Here’s what we know:
The inspiration for this month’s offering(s) come from my first ever, World Air Routes DVD - featuring ATRs around the Canary Islands. (Christmas 2004 – so read on and then do the math)
Actually I had a couple of these worked up last year but…
Once I got started on these shorter regional flights, I couldn’t stop! There were just too many neat places I wanted you to go. So I started combining some things and…
After more struggle than I have ever had with a FOTM, I’ve presented you each with your own, personalized (more or less) FOTM to complete. (I’ve even presented flights for those of you I don’t really know!)
Which explains the flights here that aren’t regionals. FOTM History: So…… I had more flights than I dared offer, but I really didn’t want to wait until 2008 (or beyond) to get these out, so I have assigned pilots to various flights. (You want The Flounder to give you each a check ride? Here it is!) I’ve tried to match pilots/location to keep things interesting but after you fly your assigned route, PLEASE FEEL FREE TO DO ANY OF THE OTHERS TOO! (Otherwise I’ll be forced to keep presenting them time after time until they are all flown!!!)
Rest assured, these are all pretty short flights, easily flown in one day. Also, with the directions noted here, I was able to complete most of these flights without ever loading a flightplan, just tune your radios and follow the headings noted. (You may want to us FSNav or similar to get enroute altitudes because in a couple of locations, if you are cruising along at 12,000 feet, you’ll end up in a smoking hole!) It may also be interesting to note that were you to actually BE in any of these places, you could still hear live broadcasts on http://www.plr.org/ .
You all are pretty good at picking planes to fly but I picture that (except for some obvious exceptions) you’ll be using aircraft such as: C441s, Dash 7s, Dash 8s, Caravans, Otters, Jetstream-31/41s, KingAirs, EMB-120s, Beech1900s, PC-12s, Do328s, Shorts360s, ATRs, Piper Aztec/Cherokees, Lear Jets maybe a C-130 or DC-3? etc etc.
Bill’s Flight: History:
These are some of the flights depicted on my DVD. Judging from the video, the toughest part about this flying will be the wind (although there is one approach which is a lot like Hana Airport in Hawaii). I’ve assigned this to Bill because he really likes summertime weather and I figure he would rather not admit that winter is heading his way. Bill is also the guru of presenting DVDs as FOTMs. Nice paved runways but not all with ILS, some DME step-downs, some wind but almost certainly clear skies meant that this was the flight for Mr. Smith.
--I used a House Color Dash 8-Q400 for these flights--
Leg 1 = Gran Canaria to Tenerife North: You should start out from one of the gates at Grand Canaria. The GDV VOR is 9.7 miles north. Dial in your NAV Radios to 112.90 and regardless of your departure direction, fly over the VOR. Turn to 305 degrees and fly 54 miles to Los Rodeos (GCXO). There is a VOR there at 112.50.
Leg 2 = Tenerife North to La Palma: After an hour or so on the ground you’ll depart, picking up the 285 degree radial outbound. You’ll fly 75 miles to GCLA, which only has a DME locally (112.40).
Leg 3 = La Palma to Hierro: Another hour on the ground and you’ll fly 197 degrees to Hierro. Again, there is only a DME here at 113.20. This leg is about 50 miles. (Question is, how far off course can you get blown in 50 miles, if all you have are DME bookends?) If you set NAV1 to 112.50, dial in the 251 radial, you’ll be at 96.2 miles. Also, about the landing…..
Leg 4 = Hierro to Lancerotte: Depart Hierro and head east 65 miles to the TFS VOR (116.40). Head inbound on the 089 radial. At the VOR turn to 084 degrees, follow this for 79 miles to the COLON Intersection. You’ll then turn to 076 degrees, another 73 miles to the CAINA Intersection. Head into the 113.70 VOR on the 071-degree radial inbound. I think there’s also an ILS here which I didn’t use and a DME at GCRR, which is 114.70.
Leg 5 = Lancerotte back to Gran Canaria: Departure VOR is 113.70. Arrival VOR is 112.90. You’ll fly the 245 degree radial for 112 miles. Total Miles: 550 – 600 [Bill 01 - 02 - 03 - 04 ]
Salina’s Flight: History: Salina is our little Queen of the Heavies and I know for a fact that she travels between Europe and the Far East at least a couple times per year. But does she ever fly in between? Miss Chan gets this flight for several reasons:
First, it’s educational - This is one of the most ancient countries in the world but it’s not the flat, brown, boring place you might expect.
Second, the airports here can accommodate one of her Little Airbuses or Baby Boeings if she is going to insist on flying those.
Third, despite the first two points, I flew this in January and at times I was reminded of those flights we’ve had in Alaska and Baffin Island. (which the Skygirl seems to have missed out on) So Salina, I’m sending you to Iran!
--I used the Iran Air Saab 340 for this flight--
Leg 1 = Yazd (OIYY) to Esfahan (OIFM): You fly for Iran Air…we’re peaking in on four of your routes today (just to be sure your flying is up to standards). Once your passengers are loaded and you’ve checked the flight manifest, get ready for startup and request your clearances. The local VOR is 112.80 and you’ll be heading out on the 307-degree radial. You can expect this flight to run about 132 miles. There’s not a whole lot between here and there, but the VOR at your destination is 113.20.
Leg 2 = Esfahan to Tehran (OIII): You’ll head out from 113.20 on the 347-degree radial. Fly about 179 miles to Tehran with a VOR there on 115.30 (ATC will certainly lead you in)
Leg 3 = Tehran to Tabriz (OITT): This time you’ll be heading to the northern part of the country. Head out from 115.30 on the 290 radial bound for the ZAJ VOR (114.10). This midpoint is 136.6 miles. At the VOR turn to 305 degrees heading to 112.00 which is at Tabriz, another 150 miles out. I flew this in January (real weather) and it frankly reminded me of Alaska!
Leg 4 = Tabriz to Rasht (OIGG): After your obligatory hour on the ground, you’ll head out on 079 degrees. Fly about 105 miles to the mid-point which is the ARB VOR on 115.70. (I was at 17,000 feet at this point) At the VOR, turn to 132 degrees following that the last 80 miles into 112.60 which is Rasht. Then, head for the beach man!!! Total Miles: 750 – 800 Total Miles: 750 – 800 [Salina 01 - 02 - 03 - 04 ]
Brad’s Flight: History: 
Brad has admitted that his first love is bush flying, and we know about his affinity for high mountains (See the May 2004 FOTM )…so when it came time to assign this flight it obviously belonged to Mr. Quiring. A few years ago I ended up here, somewhat by accident, during my first ‘Round the World Tour. I arrived at night, hungry, tired and lonely, but the residents of this remote valley were so hospitable and kind that I thought it was time to repay the favor.
--I used the C-130 and KingAir200 for this flight option--
We’ll start the flight with a quote from my article which also appeared on FS.com: From Karachi I fly a Saab 340 up the country, about 700 miles to Skardu, Pakistan. Now, Skardu sits in a valley with high (16,000 feet plus) mountains surrounding. I have 18,500 feet listed as my safe local altitude. At Skardu you'll find an NDB and that's it! I set up a circling pattern over the NDB loosing 2000 feet per lap around. As darkness settles over the land I slip, skid and plant my plane down (almost) on the runway! I still struggle with these twin turboprops. I'm not sure what Skardu has to offer in the way of 5-star hotels… but if other Pakistanis are anything like the ones I know, I'm sure I'll find a warm bed and more than enough food for the night.
Leg 1 = Lahore to Skardu: I met up with one of our Reporting Members, Ali Mujtaba in Lahore, Pakistan and had arranged for Hans’ repaint of the C-130 to be ready to haul a load of goodies up to Skardu. As you’ve just read, this isn’t some big fancy airport, in fact, depending on weather and time of day it can be quite challenging. So with the Herc all loaded with supplies I departed at 10:30 AM, using real-weather of course. I left at 10:30 and arrived at 13:05, total miles for this route (which is mostly around Indian airspace) is 315.5 miles.
Routing is as follows: If you leave Lahore southbound, head 298 degrees to the SP (317) NDB, Otherwise, just head 330 degrees to the QS (287) NDB, Then turn to 024 degrees to the MF (207) NDB, and then to 055 degrees to the SD (247) NDB, which is at Skardu Airport.
If you dial your NAV Radios (both of them) to 115.90 and set your CRS needle to 203°, you’ll be over Skardu at 89 miles DME. The plate I have worked up for Skardu suggests that the runway runs about 140/320° so set up a circling pattern, while descending, over the NDB. Airport is at 7,600 feet ASL so minimum approach altitude (as you descend into the hole) is 9,000 feet (DME on the north end not to exceed 92.5 miles. IAS will, of course, need to be less then 160!) I was cruising at 19,000 feet today and started descent at 80 miles DME as the H.S.I. needle started moving in. I have not been into here in some time and felt like there was a bit more room than I recalled (You could dip into the valley earlier and follow the river in to the airport which is on the left of the valley) – but the winds were buffeting today as well! Anyway, I crossed the NDB (on heading 315°) at 14,500 feet, took DME to 92 miles and turned right to about 130-something degrees. I continued descending to 9,000 feet along the river before turning right again to line up with runway 32. I landed at midfield but by this point I had full flaps and my IAS was only about 90 knots so stopping in short order was no problem at all. (Hans, nice job on your first Official repaint!)
Leg 2 = Skardu to Chilas: After off-loading our supplies and meeting some more friendly faces, I met a contractor named Kirk who wanted me to pilot his private BeechKing 200 over to Chilas, Pakistan. I figure there are any of a number of Club Pilots who could take the Herc. outta here! So we left about 7 AM the next morning in the BeechKing (This guy is so famous that he had his plane registered under his own name. I mean, I don’t have a plane labeled as N-RON, oh wait, that sounds kinda funny huh - like a company that shaves funds off the top to perk the execs?) Maybe I need a http://www.plr.org/ plane, since I mention it so often. ;-) I’m not quite sure how to tell you how to get to OPCL because whatever heading I come up with will certainly change as you TRY to weave your way out of the mountains. I was climbing at 2,000 fpm and still had to make some winding S-turns through the valley in order to get out of this place. SPECTACULAR! Well, I did find out that if you dial up 115.90 on your NAV1, Chilas is on the 237/157 radial at a DME of about 92 miles.
Leg 3 = Chilas to Gilgit: After proving myself to this Kirk fellow at Chilas he informed me that his real destination for the day was a place called Gilgit (apparently he just wanted to see what I could do before putting me into OPGT!) So we left Chilas in the Radmilovich-painted plane on the short-hop over and around the mountains into a very tough approach at Gilgit. Apparently this contractor did not realize that I had also flown into here before:
I wait until there is some good daylight in this valley before I try and leave. This is NOT a place to have an engine out departure drill! Another new plane to start the day, the Dash 7. I fly it up the valley north of the airport and slowly work my way over or mostly around the local peaks. What can I say about this area but, "Wow"! If you don't fly here you should. The next stop is another NDB-only place, Gilgit, Pakistan. I fly over the airport, up a ridgeline, down a canyon, banking along the rocky cliffs and finally onto runway 7!
Gilgit is NE of Chilas by the way. This is so tough that I don’t even have a procedure or plate for it. You’ll fly to the NDB (324) and then sorta make something up to get you in, hopefully in one piece. The day I flew it winds were still gusting from the north so runway 7 it was, again! I came in from the south this time, along the 029 radial from 112.10 at DME 145 miles. Good Luck!!
Leg 4 = Gilgit back to Islamabad: After that bit of white-knuckle flying you’ll be happy to just take something comfortable back to Lahore or Islamabad – enjoy some good food and hospitality before moving on with your virtual life. As for me, I took this Kirk fellow back to Islamabad in his KingAir 200 (VOR there is 112.10). Total Miles: 700? [Brad 01 - 02 - 03 ]
Alastair’s Flight: History: Last June I took you all to one of my favorite places in Central Africa, the city of Goma in the Democratic Congo. Africa is a really amazing place to fly but I fear that simmers don’t get to enjoy this area enough. Personally, Africa is where I go to get away because there is so much variety here. (As well as a boatload of memories.) Alastair hadn’t really flown on the continent until last year but his screenshots were outstanding. There are a lot of legs in this option but each one should be less than an hour or so in the air…not sure how long you’ll need to be on the ground at each stop but this was still pretty easy for me to fit in. So, I’ll share these flights with Mr. Monk.
--I used my Central African Air Express Metroliner to get to the hub but I quickly jumped into the Grand Caravan for the smaller airstrips--
Leg 1 = From wherever you are in Central Africa your REGIONAL flight will take you into Karonga, Malawi (FWKA). This lakeside airport is in the Northern part of the country with a VOR at 115.30.
Leg 2 = Karonga to Chelinda: From Karonga, you’ll probably want to hop into something smaller, something a little more bushy, to make a number of delivery runs throughout the area. Luckily for you, your Flight Club Executive Card will allow you to make numerous boarder crossings without too much difficulty. Start by taking a heading of 191 degrees for 36.4 miles to FWCD “Chelinda.
Leg 3 = Chelinda to East Five: From Chelinda take a heading of 270 for 22.6 miles to FLEE. Actually if you take a heading more like 290 you can intercept the 220 radial from 115.30. Follow 220 to 46.2 DME.
Leg 4 = East Five to Isoka: From FLEE take a heading of 300 about 50 miles to FLIK. Again, working from the 115.3 VOR you’ll be on the 260 radial at a DME of 73.8 miles.
Leg 5 = Isoka to Rosa: From Isoka head out on 297 degrees for 93.3 miles. Again, if you fly about 320 you’ll pick up the 281 radial outbound from the VOR and follow that to a DME of 159.7 miles.
Leg 6 = Rosa to M’beya: I know, six legs is tough but these are short and trust me, you won’t want to miss the last airstrip! (Although it may be different in newer sims??) Okay, from FLRO head 077 degrees for 136.8 miles. HTMB is on the 343 radial at just 66 miles.
Leg 7 = M’beya to Chunya: From HTMB your initial heading is 359. This is just 22 miles. To follow the VOR, get on the 345 radial from 115.30. Head to DME 88.6 and you are there.
Leg 8 = Last One! Chunya to Sumbawanga: Now, when you are in Africa you have to end your day at a place called Sumbawanga, it just feels right. Your initial heading from Chunya is 290. To follow that VOR/DME, you’ll be on the 315 radial out to 178 miles DME. At HTSU you may want to consider landing on 7…I did not consider that and if I can do it, so can you! Total Miles: 500 - 550 Good Luck! [Alastair 01 - 02 - 03 ]
Peter’s Flight: History: Back in March of 2003 Tony had us, Hauling herring and other necessities around Alaska. We had two major problems with that flight – nose gear and bad smells! So this flight has Mr. Stark Hauling, ‘Herring and other necessities’ around Norway! This is Peter’s chance to live-down the bad rap he got 2 years ago – and after competing in last year’s BOTAs this should be easy for him to do. Besides, what better pilot is there to fly in such a remote place as this? There are tricky procedures and inhospitable terrain, you want someone with a calm head on his shoulders and that certainly ain’t the likes of…I’ll use myself as the example here. Besides Peter, all of these runways are paved for the enjoyment of your nose gear!
If everything with your plane and the airports works well, you should be able to complete the trip in one day...but weather could be a factor and it gets dark early up here. If you run all these legs direct (airport -> airport) it's just over 300 miles all together. With any NavAides you may be lucky enough to hit and a few procedures thrown in, I guess you'll be about 400 miles in the air today. Also, if you haven't already done so, you'll need to print out some approach plates and procedures from www.dangerous-airports.com (although I heard they were going off the air. I have the e-mail of a fellow who wanted to take over the Dangerous Airports Database though so there’s still hope!) Anyway…all of these airports are featured there! (or were at one time or another)
--I flew the Turbo Super Otter Amphibian for these legs--
Finally, if you need some home bases for the day, for diversions or emergencies you’ll have the following:
South end = Evenes is 9200+ ft and ILS equipped
Central = Tromso is 7800+ ft and ILS equipped
North end = Alta is 6800+ ft and ILS equipped I flew this in Real-World weather, the pictures will speak for themselves (Overcast, Calm, Very Light Rain, Light Chop, No Wind, well, gusts to 6 by day's end). I started-up at Evenes at 5:35 AM and spent a conservative 65 minutes on the ground at each stop over. If you are faster, you'll get done sooner but I'll let you know what my times were just for reference sake. Also, while I was on the ground, I discovered that I could still tune into http://www.plr.org/ , even way up here.
Leg 1 = Evenes/ENEV to Framnes/ENNK = 16 miles Departure 05:43 Last night you ferried a load of necessities from Tromso. Now it's early morning and you have to continue your Milk Run. Framnes runway 19 may have a LOC/DME(111.50) but if you have to come in on runway o1 that’s tougher. My plate shows the 099° radial from 117.35. Pass just south of the 355 NDB before turning inbound.
Leg 2 = Framnes/ENNK to Skagen/ENSK = 52.5 miles Departure 07:07 Upon departure from Framnes, turn toward the 117.35 VOR. Then pick up the 112.80 VOR which should be just another 36 miles or so west. Dangerous Airports shows a procedure over the 404 NDB, with a DME step-down along the 241° radial after the NDB.
Leg 3 = Skagen/ENSK to Sorkjosen/ENSR = 167 miles Departure 08:50 This leg is long and will be your only real rest-break today. I used 112.80/Skagen -> 112.20 AND -> 113.80/Tromso -> 278 NDB as my waypoints. Follow the 068° radial from Tromso at 7,000 ft for 43.7 miles to 278 NDB. My plate shows a procedural turn to a LOC/DME into an offset approach from the north.
Leg 4 = Sorkjosen/ENSR to Alta/ENAT = 49.7 miles Departure 11:05 What can I tell you here? Fly the heading 080° to the Alta VOR 117.40, be careful if you have to make an approach from the east as there is rising terrain on that side making for a steep final approach. I also filled all the fuel tanks during this stop over in Alta.
Leg 5 = Alta/ENAT to Valan/ENHV = 81.3 miles Departure 12:45 There’s only one way in to here guys. From the south you’ll cross the 288 NDB at >2,500 ft. There is a LOC/DME on 108.10. Fly the 008° heading from the NDB until 8 miles. Begin a descending left turn through 9 miles DME and 2,100 ft intercepting the 207° radial. At 5 miles you’ll be 1,500 ft. At 2 miles you’ll be at 800 ft and you should notice that you are coming in perpendicular to midfield. Your choice, left or right from here for runway 08 or 26. I was coming into 26 so from the 207° intercept I turned further into the hills to 204°. It was fine but two words of advice: stay at 800 ft as long as you can and turn in later than you might want to.
That’s probably enough for one day don’t you think? There should be a VERY COZY bed and breakfast inn nearby with a lovingly hospitable hostess who seems to somehow remind everyone of Grandma. You can go there for some time in the hot tub followed by fresh bread, coffee, a warm fire and a view out of the window which you won't soon forget.
Optional Leg 6 = Valan/ENAT to Tromso/ENTO = 189.6 miles Departure 15:00 If you opt to finish out your day flying, you should return to your Tromso Base before moving on with life. I departed Valen at 15:00 with waypoints at Hammerfest, Hasvik and Sorkjosen giving me 189.6 miles. This took me 1.5 hours, which totaled about 6 hours in the air today. The Tromso landing was by far the best of the day thanks to the nice straight-in ILS with full glide-slope and everything you need to park it on the numbers - but I gotta tell you, by this point I was flying on vapors! Total Miles: 350 – 400 [Peter 01 - 02 - 03 ]
Hans’ Flight: History: Hans has always seemed to enjoy his time in the Pacific Northwest, and he is a scientist besides, so I needed something educational – something environmental! This is a flight taking you from the Canadian Rockies, near the origin of the Columbia River, to the Pacific Ocean, where the Columbia crashes headlong into the rolling tide – one of the world’s most dangerous bar crossings! http://home.online.no/~lawford/xrl/quarterdeck-cg-44300.htm
--In what I’d call an odd turn or departure from the normal, I flew a P-51 Mustang for this flight option--
You could also fly this in reverse (like the Salmon do) which may provide some interesting weather changes as you fly into one of FlightSim’s most dangerous airports! You can land at as many or as few of these waypoints as you’d like so no real Legs on this one. The idea here is that you fly low and enjoy the scenery. This route, with waypoints, is logged as 611.4 miles but if you are able to actually follow the water (like the Salmon do) you’ll have a few more miles than that. You’ll want something small, sturdy but quick (otherwise you could be flying all day). I used Real Weather from January 2005.
The Flight: I set up for departure from Salmon Arm, BC (CZAM) which, is on the list at www.dangerous-airports.com, after good light in the morning. You can just make out the lake, which feeds into what becomes the Columbia River, behind me in CZAM Hdg 169 to CYYF CYYF Hdg 108 to 63S 63S Hdg 214 to KEAT KEAT Hdg 127 to KPSC KPSC Hdg 214 to 1S8 1S8 Hdg 243 to KDLS KDLS Hdg 257 to KCZK KCZK Hdg 231 to KTTD KTTD Hdg 285 to KSPB KSPB Hdg 336 to KKLS KKLS Hdg 265 to 7W1 7W1 Hdg 134 to KAST You could also see this link:
http://www.nps.gov/jeff/LewisClark2/HomePage/HomePage.htm
I progress along under mostly cloudy skies, looks like rain/snow mix at the start, some rain near Portland with hazy conditions at my fuel stop (which was Scappoose – KSPB). I had planned on stopping in Cascade Locks (KCZK) but as I dropped below 1,500 feet I was in white-out conditions. I know that there isn’t a lot of room at the real-world airport and with no NavAides here I wasn’t going to risk it. Otherwise, this was a very enjoyable flight – in fact, I’d like to do some more exploring around Salmon Arm and the headwaters some time.
Total Miles: 600 - 650 [Hans 01 - 02 - 03 ]
Tony’s Flight: History: I want you all to know that just because we have presented a flight somewhere does not mean that the area is forever off limits. Certainly there are other airports to hit, different weather, sim upgrades etc. Within the first 3 months of this Flight Club’s birth Tony had given us two flights to Alaska but we haven’t been back since. There is SO MUCH to see here! This flight had to go back to Mr. Radmilovich, besides, as you are thawing out in the real world I thought a chance to revisit some snow might me nice. This is one flight that was tough for me to navigate, but after doing it a couple of times, I was getting better at finding a VOR radial and riding that out to my destination. (Doing Alastair’s flight also helped) I did load in a flightplan for this route if for no other reason than to switch the NAV/GPS lever to GPS. That way my H.S.I. could at least point to where my course was SUPPOSED to be and would give me DME to my next waypoint. After that, it was all hand-flying! I also had to tweak the photos a bit because in January, even mid-day is pretty darn dark! Unfortunately, there were not the towering peaks I had hoped for…guess that leaves the door open for ANOTHER Alaska flight or two!
~I flew a Wheeled Twin Otter for this one~
Leg 1 = Valdez to Brenwicks (3Z5): Head out from Valdez on 356 degrees (you’ll probably need to make that climbing turn first). 356 degrees for 61 miles and you are there.
Navigation Help: From the airport there is an NDB (248) on a heading of 325. Also, there is a VOR (115.60) on a heading of 325 at 5.3 miles DME. (So I flew to the VOR, then backtracked on 145 until I was visual for base and final.)
Leg 2 = Brenwhicks to Chistochina (CZO): The GPS heading from Brenwicks is 007 degrees for 36.5 miles to Chistochina.
Navigation Help: Again, the VOR at 115.60 is just 33 miles on a heading of 013. So I flew over the VOR and headed out on 013 degrees.
Leg 3 = Chistochina to Paxson (PXK): I show a heading of 292 degrees for another 36 miles.
Navigation Help: Again, the VOR at 115.60 is 52.2 miles on a heading of 330. If you dial up the 114.90 VOR you’ll be on the 297 radial at 59.2 DME. (One VOR is inbound and the other is outbound)
Leg 4 = Paxson to Artic Angel (9AK4): A heading of 324 degrees for 67.3 miles.
Navigation Help: That VOR of 114.90 is near this airport.
Leg 5 = Artic Angel to Fairbanks (PAFA): This will be easy for you as there are VORs at both ends and the flight is just 66.5 miles. Head out on 279 degrees from 114.90. While enroute dial up 108.60 for Fairbanks’ VOR. The VOR is some distance from the airport but the airport is ILS-equipped also. Total Miles: 250 – 300 I hope that you’ll get the chance to fly this month. [Tony 01 - 02 - 03 ]
Alejandro’s Flight: History: AIr, I know that the average winter temperature in your part of the world is about 70° F and I didn’t want to freeze off your pitot tube, so I’m showing you how sensitive I am to your issues and I’m sending you on some delivery runs, someplace warm and friendly – The Philippines!
--I flew an Origin Pacific Jetstream41 for this tour--
Leg 1 = Legaspi to Masbate: Start out in the morning hours from RPLP where there is a local VOR on 112.20. Once your passengers are all loaded you’ll request taxi and departure clearance and head out on 187 degrees for 48 miles toward the VOR 115.70.
Leg 2 = Masbate to Naval: After you spend your obligatory hour on the ground you’ll head out on the 137 radial for 67.3 miles to RPNA. Naval airport is between two VORs: 115.70 is 67.3 miles on 137 degrees. 114.30 is 78.3 miles on 199 degrees.
Leg 3 = Naval to Mambajao: Another hour on the ground and you’ll head 199 degrees over the VOR at 114.30. At the VOR turn to 146 degrees and head another 76.2 miles to CGM.
Leg 4 = Mambajao to Malaybalay: From CGM take a heading of 159 for just 71 miles to RPMY. There are two ways to find RPMY with your VORs: Take 113.30 on the 118 degree heading to a DME of 33.2 miles. Or, set the 112.10 VOR on the 151/321 radial and look for a DME of 69.5 miles.
Leg 5 = Malaybalay to Basilan (Z25N): From RPMY you’ll fly 247 degrees for 196.3 miles to the VOR 113.90. At the VOR turn to 195 degrees for another 16.5 miles into Z25N.
Leg 6 = Basilan to Jolo: The last leg of the day takes you out on 237 degrees just 68.5 miles to your overnight stop (and the end of this FOTM) at RPMJ. There is an NDB here on 404Hz. Also, if you dial up the VOR 113.90 you’ll be on the 229 radial at a DME of 80 miles. Total Miles: 600 - 650 [Alejandro 01 - 02 - 03 - 04 ]
Anyone Else Out There Who May Want to Fly Something from the Real World: Option 1: History: Back when I was in college I had a good friend named Kristi. We worked out that she would do one of her internships in Oregon if I would do one of mine in Colorado. So one summer a couple of decades ago, I shared the family’s big cabin with her and her brother Doug. Doug was a commercial/contract pilot who would make runs in some kind of a Piper twin to Grand Junction, Colorado Springs, Telluride and basically anywhere around the Rockies that the clients needed to fly. So, (sigh, finally) here are some flights that Doug may have made.
~I flew a Piper Aztec Twin for this route~
Leg 1 = Denver’s Front Range to Aspen: Heading 243 about 113 miles over the VOR 116.30 before heading into 113.00, which is north of Aspen. You’ve got to be careful here because part of my choosing Aspen is it’s famously tough approach – departing ain’t no picnic either!
Leg 2 = Aspen to Cheyenne: Once up through the hills, I took a heading of 026 from the VOR (113.00). As you loose that VOR it’s just a couple clicks up to 113.10, which is just north of the runway in Cheyenne.
Leg 3 = Cheyenne to Jackson Hole: I used the GPS here, flying 290 degrees until I could pick up the VOR at Jackson Hole. (108.40).
Leg 4 = Jackson Hole to West Yellowstone: My last leg was just 65 miles. My heading from the VOR is 330 degrees and as my DME got nearer the magic 60+ miles I picked up the NDB at West Yellowstone Montana (338 Hz). Still can’t figure out how this made the Dangerous Airports Database. Total Miles: 600 – 650 [Doug 01 - 02 ]
Anyone Else Out There Who May Want to Fly Something from the Real World: Option 2: History: Last summer there was a fascinating series of articles on FS.com written by a real-world commercial pilot who had the honor of flying The Golden Argosy route from NYC to Rome, Italy. In the golden days of flight this route belonged to a 707, now it’s done by a 767…I took an FS 777 for the route. (This is also offered in the Flight Club’s Flight Centre Database) See these links: http://www.flightsim.com/cgi/kds?$=main/feature/argosy1.htm http://www.flightsim.com/cgi/kds?$=main/feature/argosy2a.htm http://www.flightsim.com/cgi/kds?$=main/feature/argosy2b.htm http://www.flightsim.com/cgi/kds?$=main/feature/argosy3.htm http://www.flightsim.com/cgi/kds?$=main/feature/argosy4.htm
Truly, this is only a one-leg flight, +/- about 3,800 miles. I tried to follow Tony’s route as closely as possible loading in a route using High Altitude Jetways. I pushed back from a heavy gate a KJFK just a few minutes after
16:00 with real weather downloaded. I was directed out to runway 34L for departure. I climbed initially to 5,000 feet and turned NE toward my first VOR along the Connecticut coast. I continued hopping VOR to VOR up the eastern seaboard while step-climbing up to FL350. Somewhere near Newfoundland I flew into the darkness. Also, once I got out of range of the VOR I had to keep my altitude and speed LOCKED IN as the article describes. For that, I switched to GPS and NAV-Tracking on autopilot. I hit a few scattered Intersections over the top but after what seemed like an eternity I finally picked up the Shannon VOR and was able to switch back to NAV/HDG mode.
Dawn caught back up to me between Geneva and Turin. Soon enough I started my descent, down over Milan and as I neared Rome, ATC directed me to set up for a left approach into the ILS for runway 34. I disconnected my autopilot and made my interception and turn onto a 6-mile final out of 3,300 feet. There was no wind to speak of and although I was a bit slow (nose-high) over the fence, my landing was pretty much spot-on.
This was a long flight, more than the other 11 offerings combined, but if all you want to do this month is fly a heavy (or leave your sim running all night like I did!!) this may be an easy way to get all those things done at one time. Tony Valillo, thanks for sharing! [Argosy 01 - 02 - 03 - 04 - 05 - 06 ]
Anyone Else Out There Who May Want some PLANE FUN!!! “The Smoke That Thunders” History: How about I just give you a quote from the ReadMe file from this Add-On?
“One of the main landmarks of (The African Continent), the spectacular Victoria Falls of the Zambezi River are missing in the out-of-the-box FS. (We) used LOD9 mesh as a base and (with) the help of satellite imagery maps, Ground2K4 and Gmax, we did our best to model a realistic representation of the (spectacular) falls, the river, and the (deeply cut) gorge, complete with custom waterfall spray effects. (This download) covers more than 100 km of the Zambezi River with the falls at the middle. Also included is a replacement landclass file (with buildings and trees and etc) which covers approximately 20 miles on either side of the river.”
Downloads: For FS2002 you need vicf_fs8.zip plus the patch For FS2004/ACOF you need only vicfalls.zip
Okay, I admit it, this isn’t really a regional flight either – I did this just for fun! Remember back in Alastair’s flight I said that I liked going to Africa to just get away? Well, in the real world there are few (if any) sights as spectacular as Victoria Falls. (You think Niagara is a big deal? HA!!) So anyway, I took off from Livingstone, Zambia and then it’s easy…HEAD SOUTH. I’ve never been much for Add-Ons due to my lack of technical expertise and an aging hardware system – but if you’ve seen the default area here, IT IS REALLY SAD! So I got this to work on my system and considering what I had before, I’m really happy – although a MUCH bigger spray would be more realistic!! After some tooling around I decided to do a Half-Cuban-Eight under the bridge (I guess the add-on bridge didn’t line up with the add-on scenery?) then I thought I’d try to land on the bridge but I guess it doesn’t show up as a solid structure ‘cause I fell right through! (But I gotta tell you I was looking GREAT right up to that point!) So after that I just flew back up the Zambezi River, with a bit of a different view.
Why can’t Microsoft make things look more like this in the default scenery?
If you want to make this into a longer, more regional flight, you could take off from Blantyre, Malawi and fly west to Lusaka, Zambia. From Lusaka you head southwest to Livingstone and the falls. For a longer flight, commute back and forth from Johannesburg! [DC4 01 - 02 ] [Falls 01 - 02 - 03 - 04 - 05 - 06 ] [Ship 01 - 02 - 03 ] [Vic Falls 01 - 02 ]
I hope that you all have enjoyed your respective flights (and maybe a couple of others too!). If there is somewhere else you’d like to fly…present that for YOUR next FOTM! And don’t worry about having to come up with individualized flights in the future, I must admit that I was just a little out of control during the long wet winter. (At this point, Weblackey interrupts):
“Ummmmm, Flounder? Weren’t there screenshots labeled as “Ron’s Flight” too? What was I supposed to do with those?” Oh Yeah, Almost Forgot!
Ron’s Flight Around Italy: History: This flight is taken (with a few tweaks) from our Flight Centre Database. Consider this one as picking up where Argosy left off!
~I used an Agean Seas Lear45 for this one~
Leg 1 = Rome to Palermo: Set up for departure from any of Rome’s airports, I used LIRA. A local VOR is at 110.80. Take a heading outbound on the 162 radial. Fly just about 56 miles to the PNZ VOR at 114.60. Then, we’ll take a little detour back toward shore and the sights near Naples and the famous Mt. Vesuvius. Take a heading 106 from the VOR. Dial up 112.20 and head for that VOR, just 65 miles. Finally, take a heading of 201 for 155 miles into LICJ which has a VOR at 113.00
Leg 2 = Palermo to Reggio: Your heading from Palermo is 091 degrees. The VOR at your destination is 111.00. There is a tricky approach northbound so watch for terrain on your right if you have to land that direction.
Leg 3 = Reggio to Split: Italy into Yugoslavia: From LICR take a heading of 014 for 191 miles to 116.40. At the VOR turn to 350 degrees for another 145 miles to LDSP which has a VOR at 115.70
Leg 4 = Split to Tivat: Dial NAV1 to 115.70 (probably already is) and take an outbound heading of 122 degrees. Dial in 115.40 to overfly Dubrovnik. Tivat is just 21 miles from here but depending on ATIS / Winds there are two approach options into LYTV:
Runway 14: Cross 115.40 at 4,000 feet and ride the 128-degree radial outbound. Set NDB to 345 just in case you have to go missed! You’ll need to be at 2,250 feet by DME 12. Descend to 1,750 feet by DME 15.5. Drop to 700 feet by DME 20 and this is your MAP. Runway 14 is at your 1-o’clock. If you have to go missed, climb to 4,000 feet and overfly that NDB.
Runway 32: Set NAV1 to 111.30. Set CRS nob to 337 degrees. Set up to the south, (That’s the 315/135 radial from Dubrovnik at about 36 DME) locking onto the LOC/DME at about 10 miles (4,500 feet). Cross the NDB (345) on a heading of 337 at 3,300 feet, your DME will be 7.5 miles. You should hold 3,300 feet for a bit, maybe a very gradual descent but not too fast. The trick here is to end up at 2,000 feet by DME 3 but don’t drop straight to 2,000 after the NDB! Somewhere after DME 3, nearing 1,000 feet, is your MAP. The airport will be at your 10-o’clock. I’ve made this turn in poor weather before and…if you have made the turn to 320 degrees, dropped to 1,000 feet and still can’t see the runway GO MISSED! (Which means making a full-power, climbing Left turn to 180 degrees. Get to 5,000 feet before trying to set up again.)
Of course, regardless of weather, being the fun-loving kind of a guy I am, I picked runway 32! (And it was a tough, gusting wind out of the north, made for a very interesting approach) Total Miles: 850 – 900 [Rons 01 - 02 - 03 - 04 - 05 - 06 ]
Whew! Okay, I hope to see you all for my next installment of, Something for Everyone, which will be a (hopefully) White Christmas! In the meantime, fly safely.
Oh, by the way, if you were to have done all eleven of these FOTM offerings, (not counting the 3,800-mile Argosy flight) you’d have flown 3,000 miles! (At 130 mph…divided by 13 days…….HEY! Just two hours per day…..)
