November 2009 - Poland

Well, once everyone had arrived in Southern Cal the actual FOTM around Catalina and the Channel Islands didn't take long - then we had the rest of the month free to .... ? In the May/June Issued of "Flying Adventures Magazine" they suggested flying around Santa Barbara County, listing some great Wine & Dine locations. But for me, I had other flying to do!
From Long Beach I caught a cab back to LAX and then took an overnight flight into Tromso, Norway. That's right folks, I flew a 747SP into Tromso and you can watch the video here: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=cJhUMzxwf6Q

Then from Tromso I flew a Do328 Turbotwin down the 20* east longitude line to Cape Town. You can read about that here: http://www.flightsim.com/main/feature/20east.htm
About this time Brad said that we should head to Europe but I had one more job to do starting in Japan. So I climbed aboard a 747-400 and made my way from Cape Town to Tokyo where I then flew a Lockheed Electra along the 35* north latitude line (That story to be published early 2010) all the way to Funchal where I was hanging out on November 1st when this FOTM adventure finally popped up. So, we start the story there, on Madeira Island.

I'm sure much of the world would describe the early morning breeze, which tussled the ivory linen curtains, as "cool" but it seemed oddly warm to me - warm for November 1st anyway. Back home they had been having blustery and windy conditions but here in Madeira it was clear, almost Spring-like. The smell of dryness, sage, mingled gently with the slightly salty sea. I scuffed in my slippers and flanel pajamas over to the single round table upon which Esmerelda (the innkeeper) had left a bowl of fruit and dates. I poured a steaming mug of English Breakfast Tea, bit into my first fresh fig of the morning and then picked up the now familiar envelope with the TOOMUCHFS@ Logo Emblasened on the front.

The note from Brad read, "Looking at several websites on Poland, I realized I really didn't know anything about this rich nation in northeastern Europe. Now, we will!" I wondered how, with getting ready to move and all, he had the time to be looking at websites but ... oh well. As I read the brief instructions it occurred to me that I have, in fact, flown in Poland in the past - and really the default FS2004 didn't seem to have a whole lot to offer. At that point I figured I'd better do an odd thing and find some scenery enhancements from http://www.flightsim.com/ (the Gold Standard of FS-support websites). I found this great-sounding "enhancement" which uses only default buildings and runways and objects but adds to all the airports in Poland - even adding some airports I believe, 106 of them in all. Just add (or overwrite) the BGL files to the default Scenery folders for Europe and you're done. GREAT! (Someone should do that for the whole world!!)

By Monday the second of November I was ready for a nearly 2,000-mile flight in a LOT-Polska 737-400 from Funchal to G'dansk. (I'll try and include fewer photos this time) I fired up the sim and noted several other 737-400s there ready to head out across Europe and North Africa for the day. My route took me over Lisbon, Bilao, Bordeoux, Luxemborg and Berlin (I e-mailed that photo over Berlin to the group) enroute to the north-Poland coast along the grey and chilly Baltic Sea. Arrival to G'dansk was from the northeast and the landing was smooth. I had decided that my first wings for the month would be a Socata TB-21 "Trinidad", so I loaded up that GA bird and set up for the tour down to Warsaw. Although I had filed an IFR flightplan, I basically flew VFR over the city and harbor of G'dansk and then up the Vistula River.

The Vistula is the longest and one of the most important rivers in Poland at 1,047 km (651 miles) in length. The Vistula has its source at Barania Góra in the south of Poland, 1220 meters above sea level in the Silesian Beskids (western part of Carpathian Mountains) where it begins with two smaller streams. It then continues to flow over the vast Polish plains, passing several large Polish cities along its way, including Kraków, Sandomierz, Warszawa, P³ock, W³oc³awek, Toruñ, Bydgoszcz, Œwiecie, Grudzi¹dz, Tczew and Gdañsk. It empties into the Vistula Lagoon or directly into the Gdañsk Bay of the Baltic Sea via a delta and several branches. Other than the river winding through the countryside, there isn't much Poland to see in the sim-world. After about 90 minutes I came in over Warsaw, flew through the middle of the city and then turned back toward the airport. ATC took me back to the north end for a southbound landing. Later that afternoon I returned to my little four-seater and continued along the river to Mielec where I landed to the west.
That evening as we all sat around the table enjoying our dinners, Tony asked what airplane was featured in the movie "The Avengers" and after a bit of discussion, we decided that it had been a Handley-Page-Dart Herald. So, I downloaded one and loaded that up for the next leg over to Poznari - about 289 miles. Not sure why but I liked this much better than the Fokker-27 although they look almost identical. Hmmmm, maybe I'll have to do some repaints of this critter!

Finally was the last SPRINT back to G'dansk - 9,000 feet, MACH 1.2, F-15 Eagle - 'Nuff said!

October 2009 - Catalina and the Channel Islands

This was going to be GREAT! Back to my old High School stomping grounds.

It was late Wednesday night that word came I could head to LAX. It wasn't until Thursday afternoon that I was able to depart Rio in the Flight Club's 707 and head on the long flight to Los Angeles (so long in fact that I had to stop off in Caracas for gas).

Arrival to LAX was after dark but the landing was smooth - and about half a runway long. I forget how comparatively small the 707 (versus say the 767 or MD-11) and this error always puts me high and fast on finals. But, I arrived in LA just in time to ... wait for everyone else to arrive.

No one else in this club knows the Channel Islands like I do; I've done fishing and whale watching and SCUBA diving and animal observation all throughout this area - and I figured that justifies my self-inscribed title as "Tour Guide for the Month" (sorry Joao). So while I waited for the others to arrive I set about picking my aircraft for this feature, something that could accomodate all of us comfortably and still provide a good view out the windows.

Flight One: "The Overview" in the Do-328 Turboprop. Once the last Executive arrived we loaded up and headed over to Santa Catalina Island (and the notedly tough approach).

As we crossed the channel I recounted stories of Whale Watching and Catalina cruises I had taken. I pointed out the fishing and ferry vessles below. I'm sure the other members where quite enthralled! Once we got to the island we took an overflight, north to south to give everyone a good perspective. After coming to the south end we descended and returned to the airport where I requested clearance and turned onto downwind. It had barely been an hour and I was getting tired of hearing Bill ask, "Are you sure you can get this big plane in and out of there?" Then there was Brad, "Should've brought a Beaver..."After spending the better part of three hours touring and shopping around the island (major tourist trap!) we were all pretty ready to head on to Santa Barbara via the Channel Islands. This time I asked Bill to sit in the very back and invited Alejandro up to the front seat. We taxied back out to the east end and for Bill's benefit I held on the brakes and pushed the throttles forward until the "little" plane shook and rattled. Then I released the brakes and let 'er scream down the runway. Peter said it was not unlike a carrier launch! I held the plane down until Alejandro was calling out 200 knots, then ... I put Bill and Brad in their proper places! It wasn't until we were cruising along happily at 3,000 feet and 260 knots that I realized that Joao and Hans were still offering up their prayers. This wasn't supposed to be a scary flight! "Off to the right of the aircraft you will see Anacapa Island where I did my first SCUBA dives. In the distance beyond is the Pt Mugu NAS - Pacific Rocketry Base." From there we continued on to Santa Cruz Island. Next up was Santa Rosa Island and Natural Park. Finally we come to the most remote of the Channel Islands, San Miguel. Finally, that afternoon, we headed north into Santa Barbara. Alastair, who had sat quietly studying his map all afternoon, finally asked, "How is it that the Pacific Ocean and these islands are SOUTH of California? I thought the Pacific was WEST." We then had to show him how California curves in this part and Los Angeles is actually EAST of Reno Nevada.

Flight Two: "Up Close and Personal" in the Twin, Nomad-on-Floats. After a couple of days in Santa Barbara (and on the beach) we were ready to head back towards LA. We departed from the Santa Barbara waterfront and headed back to the Channel Islands. Santa Rosa Island: I think the relatively cold Pacific Waters were a shock to some of our Club Members - Tim and Geert just swam in their shorts. Santa Cruz Island: Anacapa Island:

Finally we took our cold and wet adventurers back to Catalina and landed near the Two Harbors port where we deplaned for lunch. (I know that Joao and Tony were getting some odd looks but it's not everyday you see a couple of older guys with such purple lips from the cold water!) We also ordered the local "Vegitarian Special" for Peter which he learned later contained clam. Oh well, sorry mate.

From there is was just one last, short flight back across the channel to Long Beach where we landed near the Queen Mary

Tim, thank you so much for taking us back for a more thorough and up-close look at this scenic area of the Pacific Coast. This was great fun as predicted.

September 2009 - Foz do Iguacu, Brazil

After a crazy and hectic month up in Alaska, trying to find all of Peter's little red-and-white boxes I awoke before dawn on Monday the 31st not really ready to head off to Brazil. I climbed aboard, pre-flighted (is that an adverb?), walked-around and fired up "Flounder One" from KOFC. Watch this video of the 15-hour, all-day haul (with fuel stop in Guatamala) down to Sao Paulo: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=FHWzQNNshDI

On Tuesday morning I awoke in my hotel room with a busting headache but there under the door was my FOTM information. A bowl of fresh fruit and latte' later I was feeling better and opened the envelope to find the following photo: My heart sank, "I'm in an entirely wrong hemisphere" I thought. Then I read on ... an Oktoberfest in Southern Brazil? Sounds kinda fun!
So I spent the rest of Tuesday setting up my route and aircraft as well as touring around Sao Paulo. I'd be basically flying the route backwards, ending up at the "Falls of Iguacu."

I set out (not too) early Wednesday September 2nd for "Quero" in a Flight Club livery Lockheed Electra. After take-off I turned to the right and flew at about 4,000 feet over the whole of Sao Paulo. Once I was beyond most of the city I commenced my climb on up to cruise altitude of 9,000 feet.

It's about 250 miles from Sao Paulo to Blumenau - just a bit over an hour in the Electra. As I set up for finals I noted a problem ahead ... in FS9, Quero Airport is in a hole! It looked very landable but I just didn't have to fortitude to pull it off so instead I divered to near-by Navegantes Airport on the coast.
It was a bit foggy, still, but no big deal. I spent a few hours here and had lunch in near-by Itajai. For the next, shorter flight ('bout 100 miles from Navegantes) up to Curitaba and "Afonso Pena International" Airport, I chose the Flight Club P-51 Mustang. I even got to chase a Caravan just for a bit of a distraction!
Two days later I was ready for the little bit of a longer flight to "Cataratas Airport" in Iguacu and I figured I'd take the Flight Club's Do328-jet. It was a pleasant, uneventful flight over the jungles of southern Brazil with an arrival about 10:40 AM. Finally, during my time in Foz do Iguacu I took the Flight Club's Stearman on some low-and-slow trips over the falls. I don't know about the scenery for the rest of you, but I had some SPECTACULAR views as shown in the following photos:After my time in southwestern Brazil I took the "Black Flight Club" A-320 back to Santos Dumont in Rio. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ZJokp3Leda8

While there, I could enjoy the sights until next month.

pretendpilot@yahoo.com

August 2009 - Alaska Rogaine

Peter has mentioned Rogaining before but when I saw the title of this month's FOTM I thought of a Hair Growth Product called "Rogaine for Men" ( http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Minoxidil ). I thought that Peter wanted us all to, "Look younger today! Use Rogaine to regrow hair naturally ..." Thank goodness that's not what we are doing this month.

Having spent a few weeks at home I was a bit glad to hear that we wouldn't be trekking off half-way around the world this month - Alaska is "right next door." And Peter's scenery-adding efforts for this FOTM amaze me - the bar has, again, been set higher! Thank you Raven, in advance, for the abuse I will surely endure this month.

There was something familiar about Cordova-Smith Airport, PACV - It was one of the locations of our first Alaskan FOTM back in March 2003! I booked a quick flight up the Pacific Coast in a Default Lear-45 and arrived into Cordova the afternoon of Sunday, August 2nd. During my flight I reveiwed some of my own "Orienteering" experiences: Of course there is plane old orienteering - compass headings and get back to camp before dark. There is letterboxing, something our whole family enjoys doing. You search for clues in any given area on the internet and then follow those clues to a hidden "box" somewhere. In the box is a custom-made ink stamp and paper. You stamp your own passport with THEIR stamp and leave YOUR stamp imprint on their paper. Then, rehide the box for the next explorer. There is geocaching ( http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Geocaching ) where you download certain GPS coordinates that lead you to a little "prize box" and once the box is found you "exchange" the gift inside for one of your own. Now we have Rogaining which sounds in some ways similar to all of these, awarding points rather than gifts or stamps.

As I studied the route and the requirements for the month a couple of things started forming in my mind: 1- I'd need an extra set of eyes to look for our locators. 2- I'd need to fly something Low-and-Slow. 3- I'd like to see if I could get through this in one sim day. (The real challenge lasts 24 hours. Peter gave us the month but I wondered how much I could get done in 24 sim-hours? 4- The higher the numbers on Peter's list, the more points they are worth so whatever route I picked should include big numbers.

To solve problem one I called Marvin, a former Tuskegee Airman, to fly the right seat as my eyes. Marvin is older today than he was in 1944 but mentally and visually he is at his prime - and FUNNY too! To solve problem two I opted for the two-seat Curtiss Jenny bi-plane. For problems three and four I set up a route that I THOUGHT I could cover in 24-hours, about 700 miles hitting numbers 10 through 24 on Peter's list with another couple possibilities along the way. I calculated that at 70-mph I'd get done in about 12-hours of daylight! BRILLIANT!

Now, if I tell you all of the secrets of all of the locations now that will kind of spoil the fun - plus, you could always just check my full report on our website, http://www.toomuchfs.com/. So, just some photos to fill the space.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-v1bf5wlsjw (Little Rough but the guy was 65-years rusty!)

Marvin shook my hand, thanked me for the ride and headed off into town. I topped off the PC-12 and made the short hop over to Cordova-Smith and called my daughter to come pick me up in her private jet. Then ....... I relaxed while we flew back down to KOFC.

So in the end we've made it back to Cordova-Smith with 1040 points - and it only took 10.5 hours. "But wait..." I hear you asking, "were there no extras?" While I didn't go off HUNTING for the extra bonus items I did find two of the extra markers.

So out of 1400 possible I set out to find 1220 but only came home with 1140. Peter, what a genious FOTM. Frustrating and crazy but BRILLIANT!!!

Too bad that the RLIs made me hurry so much in the end, I hated that.

July 2009 - La Paz Radial Props

To see the whole report you'll have to go to the website after 01-Aug-09 and find my Pilot's Report. In the meantime, here's a little "teaser" from 13,300 feet above sea level.

June 2009 - Western Europe Commercial Flights

Some have accused me of a lack of patience ... well excuse me for being enthusiastic!

Geert had intentionally not shared with me any details of this months' FOTM and I took it personally. (I vowed to get him back at some point this month).

The March FOTM over Niagra Falls was pretty quick and easy - with the kids' help I was done by the third. The April FOTM over Ararat was e-mailed to me last year so we (The kids and I) had flown that in February. The May FOTM was mine, worked up last year. So really, I hadn't gotten any "real FOTM flying" done in about four months - some "other" flying but ... Needless to say, I was anxious to see and hear what we had in store for June. When the FOTM information first popped up I thought, "Great, it's Salina's Euro LoCo all over again" but as I read on I quickly learned that Geert had something slightly different in mind - and he emphasized As Real As It Gets.

With that, I was looking for a way out of Ethiopia. At first I thought that a nice East African VC-10 was the way to go. With that thought I worked up the various FOTM legs in my mind with a Q-400, an F-70, an ATR-72, a couple 732s (Geert loves Baby Boeings), and maybe an A-318 thrown in. I called in my order to "The Collector" and turned into bed Monday night the first of June.

About midnight local time I awoke and thought, "Wouldn't it be nice to see a 707?" So I called the proper authorities and changed my VC-10 to a Trans Global 707. Then I was back to bed. But my sleep was restless - I kept thinking about how much Geert loves BOEINGS ... I could do the whole FOTM in 737-200s ... But variety is the spice of life ... At least I could fly some different liveries ... But the guy wouldn't even tell me what continent I was to be flying in ...

Finally it dawned on me (literally and figuratively) about 04:30 local time! I decided to fly ONLY AIRBUSES this month! "HA! That'll get the little Boeing-Lover where it hurts!" With that I bolted from bed, showered, hailed and cab and raced over to Bole International to arrange my flights!

Commute Leg 1: Ethiopian Airlines A-320 Addis to Cairo.

Commute Leg 2: Mediterranean Airlines A-320 Cairo to Reggio.

Commute Leg 3: Italiano A-320 Reggio to Amsterdam at sunset. Looks like this livery needs a little more work!

Anyway, I arrived in Amsterdam just after sunset on Wednesday June 3rd. While I had thought about sort of doing a "Mix-and-Match" this month, Geert said we had to follow the rules and besides that, he has this great on-line flight planner thing so I was going to do it right, starting cold-and-dark and on-time with real-weather and flight and fuel planning and ... you know, "As Real As It Gets." So, no promises as to how many flights you'll get - this all takes a little time and effort. (Which I suppose is actually good for me.)

Thursday morning - "Amsterdam, we have a problem." I awoke in Amsterdam but all of Geert's flight options start elsewhere! AAARRGH! I swear he's out to get me this month! I swear it! So we are back to the Mix-and-Match plan: Flying for KL1961 - Amsterdam to Zurich departing 15:10 Flying for SK610 - Zurich to Copenhagen departing 20:10 Flying for SK2551 - Copenhagen to Amsterdam departing 08:15 Flying for SK822 - Amsterdam to Oslo departing 10:55 Flying for SK4609 - Oslo to Manchester departing 17:50 Then ... we'll just have to see what happens.

Flight 1961: In Swiss Livery To Depart Amsterdam at 15:10 gate E-24 To Arrive Zurich at 16:35 Routing via EHV - LRD VORs

Flight 610: In Jetstar International Livery To Depart Zurich at 20:10 gate T-5 To Arrive Copenhagen at 22:00 Routing via LBU - HLZ - CDA VORs
Flight 2551: In KLM Livery To Depart Copenhagen at 08:15 gate B-19 To Arrive Amsterdam at 09:45 Routing via HNT - ENW - EEL - PAM VORsI've since finished repainting the tail cone and getting the logo centered on the tail.

Flight 822: In Nordic Air Livery To Depart Amsterdam at 10:55 gate E-24 To Arrive Oslo at 12:40 Routing via LWD - RAM - TOR VORs

Flight 4609: In British Airways Livery To Depart Oslo at 17:50 gate 173 (again) To Arrive Manchester at 19:00 Routing via RYG - KAR - VES - HDR - CGY - WAD - GAM There are a couple of airways options that are more direct but I wanted to see the time (had mostly been arriving early) and the scenery, so took this flight along the coast lines. This was 752 miles total.

Push-back was on time ... taxi was short and easy ... take-off was at 17:58 ... approach was directly in from the north, no hold ... taxied right over to the gate but this is where the longer route dinged us! Shut down was at 19:20 - that's 20 minutes late.

Finally we come to the last leg for this FOTM. I looked up for any references on this one and all flights connect through somewhere else. I remember Bill going to look up a flight and having the message, "no logical connection" and that seems to be the case here. Oh well, it's only a game, right? So I loaded up a flight in a commemorative livery (El Euro LoCo from Salina's FOTM back in 2004) from Manchester to Lisbon. Clearance delivery was at 5:50 AM Pushback from Gate 8 was at 5:52 AM. Start-up at 5:53 AM We were cleared to depart from runway 24R at 5:59 AM Our routing (High-Alt Airways minus the Intersections) was via BCN - BHD - QPR - AVS - VIS VORs

approaching Lisbon from the north. Landing runway 21.This was 929 miles total.

There you have it Geert, Hopping Around Western Europe in European Airbuses! Actually, aside from being REALLY FUN, I loved the planning and seeing how "On Time" I could be - something that has entertained Bill for years but something that was just sort of labor-intensive for me. GREAT JOB! Many Thanks Again!

A few days' rest and I'll be off to South America!

pretendpilot@yahoo.com

Even more distraction while waiting ...

It's the middle of June and I am working on the current Flight of the Month feature around western Europe. In the meantime, here's another video ....

Taking a Break from the Flight of the Month

A little project I've been working on for a couple of months. Since I wasn't FLYING in May I got this finished up. If you are really missing the May Feature Flight, keep scrolling down to the next post or, go to www.toomuchfs.com and search (maybe the archives) for May 2009.

There is a larger (more detailed) version of this video at: www.youtube.com/pretendpilot

Presenting the May 2009 Feature Flight - Ethiopian Highlands

Those who have been around this Flight Club any length of time know that three and one-half decades ago (Thirty-Five years) I was privileged to travel on Mission work in Central Africa. While the flightsim world lacks some detail over most of the continent, I still enjoy flying here and reliving my adventures. This month we are going to tour six remote airfields through the Ethiopian Highlands. What, exactly, does this mean?

Dirt, gravel or grass runways most more than 7,500 feet above MSL!

Nothing too tough like Peter’s Nepal Challenge or Tony’s shoehorns into Central Oregon strips, just some good clean GA-flying fun – all for the good of humanity.

I have two very distinct memories of Ethiopia. First was that mid-week drive in the little “Eurobus” out about three hours to a lake. It was BLAZING HOT and the bottles of water were not staying cool. We’d drive with the windows down (if there were even windows I don’t recall) and blast along these horrible roads (by American standards) at break-neck speeds. We’d pass where no vehicle should pass, honking the horns as we blasted through herds of goats or chickens… It was too scary to watch but too exciting to miss! Once we got there everything slowed to a stop. There were Millions of pink flamingoes out on the lake and we saw wild animals grazing on the far side. We stayed until sunset which was beautiful but the drive back, in the dark, was way more scarier than the drive there. Thank goodness we didn’t center-punch a water buck or something!!

Amazing memory number two was the weekend in N’ma Tabor (not featured in FS). As near as I can recall it was northwest of Addis, about 90-minutes flying time. Here’s the deal though, I wasn’t supposed to go but at the last minute my Father and Uncle said, “Why not, it’s a once-in-a-lifetime!” So they toted me along to the airport where we met up with the mission pilot in his four-seat Cessna something. Do the math with me: Pilot is one, Father is two, Uncle Lloyd was three, the other pastor going all the way up north is four. (apparently they forgot to mention that guy) So, after very carefully packing the weekend’s-worth of bags and medicines into the tiny cargo area, little Ron climbed up on top of the bags! No seat, no belt to strap me in, no nothing just my little white knuckles on the seatbacks! (Again, it was 1974 and in the middle of Africa, who was going to stop us?) We taxied out and I distinctly remember the tower clearing us but the pilot looked and there was a big old 707 on finals! He was like, “With five of us in here and near max weight, taking off from over 7,000 feet high, I’m going to wait for him to land.” So we waited while the Ethiopian Airlines plane landed, then we were off! N’Ma Tabor was a little mountain village with a Seventh-day Adventist-run medical clinic. The “airport” was the cow field about a mile downhill from the village. We buzzed low over the field two or three times to scare the cattle off, and then we landed in the dirt and grass. By the time we turned around the World War II-era “used-to-be-green” Army jeep (still had a faded star on the hood) bounced up and about 20 men jumped off. They loaded us into the Jeep, carried our bags and literally pushed the Jeep back up the hill! Three days later the take-off, from somewhere near 9,000 feet ASL with FIVE folks in the four-seat Cessna was … well, it had been raining so the field was a mud pit and the take off was … impossible! I couldn’t watch but I remember something about, “Once we leave the edge of the field and start downhill we’ll gain more speed which will help.” Yes, he said “Leave the edge of the (airplane-worthy) field.” Holy Carnival Ride!!

This I guess is the true essence with which I offer you this Flight of the Month Feature.

Single Engine Aircraft,

No Turbochargers,

Six Remote Strips in the Ethiopian Highlands.

You can fly for any real or invented Non-Government Organization ferrying Missionaries or Medicine or Everyday Supplies to villages throughout the region. I did find a 9-part scenery add-on for “The Horn of Africa” which is for FS9 but chose not to install the huge files that would result. Perhaps you can find more information or scenery on your favorite FS website.

For those who fly to and from our features you’ll be coming into Addis which is the main commercial airport in the nation and is well over a mile high. From Addis you’ll catch a ferry up north to Mekele as this will be your starting point. (I’ve reserved enough rooms in town for all of you to have a safe place to sleep/lodge.)
From Mekele you’ll set out on your flights.

• You can fly to the airports in any order but no more than three per day...

• Single Engine Aircraft only…

• No Turbochargers…

• No autopilot…

• Six or fewer seats… I can’t promise you fuel at any of the airports so you may need to return back to Mekele or stop off in Addis for gas.

Here’s your information:

Mekele (HAMK) is 7,403 feet high with a gravel runway.

Debra Tabor (HADT) is 8,491 feet high with a grass runway.

Nekemte (HANK) is 6,500 feet high with a dirt runway.

Mekane Salam (HAMA) is 8,300 feet high with a dirt runway.

Debre Marcos (HADM) is 8,136 feet high with a grass runway.

Fincha (HAFN) is 7,600 feet high with a grass runway.

Adaba (HAAD) is 7,900 feet high with a grass runway.

Robe (HAGB) is 7,892 feet high with a gravel runway.

All of these flights, strung together total under 800 miles so this should not present too much of a time burden on anyone - I hope!

April 2009 - Mt. Ararat

I'm posting early here - hoping to pique some interest ......

How about this time we don't go into a lot of details about how I got from Niagra Falls to Oregon? Suffice it to say that come April 1st I was doing some work from "home" when the word came in that we'd be flying Turboprops in Turkey! With Spring Fever in the air I called the wife-unit and told her to pack and bags and load up the kids and meet me in Adana. I promised them some warmer weather and "Mediterranean Sunshine."

While they packed and booked their commercial flight, I decided that it had been too long since I've flown the 777 flagship (as this landing will attest:http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=EbBk_gBUrEk ). The 300ER is great because you can pick any two airports in the world (so long as you have about 9,000 feet of runway) and fly between them. So, I loaded up the flagship and real weather from KOFC and headed out on the long flight across North America, over the Atlantic Ocean, Over the whole of Europe and arrived the next mid-day into our Flight Club Airways Hub at Beirut Lebanon. Hummm, seems like I was just here about five months ago! While I waited was a good time to tune into http://www.plr.org/ and enjoy the sounds from my Brother-in-Law's station in Walla Walla, WA.

Leg One: Beirut to Adana. It took the family another two days to actually arrive into Adana, Turkey at which point I took one of my favorite TProps up from Beirut.

Leg Two: Adana to Elazig. After several days in southern Turkey (Hans, it was all fine! Thanks for your concern but really, we had no problems here, everyone was great.) I loaded up another great TProp, the EMB-120. This one in Go-Air livery that my daughter picked out. (She wanted a Caribbean livery but I said that we couldn't fly that here.) Once packed and loaded and cleared we were off, over some of Turkey's most remote and scenic areas! This was a beautiful leg! Meanwhile my wife began asking where all the WARMTH was to go with this "Mediterranean Sunshine."

Leg Three: Elazig to Van. After just a couple of days here it was my son's turn to fly. He picked THE DOG livery for the EMB-120 and we were off to Van, a lakeside city which Wiki says, "Dates back to at least 5,000 BC. Van was the capital of the Urartian kingdom in the 9th century BC. Its ancient inhabitants called themselves Nairi and the city was a major Armenian center."
I want to take a bit of a detour here. If Wiki (or anyone) is going to use the BC dating system, which is commonly understood as "Before Christ", doesn't that infer some belief in Christ or the Biblical history recorded? And isn't my understanding that the scholars who are supposed to know a lot, figure about 2,000 years from Adam to Noah, another 2,000 years to Christ and a final 2,000 years to now. So how can Van be 5,000 years BC? Wouldn't it have gotten washed away? And how can dinosaurs be 30 million years BC? The Bible would indicate that there was a creation event somewhat more recently than millions of years ago. If you are going to ignore that part and go with the 30 million years then the date currently should be April, 78,675,213. Just wondering, sorry.
Leg Four: Van to Yeravan. Really, I'm considering this leg as THE FOTM! This leg could nearly stand on it's own - making the rest of the flights just the set-up.

"And besides that, it's bloody cold for April! 42*F? C'mon..." So with that, we were off for Mt. Ararat and beyond. The real weather hadn't changed much but we were departing southbound this time. We turned right out over the lake and picked up our NDB heading, roughly northeast.
This FOTM from Andrei certainly has proved to be scenic. Most of our scenic flights have been within a pretty limited area (Northern Pakistan or Papua New Guinea for examples) but this one covers some pretty remote and scenic territory! Finally, ahead, we see the target, the destination for this month's flight. At this point my daughter took over in the left seat and wanted to look for Noah's Ark.
In our search for the famed ark, we turned south to circle the mountain. I wonder which way Noah and his family came down? "It's beautiful down there" someone comments from the back of the plane. "Not warm, but certainly beautiful." "Well, it'll at least be an education for the kids" I reply. Finally then, we turned toward the NDB and headed down with Lydia still at the controls.

Having recently flown to the bigger Yeravan airport ( http://dash-8rtw.blogspot.com/ ) we were heading into the smaller strip this time. The daughter was struggling to make small corrections quickly, it is quite the art you know. The wheels touched ... we bounced ... she shoved the stick forward ... I'm going to stop the story here and encourage you all to tune into www.toomuchfs.com come May 1st to see our next Feature flight ... (I had a GLORIOUS FLIGHT down into ****** and you can enjoy the video here: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Ei3NFzzTvWg) and you can read the final bits of this story in the Pilot's Reports.