sometimes [Pict. 18] between narrow canyon walls and sometimes hitting 3-4 Gs pulling up and over. I threw in a couple rolls and Cuban-8s just to keep AIr honest but in the end, even I was beginning to feel ill. I guess its no wonder Alejandro showered his cockpit with breakfast! But hey, at least we got his eyes watering again. Finally, mercifully, I was ready to land at Page Muni. [Pict. 19] and spend some quiet time listening live to the music on http://www.plr.org/, I even got to hear my Brother-in-Law this time!
A couple of days after my arrival in Page I was waiting for my next plane to arrive at the FBO when I heard a familiar, Australian voice on the radio, “G’Day Mites! Boron 5-5-9er is requesting visual to lond.” I watched the Flight Club’s Baron fly a textbook pattern and make a greased landing. I wasn’t sure if this was what I’d be flying out of here or not but WHO could make THAT kind of a landing in this wind? As the plane taxied to it’s parking area all I could make out was a big, giant hat inside! After shutting down, our own Bill Smith climbed out. He was wearing a too large black Stetson cowboy hat, a leather, cow-printed jacket with fleece collar; (think Flying Leathernecks meet Woody the Cowboy from Toy Story) tight fitted dark blue-jeans, alligator-skinned cowboy boots with shiny silver buckles and spurs. The antithesis of my own arrival in Perth we all had to clap and cheer as Bill swaggered up to the counter and in his best John Wayne imitation, ordered a drink!
Well, after a few days in the cool clear air of Northern Arizona I was ready to take my assignment and shuttle some sightseeing customers back to Vegas. Finally Hans had caught up to the rest of us and to make up for his absence in Japan he brought along a token of apology. Alastair had recommended something with a high-wing and good visibility; also something with reasonable speed. Well, Hans had done his homework and had gone into the old archives of FS.com to pull out a report of mine and delivered to me a Gandalf Do-328jet! I love this little plane, it kind of reminds me of a baby Orca. It is just a pleasure to fly and the return trip to Vegas was pure joy, a fine way to finish relaxing after a challenging, no, invigorating FOTM. [Picts 20 and 21 ]
Alastair, well done. Even if you DO think your own country is a bit bland, please feel free to continue providing these great flights for us!
One little aside note: About three days after completing this FOTM I was strolling down the sidewalk near the Luxor when I saw the same gorgeous young miss driving the same yellow Corvette down the strip. (Our Flightsim buddy Brad was nowhere to be seen) Brad, did you make it alive?
