Friday, 17-December, 14:22: While sitting there listening to the manager of our section ramble on about, “…you have shown more productivity this past year…there have been fewer complaints…you are completing requests accurately and on time…there’s no money for bonuses or raises but hey, at least no one’s getting fired!…” I found my mind wondering into the virtual world of my next FlightSim flight. What a blessing it is to have this great hobby, which allows us to “escape” for a while, to someplace we’d rather be…that is, above the clouds!
I received and e-mail recently from one of our members asking me how I do it – how I keep my interest up. Seemed like a very odd question at first, like asking, “why do you love airplanes?” Because that’s how God made us. But my answer was that real life is what keeps me interested in the virtual world. There are always more than enough real world intrusions to keep the virtual world a place to let the mind escape for a while. It was at that moment, a little after 2 PM during our office “holiday potluck” that I decided my next PIREP would actually be a report of what REALLY HAPPENED on a FOTM. It’s something new for sure, but maybe something thoughtful too.
Sunday, 19-December, 20:35: After my wife downloaded our latest bank statements and started plowing through the bills I took 4 minutes to check my e-mails. There, buried in the middle of things was a note from Salina, “For now, why don’t you head for WMKK and wait there for further instructions. We’ll either be doing a SE Asia ‘LoCo’ tour (this is what I expected for this FOTM) or we’ll head south, WAY south.” I wonder where in the world WMKK is, I’m thinking Kuala Lumpur but not sure about that…
20:59: Standing in the kitchen, washing the days’ dishes, with the help of my son, I decide to start from Brussels because that’s where Rik’s flight ended…and I have not started flying that one yet either – I’m still trying to write myself out of a James Bond snafu! At some point I’ll need to look up a real-world schedule, maybe Brussels to Frankfurt to Kuala Lumpur, if that’s where WMKK is, I know it’s not Changi in Singapore!
Monday, 20-December, 05:25: My daughter had a bad dream or heard a noise or something and can’t go back to sleep, so she has joined my wife and I in bed. Now I can’t sleep, it’s about 40 minutes before I am to take off on the bicycle for work! I drag myself downstairs, dial up the Internet and then turn on the coffee maker. I load FS to “create a flight” using a default 777 and set in a plan for Frankfurt/Main Gate 44 Heavy to WMKK (which happens to be Kuala Lumpur by the way!) I use High-Alt Airways but then dump 2/3rds of the Intersections, keeping all the VORs. Once that is set I download real weather and then save the flight as “Salina.” Once FS is closed I go back onto the web to look for some real-world flights:
Lufthansa 4593 is a daily flight leaving Brussels at 6:50 AM – they use an A320
Malaysian 5 is the only non-stop, leaving Frankfurt at noon – looks like a 777 for that.
06:43: Pedaling across one of the bridges downtown, I have pretty much narrowed my thoughts down to the CRJ-100, Dash-8 or BAE-146. I like to use planes that we don’t see on this website every other month, and I haven’t seen a BAE in some time, so I finally decide to use my Lufthansa livery BAE for the first leg. Then, I have a Malaysian A380 I could use but I decide instead to take the futuristic Boeing Blended-Wing-Body plane I have (hold-over from FS2k). Seems that all these thoughts about flying great planes to far-flung locations helps to keep me warmer (38°F this AM) during the ride – or maybe it’s the mile-long hill I have to climb? But, just imagine you are step climbing up to cruise altitude for that long flight to Malaysia. First things first though, I still need to write myself out of the snag I ran into in my December PIREP!
21:10: While my wife and daughter are at the ballet, I took my son to the zoo, but it’s late and cold now, so we stopped by the office to let him play a little basketball in our gym – I sit at my computer, create a folder called “January2005”, and begin drafting the document you are now reading saving it to disc before we go to pick up the girls. So here we are, 10-days before the new flight is released and I’m on page two, line 14 already!
Tuesday, 21-December, 06:00: Best to have everything in place, story half-written, in case one gets a chance to fly! I insert first the CD labeled as FS2002-Jets extracting the Lufthansa BAE146 onto my hard drive, then assigning panel and sound folders before dragging it into FS2002 > Aircraft. Next is the CD labeled FS2002-Boeing, repeating the process for the BWB. Then it’s off to work. I figure since this flight information has not even been posted yet I can take my time getting to Kuala Lumpur, I need to work on flying Rik’s flight first (That’ll be my job for this week).
Monday 27-December, 08:17: I wonder if the earthquake/tsunami disaster will have any bearing on Salina’s FOTM choices? (Or like me, does she have these things done will in advance?) My thoughts and prayers go out to all the millions involved in this tragedy. I am sure that this event will have world-wide ramifications.
21:20: Dishes done, trash taken out, kids in bed, floor vacuumed, tomorrow’s lunch packed, sheets changed…I flop into my desk chair and fire-up FS2002. I go to the flight saved as “Riks” which is where I last left the Thomas Cook 7E7. I select the Lufthansa BAe-146 instead, then select “Go To Airport” choosing a small gate at Brussels’ National Airport in Belgium. I set “Time” for 06:50 AM – still labeled as night. (This keeps the real weather I had downloaded for Rik’s flight but will be different than the real weather downloaded and saved as “Salina.”) I tune the local VOR on NAV1 and 2 turning my Course Knob to 105. Ground directs me out to runway 25L, which seems like it takes half an hour to accomplish. Finally I am cleared for take-off climbing initially to 3,000 feet. I complete the left turn to intercept my radial outbound as I climb on up to 9,000 feet. < PHOTO 001 > Once trimmed for 248 knots at 9,000 feet on the 105 radial outbound from Brussels I tune NAV2 to Frankfurt’s VOR, then engage autopilot and go see why my daughter is up again.
22:00: Having solved that little incident I return to the sim to call-up Center. ATC directs me to expect the ILS for runway 07L so I turn right to 150 degrees retuning NAV1 for the ILS and turning my course knob to 071. I also drop down to 4,000 feet and as the H.S.I. comes alive am cleared down to 3,200. I disengage the autopilot, slow to 200 knots and intercept the ILS at 8 miles out. I continue to slow and drop in flaps until Tower clears me to land behind a departing 757. < PHOTO 002 > The real-world schedule calls for flights to be 1:00 hour but I shut down at the gate at 07:47, three minutes early.
23:20: Why am I still up? I load the flight previously saved as “Salina”, switching out the 777 to the BWB in Lufthansa livery. I call clearance for push-back and taxi back out to runway 07L. This plane seems huge and I have to be careful taxiing so as to not clip nearby buildings (thereby registering a sim crash which I cannot afford at this hour of the night!) After waiting for two arriving flights I am cleared for departure. Once through 3,500 feet and passed off to Center, < PHOTO 003 > I flip the NAV/GPS to GPS, engage autopilot for NAV-tracking - 35,000 feet - MACH 0.78 – Yaw Dampened. Then I’m off to bed. < PHOTO 004 >
Tuesday, 28-December, 06:17: I save the flight as, “Salina” and head out the door.
Friday, 31-December, 11:22: With the wife off enjoying a free day I really don’t want to make the kids watch College Football (frankly I couldn’t care less!)…so I retrieve my saved flight and call up ATC for directions to land in Kuala Lumpur. It is still night out the cockpit windows so I have no photos of the coupled approach and landing. There are some local Thundershowers however, making it a bit fun!
Saturday, 01-January, 17:15: I log onto the Internet to check mails and see that the Jan. FOTM is up – a Reality Check for us all. Here we sit in our comfortable homes with our computers or laptops (some of them quite aged but apparently still working) while in the real-world-lands under our FOTM people are living and dying in horrid conditions. The heartache is palpable. I spend the next several hours struggling with what to do – does one fly the FOTM as though nothing had happened, this is after all only a virtual game, right? Or does one pretend that he can actually DO SOMETHING, lend some support or provide for some, basic, unmet need? What do YOU do?
22:20: After going back and forth a bit I have decided that I must at least make a token attempt to express my sorrow and support for ALL THOSE involved in the tragic events. I sit on the couch and plan aircraft to fit each of the legs, then, back at my computer I unzip planes from the CD-ROMs into my FS hanger, finally assigning panels and sounds to each one. I download current real-world weather for Kuala Lumpur and save my flight.
Sunday, 02-January, 08:47: I fire up the computer, anxious to get started on a new FOTM challenge. Eager to see if I can make, even a virtual, difference in the world. I call clearance and request an expedited departure for my C-130 Hercules. < PHOTO 005 > (Hans, little did you know that your repaint was going to actually be needed!)
Something I hadn’t worked out was how to write my “story” since this is being drafted based on my REAL timeline or schedule. I imagine that I would have a bit of a mis-matched crew? I wonder who would be available to help me deliver the goods…maybe a crew of Pilipino Military Guards? Regardless, I depart northbound a little after 07:30 local time, < PHOTO 006 > heading northbound over the VBA and VPS VORs. We make a low pass over the island of Penang < PHOTO 007 > before continuing on to Sumatra. As the kids get up and get ready for breakfast I save the flight, to return later.
18:30: After a full day of “at home” work, a dinner out and etc. the kids are ready for an evening video while my wife plans the next several weeks of home school. I plant myself back at the sim completing some low-level supply drops on communities and villages in the northeast section of the island. < PHOTO 008 > Banda Aceh is getting a fair amount of real-world press but there are other areas, maybe not even yet accessed in need of supplies. ( http://www.lib.utexas.edu/maps/asia.html - See the last two photos! My Gosh!) My goal is to drop water, MREs, sheltering devices etc. I make drops of individually packaged parcels < PHOTO 009 > as well as a couple “skids” < PHOTO 010 > onto local runways in places such as Langkawii and Lhok Sukon. < PHOTO 011 > If there is one thing I learned in my Firefighting days it was that you can’t always help as much or as many as you might want to. Once the cargo holds are empty I head for Phuket, Thai, as I understand that there is need for MediVac pilots. I arrive to runway 09 around noon local time. < PHOTO 012 > Then, in the real world, the kids need to get into “Jammies” and off to bed.
21:41: I’m sure that for MANY out there, this method of doing FS would be very laborious, tiresome or distracting – “If you’re going to do it, just do it, or don’t attempt it at all.” Well hey, I love it and do it when I can. If I had to wait until I had the time for “focus” on my simming you would only hear from me a couple times per year. I’d rather sim a little bit every few days!
So, having said that, I’m off to find a MediVac plane to transport wounded out to a Military Hospital in Singapore. It seems that all of my fellow simmers have taken the most appropriate aircraft already, leaving me only one ERJ-135 which has had all of the interior amenities stripped out to make room for stokes and stretchers. (Sorry Tony, I’m sure it can be all fixed up back at the Bend factory later on!) With my dozen patients plus medical staff aboard I request departure at 14:26 local time and am directed out to runway 27 this time, for departure. Once the aircraft is cleaned, (through 3,000 feet) I turn right to pick up my 600-plus mile route to Changi. < PHOTO 013 > As we track down the eastern coast of Thailand and Malaysia, I enjoy the changing colors in the sky. < PHOTO 014 > Even amidst tragedy God provides some beauty – you just have to watch for it – like the rainbow after a strong storm. I arrive to runway 02R just under 2 hours later where there are ambulances waiting for my patients. Then, I’m off to bed.
So, having said that, I’m off to find a MediVac plane to transport wounded out to a Military Hospital in Singapore. It seems that all of my fellow simmers have taken the most appropriate aircraft already, leaving me only one ERJ-135 which has had all of the interior amenities stripped out to make room for stokes and stretchers. (Sorry Tony, I’m sure it can be all fixed up back at the Bend factory later on!) With my dozen patients plus medical staff aboard I request departure at 14:26 local time and am directed out to runway 27 this time, for departure. Once the aircraft is cleaned, (through 3,000 feet) I turn right to pick up my 600-plus mile route to Changi. < PHOTO 013 > As we track down the eastern coast of Thailand and Malaysia, I enjoy the changing colors in the sky. < PHOTO 014 > Even amidst tragedy God provides some beauty – you just have to watch for it – like the rainbow after a strong storm. I arrive to runway 02R just under 2 hours later where there are ambulances waiting for my patients. Then, I’m off to bed.
Monday, 03-January, 06:00: I draft the text you have just been reading.
21:17: Another day wrapped up, I head back to the sim. My wife thinks I’m crazy…she’s probably right – but I always want to get these FOTMs done, I “get into” them! (Immersion is part of the fun you know!) I load up the Silk Air A320 and a fresh batch of real-world weather. Ground directs me out to runway 02L where I follow the Dash 8 on departure. < PHOTO 015 > As I climb away from Changi and make my turns to pick up my course back into Thailand I notice again how scenic this part of the world is. < PHOTO 016 > I remember that from my real-life trip to Singapore too – lots of tropical islands, JUST BEAUTIFUL!!
The new weather looks a lot like my flight into Kuala Lumpur from Frankfurt with T-Storms over the islands. < PHOTO 017 > Oh, I should speak of my schedule here. I know that Salina was talking “block times” of 19:00 and I was off that mark by about 12 hours. As I mentioned in her April FOTM last year, I like screenshots, especially one’s from outside, and therefore, I don’t do as much night flying as I probably should. Besides, were this flown at night, all I’d get to enjoy would be flashes of light in a black sky. This is much better! I arrive to Hat Yai International in under two hours. < PHOTO 018 >
Tuesday, 04-January, 00:10: I tried going to bed but due to an upper respiratory condition, I’ve been having coughing fits. Rather than coughing and hacking all night, keeping the family up…I’m happy to play the martyr and go downstairs – under the auspices of getting some hot honey tea. While sipping tea, I depart for Bangkok at noon in one of the Flight Club’s 737-500s
< PHOTO 019 >. Here are two more reasons for flying during the day! [PHOTOS 020 and 021 ] My hand-flown arrival to Bangkok is uneventful. < PHOTO 022 > Coughing under control, I’m into bed by 2 AM.21:58: Once home from work on Tuesday there were some household projects, home school issues and other related jobs to do. Then, having watched the one and only TV show I follow, I fire up the sim and taxi the Caledonian A310 out to the active, < PHOTO 023 > heading for Jakarta. Salina, this time I leave just before sunset < PHOTO 024 > so that I can get some night flying in. Once ATC has me heading safely on my route, at 33,000 feet, < PHOTO 025 > I work on cleaning the dishes/kitchen. Into bed by 23:15.
Wednesday, 05-January, 05:35: There is an AI 777 in front of me, of course he can’t clear 07R in time and I have to go missed. Once I finally land < PHOTO 026 > and taxi to the gate I draft more of this text and compile some screenshots before work.
Thursday, 06-January, 05:40: Like I said, I “get into” these FOTMs and am anxious to see what comes up next – so I can’t wait to get up in the morning to fly the next leg. I load up the “Globe Explorer” Super Otter Turbo and wonder why I don’t fly this plane more often! < PHOTO 027 > I leave from Jakarta at mid-day, heading for the VOR as recommended, then a heading of 271 for 40-plus miles. Just for Peter, < PHOTO 028 > I spend a little time upside-down. Suddenly, AFTER my antics, the engine coughs and dies. I check my fuel, I check my pumps, I try restarting…I try restarting again…I check my generators, I check my batteries…I trim for minus 200 fpm and keep trying to restart, or diagnose my problem. I loose my suction, then loose my radios…I guess it was one of those random failures I have programmed in, I just hate it when it’s in my single engine planes. Luckily this time I’m in an amphibian so I land safely, then I have to wait 3 hours for a Coast Guard pick up. < PHOTO 029 >
17:20: With the family gone to an appointment, I have just enough time to load up the Singapore Airlines Lear45 for the jaunt back up to Changi. I depart early in the morning from runway 25R < PHOTO 030 > (boy is that a long taxi!) using VORs < PHOTO 031 > to hop into runway 02R just in time to go find some virtual breakfast – and get back to some housework in the real world!
Sunday, 09-January, 07:12: I deserve a break, don’t I? After another full weekend of church and family duties, and looking at taking down the Christmas decor today, I load up the EVA A330 for an overnight flight (virtual overnight – the flight will be running through the day today) to the location of my February FOTM: NZFC. I depart from runway 02L and once up through FL10,000 I set Otto to “take me home.” I work with the wife-unit on breakfast, get the kids dressed and we start with the general décor…then the tree…then the cleaning and packing…I land about an hour after dawn, a nice smooth ILS into runway 02R at Flight Club Headquarters 032 - 033 - 034 - 035 > where I’ll spend the next 6 weeks working on our AIRSHOW!
Monday, 10-January, 22:20: I work on the last of this documentation. This is about right, seems that I have been taking about 6-14 days to get our FOTMs done typically. But now you have had a chance to see what REALLY happens. I hope that this look inside “The Flounder’s” flying has helped to show you that you too can fit your hobby into real life…or it may explain why I am not more of an accomplished pilot by this point in my virtual flying career!
Salina, I’m sorry that this very fun SE Asia tour had to be “tainted” with the blood of disaster – but maybe it’s a wake-up call to simmers everywhere to realize that there is a larger, often hurting world out there beyond the sides of our computer boxes. I found the flights to be nice and short, yet quite scenic…the best of both worlds! Many Thanks!
