Flounder's FlightSim Pilot Reports: January 2007

Well, regardless of when you fly this FOTM, weather should not be an issue! I have had great fun – and really have appreciated Peter Stark’s work on LGFC, known as “Ron’s Digs”. This will be our hub for this FOTM. It seems that recently we have gotten out of the habit of using specified aircraft for our features so this month I would ask each of you to fly in the same type of aircraft I will give you for each leg. If you cannot complete all these legs, that’s fine, we all have real lives going on outside of the computer/simulator. In other words, you can pick one route to fly or two or all of them it's up to you!

Requirements: Obviously, you’ll need to get LGFC and the three files of scenery objects Peter has used to create this scenery. The scenery files are from “Rwy12” (try www.flightsim.com) and the airport can be downloaded from: http://peter.r.stark.googlepages.com/myscenerypage. (copy and paste the address into your browser window) You really cannot do this FOTM without these up and running (Sorry Bill, no escape this time!) You may also use any scenery or mesh add-ons which suit you. Finally, I’ll give you all the information right here, you won’t even need a flightplan!

“A Local Tour” Beech Baron: (pict1) (pict2) This is for those who have never flown to/from LGFC before, to give you a little “lay-of-the-land” ‘round these parts. It is also for any out there who still have default-only aircraft? Set the date and weather to something Mediterranean and load up any Beech Baron 58 from “parking.” Set your VOR radio to FCG (116.20) and then taxi out to runway 9 (yes, I said 9 even though there are mountains ahead…) and take off. Even a novice will have more than enough room to get the Baron airborne and cleaned and turned aside (probably want to turn left) before crashing into the rocks. Maintain that climbing left turn back over the VOR and onto the 212 radial outbound. Set VOR for 110.40 at Santorini which is just 36.1 miles southwest. Then turn right onto the 292 radial. The next VOR is 51 miles away at 113.50. At that VOR you’ll turn right again (061*) toward the NDB on 326Hz. Take the 061* radial northeast for 45.6 miles to the NDB and at the NDB, turn right again to 112*. Dial the VOR back to 116.20 which will bring you 27.8 miles back home to LGFC. You’ll be flying 112* for runway 9, should be no problems in this clear weather! To review: 116.20 > 212* > 110.40 > 292* > 113.50 > 061* > 326Hz > 112* > 116.20

“A Regional Flight” ATR 72: (pict3) (pict4) Most of my non-sightseeing flights have been back and forth between Ron’s Digs and Beirut Lebanon (another favorite spot of mine) - but since we are trying to keep FOTMs shorter, we’ll fly to Cyprus instead. Again, you can fly from LGFC, to LGFC or round trip, it’s your call but this 346-mile leg will take a bit longer than the last one. Load up an ATR 72 and this time taxi to runway 27 for departure. You’ll want NAV1 set to 116.20 and you’ll turn your CRS/OBS knob to 104* for an outbound heading. After my westbound departure, I turned right to a heading of 130 until I was on the 104 radial. When you loose the FCG radio signal you should tune 115.80 which is the VOR at Rhodes. Come to think of it, if you really needed to shorten up this leg you could round-trip from Rhodes rather than Pafos on Cyprus. At Rhodes, turn to 110* and head for Pafos. There is also a VOR at your destination on 117.90. To review: 116.20 > 104* > 115.80 > 110* > 117.90

“A Jet Flight” CRJ 200: (pict5) (pict6) So, if LGFC really existed, where would people fly to/from? Well, probably from Athens or some other of the Greek Isles I would guess. So this flight will cover that thought. You can fly to or from LGFC or if you are so inclined, fly the round trip! I thought since Hans had already taken us to Athens, Mikonos and Samos that I needed to cover something different – so this time well fly to (or from) Corfu. You must use a CRJ200 for this flight and please, enjoy the 340+ miles of awesome views. Warning, enroute altitudes will, at some point, need to be >10,000 feet to clear mountains! From LGFC fly a heading of 295* to the VOR at 115.00. This is 86.5 miles, then you’ll turn to 286* for 65.7 miles to 113.00. At that VOR another little correction to 277* - 74.8 miles later you’ll cross the VOR 112.70. You’ll need to fly 320* from this VOR heading for KRK on 114.70. At this last VOR, you’ll be just over 11 miles from Kapodistrias International, heading 318*, VOR 108.80, NDB 403, Runway 35. To review: 116.20 > 295* > 115.00 > 286* > 113.00 > 277* > 112.70 > 320* > 114.70 > 318*

“About as long as you’d want to go from here” (for a FOTM) A318 or A319: (pict7) (pict8) As I’ve stated, flights between LGFC and Beirut I’ve done many times but if you do that you’ll cover the same air as in the ATR leg so this time, we’ll head another direction. I thought about Alexandria, Egypt for this flight but after Crete there’s just a lot of water, so how about Palermo, Italy for a destination? Same thing, fly to or from or both but you must use an A318 or A319 for this one. As you depart and clean up you’ll need to head 319* to 110.00. Next head 269* to 117.20. Next you’ll head 285* to 111.00. Next is a heading of 287* to 117.10. Then turn left to 229* to 111.00 and finally head 272* to 113.00 which is at Palermo. Total miles for this very scenic (therefore indirect) flight is 655.3 miles (If you fly at 7,000 feet and 250 knots you should plan on about 2.75 hours) To review: 116.20 > 319* > 110.00 > 269* > 117.20 > 285* > 111.00 > 287* > 117.10 > 229* > 111.00 > 272* > 113.00

“Destination of your choice – but limited aircraft” (This is an optional leg just to see what comes up) KA200 / 350; PC-12; EMB-170; EMB-120; ERJ135; B735; Dash-7 or 8; DC-3; Cessna 441: (pict9) (pict10) Now we can open up some options. For those, like me, who really get into your FOTMs and want to see a lot of an area, I’ve given you several planes to choose from – you can decide where to fly. I used the following flight for my sample video: 116.20 > 102* > 108.60 > 253* > 111.60 > 089* > Karpathos I used a Dash-8 and an EMB-170. This is 451 miles each way, in case you were wondering.