October 2013 - Colorado & Montana

The air was dank and stale and heavy ... weary. The man in the hotel room next to mine is sick and the walls do not drown out the sound of his wretching. In my years of flying for F.S Flight Club International I have awoken in other stuffy and un-fresh cities; Mumbai, Kuala Lumpur, Islamabad, Nairobi, Bujumbura and Lima to name a few, but never in Sao Paulo. (pict1)

"Guess I'll add this one to the list of places to not be on the first of the month" I muttered to myself as I contemplated another sip of bitter tea. I checked my watch again, only two minutes since I had checked it previously. Now it said 5:07. "Only fourty lousy minutes until sunrise." That meant an hour before my taxi ride to the airport. I had showered and packed my bags the night before but hearing the man next door made me want to shower again. I grabbed another SUPERFOOD from the fridge and returned to the outside porch.

I don't want you to think that my time in Brasil had been miserable but by now I was tired of the city and the smell and the commotion. I needed to get away and was thankful that the main features were in Colorado and Montana where the air was clean and fresh and decidedly ... "unsticky." I'm still not sure what Tony was thinking having us start out in Texas but I figured I would only be there but a few hours anyway.

I slumped into a near-by chair and waited for the day. (pict2)

Finally, mercifully, it was time to drag myself and my bag down to the lobby.

I've made some tweaks to my FLIGHT CLUB EMB-190s (not the 195s) for fewer passengers, more fuel and featuring some new, experimental engines to give me a greater-than expected range near 2,700 miles. I pre-flighted and prepped my special "Flight for Tony" livery and set in a flight to one of my favorite airports, Cartehenga Colombia and then continuing on to Austin. (For those on Facebook you can track photos of my top-100 FS locations at: https://www.facebook.com/pages/Embraer-190-in-FSX/519664471394934?ref=hl

Departing Sao Paulo just after 7 AM I flew at FL 360 across the whole of Brasil and Colombia landing at Cartehenga at 11:30 AM. (pict3) (pict4) (pict5)

After a bite of lunch on the observation deck my plane was refueled and ready to go by 13:15. The next leg took us across the Caribbean and the Yucatan before a straight-in approach to Austin at 17:30. (pict6) (pict7) (pict8)

I parked that EMB-190 and checked out the "Flounder-One ExecuJet" which has bunks! (pict9) After dinner at a nice cafe' in the airport I was bunked down by 19:00 and fast asleep. The next morning I was up early to eat, pre-flight the ExecuJet and prepare for the leg into Eagle, CO. (pict10) I departed Austin at 07:40 AM and enjoyed the sunrise on the way to a 9 AM arrival into Eagle/Vail behind a CRJ. (pict11) (pict12) (pict13)

Just over 2 hours later I was heading out again for Glacier, MT near Kalispel. I noted that the route would take us over another scenic FOTM from years past: The Yellowstone / Jackson Hole flight from Alastair! (pict14) (pict15)

As I made my approach to Kalispel over Flathead Lake I was amazed by the views. (pict16) Considering how geographically close Montana is to Oregon I have never set foot not finger into the state (even in FS) and ... well, this is just spectacular! (pict17) At that moment I knew that I couldn't be moving on anytime soon! After three weeks in Rio and Sao Paulo I figured another three (or five) weeks in Glacier was JUST THE THERAPY I NEEDED! (pict18) (pict19)

After two weeks in Glacier I was ready to keep flying (figuring that I could come back after just two more legs into Canada). Getting clearance for a low-level flight across the boarder to Fairmont Hot Springs was a CHORE! "C'mon people, Trump flies a freaking 727 for crying out loud!" Finally I was ready to head out. (pict20)

I departed Glacier at dawn and flew up the valley (through a bit of early-morning fog) to the Hotsprings (pict21) (pict22) (pict23) (pict24) (pict25) (pict26) and then later continuing on up to Jasper. (pict27) (pict28) (pict29) (pict30) (pict31) At the weekend I flew back down to Kalispel where I was ready for November's flight. (pict32) (pict33) (pict34)

Tony, thank you so much for stepping up and stepping in this month. Even without your photos it was an amazing and scenic flight! I've discovered some more new areas and am thinking that we need a low-level, radial-engine kind of FOTM here in the future. Thank you much for the efforts.

pretendpilot@yahoo.com