Before I get going with this article, let me just clarify who the target audience is for this default/freeware aircraft in P3D v4 article. I’m NOT writing this article for the seasoned, hard-core flight sim enthusiast who most likely will read the title of this piece and even without reading the article immediately pass judgement on the author and/or on others who may actually benefit from the information it contains. I’m writing this piece for those who don’t buy into the hype that only sophisticated, complex, study-level, payware aircraft is the end all, be all in our hobby. Not every individual who is new to our wonderful hobby can immediately afford to drop money for whatever sim platform they have chosen, then turn around and drop even more money on payware aircraft.
Once upon a time…
Once upon a time all we had available to us were default aircraft. I spent dozens, hundreds of hours back in the early 1980’s flying around Meig’s Field on my Commodore 64 in a Cessna. It’s all we had and we made do. I vaguely remember at some point subLOGIC released additional scenery disks which included more airports and larger regions to explore. As I moved from the C-64 to a PC in the early 90’s things began to change. But change really didn’t start happening until the dawn of the internet age and around the time of Flight Simulator 95 (1996), Flight Simulator 98 (1997) and then Flight Simulator 2000 (late 1999).
Actually, I believe it was the release of Flight Simulator 2000 which we owe the biggest amount of gratitude for as it was this particular release which brought about the largest amount of improvements and helped to launch the online network SATCO, which eventually became VATSIM in 2001. It was also FS2000 which brought us the Concorde and the Boeing 777 as default aircraft.
Freeware is Cool
Freeware began making the flight sim scene through early websites created by Avsim and Flightsim.com. Even online networks like CompuServe offered the ability to upload/download and share various freeware add-ons. My earliest memories of good, quality freeware aircraft was from a group called Project OpenSky or POSKY for short. I believe of all things (not including Microsoft Flight Simulator) that could be singled out as the #1 draw of bringing more enthusiasts into the flight sim community, it would be POSKY. POSKY had the very best freeware models available anywhere. You wanted to fly a Boeing 727, 737, 747, 757 etc. POSKY had it and the community supported them. Some of my fondest and earliest memories of flying on the VATSIM network in the early days were flying POSKY aircraft.
Birth of Payware
I honestly can’t remember when I first began to see payware aircraft hitting the market. I can tell you the first payware aircraft I ever purchased was the Level-D 767 and I absolutely loved it. I would take a wild guess and say it was around 2002/03 timeframe. Next was the iFly 737 NGX as it was released before PMDG released their NGX and honestly the rest were purchased as they became available.
Payware kill the freeware star?
Just a little play on words there and another musical reference. The more you read my articles the more you’ll see small references to my favorite decade of music. But in all seriousness, there was a period of time where both the freeware and payware markets were healthy, vibrant and lived together in harmony. But at some stage the unfortunate thing began to happen. As payware aircraft began to gain in popularity, the decline of good, quality freeware (and those who were developing it) also began the slow decline. Today, it’s difficult to find descent looking and performing freeware aircraft for Prepar3D (especially v4). But I’ll share a website with you shortly that may be changing all this.
The Advancement of Default Aircraft
If you look back at the different versions of Microsoft Flight Simulator, each new release offered something new. The earlier versions all focused around single engine aircraft. Today I view this as all part of my overall sim-based learning as one must crawl before we can walk. I think it was sometime in the very early 90’s before the 747 appeared as a default aircraft in MSFS. One thing I remember about the MSFS default aircraft is they always performed really well. Some of the POSKY aircraft I mentioned earlier was more or less based on the default aircraft and performed equally as well.
But if you’re a fan of the tubeliner, and you’ve just purchased Prepar3D…you’ll be disappointed as you won’t find a Boeing 737, 747, 757 etc. in the fleet of default aircraft. But of course, there’s an important reason for this…as P3D isn’t licensed for entertainment purposes even though I firmly believe the majority of licensed users fall directly into that category. But let’s not go down that rat hole.
Freeware Still Lives Here
As I mentioned at the top of this article, not everyone can afford to shell out the cost of the new sim (P3D v4), then rush out to purchase their favorite Boeing or Airbus airliner. While I’m of the opinion that most payware (even study level category) is far superior in performance and provide a higher level of immersion and overall enjoyment than freeware, I must admit that I’m impressed with the selection of freeware aircraft available from Rikoooo.com. I’m not really sure how long this site has been operational, but I see more and more folks posting screenshots on Facebook from some of the freeware aircraft options available. There’s even a pretty descent Airbus A380 which I’ve installed and spent a little time playing around with.
No Time for Study
As I was writing this article, I saw a Facebook comment posted in one of the flight sim groups I follow. The individual posting mentioned the fact that he really didn’t have time to study, the study level aircraft. He didn’t want to spend the necessary time to flip switches, program a complex FMS. He wanted to basically fly and that’s how he defined his level of enjoyment. I take my hat off to this individual for recognizing what he wants from his time in the sim. But if did get me thinking and I’ll share my thoughts next week. I also plan to document/create a short series of tutorials breaking down how I learn and fly the more complex, study level, payware aircraft. After all, if I can do this….anyone can do this.
Final Thoughts
I’ve already started drafting the frame work for next weeks article. I think the title will be something like “The Joy of Study Level Aircraft” (or something like that). It’s shaping up to kick start a short series of tutorial articles on the processes I go through when flying these types of aircraft. Yes, you’ll need to devote a bit more time….as one does need to do a little switch flipping and FMS programming, but I believe the satisfaction is much greater in the long run and I’ll explain why I believe this as well. But between now and then, let me leave you with something most of my YouTube viewers will have heard me say more than once in my videos.
There’s no right or wrong way to enjoy a simulation based game. Only each individual (YOU) can determine what they want from the time they spend playing. If a default or freeware aircraft model does that…then you’ve checked all the boxes and don’t let anyone tell you different.
While I’m certainly hopeful you are enjoying this tour and learning a few things along the way, I’m certainly enjoying flying and documenting it all for you. Of all my years enjoying the flight simulation hobby, this tour as found me flying more in Africa than I believe I’ve ever done before. I’ll also be honest and say that other than Ethiopian Airlines and South African Airways, most of the others I had never heard of until I began planning this tour. For this leg, (our final leg in Africa) we will be flying the PMDG Boeing 737-800 in the Royal Air Maroc livery. You can learn more about this airline below.
While we’re making great progress, we still haven’t passed the half-way mark of our journey. But as previously stated, this will be the final leg within the African continent. Leg 17 will have us flying northwest to the small island of Madeira where our travelers will spend several days exploring the island and relaxing on the beach. Madeira is one of Portugal’s main tourist destinations.
History of City
Agadir is a major city in mid-southern Morocco and is located on the shore of the Atlantic Ocean and near the foot of the Atlas Mountains. It is 508 km south of Casablanca and is one of the major urban centers of Morocco. The mild winter climate and good beaches have made it a major “winter sun” destination for northern Europeans.
History of Country
Morocco is a unitary sovereign state located in Northwest Africa. It is one of the native homelands of the indigenous Berber people. Geographically, Morocco is characterized by a rugged mountainous interior, large tracts of desert and a lengthy coastline along the Atlantic Ocean and Mediterranean Sea.
History of Airport
The Agadir – Al Massira Airport (GMAD) is located in Temsia, 20km from Agadir proper. In 2007, the airport served over 1.5 million passengers and is a popular destination served by many European destinations.
History of Airline
Royal Air Maroc was founded in 1957 and is fully owned by the government of Morocco. The airline operates a domestic network throughout Morocco and scheduled flights to Africa, Asia, Europe and North and South America.
For the most part, our tour has been uneventful. I think everyone agrees the weather could have been a little more cooperative. But hey, you just have to roll with the punches and make the very best out of everything life offers. Said in another way, when life gives you lemons….make lemonade! Our travelers have been doing just that by taking everything into stride. After all, this truly is a chance of a lifetime for many.
The itinerary for the past few stops in Africa has been rather quick, but still packed full of action and adventure. But I can tell the constant Go, Go, Go is starting to take its toll on many. Not to worry…once we reach the island of Madeira, the pace of travel will slow down a bit and our travelers will have several days to just soak up the sun and enjoy themselves. This will also be nice for myself and my crew. But first, we must load up once again for the 16th leg of our journey and fly the group to Morocco.
Our travelers have arrived by bus and will soon board the aircraft.
All have boarded and we’re ready for pushback.
A short taxi out to the active runway in our Royal Air Maroc Boeing 737-800.
Once again, we’re up, up and away….
Climbing out on our departure SID.
The Royal Air Maroc 50th Boeing 737 livery.
We’ve witnessed many different types of terrain on our journey. The sand dunes of the Sahara below.
More dunes
Thunderstorms in the area delayed our approach as ATC vectored us around the strong cells.
Runway insight and we’ll be landing soon.
On the ground in Morocco. Our travelers will deboard soon and be taken to the airport customs facility.
Once again, our stay in Morocco will be short. In just a little under 36 hours, we’ll depart Morocco for the tiny island of Madeira. For myself and the flight crew, the approach into Madeira will be one of the most difficult of the journey. More more about that next time.
POSCON – Positive Control Network Will Be Awesome! Yep, you heard it here first….
But let me be brutally honest. When I first learned of a planned new online flight sim multiplayer network I sort of rolled my eyes and pondered WHY? Unless you’re new to my blog postings, then you know I’ve been flying computer based sims since the 1980’s and have been a part of the flight sim community since the dawn of the Internet age and have been blogging about this hobby for well over 10 years. I’ve also been an active member of the VATSIM network since the day it was founded back in 2001. Yea…I’m nearly old as dirt, I have opinions…but I absolutely love this hobby. Much of the reason I asked “WHY” was down to the fact that I figured a third online multiplayer network would just further dilute IVAO/VATSIM, which in turn would just make all three mostly a wasteland of virtual air space. After all, contrary to popular belief, the flight sim community is rather small in comparison to other gaming communities.
What is POSCON?
POSCON or Positive Control Network is the next generation flight simulation network. The team behind POSCON are a mix of aviation professionals, hobbyists and enthusiasts who have experienced the need for an improved, modern flight sim network that supports the latest and greatest technologies.
But Why Something New?
As I previously mentioned, I too asked myself why. After all, not all change is good. Yes, I’m fully aware that both IVAO and VATSIM have their issues. While I’ve flown on both networks in the past, VATSIM is my primary network of choice and while much of their infrastructure is seriously outdated (especially their voice codec) my initial thoughts were let’s focus on fixing what we already have, before we head down the path of something new. After all, both IVAO and VATSIM were born as a result of management differences with the old SATCO network which was developed in the late 1990’s.
POSCON Is Not Just Something New
That’s right! From the outside, yea….sure….POSCON will be a new online flight sim multiplayer network. But, once you begin to peel back the layers, you’ll soon learn that POSCON is not just something new. Instead, POSCON is something DIFFERENT! Very, very, very different from what we have now.
POSCON Will Be Immersive
A total immersive experience is the absolute goal behind POSCON. The immersion factor begins well before you get into the flight deck and will end well after you’ve landed and parked at your gate/stand.
POSCON will not be just a casual flying network. Today in the VATSIM/IVAO environment, the immersion ends immediately after the flight. POSCON will include additional features to reward virtual pilots who want to achieve full immersion before, during and after each flight. POSCON will include a system behind every thing that is done on the network. The additional immersion features will ensure there’s more to your flight than just landing after diverting to another airport and logging off the network. Pilots will be rewarded for making the extra effort to submit a logbook entry just as it’s done in the real world.
POSCON Events
POSCON events will be different from what we have experienced with VATSIM/IVAO. Events will no longer be just a point A to point B only experience. Air traffic during events will depart from multiple airports within a region to other multiple airports in another regions. The overall experience during events will better simulate real world air traffic with flights arriving into large international airports, smaller regional airports and overhead cross traffic. In other words, the experience is not just about trying to land 500 planes into one airport.
AI Traffic
Don’t always have time to fly during events or when most users are logged in? Neither do I and sometimes it does get a bit lonely being the only aircraft landing/departing from our favorite airports. If flying offline, most AI Traffic packages don’t always simulate real-world operations. It bugs me to no end when I see AI aircraft landing on runways which I know are not used in the real world.
POSCON will fill the virtual skies with interactive AI. Quoted directly from the POSCON website “Imagine for a minute a network without any traffic dead zones. For pilots, this means a flight that never gets boring. For ATC, this means you can sign on at 9 AM and still work a busy sector. Our algorithms will generate traffic based on real world airline flight schedules and inject them into the live network. Controllers have the option of tracking these targets and, when they do, the AI drones will come onto the frequency and be controllable through voice. As live traffic on the network increases, the untracked AI traffic will begin to drop offline to allow for a manageable level of traffic for controllers.” Pretty cool, huh? I thought so too!
Real World Scenarios
Yea…I’m guilty of seeking out the worst weather imaginable. Whether it be a massive snow storm or hurricane force winds/rain I’m often loading up my sim, logging onto VATSIM and thinking YOLO (You Only Live Once) and flying my PMDG 737. But in the real world, airlines and pilots would never do this. POSCON may close airports in these types of scenarios and offer pilots one of two choices. Option one…divert! Option two…hold! I think that’s cool and that my friends is total immersion!
Air Traffic Controllers will also have access to real world weather conditions right in their POSCON controller client and will be able to vector traffic around strong storm cells just like real world operations.
POSCON Data Link
POSCON data link features for enhanced commercial flying will be a feature. Example, You’re flying an American Airlines 738 into Denver. You’ll receive a message via the POSCON Data Link providing you the gate assignment on arrival. The ATC controller client will also receive this same information. In the event someone spawns in and occupies that same gate, then POSCON will attempt to provide a gate change assignment. However, as is the case in the real world (flown into Heathrow lately?), pilots may experience a ground hold until gate assignment becomes available. POSCON will reward pilots for their patience and/or effort in helping to keep the immersion to a high standard. These rewards will be part of the POSCON pilot record.
In addition, communications for large events like Cross the Pond would be handled most via data link messages just as they are in the real world. At any given point in time, hundreds of aircraft are flying across the Atlantic…but very little verbal audio communications take place. It’s all done via data link messages.
POSCON Audio Quality & Communications
POSCON audio is custom and will be as clear as real world communications and at times may be as distorted as real world communications can be. Modulation simulation, HF/VHF simulation will all be simulated into the system. POSCON will also offer a voice Unicom and will be managed via the AI system and will monitor pilot behavior. The system will have the ability to take a snapshot of the pilot behavior for review by supervisors.
POSCON will not have the ability for free form text messages, but instead will include predefined messages that can be sent to the controller. While ATC in the real world is English only, POSCON will have the ability for non English language support. All predefined messages will be translated into multiple languages. A Chinese virtual pilot could send a message that he/she would view in Chinese, but other pilots/controllers would see that message in their native language or English.
What About Model Matching
One of the major bugbears with VATSIM and IVAO is model matching. Simply put, model matching means if I’m flying online and another aircraft is nearby, I want to see that other aircraft depicted in the exact type of aircraft AND livery as it should be. POSCON plans a very unique method of handling model matching where multiplayer traffic will be stored on the cloud and dynamically downloaded and injected as the user navigates online. Only the models which are needed will be downloaded, displayed and deleted as necessary. Very Cool!
What Else Can I Tell You?
POSCON is expected to be released sometime mid 2019 with early access beta possible in very early 2019. The plan is for an open beta as the POSCON Dev Team wants 100% transparency. So any and all who would like to participate will be able to participate.
You might be asking yourself, gosh Jerry this all sounds absolutely amazing…but how much will all this cost me? Great question and the answer to that question is NOTHING! POSCON will be 100% and absolutely FREE!
Final Thoughts
I doubt these will truly be my final thoughts on this subject. But for this posting and at this time, I’ve just got to say that if POSCON becomes reality…then this will truly be a thing of beauty. Of course, many are saying that POSCON will kill VATSIM and IVAO. I don’t think so. I think POSCON may prove not to be for everyone and in this case, those virtual pilots will continue to enjoy VATSIM/IVAO just as they do today.
But as I’ve said many times before, the changes I’ve seen in the flight sim hobby over the past 35+ years have truly been amazing. Whether it be the features of ground handling services of GSX (when working properly), the injection of real world weather from ActiveSky, the icing effects and bug splatter on the FSLabs A319 and hopefully all the goodness I’ve just been blabbering about from POSCON. When I think back to what things were like in the early 1980’s on my Commodore 64 to what they are now…God it’s truly a great time to be alive.
Want to learn more? Yes, I’ve covered a lot and I think I’ve just about covered everything publically available today with regards to POSCON, but should you want to know more or just want to check out the POSCON website, then please do so. I’ll certainly provide more details as it becomes available and I truly look forward to the open beta and the general release of what is shaping up to be a very cool addition to our already amazing hobby.
As we begin our flight for the 15th leg of our 46 leg journey, we’ll be achieving something we’ve yet to do in the over 13,000 miles we’ve traveled since leaving Sydney just over two months ago. This leg will place us further north (in the northern hemisphere) than we’ve previously traveled and the next ten legs will all have us traveling in a northerly direction as we continue to explore northwestern Africa, Europe, United Kingdom and Scandinavia.
That’s right! We started our little journey (little, who am I kidding?) back on 2 June when we departed a rainy/cloudy Sydney, Australia. Rain and clouds have pretty much been the general theme of this tour. But this is just the luck of the draw really. I’m using a flight sim add-on called ActiveSky which adds real-world weather into the sim and as it happens, each location where I’ve been flying (at the time I’m completing the flights) has been mostly rain and cloudy conditions. This may improve as very soon we’ll be entering Europe which has been experiencing unseasonably hot and dry conditions the past few weeks. But enough about all this….let’s get started with this leg of the journey.
History of City
Ndiass (or Diass) is a village and rural community in the M’bour Department in the Thies Region of Senegal. It is located 40 km southeast of Dakar. Diass has a population of 4,794.
History of Country
Senegal is a country in West Africa and is bordered with Mauritania in the north, Mali to the east and Guinea to the Southeast. The name Senegal means “Our Boat”. Senegal covers a land area of almost 76,000 square miles and has an estimated population of about 15 million.
History of Airport
The Blaise Diagne International Airport near the town of Diass, Senegal. It’s the primary airport serving the capital city of Dakar. The airport was originally scheduled to open towards the end of 2011, but didn’t open for service until December 7, 2017.
History of Airline
Arik Air is a Nigerian airline which began operations in 2006. They have a small, but growing fleet of 14 aircraft. Arik Air has built up a domestic network covering mainly Nigerian and several other Western African destinations.
Our travelers are still talking about the awesome experience they had down in Cape Town with the breaching Great White Sharks, but are equally excited about what all else lies in store for them as our journey continues around the world. Due to the weather conditions, we didn’t have a lot of time for photos on the ground so we loaded up in our Arik Air Boeing 737-800 and taxied out to the active runway for departure.
Positive Rate, Gear Up!
A bit of light chop as we climb out.
We’ll soon be above the clouds.
The African coastline is beautiful.
Last look at the coastline for a few hours.
The Moon as we cruise at flight level 360.
The terrain is slowly changing.
And then changing back as we near the coastline again.
The beautiful lush farm land as we descend below 10,000 feet.
Another strong cross-wind landing.
Our fully configured Boeing 738, cleared to land.
The wing view on final approach.
Fighting the strong crosswind. But we have no choice as there are no other runway options.
Safely on the ground, parked and unloading.
Simulator Specifics
Prepar3d v4.3 ActiveSky Weather Engine ActiveSky Cloud Art Envtex & Envshade PMDG 737-800 (Arik Air livery) Orbx Global Texture VATSIM
Route Planning Tools
AivlaSoft PFPX Navigraph Charts Desktop FlightAware FlightRadar24 SkyVector Google Maps
Our travelers will only stay two days in Senegal before departing for Morocco. Our next flight will once again be in the Boeing 737-800 as we ferry a Royal Air Maroc B738 to Morocco.
As the flight legs and miles tick on by, we continue to make good progress on our around the world adventure following the course the WorldFlight teams will be using this November. If you’re just joining our little story with this posting, please make sure you start at the beginning to gain the full picture of what this tour is about and why I’m doing it.
With exception to one week in June, I’ve been releasing two blog postings covering two flight legs per week. I officially kicked off the 2018 Worldflight tour from Sydney, Australia on the 6th of June and this blog posting is scheduled to be released on 28 July. If I continue at the pace of two flight legs per week, then all will wrap up on the 5th of December which is a full month after the official WorldFlight tour starts. So at some point I’m most likely to start releasing more than two legs per week so that I wrap up the tour around the same time as the official tour wraps up. But time….sometimes (most of the time with me) there just doesn’t seem to be enough free time available. But we’ll see how things go and for now, let’s just get on with this leg of our journey.
History of City
Ikeja is the capital of Lagos State and settled by the Yoruba people. The locality was raided for slaves until the mid-19th century. Early in the 20th century it became an agricultural hinterland for Lagos; kola nuts were first grown in Nigeria in this area. In 1976, Ikeja became the capital city.
History of Country
The Federal Republic of Nigeria, commonly referred to as Nigeria, is a federal republic in West Africa, bordering Benin in the West, Chad and Cameroon in the east and Niger to the north. It comprises 36 states. Nigeria is often referred to as the “Giant of Africa”, owing to its large population and economy. Nigeria has the 3rd largest youth population in the world, after India and China with more than 90 million of its 186 million population being under the age of 18. Nigeria is the world’s 20th largest economy.
History of Airport
Murtala Muhammed International Airport (DNMM) is an international airport in Ikeja, Lagos State, Nigeria and is the major airport serving the entire state.
History of Airline
EgyptAir is the flag carrier airline of Egypt. The airline is based at Cairo International Airport, its main hub, operating scheduled passenger and freight services to more than 75 destinations in the Middle East, Europe, Africa, Asia and the Americas. EgyptAir is a member of the Star Alliance.
Once again it’s time to leave and head to our next destination. The weather (or should I say poor weather) has been somewhat of a theme with this tour. But then again, so many of our destinations have been in and around the equator and this one is certainly no different. Today we have poor conditions at both ends of our journey. My first officer and I have been reviewing the weather forecast for Ikeja and are prepared for less than optimal conditions on arrival. But more about that later. We’re all ready to go here on the ground in Libreville. We’re shuttling this EgyptAir Boeing 737-800 up to Ikeja.
Let’s Go!
Up, Up and Away!
Making our turn to join the departure SID.
The sun does exist after all as we break through the clouds.
Cruising at 38,000 high above the clouds and weather. We know this won’t last.
A nice wing shot
Beginning our descent into Nigeria.
It doesn’t look too bad down there. But looks can sometimes be deceiving as we’ll soon discover.
Visibility ?
Making our turn to join the ILS. No visual approach today.
What a mess. Just after receiving our landing clearance, we were instructed to go around. TOGA.
Let’s try this again….
The sun is doing its best to burn off all this fog. But visibility is still poor.
On top of extremely poor visibility, we also have a crosswind to deal with.
My aircraft and full right rudder.
Still managed a center line landing.
Safely on the ground and parked up waiting for the bus to arrive. This was a challenging, but extremely fun flight.
Simulator Specifics
Prepar3d v4.3
ActiveSky Weather Engine
ActiveSky Cloud Art
Envtex & Envshade
PMDG 737-800 (EgyptAir livery)
Orbx Global Texture
VATSIM
Route Planning Tools
AivlaSoft PFPX
Navigraph Charts Desktop
FlightAware
FlightRadar24
SkyVector
Google Maps
Our stay will be pretty short here and in just a few days we’ll depart for Senegal. I’m pretty sure our travelers are ready to hit the European segment of this tour as we’ll be visiting some really cool places over the next few weeks as we continue our around the world tour.
Of the twelve previous flight segments or legs, the longest flight has been just over 1,300 nm. This leg from Capetown, South Africa up to Libreville, Gabon is the longest of the entire tour at 2,122 nm. We’ll head from the southern tip of Africa all the way to the equator during this one flight with a flying time of 5 hours.
As I’ve pointed out before, most of the flights between our departure and arrival airports don’t have real world flights operating between them. This segment is no different and I’ve tried to ensure a variety of both aircraft type and also airline livery. On all segments prior to this one (with exception to the JANET flight) I’ve been using aircraft and airlines which do fly in and out of the airport pairs. This flight is no different. Ethiopian does in fact fly into Cape Town and they do fly into Libreville (just not between the two). But hey…that’s all OK.
Ethiopian Airlines had a Boeing 787 Dreamliner in Cape Town and it needed to be positioned in Libreville for a flight back to Addis Ababa, Ethiopia. So we offered to provide the ferry service in exchange of allowing our travelers passage. Of course, we’re also transporting additional cargo which also needed to be taken from Cape Town to Libreville. It’s a win-win situation and our passengers get to once again fly in a Dreamliner and they’ll certain appreciate the added comfort for this long journey.
History of City
Libreville is the capital and largest city of Gabon, in western central Africa. The city is a port on the Komo River, near the Gulf of Guinea and a major trade center for the timber industry. The city’s economy mainly focuses on the shipbuilding, brewing and sawmill industries. As of the 2013 census, the population of Libreville was 703,904.
History of Country
Gabon is a sovereign state on the west coast of Central Africa. Located on the equator, Gabon is bordered by Equatorial Guinea to the northwest, Cameroon to the north, the Republic of the Congo on the east and south and the Gulf of Guinea to the west. The area of Gabon is over 100,000 sq. miles and its population is estimated at 2 million people.
History of Airport
The Libreville International Airport, (FOOL) is the largest airport in Gabon and is located approx. 11 km north of the city. Built in the 1950’s, the airport is home to Nationale Regionale Transport and Sky Gabon. Flights depart daily throughout the EMEA region.
History of Airline
Ethiopian Airlines is Ethiopia’s flag carrier and is wholly owned by the country’s government. EAL was founded in December 1945 and commenced operations in April 1946, expanding to international flights in 1951. Ethiopian Airlines is headquartered at the Bole International Airport in Addis Ababa. The airline flies to more destinations in Africa than any other carrier. It is one of the fastest growing airlines in the industry and is the largest on the African continent.
Our “Around the World” journey has taken our tourists to some pretty exotic and fun places with a whole lot more to explore in the coming weeks/months. But Cape Town seems to have been a hit with most of the crowd. I believe the breaching great white sharks they witnessed was most likely the hit amongst the crowd and who can blame them. But we must stick to our schedule and once again it’s time to move on.
As previously mentioned, this next flight leg will be the longest of the entire tour at a whopping 2,122 miles. We’re busy readying the Boeing 787 Dreamliner for an early morning departure out of Cape Town in the hopes of arriving into Gabon just after lunch.
Just as catering is completing their task of stocking our aircraft with food and beverage, our tourists all arrive by bus from the hotel.
The last of the ULD containers are being loaded into the belly of the B788. A few of these contain all of our travelers luggage and others are freight we’re transporting on behalf of Ethiopian Airlines.
With everything loaded, all doors closed…it’s time for pushback and engine start. We have a long way to go and a short time to get there.
Lined up and ready to go.
The massive GE turbofan engines make light work of getting our heavy aircraft off the ground and into the skies.
Our Boeing 787 Dreamliner turning to join the departure out of Cape Town.
Love the wing shots.
Climbing to 40,000 feet.
Goodbye to the lush green of South Africa and hello to the desert sands.
Look at that wing flex.
As per our usual luck, the thick carpet of clouds blocks our view as we begin our descent.
Making a turn along the arrival STAR into Gabon.
On final approach into Libreville, Gabon
Flaps Full
Cleared to land
Parked and waiting for the bus.
Simulator Specifics
Prepar3d v4.3
ActiveSky Weather Engine
ActiveSky Cloud Art
Envtex & Envshade
QualityWings Boeing 787 Dreamliner (Ethiopian Airlines Livery)
Orbx Global Texture
VATSIM
Route Planning Tools
AivlaSoft PFPX
Navigraph Charts Desktop
FlightAware
FlightRadar24
SkyVector
Google Maps
After a few days of exploring the area, our group will travel 500 miles to Nigeria then on to Senegal, Morocco and then into Europe. While we’re making great progress, we’re still not yet a third of the way through the trip.
Virtual Farmers…are you paying attention? There’s a whole lotta goodness coming our way this fall. Yes, Giants is set to release Farming Simulator 19 for PC, Mac, PlayStation 4 and Xbox One on 20 November 2018. The ability to pre-order your very own copy is available directly from the Giants website, Steam and even places like Amazon. At the present time, the going rate for FS19 is $34.99 on both the Giants website and Steam. Amazon appears to want $5.00 more with their price set at $39.99. If you want my advice, pick the Steam version and enjoy automagic updates and a carefree method of managing the install/licensing etc. But whatever purchase method you choose, I firmly believe the very best agricultural based simulator to date will be Farming Simulator 19.
Will you Buy FS19?
From all that I’ve read, from all that I’ve heard…Farming Simulator 19 will break a trend in which we’ve seen with past releases of this popular franchise. It’s been argued in the past that the differences between versions have been minimal at best. While I didn’t play FS11 or FS13, I did come onboard with FS15 after perhaps 2-3 months after initial release and of course I’ve played FS17 for over 800 hours. Personally speaking, when I look back and compare FS15 to FS17 I see the value in upgrading. After all, with FS17 we were introduced to the amazing Seasons Mod which truly changed the way FS17 is to be played and gave us a much, much higher level of immersion than we’ve had in previous releases. Yes…even including the Soil Mod which truly lifted the imaginative game play on FS15.
Going out on a limb
I’m going to go right ahead and crawl my big ole bear butt right out onto the limb and state for all to read….Farming Simulator 19 will be the very best agricultural based simulation ever released by Giants AND will be the very best of all of these genre based games currently available to us at this time.
My Excitement
I’ll admit I found the Missions/Contracting options in FS15 and FS17 somewhat boring after a while. I felt in FS17 more could have been done to make it more of a real job by allowing us to use our own equipment and also the ability to do tasks such as empty the combine. In FS17 the combine could hold an infinite amount of whatever and this sort of blew the immersion out of the water.
Yes, we will need to find a way to contain ourselves until 20 November. But I truly believe the extra few weeks we’ll need to wait will be 100% worth it. Want more info on FS19? The Giants website is always a good source, PC-SG will also have all the latest and greatest news and YouTube….There are a number of YouTube videos discussing all the wonderful new features FS19 will hold and I would expect we’ll all see preview videos from the usual suspects when they received their pre-release copies and showcase game play on their channels. So get that popcorn ready, get your farms all tidy and ready to sell on FS17 and draw a BIG circle around the 20 November date on the calendar and be prepared to work hard.
Sometimes, we have the idea or the mindset that “I’ll never do ____________” (insert word or phrase) because of this, that or some other reason. I suppose the phrase “Never, Say Never” comes roaring into my head. By the way, did you know the first recorded mention of the words “Never, Say Never” was from Charles Dickens’s Pickwick Papers in 1837. Anyway….I must say that I’ve recently purchased something which I’ve previously said I would never do. I also recognize the topic of this posting is extremely controversial within the flight simulation community. I’ll post some final thoughts at the end of this piece and will welcome any comments (pending they are civil) from my readers. Also, will just remind anyone reading this outside of my blog website (GrizzlyBearSims.com), my writings are syndicated on a few different other websites and the opinions expressed in this piece belong to me and may or may not be the same opinions expressed by the owners of those other websites.
Before I get long-winded, let me just say right off the bat that YES, I’ve purchased BOTH the Flight Sim Labs Airbus A320 and their newly released A319 aircraft. I’ll get into all the reasons for my change of opinions in just a moment. First, let me just provide a little background history regarding both Flight Sim Labs (FS Labs) and their Airbus aircraft.
First Things First
I first heard of FSLabs several years ago when I was researching information regarding home cockpit building and specifically some utilities FSLabs had developed for some third party hardware add-ons. Thanks for FSLabs as their solution helped me get my GoFlight hardware working with the older PMDG 747 in FSX. This was all around the 2009-10 timeframe.
Of course, I’ve also been aware of their Concorde-X and their A320-X aircraft add-ons for many years. I almost purchased the Concorde-X several years ago, but if I’m not mistaken…one of the reasons I didn’t was because I was transitioning from FSX to Prepar3D v2.x and at that point in time the Concorde-X was not compatible. While the Concorde-X is now compatible with P3D v2 and v3, it’s not compatible with v4.
Flight Sim Labs Airbus A320 in American Airlines livery.
If it’s not Boeing…
So you all know the saying, “If it’s not Boeing, I ain’t going”. Yea…I’ve felt that way for a long time both in the real world and also in the virtual sim world. But I have this little issue…perhaps some might say it falls into the superstition category…but typically when time permits I enjoy recreating my real world flights in the simulator. A few years ago I was flying from Denver to Indianapolis on Frontier Airlines for a business trip. The flight was going to be on an Airbus A319 and while I really had no experience with Airbus aircraft in the flight sim, I decided to do a little research. I discovered FSLabs offered an A320 and Aerosoft offered a package including the A318, A319, A320 and A321. At the time, it was sort of a no-brainer decision. I had a desire to fly the real-world Airbus A319 Frontier flight and Aerosoft had the add-on aircraft which was compatible with the sim I was using at the time.
Time Keeps on Slippin’, Slippin’, Slippin’….
…Into the Future. Yes, another musical lyric segue….but now as a few years have passed since my original purchase of the Airbus product, we find ourselves one year post Prepar3D v4 (64 bit) release and while many add-on developers were quick to release their P3D v4 compatible aircraft models, scenery and other add-ons….Aerosoft (as of the time of this writing) still haven’t released their Airbus series for P3D v4. But let me just say that this blog article is not about the Aerosoft Airbus delays.
Back on Topic
And back to my opening sentence of this writing. I’ve expressed my feelings towards the Flight Sim Labs PR debacle both here on my blog as well as in other corners of the web such as flight sim related forums and various Facebook flight sim groups. If you’re not aware of all that has transpired and you don’t care to read my older posting linked above, I’ll just quickly summarize the happenings over the past several months below:
In an effort to prevent pirating of the FSLabs A320X aircraft add-on, FSLabs inserted a bit of malware which only became active if the software was an illegal, pirated copy. FSLabs apologized, explained the reasons and admitted the action taken was “a bit heavy handed”.
A few months later, it was discovered that the FSLabs A320X installer was directly writing files into the system32 and SysWOW64 directories.
Then a little spat began to brew between FSLabs and the folks over at Reddit. Some threatening words and legal action were exchanged.
Finally, someone using the name “RandomRedditor” hacked the FSLabs website and forums.
While the actions taken by FSLabs was and is a major failure on their part, certainly two wrongs will never make it right. Meaning, the individual referring to himself/herself as “RandomRedditor” is just as much in the wrong as FSLabs has ever been (in my opinion).
My Change of Mind/Opinion
Let me state once again for the record, I condemn the actions taken by Flight Sim Labs in their effort of preventing the piracy of their software. However, I also recognize software piracy is wrong and as it relates specifically to our flight simulation hobby is directly damaging it by forcing developers to charge more for their add-ons. In other words, here’s yet another example of honest, hard-working individuals having to carry the burden for those who would rather steal.
Last week I was watching one of my favorite Twitch Streamers from the UK, Chewwy94. If you are unfamiliar with his channel I would encourage you to follow him. He’s an excellent flight sim streamer, he runs a very positive and informative channel and as I said, he’s truly one of the best doing what he is doing. Anyway, Chewwy (real name Matt) was showcasing a pre-release copy of the Airbus A319 from FSLabs. I don’t always have time to catch all of his streams, but it just so happened that I was in Orlando for work and spent the evening watching most of the replay of this particular stream.
Yes, at the very beginning of the stream my attitude matched pretty much what I had said in the past. More or less, that I didn’t plan on doing business with Flight Sim Labs due to their previous antics. But the more I watched, I began to reflect back to my early days with flight simulation. I’m often reminded just how far this hobby has come over the past 35 years that I’ve been flying computer based sims. If you weren’t around in the mid-80’s, here’s a little video I’ve shared previously of about 60 seconds of recorded footage showing subLogic’s Flight Simulator II for the Commodore 64.
Even in the past 18 years (the VATSIM age) the level of added immersion and realism which has been given to all of us by the various developers, has truly helped to bring meaning to the old Microsoft Flight Simulator slogan of “As Real As It Gets”. I had to take a minute to swallow my pride somewhat and realize that what I was actually seeing from my own two eyes on Matt’s stream was something I had never seen before. Yes…truly the future of flight simulation and that future had been developed by Flight Sim Labs.
Two Choices, One Decision
The reality of it all after watching Matt’s stream was I had two choices to make. I could continue down the path I was walking by simply avoiding doing business with FSLabs and hope that at some future time down the road some of the advancements FSLabs had coded into the A319 would make their way into other aircraft models. OR, I could take a lesson from a man who is of far greater importance than anyone I know and show a little forgiveness. After all, I tend to follow the advice of this man as much as I possibly can in my life and it’s worked out well so far.
In closing
Yes…I’m the proud owner of both the Flight Sim Labs Airbus A320 and the expansion A319. I’ve been reading, studying and learning this truly “study level” aircraft and will admit that I’ve learned more and have been challenged harder than I have ever been with any payware, “study level” aircraft add-on to date and I wouldn’t have it any other way.
The flight sim hobby is more than just about flying virtual aircraft around a virtual world. While I have no interest in learning to fly in real life, I enjoy and very much appreciate the challenge of learning a complex, study level aircraft. Doing so (in my opinion) gives a much deeper appreciation for flight and adds the level of immersion we all seek from our favorite simulation based games. In time, I’ll write a review of the Flight Sim Labs Airbus A320 and A319 and share in greater detail all the immersion I feel should be celebrated by the community.
Finally, I will also add there are still very strong opinions and attitudes expressed by many towards both Flight Sim Labs and also towards those who use their products. I’ve expressed my opinions and my overall reasons for changing my mind and attitude. I welcome any comments on this subject, pending they remain civil and on point. I will not tolerate any hateful comments regardless if they are directed towards FSLabs or directed towards me. My money, my opinions, my decision, my blog site. Thank you for understanding!
Until next time….
Happy Flying!
Jerry
P.S. I plan to write a more in-depth, review of the FSLabs Airbus A320/A319 in the coming weeks.
As mentioned in the last tour update, our travelers since leaving Australia, have been bouncing from one island to the next. Most of their activities have been focused on various island style activities. One might think our group has had enough ocean fun…but that’s just not true. Our next destination is Cape Town, South Africa. What’s so interesting about Cape Town (especially when it comes to the ocean)? Well…it just so happens this blog posting (completely by luck) will drop on the day before the 30th installment of the Discovery Channel’s popular Shark Week. And just off the shore of Cape Town, you’ll find something very special. The Great White sharks off the coast are some of the largest sharks on the planet and they do something a little different down here. They breach and leap out of the water. It’s truly an amazing sight…but you’ll really need a bigger boat with these guys. If you’ve never heard of the breaching Great White Sharks, then check out this YouTube video.
History of City
Cape Town is a coastal city in South Africa. It is the second-most populous urban area in South Africa after Johannesburg. Cape Town is the capital and primate city of the Western Cape province. Located on the short of Table Bay, Cape Town is the oldest urban area in South Africa and was developed in 1652 by the Dutch East India Company as a supply station for ships sailing to East Africa, India and the Far East.
History of Country
South Africa, known officially as the Republic of South Africa (RSA), is the southernmost country in Africa and includes over 1,700 miles of coastline stretching along the South Atlantic and Indian Oceans. South Africa is the largest country in southern Africa and the 25th largest country in the world by land area. The population of South Africa is estimated to be near 56 million and is the world’s 24th most populous nation.
History of Airport
Cape Town International Airport (FACT) is the primary airport serving the city of Cape Town and is the second-busiest airport in South Africa and the third busiest in Africa. Opened in 1954 to replace the previous airport, FACT provides direct flights to South Africa’s other two main urban areas of Joburg and Durban as well as to smaller airports with South Africa. The air route between Cape Town and Johannesburg was the world’s 9th busiest air route in 2011 with an estimated 4.5 million passengers.
History of Airline
South African Airways is the flag carrier of South Africa. Founded in 1934, South African Airways flies to 38 destinations in 26 countries in Africa, Europe, North America, South America, Asia and Australasia. The airline has a strong presence in Southern Africa. Their current fleet consists of an all Airbus passenger fleet including the Airbus A319, A320, A330 and A340. They do own three older Boeing 737-300 freighters which are leased from Star Air Cargo.
Our travelers have spent the past several days exploring the Johannesburg area, including a safari tour and overnight stay in Kruger Park. I believe all had an enjoyable stay, but it’s time to once again move on. Up to this point in our tour, our routing has taken us northwest as we traveled through Singapore and Indonesia, then we turned southwest towards Maldives and have been traveling mostly a southwesterly direction. This will be the last leg (for a while) that we head in a southerly direction. Once we depart Cape Town, out progress will be northwest and northeast until we reach Norway. But for now, our direction remain southwest so let’s get started.
We’re back in the Airbus A320 and shuttling a South African Airways aircraft down to Cape Town. This happens to be a real-world flight. Meaning, South African Airways operate an Airbus A320 between Joburg and Cape Town in real life. It’s a late afternoon departure with a flight time of 2 hours, we should arrive in Cape Town just before dinner.
Lined up and waiting for our take off clearance from ATC.
Up, up and away and goodbye Johannesburg.
Making our turn to the southwest to join the departure out of FAOR.
Could be a stormy night for the residents of Joburg.
A bit of a bumpy climb, but ATC were accommodating and vectored us around the strongest of the storm cells.
Our livery shot as we’re just about above the storm and clouds. The sun is setting fast.
The sun has set.
High above South Africa with the warm glow of the setting sun just visible along the horizon.
The view from the office at FL360.
The city lights of Cape Town, South Africa.
On short final into FACT.
Simulator Specifics
Prepar3d v4.3
ActiveSky Weather Engine
ActiveSky Cloud Art
Envtex & Envshade
FlightSim Labs Airbus A320 (South African Airways livery)
Orbx Global Texture
VATSIM
Route Planning Tools
AivlaSoft PFPX
Navigraph Charts Desktop
FlightAware
FlightRadar24
SkyVector
Google Maps
Our travelers have a busy few days exploring Cape Town. Soon we’ll depart and begin our northerly trek. The next leg will be the longest leg of the entire tour as we travel from Cape Town, South Africa to Libreville, Gabon which is 2,122 miles away. For this next leg, we’ll be in the Boeing 787 Dreamliner which should help make the almost 5 hour, 20 minute flight breeze bye.
Until next time…Watch out for those jumping sharks!
A part of me is celebrating the fact we’ve just completed the first 10 legs of the 46 leg journey, but the other part of me realizes we still have 36 legs to go. I began this journey on 2 June, the first post hit the interwebz on 6 June and I’m actually writing this blog post on Monday, 9 July. Yes, I’ve been busy flying the segments….but pacing myself on writing/releasing the articles as I like to be somewhat consistent and this helps me ensure I can keep at the very least two blog updates each week documenting the journey. As we’ve just completed our 10th leg (that’s somewhat of a milestone) let’s review some of our statistics of the journey so far.
Miles Flown – We’ve logged 8,667 miles of the over 36,000 miles it will take to complete our around the world trip.
Hours Flown – Just prior to starting the 11th leg, we’ve logged just over 25 hours of flying time. Flying time is calculated from the time the parking brakes are released and the aircraft is pushed back from the gate of the departure airport to the time of landing, taxi and parking brakes applied at the destination airport.
Fuel burn – We’ve burned a whopping 138,460 pounds of fuel. As a point of reference, a Boeing 747-400 flying between Denver and London will consume approx. 198,000 pounds of fuel.
In the real world, my wife and I are just returning home from spending a week in the mountains (11th wedding anniversary and US Independence Day holiday). Between all the work stresses of the past few weeks…this was a much needed break. I’m home the week of 9 July (the week I’m writing this) and head back to California next week. But enough of all that…let’s get on with this story.
Our updated map showing our progress thus far.
History of City
Johannesburg or Joburg for short, is the largest and most populous city in South Africa and ranks in the top 50 for largest urban areas in the world. The city was established in 1886 following the discovery of gold.
History of Country
South Africa, known officially as the Republic of South Africa (RSA), is the southernmost country in Africa and includes over 1,700 miles of coastline stretching along the South Atlantic and Indian Oceans. South Africa is the largest country in southern Africa and the 25th largest country in the world by land area. The population of South Africa is estimated to be near 56 million and is the world’s 24th most populous nation.
History of Airport
O.R. Tambo International Airport (FAOR) is a major international airport in Kempton Park located very near Johannesburg. It serves as the primary airport for domestic and international travel to/from South Africa and is Africa’s busiest airport with a capacity to handle up to 28 million passengers annually. The airport handles non-stop flights to all continents except Antarctica. It serves as the hub of South Africa’s largest international airline and domestic carrier, South African Airways.
History of Airline
Comair Limited is an airline based in South Africa that operates scheduled services on domestic routes as a British Airways franchisee. Founded in 1943, Comair serves 11 destinations throughout the region and has a current fleet consisting of seven Boeing 737-400 and nine 737-800 aircraft.
With exception to the first two legs of this long journey, we’ve been basically hopping from one island to another as we’ve made our way across the Indian Ocean. Our travelers have seen some pretty incredible sights along the way, but I overheard one traveler speaking to another, and he said “once you’ve seen one island…you’ve seen them all”. This perhaps is a very valid point and perhaps it’s a sentiment shared by most as there seems to be a level of excitement building to finally begin the African segment of this tour. Over the next few weeks (including today), our travelers will complete six stops within the African Continent as we make our way north along the western edge.
Our passengers have arrived, all gear has been safely loaded/stowed on board our Comair Boeing 737-800 and we’re taxing out to the active runway for an on-time departure.
With no time to waste, we’re off and away.
Taking one last look of the island before making our turn to join the departure.
OK…I lied. Really…just one more “last” look at the island across the wing of the B738.
Our “livery” shot. Other than the fact that British Airways no longer operates the Boeing 737 (in any variant), the only differing markings I can spot is the Comair United logo on the front of the aircraft.
Just off the starboard side, the coastline of Africa.
Over land once again. Just a few more miles until we reach top of descent.
Another wing view as the clouds begin to develop.
Airport just ahead as we take the visual approach for runway 21L.
One last wing view of the Joburg area.
Short final for runway 21L.
After what seemed like a really long taxi (after all, this is the largest airport we’ve visited in a long time), we’re parked up at the gate and the Comair ground crew are doing a great job getting our aircraft unloaded.
After clearing customs, our travelers and crew will board a bus for the quick ride to the hotel and then dinner. We’ll explore the Johannesburg area for the next few days before departing to Cape Town where they’ll spend several more days exploring that area as well.
Simulator Specifics
Prepar3d v4.3
ActiveSky Weather Engine
ActiveSky Cloud Art
Envtex & Envshade
PMDG 737-800 (Comair Airlines livery)
Orbx Global Texture
VATSIM
Route Planning Tools
AivlaSoft PFPX
Navigraph Charts Desktop
FlightAware
FlightRadar24
SkyVector
Google Maps
I hope everyone’s enjoying the blog postings, the tour and the variety of aircraft/liveries I’m presenting. Up to this point it’s been a fun tour for me as I’ve learned a lot about the areas we’ve visited in my research for the story line. Time to get busy planning the next leg of the tour. Thanks again for reading.
