December 2011 - Ryanair Flights

We come to December 2011 at much the same place as December 2010 - flying only Flight Club International Liveries. I vowed to use only our new liveries between FOTMs and for the most part I have done that in 2011. (Other than Joao, no one has requested any aircraft so I assume that JoMario and I are really the only one's flying our liveries these days). Anyway...
This FOTM sounds much like Salina's "El Euro LoCo" from 2004 and for these final flights of 2011 I have decided to use the Flight Club 797.
The What?
One of the proposed 797 options will be as an entirely new aircraft to replace the 737NG family. Rather than a further 737 derivative, this aircraft will use much of the systems, structural and design technology of the 787. New technologies expected to be introduced include composite aerostructures and more fuel-efficient turbofan engines. It is expected that this aircraft will feature a wider cabin than the Boeing 737 or the Airbus A320; a twin aisle, 2-3-2 configuration has been suggested (in contrast to the 737's single-aisle profile). This option had been suggested to fill the 130 - 180 passenger nitche but late in the year Boeing announced instead to continue work on the 737MAX project with new engines, new wings and new components to the more "traditional" 737 design.
I have several of these aircraft in my hangars and have taken to calling them "737-10s". This is what I'll be flying this month and then next year you'll see only Pan Am liveries from me.
Marco's Leg One: DUB/EIDW – KIR/EIKY FR4446 07:20 – 08:10 In December in this part of the world, this is a "night flight." Pushback was ontime. A rather short leg meant low load and fuel weights so take-off and climb to 12,000 feet was easy. (pict1) Approach and landing were pretty much "straight-in" though I did have a lot of bumps and then some gusting rain on the way down. (pict2) (pict3) Kerry seems awfly small for 737 ops! Granted, I'm flying a little wide body but it felt very cramped. Shut down was a bit early at 08:02. (pict4)
Marco's Leg Two: KIR/EIKY – STN/EGSS FR 702 09:25 – 10:50 Real weather had cleared out a bit by 9:20 though there was still gusting wind. (pict5) I again note the small feel to this area as I had a long back-taxi on the runway and a tight turn-around at the far end. (pict6) Again, light loads meant an easy take-off though I did violate the 250-knot rule as I was outside taking screenshots rather than watching my speed. (pict7) The weather seemed to improve all the way to Stansted (pict8) and I was able to follow a 738 for landing from the north. (pict9) (pict10) (pict11) I parked next to an A321 which gives you a look at the size difference between these two aircraft. (pict12) Shut down was again a bit early at 10:48.
Marco's Leg Three: STN/EGSS – HAU/ENHD FR2254 11:45 – 14:30 Well ... I didn't quite complete this leg due to some time limitations. Instead I flew from Stansted to Luebeck without the Norway leg. (pict13) I pushed back at 11:50 (pict14) (pict15) and arrived into northern Germany (pict16) and shut down at the gate at 14:05. (pict17)
Marco's Leg Five: LBC/EDHL – BGY/LIME FR4392 11:10 – 12:45 Picking up the story again from Luebeck, (pict18) I departed the next morning after 21 hours in the city. Pushback was, of course, on time and the flight over the Alps was truly scenic! (pict19) (pict20) The airport at Bergamo is pretty close to the mountains and I wasn't able to get down that fast so I flew over the airport and took a 30-mile leg to the east. (pict21) (pict22) Shut down at the fuel station was at 12:45 - right, smack, on time! (pict23)
Marco's Leg Six: BGY/LIME – DUB/EIDW FR9429 20:20 – 22:05 This leg is in total darkness and opting for something a bit smaller I used the Flight Club's EMB-190 for this leg. Pushback at 20:21 and arrival at 22:12 - just a bit late. (pict24) (pict25)
A big THANK YOU to Marco for submitting this feature to us and then waiting patiently for it to come about. It was fun and, as expected, scenic. Next month/year we start off in Seattle Washington and have another new Guest as our Host for January 2012.

November 2011 - Extra Flights Tab

Having arrived into the former headquarters of our Virtual Airline (Mumbai) just the day before, I was compelled to do one of the Flight Club Airways VA flights first this month.
Flight 198 is scheduled to leave at 06:50 AM and flies to Nairobi. I took a 757 in an older-themed paint scheme (this is not Tony's original but just a poor copy) for this 2,400-mile flight across the Indian Ocean. (pict1) Mumbai was hazy as usual (pict2) and although there really weren't any clouds over Kenya, the descent and landing were bumpy and there was lightning all about. (pict3) (pict4) I shut down at 11:16 AM.
I spent ten days in Kenya enjoying some nature time. (pict5)
Next I set off to take on David Hopwood's SE African 732 flights which start off in Dar es Salaam. (come to think of it, there should have been a Dar es Salaam flight from Mumbai!) Oh well. Taking a page from Bill's book, I headed to http://www.skyguideonline.com and found that 5H523 flies from Nairobi to Dar es Salaam with a CRJ. I loaded a Kenyan DC-9 and set my departure time to 16:00 local for the one hour flight south. (pict6) Pushback was on time but I had to restart the engines 2-3 times before I found the faulty fuel pump switch. I left about 20 minutes late but the flight was uneventful otherwise. The highlight was the flight past Mt Kilimanjaro. (pict7) The landing was surprisingly good (why don't I fly DC-9s more often?) (pict8) (pict9) and shut down was at 17:23. (pict10) (Twenty-three minutes late)
I spent the night of November 9th in Dar es Salaam. The next morning I took QM301 to Lilongwe and connected to QM141 to Blantyre arriving on time around 10 AM. (pict11) (pict12) (pict13) (pict14) (pict15) (pict16) I stayed here through the weekend. (pict17)
Surprisingly, I could not find any real-world connections from Blantyre to Livingstone, Zambia (not just because it was Sunday but there weren't any direct flights - so I made my own). November 13th I departed early in another DC-9 arriving to Victoria Falls at 6 AM. (pict18) (pict19) (pict20) (pict21) (pict22) (pict23) I spent three or four days here before moving on. (pict24) (pict25)
SA49 flies Livingstone to JoBurg in an A319 departing at 1:15 PM and arriving at 3:05 PM on November 17th. (pict26) I flew an Air Zimbabwe livery for that leg (pict27)and didn't linger long in the big city but take SA357 (a real-world 738 flight) to Cape Town, departing at 5 PM and arriving at 7:10. For this last leg I took the Kulula livery 732. (pict28) (pict29)
I spent the entire weekend in/around Cape Town.
November 22: I took an Ethiopian 787 to Addis, Ethiopia. Departure -6:45 AM, Arrival -14:23. (pict30) (pict31) (pict32) (pict33) (pict34) (pict35)
My plan was to quickly turn around and continue on to Amman, Jordan where I planned to fly Arpad Janos' Malev Hungarian flights to Milan the next day. However .... As I was taxiing to the gate (pict36) the very next plane to land was an Ethiopian 757. (pict37) That 757 parked at the gate right next to me and the pilot was jumping up and down and screaming something and frantically pulling his headsets off and bouncing around the cockpit! I thought there was a poisonous viper on board. The 757 pilot bolted out of the cockpit and up and jetway and through the airport and back down my jetway. I could hear his shrieks well before he burst through my own cockpit doorway. "You are flying the 787!" he blurted. "Ummmm, yes. Yes I am" I replied coldly. "My name is Daniel and I am Ethiopian!" he exclaimed. "Okaaaaaay..." "You are like a friend that also flies Ethiopian liveries and I have not seen a 787 before." "Well ... here it is." That was my introduction to Daniel Kigera who is keen to do some flying with us as his school schedule allows.
I spent an extra 24 hours in Addis with Daniel talking planes and flightsim. The next day, Wednesday November 23rd, Daniel and I flew the 787 on the Amman. (pict38) (pict39) (pict40) (pict41) (pict42)
For the sake of time (and photos) and to prevent our readers from completely falling asleep, I would have you refer back to my PIREP from October 2010 (just a year ago) when I flew this flight the first time. (pict43) This flight seemed bumpier than I recalled last year but we arrived close to on time and pretty much in one piece.
I spent the weekend in Italy.
Finally we give a nod to our own Tony Radmilovich and his BizJet flight into Cannes. Monday November 28th I loaded real weather from Milan and departed in the EMB Legacy 600. I flew south to Sestri (pict44)and then down along the coast to Albegna (which looks like a very tricky approach!) (pict45) My next waypoint was an NDB at Nice at which point I descended to 2,500 feet (pict46) and loaded the strong gusty winds Tony had recommended. (pict47) I kept Otto flying the plane until I turned finals at 1,800 feet. (pict48) (pict49) From there it was a 5-mile hand-flown approach that was really pretty easy. (pict50) I didn't see the noted hedgerow but there was a highway just before the offset threshold. (pict51) The landing was smooth but the runway seemed rough. (pict52) I taxied over to the fueling station and shut down. (pict53)
THANK YOUS go out to the following: Brad for encouraging us to start a Virtual Airline David Hopwood for the SE African Flights Daniel Kigera for joining us as a guest Arpad Janos for the real-world Malev flights Tony for the Cannes flight and all of the web help over the past ten years

October 2011 - Portugese Colonies

In September guest author Jorge Silva took us to the Azores. After completing my assignment I shuttled on a TAPortugal A318 to Lisbon. Shortly after my arrival Joao proposed to fly us to some Portugese colonies - it was the perfect segway!
Once my directives arrived it was obvious that I'd have to fly this FOTM backwards. I loaded a TAPortugal A321 and headed from Lisbon to Funchal. (pict1) (pict2) (pict3) After encountering some wind on take-off and some bumps along the way I was surprised to have no wind for the landing.
After touring the island and some of the local sights for a day or two I loaded an aircraft I have never actually flown before - the stretched 300 version of the 757. I departed to the north and climbed up to cruise altitude for the long flight down to Bissau. (pict4) (pict5) (pict6) (pict7) (pict8) (pict9)
After touring the western part of that country for five days I loaded a classic old 707 and flew the final leg into Sao Tome (I always forget that this is part of Africa). (pict10) (pict11) (pict12) (pict13) (pict14)
So, Joao has brought us to a place that is not only warm but scenic as well. (pict15) Additionally he has given us some Portugese History and provided a GREAT place to stay. (pict16) Thank you Joao for another fun FOTM - and I actually liked the longer flights!
I have no idea what is coming up in November but by the middle of October (I had already published this) I decided to fly a Rwandair EMB-190 from Sao Tome to Kigali. I'll start next month from there. (pict17) (pict18) (pict19) (pict20) (pict21) (pict22) (pict23) (pict24)
On 31-Oct-11 I took a newly painted Flight Club 773 from Kigali to Mumbai, ready for November's Flight. (pict25) (pict26) (pict27) (pict28) (pict29) (pict30) (pict31) (pict32)

September 2011 - Azores

Well to be honest, I knew that this FOTM from Jorge was coming so after getting the Shuttle parked and stored at Kennedy Space Center I departed at dawn (02-Aug) in the Flight Club's EMB-190 and headed directly to Santa Maria, Azores arriving just after lunch. (pict1) (pict2) I had been up all "night" with the Shuttle and only dozed off-and-on during the flight across the Atlantic so I knew I'd be ready to sleep once I arrived. When I stepped off the plane I felt something really unique - the air felt hot and dry yet I still could smell the freshness of the sea.
Now, the Azores is part of Portugal and Jorge is, in fact, from Porto. They speak Portugese in Brazil where they make the EMB-190 and so I stayed with the theme and had an EMB-120 modified for this FOTM. (pict3) Since I'd be in the cockpit I had all of the back seats removed and set up a nice cot and a recliner and a refridgerator and a portable propane stove and a little portable shower and all of the anenities I'd need for a month of relaxing in the Azores!
After a few days in Santa Maria I was ready to move on to my next stop-over which was Joao Paulo in Ponta Delgada. (pict4) (pict5) This is a pretty short, easy leg, almost a VFR flight. (pict6) I spent a few more days here before taking an afternoon flight up to Lejas. (pict7) (pict8) (pict9)
Despite the fact that there is a rather large Air Base here there really was nothing going on - it was eerily quiet. (pict10) The next day I was able to catch a bus into town and was able to get some supplies as well as tour all around the island. I spent nearly a week checking out all the little nooks and crannies of this charming island. Finally I departed at dawn for Santa Luzia on Pico. (pict11) (pict12) (pict13) (pict14)
There was a special treat waiting for me at Pico - the new Sliver, Blue and Red Flight Club-Themed P-51 Mustang! I took a couple of laps around Pico as well as a pass over Faial Island in the Mustang. (pict15) (pict16) (pict17) Later, I did some backpacking in the hills of Pico Island after a few days there I took a short, evening hop over to Horta. (pict18) (pict19)
I really enjoyed my time here and stayed nearly two weeks. (pict20) (pict21)
Finally I took the longest leg from Horta over to Flores. I didn't stay here quite as long, just about three days, before flying the EMB-120 back to Santa Maria. (pict22) (pict23) (pict24) (pict25) (pict26) (pict27)
Just a couple of days after this FOTM was published and I figured you all would be arriving, I departed in a TAP A-318 and flew to Lisbon where I'd wait out Joao's FOTM. (pict28) (pict29) (pict30) (pict31)

August 2011 - Space Shuttle's Last Flight

I loved this FOTM!
This is the first FOTM where the commute between FOTMs was the FOTM.
My son and I have played around on the sim ... How high can we fly? How fast can we go? What happens above 200,000 feet? Stuff like that. I've heard that they have space sims before and my son has asked but I'd frankly never looked into it until Alejandro's suggestion that we actually try it out.
Several years ago Hans suggested that we download a new version of flightsim that he proposed may be "the future" of simming. I did some research, looked at some screenshots and videos and really was not impressed. Also, I had an older computer system that was barely able to fly the sim I had! This was different. I had a new, stronger PC, it was SPACE so it actually was something new, and the videos and screenshots looked spectacular!
I loaded the Space Shuttle Atlantis from Simon Bolivar airport and departed at dawn. (pict1) This is a whole lota fun!! (pict2) It took about 20 seconds to climb to 120,000 feet and before I knew it I was in utter darkness flying west over Central America. (pict3) I turned back east and shut down the engines for a 500-mile glide into Florida.
Well folks I'm here to admit that I'd rather have a functional sim than a realistic one. Long-ago I replaced the shuttle's panel with the default CRJ panel - still flies just great. Well, when you shut down the engines you lose power to all the guages and soon I was totally lost and unable to call up any instruments. I re-lit the engines and pulled them back to idle so I'd at least have power. (pict4) With that I idled my way across the Gulf of Mexico, (pict5) descended across Florida, (pict6)flew over top of Kennedy Space Center and made left traffic for the southbound runway. (pict7) (pict8) I did all of this with NO THROTTLE as instructed. (pict9)
I got too low on finals and to this day I have no idea how I didn't land 1/4-mile early! (pict10) Somehow I made it to pavement and landed safely. (pict11) I then taxied over to the main shuttle hangar and shut down. (pict12)
Next I downloaded the ORBITER simulator and the PDF instruction package. Anxiously I dove in, hoping to launch into space within a few days.
Have you guys looked into this thing? The instruction BOOK is 135 pages and filled with all kinds of technical and how-to information. Now, maybe I'm getting old but I have twelve good years invested into learning FS and I'm not sure that my brain is ready to learn an entirely new, fully functional sim! Don't get me wrong, it looks awesome and I want to take this on but in reality I'm thinking that should be my retirement project rather than yet another thing I try and take on at this point in life. I already feel like I don't have enough flightsim time and now there's this? This could take me five years!
So, with the Atlantis fully fueled again I departed Kennedy, climbed to 120,000 feet and set the heading to 100*. (pict13) With the sim on 8x speed you get a pretty accurate 21,000 mph ground speed and can circle the globe in about an hour and 20 minutes!
This heading puts me over North Africa in about 10 minutes. (pict14) I cross Cairo and the UAE. (pict15) Flying opposite the sun results in a very quick dusk over India and the dark night passes in 40 minutes over Indonesia and the South Pacific.
(pict16)The next night comes just before South Africa! (pict17) As I cross near the boarder of South Africa and Namibia I turn my heading to 060* and head to the northeast. I cross over the Seychelles and Sri Lanka. Dawn comes over eastern China before I cross the Korean Peninsula. (pict18) At 50* North latitude I turn my heading to 090* and cross the Pacific again flying my third lap over North America and Europe. Dusk comes over Ontario and I cross Northern Ireland and the UK at night. Dawn comes over the Baltic and I spend my last daytime over Russia and Siberia. (pict19)
Well, three laps around should be pretty good for this FOTM - haven't flown that far in one month before! Somewhere over China I set the GPS flightplanner for Direct To -> Kennedy and picked up my heading for Florida, I started descent about 3,000 miles early over British Columbia and made another success landing at Kennedy at 02:47 AM.
(pict20) (pict21) (pict22)
Wow! Three laps around in just over twelve hours! (pict23) Like I say, I really loved this FOTM. I had promised to fly between FOTMs in Flight Club aircraft this year so I'm thinking I need to add some TooMuchFS logos to the Atlantis. We'll pull that sucker out of retirement and use it for Flight Club purposes from now on!

July 2011 - Grand Bahama

From my jail cell in Brazil I was allowed one phone call ... I called Alejandro in Venezuela and asked him to make arrangements for my flight out to the next FOTM. "Flight Club aircraft this year, right boss?" he asked. "Yes AIr, please." "And you are not to worry boss" he continued, "I will have all of the arrangements made for your next flight too."
After dinner on Thursday June 30th I was released from the prison and met by a taxi cab that took me to Santos Dumont Airport. There at the VIP counter were my papers and out on the tarmac was the Flight Club's DC-4 in new livery. I pre-flighted the aircraft, did my walk-around and started the four big radial engines and as they warmed I read more carefully the paperwork from Alastair. "Most flights arrive into Nassau ... " Alejandro had attached a sticky-note, "Boss, I have a tour guide named 'Mami' ready to meet you tomorrow in Nassau."
"Mami?" With that I got my clearance and taxied out to the runway just as the sun was sinking over the hills to the northwest. (pict1) I departed to the north, flew over the famous bridge and the big, international airport before setting off across the whole of Brazil. (pict2) As the sun set I broke out the maps thinking that if I had an emergency of some sort and crashed I'd be lost in the thick Amazonian Jungles - perhaps forever.
As the hours drug by I began looking forward to my month in the Bahamas. I took out my map of that area and was shocked to see over 50 airports listed not to mention too many coves and bays to count. (pict3) I began thinking of Twin Otters on sandy beaches and Caravans into remote villages and sunshine and fresh air and .....
Really, the next thing I noticed was sunlight coming in the right-side windows and then Port Au Prince was below. (pict4) (pict5) A couple hours later I was setting up for landing into Nassau. (pict6)
My first order of business was to find "Mami" which I did, shortly after lunchtime on July 1st. She advised me to ditch Alastair's flightplan and actually take a tour and enjoy some of the local culture of the many various islands and villages. (pict7) My only thought was to call my wife and ask for a chaperone!
* Friday mid-day we flew 64 miles to Governors Harbour in the C206 turbo. (pict8) * Next was 30 miles to Cape Eleuthera and a 2000 ft runway. (pict9) (pict10) * After cruising along at 140 knots I had had enough; there were places to go and people to see you know! * At this point we switched to a "Texas Turbine" Cessna Supervan and flew at 190 knots to Sampson Cay. (pict11) (pict12) * Mami's family actually live on Sampson Cay and the plan was for us to spend the night here. * At this point I took a sporty Piaggio back up to Nassau to meet my wife who was to join me for the month. (pict13) (pict14) * Mami's family gave us an extra-warm welcome and it seemed that everyone from her uncle to her maternal grandmother knew of our connection to Alejandro. * The next AM we went island Hop-Scotching in a Flotter. (pict15) * This is crazy, there are just TONS of little runways and islands and inlets all over the place! (pict16) * We landed and took off from no less than six little islands or villages between Sampson Cay and MYXE. (pict17) * Like the C206, I decided that 130 knots felt a bit slow. (pict18) * We traded in the Flotter for the Stratojet Amphibian. Its just 40 miles to Stella Maris (MYLS) but we took the over-water portion at MACH 0.8 which is 530 knots! (pict19) * After lunch we continued our island/cay hopping down south eventually ending up in the water at Providenciales where we spent the night. (pict20) (pict21) * Early the next AM we climbed aboard a Colombian An-24 and headed to Grand Turk for breakfast. (pict22) (pict23) * A couple of hours later we were continuing on to Barahona on the south side of the Dominican Republic. (pict24) (pict25) * Several days later we moved south to visit Alejandro. (pict26) (pict27)
Alastair, what a beautiful, scenic and warm FOTM this has been. THANK YOU!!!!!!

June 2011 - Race Around Rio

This month Bill offered us something new and unique: A timed race, one single lap, around Rio, Brazil. Not just a simple lap but one that involves specific altitude restrictions and NDB navigation - all this crammed into just under 40 minutes! Wow, looked pretty tough. Especially since Bill had said that we would be closely monitored to be sure that every letter of the law would be followed.
I arrived into Rio early and set up base, as instructed, at Santa Cruz Air Base (SBSC). I loaded up the only Mooney I have in the Hangar and with the instructions in hand I took off from runway 23 and set my altimiter for 2,000 feet. I flew the route with no touch and goes just to get a lay of the land and to find all of the NDBs. Really it was not as difficult as it may have at first appeared.
I came into Santa Cruze a bit hot and had to hold 10 feet over the runway while I waited for the wheels to come down. I landed back at the starting airport just 21 minutes after I had departed and as I taxied over to my parking place Bill came out to meet me. Before he could even speak I explained, "Just making a test flight. I just wanted to get some idea what I was up against."
"You cheated." Bill replied.
"What?"
"You were too high. You didn't stay over the water as I instructed. You turned too early. You didn't dail up the ILS. You went around the mountain as opposed to over it. The directions clearly state that you must fly runway heading and climb to 2,500 feet BEFORE making any turns. You didn't do that and will be summarily dismissed if you can't follow the rules."
With that, he briskly walked back inside. "Oh-Kay..."
Still, figuring I had made the lap with about 15 minutes to spare I was confident that I could post a faster time.
The next morning I reported for duty. Yes it was me. Yes I had the route printed. Yes I way flying a Mooney. Bill called ahead to be sure all of the observers were at their posts and I was given the green light.
I gradually applied full throttle and shot down the runway. I rotated smoothly and quickly pulled up the gear to be sure I cut down on the drag. I held course and leveled out at 500 feet. (pict1) Once I was well out over the water I turned left and headed straight for the inlet, gradually descending to 100 feet above the water. (pict2) I held that level along the entire length before pulling up and over the ridgeline and leveling out at 1,000 feet. I trimmed for smooth flight and began visually looking for the runway. (pict3)
As the ADF needle began swinging to 020* I turned left (pict4)and kept the runway on my left side as I scurried past at 1,000 feet. As I crossed the NDB I chopped the throttles and let the Mooney settle into a gentle descent. I added one notch of flaps as I passed the threshold, then I made a sharp, descending left turn and lowered the gear. Touch-and-Go!
Again, wanting to avoid penalties I held runway heading until I was well off shore, then I turned left and headed for the IH NDB and the little island. (pict5) Over the island I turned left and set sights on Santos Dumont (just to the right of Sugar Loaf Mountain). I was a bit low on finals but added some throttle and made a higher-speed touch-and-go. The required "fast climb" back up to 1,000 feet was easy considering I was passing 140 knots as I left the airport property! (pict6)
This time I flew ALL THE WAY onto the ILS at Galleleo runway 28. (pict7) I followed the beam all the way onto the runway and took a 2,000-foot roll before adding throttle and climbing away. The last touch-and-go location comes in low over the near-by buildings and I was careful not to get too low this time. (pict8) After another brisk touch-and-go I was airborne and rocketing up to 2,500 feet. (pict9) I put the spot view off the nose so that I could be sure I was staying in line with the runway!
At 2,500 feet I passed through a little saddle in the mountain and headed directly for the VOR back at Santa Cruz. I was careful to be flying a heading of 320* as I crossed the field at the required altitude. (pict10) I knew that EVERYONE was watching now so I took a bit of a wider and longer downwind and base being sure to line up smoothly. (pict11) I knew from the day before that the ground handling was pretty poor on this thing so I slowed dramatically, hanging on the prop and landing in the runway threshold. I made the first turn-off and stopped! 27 minutes, 12 seconds! (pict12) Ten minutes to spare!
I wondered what kind of long finals Bill had taken but ... oh well. As the race fans gathered 'round I tried to remain humble. Even Bill came out to say that the spotters hadn't noted any problems with my flight or route. "How on earth was that possible?" He asked. I could only shrug.
Bill had disappeared into the croud and I was trying to head for the lounge when I noticed some photographers pointing and rushing back toward my Mooney. There was Bill with some inspectors and they were climbing under the hood! "What the ...?"
Returning to where they were poking around the engine I asked if there was a problem. "THERE!" one of the inspectors pointed. Bill turned around and threw his clipboard to the ground. "A TURBOCHARGER? Are you kidding me? You come here with a Mooney TURBO? Who the **** do you think you are? The Mooney is supposed to fly like an Impreza and you come with a WRX? **** man, you are DISQUALIFIED!"
At first I was thinking, "Who would want to fly something that handled like an Impreza?" (pict13) My second thought was, "Is it possible that the Club President has just been DQ'd from TWO FLIGHTS in the same year? And both by Aussies?"
Well, it was possible. Everyone that we spoke to confirmed that my Mooney Bravo Aclaim was NOT "the default" Mooney noted in the paperwork, even though that is the only Mooney I own. I left the airport dejected and defeated.
The next day I purchased a Groucho Marx mask and returned to the airport and registered to Race Around Rio under the name, RIK VYVERMAN. I was given a number and went over and stood next to Hans while his aircraft was inspected. When he had passed inspection I offered to take the checksheet to the pilot but put it in my own pocket instead. Then I proceded over to my "Impreza" the default Piper Cherokee.
I flew the route twice, by the numbers. (pict14) (pict15) (pict16) (pict17) (pict18) (pict19)First lap was: 44 minutes, 18 seconds. No where near fast enough. Second lap was: 42 minutes 29 seconds. Well, performance was much like an Impreza, that's what Bill wanted. (pict20) (pict21)
As I taxied over to parking Bill came out. "What are you playing at Rik? This is not a default Mooney Bravo. You are DISQUALIFIED!"
The next day I kidnapped a guy named Joao but there was one problem. Joao is a Brazilian citizen and I was quickly captured by Police and arrested.
I only hope to be out of jail by July.
Post Script: Co-Pilot Benjamin took the route in a Gee Bee racer and scored just a couple seconds under 37 minutes!

May 2011 - The STANS

After landing the wood and paper aeroplane just a few metres off from the actual location of the first English Channel Crossing I had taken the train to London where I cooled my heels and enjoyed the history for a couple of weeks.
Prior to the Royal Wedding of Prince William and Kate Middleton I received notice from Brad that we'd be flying some "Mountains in Central Asia." At this point I took the Flight Club's 747-200 (Remember I vowed to use only Flight Club Aircraft to commute this year?) from Heathrow to Delhi, India. (pict1) Next up I took the Flight Club's BAe-146 east to the Indian Holy City of Varanasi, along the Ganges River. (pict2) (pict3)
Come May 1st Brad had us starting off in Islamabad, Pakistan. I loaded up Tony's Cessna Sovereign and made the flight early in the morning. (pict4) (pict5) After paying a quick call to my long-time simming friend Ali, I loaded up the Flight Club's Red Dash-8 Q100 for the short hop over to Kabul. (pict6) (pict7)
Next I switched into a Private Livery EMB-190 for the over-mountain flights to Dushanbe and continuing on to Tashkent. There are lots of snow-covered, tan-colored mountains here, some rare NDBs and that's about it. (pict8) (pict9) (pict10) (pict11) (pict12) (pict13) (pict14) It seemed that this would be a fun navigation to do in some classic propliners - kinda like the "Flying the Hump" that we did in January 2008. Finally I flew an A-321 to Almaty for a couple of weeks. (pict15) (pict16) (pict17) (pict18) (pict19) (pict20)
I knew I had to get to Rio for June so I took the Flight Club's Britannia on an NDB-hopping route south to Mumbai. (pict21) (pict22) (pict23) (pict24) (pict25) (pict26) Somewhere after Pakistan I began having issues with engine number four. Somewhere around Jaipur I had to shut it down. (pict27) Arrival was challenging but the landing was oh - so - smooth! (pict28) (pict29) (pict30) Finally I caught a 777 non-stop to Rio.
In years past I was tempted to take us to the "Stans"; THANKS to Brad for actually doing it, I enjoyed my tour!

April 2011 - First Channel Crossing (FOTM 100)

In anticipation of the Flight Club's 100th flight together, Hans invited us to join him in Dunkirk, France. So, that's what I did the last week of March. (pict1) (pict2) (pict3) (pict4) (pict5) (pict6)
Well, when April 1 rolled around and the FOTM was published I have to admit that it wasn't quite what I had expected - I guess Hans is more of a History Buff than I might have expected. Back in time ... back 102 years to that morning of the FIRST powered Channel Crossing in an "Aeroplane". This shouldn't be too bad. (And oh, by the way, Peter had us fly the Wright Flyer for the FOTM in October 2003 - that thing was tough to fly!)
This isn't really the kind of flying I like to take on so I had to go to FS.com and download the proper aircraft first. Then I appeared on the morning of April 1st in Dunkirk/Calis. The walk-around revealed an increadible piece of work - an amazing machine! (pict7) One into the "cockpit" I could tell that this was going to be VFR only!
I took off ... Not too bad - stayed on the runway until airborne etc The rate of climb is non-existant! I turned toward the water and squinting ahead I could see England on the horizon. That's where I headed!
I was pleasantly surprised to find that the FS model does trim out and by the time I reached the water I was happily cruising at 42 knots, 3,000 feet above the blue-grey water. (pict8)
I looked for the closest landfall and began wondering how much gas the little fuel cell held? (pict9) As I crossed the English shores I looked for an open spot in which to try and perform my first landing in this craft. The first spot I picked was not really flat so I flew on a bit more and landed smoothly in the grass. (pict10) I was at N51*10.06 : E1*22.27. just a few meters off from the real location of N51*07.52 : E1*19.34. (pict11)
With a little fuel left I performed a max-performance take-off and after a short flight performed a second, PERFECT landing in another nearby field. Actually, it was a bit of fun! (pict12) (pict13)
Hans, thank you once again for the great history lesson.
It was a short train ride to London. (pict14)

March 2011 - Northwest Territory

Of all places, why did I pick Egypt to end up last month? When I arrived into Sharm el Sheik on the 28th things weren't too bad but still ...
Why is it that everytime Tony takes us somewhere it's frozen? He has us hauling little more than pig slop in old crates into frozen and in-hospitable places and then blames me for calling in his "assignment." WHAT IS UP? (What's more, in July 2009 when we WERE actually hauling Pig Slop in Old Crates, Tony didn't even do that one!)
I didn't waste time getting out of the political hotbed of the Middle East. At dawn on 01-March I flew the Flight Club's VC-10 to London/Stansted. (pict1) (pict2) As quickly as possible I switched into the Flight Club's DC-8 stretch (pict3) and flew across the pond to Minneapolis/St. Paul (pict4) and again quickly switched planes. The final leg into Yellowknife flown in the Flight Club's CRJ-900 with arrival the night of 01-March. (pict5) (pict6) I've flown to/from Yellowknife in older sim versions but never in FSX; we'll see how the Frozen Tundra of the Northwest Territories looks in this sim - and I'll be anxious to check out some of the other local airstrips around these parts.
Tony indicated that I may have to make several trips depending on how much cargo I was hauling. While I totally love the Lockheed Electra (see my PIREP from February 2008) I don't have one installed in FSX so I picked the Flight Club's DC-7 instead. At dawn on 02-March I was ready to head out ...
I dowloaded real weather which was pretty calm at Yellowknife and departed to the south. (pict7) I climbed to 4,000 feet and picked up my 125-mile route up to CYRA. There wasn't alot to see but I had about 20 minutes of lightning and turbulence along the way. (pict8) I made a straight-in approach to Rae Lakes (pict9) setting the mains down RIGHT on the marker lights (100 knots IAS) (pict10) (pict11) and sliding to a stop with my nose wheel JUST off the far end - I hope 3,000 feet is the shortest runway! I taxied over to the parking area but didn't shut down. I used every inch of runway on departure (pict12)and, in fact, sank just a bit after barely clearing the fence!
Next it was 170 miles to CYWJ. (pict13) This leg was windy and therefore bumpy but with looking at an extra 900 feet to land and get stopped I was happy! (pict14) (pict15) (pict16) (pict17)
Next we were looking at 147 some-odd miles to CYIX. (pict18) (pict19) Skies had been progressively clearing since the first leg and during the first, over-water portion of the flight I looked up information and found a 5,00-foot runway was waiting for us there! Less than fully-loaded 737s do okay with runways around 5,000 feet but as I guy who got into flightsim in order to fly commercial jets, I normally expected to find myself flying in areas a bit more ... populated. (pict20) (pict21) (pict22)
Each leg seemed to be getting longer - now we had nearly 200 miles to CYOA, a runway over 6,000 feet long! (pict23) (pict24)
From here I was pretty much done smelling like rotting fish (See Tony's March 2003 FOTM when we had to haul rotting fish around a frozen southern Alaska!) I loaded up the http://www.plr.org "Positive Life Radio" CRJ-200 (pict25)(pict26) and flew southwest to warmer and much more scenic climates of Victoria, BC. (pict27) (pict28) (pict29) I invited the family to come on up and join me and we spent the next 4 weeks RELAXING right here on Vancouver Island.
P.S. If anyone tried to reach me, sorry, the phone was off!

February 2011 - Hide and Seek in Isreal/Palestine

It was Mid-January before I arrived (via the EXTRA Flight: Tribute to the 727) into Quito. However, I had promised to fly only FS Flight Club International Liveries for the year and I had some additional testing I wanted to do on the more than 40 aircraft I now have in the Flight Club Hangar. With two parallel runways I knew that Bogata would provide a good testing ground for some of these newly downloaded and repainted FSX planes so after just a few days back in Ecuador I loaded up the Flight Club IL-76 Cargo jet and headed to Colombia. (pict1) (pict2) (pict3)
When the details of Peter's 2011 Rogaine arrived I was initially excited to fly in a new area (There is an EXTRA flight called, "Flying Below Sea Level" that takes us through this part of the world). However, I received an additional e-mail from Peter explaining that I had won the last TWO Rogaines and was therefore inelligable to win this one. I rebuttled that both of my previous victories had been with FS2004 and this time I'd be flying FSX so since it was a new catagory I WOULD compete. Peter replied that, like a term-of-service in government, my two terms were up and I could not "win" this event. (Considering that Peter only had four PIREPs the last time I'd think he'd want to encourage everyone to participate but oh well ...)
Since there was no need to hurry off to Isreal, I stayed in Colombia doing some flight testing for another week. Finally I made an afternoon departure in the Flight Club's 787-Stretch and flew all night with an AM arrival into Tel Aviv Isreal. (pict4) (pict5) Once in Tel Aviv I contacted the Collector and ended up with an A-7 Corsair II for this feature which will take me into as many Isreali and Palestinian airports as possible (with a couple Jordanian one's thrown in just for fun). If Peter didn't want me to do the Rogaine, that's fine but I could still challenge myself to see how many airports I could put the wheels on in one BIG DAY of flying.
I left Tel Aviv's Ben Gurion airport at 06:30 (pict6)with the following plan: 8.0 miles to LLSD (pict7) 4.7 miles to LLHZ (pict8) 17.9 miles to LLES (pict9) (pict10) 15.0 miles to LLMG (pict11) 4.9 miles to LLRD (pict12) (pict13) 12.9 miles to Z15C (pict14) 5.2 miles to LLHA (pict15) (pict16) 37.2 miles to LLKS (hit MACH 0.92!) (pict17) 14.2 miles to LLIB (pict18) (Where I stopped off for a snack and nature break. It was 07:30) (pict19) 13.8 miles to OS73 (pict20) (pict21) (pict22) 45.5 miles to Z14Z (pict23)(Nearly 9,900 feet long!) (pict24) (pict25) 15.3 miles to LLJR (pict26) (pict27) (pict28) 14.0 miles to Z15E 6.9 miles to LLEK 7.5 miles to LL59 8.3 miles to LLHS 42.3 miles to LLMZ 12.3 miles to LL1B 9.2 miles to LLNV 36.5 miles to LLEY 43.5 miles to LL63 14.6 miles to Z17F 25.3 miles to LLET 22.6 miles to LLOV 43.7 miles to LLMR 10.3 miles to LLRM (dislexics be scared, only 10 miles apart) 12.6 miles to LL60 29.5 miles to LLBS 4.5 miles to LL1N 2.0 miles to LL62 20.5 miles to LLAZ 8.6 miles to LVGZ 570 miles total
You noticed that the pictures went away? Well, there is story with that. I said above that I set out with this plan. Sometimes plans change. I had gotten out of the aircraft at LLIB and it was all oddly quiet. Warm breezes ... some light highway traffic ... a couple of birds but there was nothing to be seen. I went to a couple of other airports after that, all but abandoned.
I tried some high-G maneuvering around Z14Z but something was just lacking.
I tried climbing higher to see some scenery (photo 25) but frankly, since Peter had already disqualified my participation in the Rogaine I was a bit bored. I had headed to Jeruselem with every intention of completing the mission but as I turned to finals I saw the buildings ... the sparkling dome of the temple (pict29) ... on short finals I flew over a marketplace and suddenly the bag-lunch in my ruck sack was not appealing. I landed at LLJR, parked, shut down and abandoned the A-7. I headed off into the city and got lost for about four days!
Of course, the Rogaine challenge is to be done in 24 hours and I was now well beyond hope of finishing in Tel Aviv. I made some phone calls and ordered the Flight Club's "Lancer" Exec Jet. While I was awaiting it's arrival I took a round trip in an EMB-190 to Istanbul. (pict30) A week later I eagerly took to the skies, this time with no flight plan! (pict31)
First of all I wanted to fly below sea level - skimming the surface of the Dead Sea! (pict32) Then I just flew for fun. (pict33) I did make a token touch-and-go through LLMZ (well below sea level!) (pict34) and then raced on southward. I was in Isreali, Jordanian and Egyptian airspace but .... I'm really unsure how I ended up at HETB Taba International Airport in Egypt. (pict35) (pict36)
"Taba (Arabic: ØÇÈÇý) is a small Egyptian town near the northern tip of the Gulf of Aqaba. Taba is the location of Egypt's busiest border crossing with neighboring Israel. Taba is a frequent vacation spot for Egyptians and tourists, especially those from Israel on their way to other destinations in Egypt or as a weekend getaway. It is the northernmost resort of Egypt's Red Sea Riviera."
Taba International has the following flights: EgyptAir Express to Cairo Embraer E-170 Jetairfly to Brussels Boeing 737 Monarch to London-Gatwick Airbus A320 Thomas Cook to Brussels Airbus A320 Thomson to Birmingham Airbus A320 or Boeing 737 Thomson to London-Gatwick Airbus A320 or Boeing 737 Thomson to Manchester Airbus A320 or Boeing 737 Thomas Cook to Amsterdam Boeing 737
I arrived into Taba on Sunday February 27th. On Monday the 28th I flew the Flight Club's Lear 35 down to Sharm el Sheik where I awaited news from Tony ... (pict37)
Peter, sorry that I was unable to complete the challenge but I did make it to the airports across the Northern half! Great idea though, I liked the fact that the objects were all easier to find - I hope others had some good luck. Cheers.

January 2011 - Ecuador Milk Run

This flight of the month was inspired by my neighbor who travelled to southern Ecuador last summer to visit family and friends. (pict1) As we were talking about her travel plans it occurred to me that this Flight Club has flown in Panama, Colombia, Venezuela and Bolivia. We've done a couple of features in Peru and Chile as well as several flights in Brazil but we have never been to Ecuador (save for a tour of the Galápagos islands some years back).(pict2) This month we will fly down the spine of the Andes Mountains to some interesting and challenging locations. (pict3)
Ecuador straddles the equator, from which it takes its name, and has an area of 109,415 square miles. Evidence of human cultures in Ecuador exists from c. 3500 B.C. Its capital city is Quito, which was declared a World Heritage Site by UNESCO in the 1970s for having the best preserved and least altered historic center in Latin America. The historic center of Cuenca was also declared a World Heritage Site in 1999, for being an outstanding example of a Spanish-style colonial city. Ecuador is a presidential republic and became independent in 1830, after having been part of the Spanish colonial empire. It is a medium-income country with only about 10% of the people living below the poverty line. Ecuador is also home —despite its size— to a great variety of species, many of them endemic, like those of the Galápagos islands. This species diversity makes Ecuador one of the seventeen megadiverse countries in the world. Ecuador's new constitution of 2008 is the first in the world to recognize legally enforceable Rights of Nature, or ecosystem rights.

Wherever you are coming from, make your way to Ecuador's Capital city, Quito. While certainly not the most difficult approach for airliners in South America, it's 9,200-foot elevation with surrounding mountains makes it a challenge for commercial pilots. (pict4) One must especially pay close attention to the altimeter and approach plates for the winding, mountain-skimming approach into runway 17! (pict5)

Getting Your Assignment: Once at SEQU, make your way into the main terminal building and ask Security to lead you to the "January, Flight-Club Briefing Room." ("Habitación de reunión de Vuelo Club") They will check your identity and security papers and then lead you upstairs to our "quarters." I told them that you all rarely arrive at the same time so accomodations only need to be for a maximum of two pilots. Once you arrive, feel free to unpack and stay for a few hours but remember, others will likely be coming along in due time so respect the rest of us and don't just move in!

Anyway, you are required to fly an aircraft capable of hauling up to 15 passengers this month. (No little four-seat turbos Alastair) You can pick a DC-3 or Dash-8 or Do-328jet, even one of Tony's fancy Cessna Corporate Jets is fine ... We are not flying impossible approaches this month like landing a CRJ at Courchevel, but you will be facing some challenging real-world approaches and our short runway is under 3,500 feet so Geert's 732 may be out of luck.

You are welcomed to change aircraft along the way and you can fly to the noted airports in any order you like but remember, 15 pax! (pict6) Cotopaxi (SELT) 9,200 feet ASL - 12,000-ft long runway This airport is a bit high but it's long-enough to take large aircraft. Caution: In FSX there is a highway that crosses the middle of the runway so there may be cars coming into your path! The city sits in a high valley and the surrounding hills aren't to close-in so your approach and departure should be fine - there's even room here if you have to go missed. (pict7)

Cuenca (SECU) 8,300 feet ASL - 6,200-ft long runway A little lower, a little shorter, things a little tighter here. (pict8) (pict9)
Loja (SETM) (pict10) 4,000 feet ASL - 6,500-ft long runway This is an airport that Maria mentioned specifically. Terrain makes this a one-way-in, other-way-out airport and the ideal approach (which is longer than I took in the Dash-8) invloves driving down the valley between the hills. She reported that in reality there are no night/evening approaches here and, in-fact, if things are too windy (as happens) the airport will close due to the danger from the near-by mountains. (pict11)
Macara (SEMA) 1,500 feet ASL - 3,200-ft long runway This area is right down on the Peruvian boarder and looks lush and green by FSX-standards. (pict12) (pict13) The Google map shows a highway right through town and you will certainly see that in the sim as you come into this narrow, dead-end approach. This is even tighter and shorter than Loja and you aren't going missed here unless you are flying a rocket! (pict14)

From here, you are free to fly whatever you like to wherever you like. I flew up and down this route a couple of times, here are some more photos: (pict15) (pict16) (pict17) (pict18) (pict19) (pict20)

Good Luck Have Fun Happy New Year

December 2010 - Pacific Islands

Wednesday November 3rd, 2010: I was aware of voices and lights. It was far too early for any commotion so I rolled over and pulled the blankets up over my head and stretching my prone form to match that chalk outline drawn at the scene of a shooting - I just wanted a bit more sleep. I tried to think if I had any flights to do today but I couldn't come up with ... "WAIT A MINUTE! THE FLIGHT OF THE MONTH!"

I sat up and looked around. Where was I? This certainly wasn't any of my normal hotel rooms! It looked more like ... like a hospital. (pict1) I remembered one of Bill's old PIREPs where he was in hospital (pict2) - but this was real. I staggered to my feet. Whew, weak legs! I staggered over to a sink and began washing the sleep from my eyes. The water gradually grew warm - my mind gradually cleared. Soon a nurse came and encouraged me to return to my bed. "No, no!" I insisted, "I'm getting out of here."

"By the way Miss ... where is here?" "Southern Ecuador."

The last thing I clearly remembered was landing the DC-3 (YV-500C) into Bogota after the October FOTM. I really wasn't clear how I ended up here or why. (Next month you'll know.) What I wanted to do now was to get back home! I caught a commuter up to Quito, and from there worked my way back to Oregon.

While I was at home recovering for the month it occurred to me that most of Tony's repaints for TooMuchFS were for FS2002 (sure, some FS2004 versions too) and most of those don't work with FSX and few of them match our current website themes. Obviously I'm no artist or creative type like Tony but I've spent November finalizing some new "FS Flight Club International" repaints.

On Monday November 30th Tim invited us to Hawaii and the Marshall Islands so I set off at 07:45 AM to gather the troups. Some details about that adventure follow below:
Monday 07:45 - I flew a Cessna 404 to Redmond Oregon to pick up Tony. (pict3) (pict4) We departed Redmond at 09:00 and flew a 737-200 to Winnepeg to pick up Brad. (pict5) (pict6) We departed at 14:00 and flew a CRJ-900 to Ocean City Municipal (KOXB) in Maryland to fetch Tim. (pict7) At this point it was 18:15, dark and we were ready to overnight.
Tuesday at dawn the four of us set out in an A300 to Valencia to get Alejandro. The A300 really is too big for this airport but we were light on load so by using all of the 4,000+ feet we were airborne again and on our way. Our route took us over Haiti and the Dominican Republic. (pict8) We arrived to Valencia just after noon (pict9)- just in time to grab some lunch, load Alejandro's things and head off in the DC-3. (pict10) Now, this isn't officially in Flight Club colors but it's darn close and matches the "fly anywhere" theme we have going on. It's just under 2,000 miles from northern Venezuela to Brad's old haunts in southern Peru, just barely within the Dakota's range. (pict11) Silly me, I thought everyone would enjoy the historic trip but by sundown the natives were really pretty restless and that's even with the five of us taking turns at the controls!
We finally arrived into Arequipa at 23:20 local time (we barely had any vapors in the tanks) and were all able to bed down, quite comfortably, at one of Brad's former churches.
Wednesday, December 1st, 13:00 - After a good night's rest and a slow-to-start morning we all loaded into a Flight Club A-318 and headed for Recife, Brazil. (pict12) (pict13) We arrived at 8:30 PM and met Joao for a nice dinner in the city. About 22:30 we went back to the airport and loaded up into the Flight Club's 787 for the overnight trip to London. On board now were: Ron Tony Brad Tim Alejandro Joao Next up was Alastair.

Dawn came near Funchal (pict14) Weather in London wasn't great, cold, windy, snowy ... I heard that Gatwick was closed? (pict15) We shut down just before 10 AM on Thursday December 2nd. Alastair and his things were quickly added to everyone else's stuff and we boarded the Flight Club's ATR-72 for the hop over to Hans'. Departure was about 10:45 AM. (pict16) The flight was a little bumpy but we arrived safely into Hannover at 13:00 local time. (pict17) We loaded Hans and his stuff into a DC-8 stretch and departed again at 13:40, heading east towards Mumbai. (pict18) We had already stopped off in Arequipa which was the starting base of operations for Flight Club's former Virtual Airline so I figured, why not break up this long leg with a stop in the other main base of operations? Sunset Thursday night came while we were over Turkey (pict19) and our arrival to Mumbai was at 1AM!

The brief debate was whether we should stay overnight or continue on. Considering that we had several accomplished sim pilots on board and that our next accomodations were as plush as a fine hotel we decided to take turns flying and sleeping all the way to meet Bill in Perth. By 2 AM local Mumbai time Friday we had "Flounder One" cleared for take-off! Dawn camw for us over Sri Lanka and we had a very smooth flight all the way to the west coast of Oz. (pict20) (pict21) We arrived and shut down by 14:25 local time Friday. We met Bill and had some dinner along the Swan River. Saturday Tim and I don't fly but a couple of the others took the Caravan down to get Peter. (pict22)

We all loaded into the Flight Club A330 at 7:30 AM Sunday and by 7:45 we were cleared and taxiing. (pict23) Our route was almost due north and we arrived into Guam at 17:20 local time Sunday. (pict24) From here, everyone was on their own for the FOTM. There had been discussions about flying some old classics on this FOTM although Tim had recommended a 737-800.

Monday, December 6th, 07:45 - I set out in the Bristol Britannia with cruise set at 6,000 feet. (pict25) It was 551 miles to Truk which took a couple hours with arrival at 10:15. (pict26) Next up was the Flight Club's DC-4 and a 380-mile trip to Pohnepei. Another 90 minutes of water. (pict27) (pict28) I loaded the DC-7 next for the 576-mile trip to Kwajelein, another 3 hours of ... WATER. (pict29) I was enjoying the old planes and the livery but there frankly wasnt much to see out the windows. Just water! (pict30) It was getting pretty late, 16:15, so I stayed overnight. The hosts were nice and certainly happy for a visitor but really, there was nothing here. 1- How did people get here? 2- Why do people live here? 3- Why are there airports here? (sure, the whole war thing and needing runway launch points but .... really, why?) There is so much water on this FOTM that for the next 233-mile leg I flew the Boeing Clipper to Majaro. (pict31) Another hour and a half down the tubes. (pict32) Finally I got into something bigger (and nicer) for the flight to Hawaii. (pict33) The 757 arrived afte dark at 19:20 local time. So, the FOTM was 5 legs over two days and about 12,000 miles of water. (or so it seemed)