Enroute video:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=v2kFCeW4KY0
Leg A = Hans had graciously released the FOTM info early and we were each off to make up our own Scandinavian tours. I suppose I could be called insensitive for flying a B-17 over Germany at dawn but I haven’t had a B-17 in the hanger since FS2k and I was excited to get started – so I took this old warbird up for a loud and bumpy ride into Finland. (pict1) (Besides, it’s time to move on, we can all appreciate a great aircraft without dwelling on the death and destruction part) I fired the engines one cold crisp morning at dawn and set about to taxi out for a departure toward the city. As the sun rose in the east I thundered into the air and made a wide turn over Hamburg before settling in to a NORTH heading. (pict2) I trimmed out for gentle VFR cruise between 3,500 and 4,000 feet. It was quite bumpy for the first ¾ of my 3-hour flight (pict3) up to Vaasa, Finland. My route took me north across the Baltic towards Malmo, Sweden then I followed the shore up to Stockholm before crossing over the Gulf of Bothnia to Finland. As I turned for finals I noticed two things: First was the fog, second was my poor flying technique in this old bird, third was the crosswind. Wait, that’s three things? Oh well, it was a challenging cross-wind landing over and between the numerous trees in the area – but I survived, barely! (pict4) One additional side note: I’ll be adding a Flight Club Version of this B-17 to the Hangar in coming weeks/months.
Leg B = Later that same day I climbed up into the Rogue Air Beech Baron and planned another low-level VFR flight in to Helsinki. I departed to the northwest hoping to catch some glimpses of the scenic shorelines on my way out of town – it was too foggy. (pict5) I turned my heading to 150* and headed across the heart of Finland – I didn’t know, or had forgotten, how much water is here! As I crossed Keskisuomi and Mikkeli provinces it became colder and foggier. (pict6) Soon I was unable to see far enough to make out any ground details. I turned on the VOR for Helsinki and climbed to 5,000 feet – total white-out! Finally I had the VOR and ILS fired up and “locked in.” Looking outside was of little help as you’ll see from the photos. (pict7) I was committed to land when, to my astonishment, I saw a 777 waiting at the hold short point. “Thank goodness he’s waiting” I breathed as the MD already on the runway crept into view. “No worries, mate” I added a little touch more throttle and glided down for a safe landing, turning off just behind the 747 that had just landed ahead of me.
Leg C = Sick of this weather I made my way to the Officer’s Lounge and ordered my new wings, a Cimber ATR 72. I also downloaded a brand new set of real weather. Same visibility but now with snow falling! Damn! Maybe heading west will help. I taxied back out to the active and departed eastbound, circling out over the water. There was no point in staying at VFR altitude, I couldn’t see anything – so I paused the flight and loaded a clear but breezy summer weather theme. That’s two months in a row now that we’ve had to change seasons in order to complete the FOTM - What’s up with that? (pict8) Anyway…I flew across Sweden to Oslo, then turned south and landed on the southern tip of Norway. (pict9)
Leg D = After arriving safely in Norway I switched into one of my repaints, specially for this FOTM, a Norse Jetstream-31 and headed back south towards Denmark. (I haven’t yet finished the Swede and Dane versions of the plane – if anyone is really interested, let me know.)
Leg E = For my last (truly sightseeing) leg I took the Flight Club International Airways (Lebanon/Greece) Super Otter Amphibian on a flight over and around Copenhagen. (pict11) (pict12) As the yet-to-be-released video will show, this was truly a flight which would be outlawed by civil flight authorities in any country – but it gave me a good look around!
Back Home = Since it is still early in the month (and I have other flying to do) I hopped into the MACH4+ Tanaka SST2010 in American Airlines livery, (pict13) and flew that back to KOFC. In this plane, you actually fly faster than the sun and I arrived back in Oregon just after dawn. (pict14)
Leg E = For my last (truly sightseeing) leg I took the Flight Club International Airways (Lebanon/Greece) Super Otter Amphibian on a flight over and around Copenhagen. (pict11) (pict12) As the yet-to-be-released video will show, this was truly a flight which would be outlawed by civil flight authorities in any country – but it gave me a good look around!
Back Home = Since it is still early in the month (and I have other flying to do) I hopped into the MACH4+ Tanaka SST2010 in American Airlines livery, (pict13) and flew that back to KOFC. In this plane, you actually fly faster than the sun and I arrived back in Oregon just after dawn. (pict14)
Hans, no blondes, sorry – but a good summertime flight none-the-less! Thanks for the idea.
Flounder
