Let’s get this adventure started

November 21, 2012 / admin / 0 Comments

As stated in my most recent blog post in almost a year, I’m gearing up to start a new flight simulator adventure that will take me around the world as I zig-zag between northern and southern hemispheres in the Carenado B200 Beechcraft King Air twin-turboprop.  This aircraft is a brand new addition to my virtual hangar.  While I’ve spent some time in the virtual cockpit of this awesome aircraft, I’ve only managed to spend a few minutes at a time.  So the first leg of this adventure is truly important and one I’ll pay close attention to how the aircraft performs based on general specifications of the aircraft. 

In 2010, my Mooney had a range of less than 900nm.  This meant my average leg flying time was approx. 3-4 hours.  The King Air range is about double that of the Mooney, but that doesn’t mean I’ll have 6-8 hours to spend in a single sitting.   But of course, with the aircraft upgrade I’ll also have additional airspeed available which I didn’t have with the Mooney.  It should all balance out.

The first planned leg will be a long one taking us from the departure airport in Antwerp, Belgium all the way to Casablanca, Morocco.  I have plenty of re-fueling options along the way should the need arise.  But I want to challenge the suggested performance characteristics of the aircraft while I’m over heavily populated areas versus a large body of water or the Sahara.

I’ve plotted the route for the long journey to carry us over Paris, Madrid, Seville (refuel), Gibraltar then Casablanca with estimated travel time of just under 6 hours.  

My new Beechcraft B200 King Air twin-turboprop parked at Antwerp airport EBAW. 

Holding short, runway 29 EBAW.

Position and Hold (OK, Line up and Wait) RW 29

Turning southwest towards Paris.  The river Scheldt just below.

The port side Pratt & Whitney doing its job.

Sunset over northern Africa

Short final runway 35R Mohammed V International Airport GMMN.

Parked with engines off as the sun sets and a Royal Air Maroc departs.

My passengers are thrilled to make it to Casablanca and will spend a few days sightseeing.  Our journey will resume soon as we continue to fly south into the heart of Africa.

Until next time…

Happy Flying!

JT

It’s been a while….But

November 20, 2012 / admin / 0 Comments

I know it’s been a while since I posted to my flight simulation blog, Position and Hold.  Like many of you…I just get too busy from time to time for my hobbies or I let one hobby sort of over rule everything else.  Some of you who follow this blog may know that I’m an active amateur radio operator (aka ham radio).  I host an amateur radio podcast titled The Practical Amateur Radio Podcast (PARP).  PARP will celebrate its 5th birthday in May 2013 and along with my amateur radio hobby, it keeps me busy.

The last time I posted to this blog was almost one year ago and at that time I was thinking about starting another adventure journey in my new Carenado Malibu JetProp.  Unfortunately, this adventure never got off the ground.  Instead I devoted much of the first nine months of 2012 to finishing the basement project I started some 3-4 years earlier. 

The two pictures below show what the basement looked like in January 2012 (top photo) and the finished product on September 1, 2012.  With exception to the granite counter installation, everything else including framing of the walls, drywall, texture, painting, flooring and cabinet installation was completed by mine and my wife’s own hands.

During this remodel phase, much of my flight sim gear was packed away and my available time to sit in front of a computer and fly a computer plane around from place to place was just not available.  Now that I’m in my new space, it was time to drag out the flight sim gear and enjoy the hobby of flying again.

Ironically, from the time I packed my gear up to the point that I began unpacking…those flight simulator gremlins managed to get into my PC and work their havoc.  I spent a few frustrating weeks experiencing CTD’s and other FSX problems.  I became seriously frustrated and decided to just walk away from it for a few days. A few days did turn into a few weeks, but I believe I’ve made some good progress and have not had the CTD’s which I experienced on early flights. 

To sort of cap off 2012 and kick-off 2013, I plan to start another flying adventure.  This new adventure will be similar to my Around the World flight in 2010, but also different.  In 2010 I set off in a single engine Mooney Bravo from Centennial Airport (KAPA) with a single goal of flying around the globe and returning back to KAPA.  You can view my route here.  I began the 2010 journey on 30 September 2010 and completed it 19 November 2010. 

For my 2012/13 journey I plan to depart Antwerp Belgium (EBAW) in the new Carenado B200 Beechcraft King Air twin-turboprop.  My fictional journey is to serve as pilot for a large wealthy family who have nothing better to do than tour the world.  They have more money than judgment and the sky truly is the limit on just where this journey will take us. 

The first few legs of the journey will take us from Antwerp, Belgium towards Casablanca, Morocco.  From Casablanca, I’m told the journey will continue deep into the heart of Africa and what once was the Belgian Congo (now the Democratic Republic of the Congo) and the capital city of Kinshasa.  From Kinshasa we will likely continue south to Cape Town, South Africa.  After Cape Town we will travel in the direction of Madagascar.  From Madagascar the route and plan is open. 

The idea for my 2012/13 journey is to see new places within the FSX world (hence the trip to Africa).  Just like the 2010 trip, I have no idea how long this will take me to complete as I zig zag between northern and southern hemispheres around the globe.  I plan to start soon and you can track my progress here. 

As I tried to do in my 2010 trip, I’ll post screenshots and blog updates throughout the journey.  I plan to get started soon.  So look for updates in the next couple of days.

Happy Flying…

JT

Around the World – Update 10

November 20, 2010 / admin / 0 Comments

If all goes as planned, this update (update 10) will be the final trip update for my Around the World – 2010 Adventure.  If by some chance you are just finding this blog.  I began an Around the World Journey on what feels like a really long time ago, but actually just on 30 September 2010.  As I stated in this blog post, I’ve done around the world flights before.  I’ve completed about as many as I’ve started.  But I’ve never completed an around the world flight in a single engine prop aircraft.  This all changes now as I’m just a few flight legs away from completing this adventure in a Mooney. 

As my Mooney sits in Sitka, Alaska I’ve traveled 3 nm shy of 34,000 nm in 191.0 hours and burned 3,077 gallons of fuel.  I’m less than 2000 nm from Centennial, Colorado KAPA (my starting point).  According to Wiki Answers, the circumference of the Earth at the Equator is 24,901.46 miles.  While I’ve traveled over 50% of this trip north of the equator, I did fly down under to Australia, Tasmania and New Zealand.  The bottom line and I guess the point that I’m trying to make is I’ve traveled a long, long ways and have had fun along the way.

It is the early morning of Wednesday, 17 November and it is time to snuff out the fire in the cabin and ready the float plane for the trip back to Sitka.  The weather today is cloudy but with good visibility.  I expect no issues getting out of the Fjords surrounding the cabin location.  With the flight down to Sitka taking just about 45 minutes, I’ll still have a full day of flying to get me on down closer to home.  I arrived back at the Sitka float plane base to turn in my float plane and then head over to the neighboring PASI to pickup the Mooney. 

I had the Mooney serviced while I was on my float plane R&R adventure, so she is good to go all the way back to Denver.  I’ve really been impressed with how well this plane has performed on this long, long trip.  She has exceeded my expectations….but we’re not home yet.

I departed runway 29 at PASI and made the nice, slow turn to the south taking one more look at the surrounding area.  The first leg of today’s trip will be down to CYZT, Port Hardy.  I’m flying over the southern area of the Tongass Fjords scenery area and it’s just beautiful.  I really can’t wait to get back up here to explore all it has to offer. 

As I got closer to Port Hardy, the clouds began to fill in all around me and so did the rain.  The approach into CYZT was uneventful.  I just needed to remember this would not be a water landing.    Once on the ground I fueled the Mooney and myself and departed as quickly as I could and head down through Washington State and into Oregon.  Just 4 miles south of Hillsboro is Stark’s Twin Oaks Airpark, 7S3.  This little slice of heaven is depicted very nicely by Bill Womack.  Check out his website for more information on this Orbx scenery. 

It’s great to be back in the lower 48.  I’m going to spend the next day around Stark’s Twin Oaks Airpark and will resume flying on Friday. 

It’s Friday and the final day of flying has arrived.  Today I will make it back home and complete my Around the World – 2010 Adventure.  As I depart Stark’s Twin Oaks Airpark, I will officially be starting the 73rd leg of my journey.  I plan to fly a long first leg followed by two shorter legs to finish out at 75 legs for the entire journey.

I departed Stark’s just as the sun was rising.  I’ve still got a long way to go and need a full day of flying to reach KAPA in Centennial, Colorado late this afternoon/evening.  Also this strategy will also allow me to carry less fuel as the Mooney just seems to struggle at higher altitudes when fully fueled.  I will need her to run smooth to get me over the Rockies. 

The overall weather and visibility today has been wonderful.  I’m flying a modified route from what I talked about in update 9.  I’m headed for Idaho Falls, Idaho and KIDA.  From KIDA I will head southeast to Glenwood Springs, Colorado KGWS then on to KAPA.

I landed in Idaho Falls, KIDA and loaded enough fuel for the short flight down to Glenwood Springs and grabbed a bite to eat.  The weather is holding, but winds along the mountain range coming into Wyoming is a little turbulent.  The Mooney is bouncing around a little, but I have a good strong tailwind and making great time.  I landed at KGWS and purchased the final few gallons needed to make it up and over the Rockies and into Denver.  I grabbed some food and I was in the air in no time. 

This final leg is perhaps the shortest of all the previous 74 legs on this trip.  At just 116 nm, I’ll be on the ground within an hour.  I suppose this last leg is somewhat bittersweet.  While I’m please I’ve managed to accomplish a task that many in the flight simulator hobby only dream of, I’m also thinking “what next”?  For the past seven weeks, I’ve known where I’ll fly and what aircraft I would fly in. 

Of course the sweet part of this is the journey is complete and I can do whatever I want to do.  As much fun as I’ve had flying low and slow, I do miss the “big iron” and will soon fly an American Airlines/American Eagle trip which I will also be flying in real life in the next few weeks.  What I’m fairly confident about is I’ll return to a low and slow journey again very soon. 

The flight from Glenwood Springs to Centennial (Denver) went really fast.  I spent some time flying over the area gaining altitude before I headed east and followed fairly close the route of Interstate 70 as it winds through the mountains.    Once I was on the eastern side of the Rockies, the downtown skyline of Denver came into view. 

Weather conditions had KAPA operating landing north to south and Centennial Tower gave me runway 17R.  I had a Cessna ahead of me and another behind me.  Plus lots of traffic on the ground.  It’s a beautiful day to return home.  I’m glad to be here.

So what was the final breakdown of statistics?  Well, the journey began on 30 September 2010 and finished today, 19 November 2010.  I was away from home for 51 days and of those 51 days, 30 were actual flying days.  The number of flying hours total 201.5.  This averages out to 6.7 hours per flight day.  I completed the trip in 75 flight segments and traveled in both the northern and southern hemisphere.  The total number of miles flown was 35,816 and I burned a total of 3,235 gallons of fuel.  If you want to view my route on Google maps, just click here. 

When I first began flying computer simulators back in the early 80’s, the concept of going anywhere other than around Chicago Meig’s Field was simply unheard of.  Now today I’ve completed something that I’ve always wanted to do.  Like I’ve said, I have circled the globe several times in heavy iron and I’ve attempted the task in smaller planes many times only to burn out and simply give up.  I look forward to the next time I can circle the globe.

Thank you for reading and sharing in my journey.

Jerry

Around the World – Update 9

November 14, 2010 / admin / 0 Comments

As in previous updates, I’ve talked about what course I would take once I reached this point in the journey.  I decided a while back that I would head out across the Aleutian Islands if it was possible.  I spent some time researching all my alternatives while on the ground in Tokyo and determined if the weather was cooperating once I reached UHSS, I could safely head east to UHPP.  This is a distance of just a little over 700nm.  While it is pushing my personal comfort level, I have traveled this distance before without issue.

In most of the planning for this trip I have relied on equal parts of luck and judgment.  While I would never take unnecessary chances, I have plenty of good data on what my Mooney can and can’t do.  Best of all, I know when the Mooney turns from an airplane into an expensive glider. 

The day arrived to make the long 712 nm crossing to UHPP.  The weather was better than perfect.  Weather reports showed winds aloft at 260 @40.  This was exactly what I needed.  I departed UHSS and headed for UHPP.  This would be the final leg of a very long day (partially covered inupdate 8).  I knew it would be late in the evening when I arrived, but I had to keep going as the weather was perfect for the crossing.

The fuel capacity on my Mooney is 66 gallons.  I made the crossing to UHPP on 62 gallons with 4 gallons to spare.  Not bad…but I’m glad this is the last of the long distance water crossings.  The remaining sections across the Aleutians will be in the neighborhood of 450-550 nm legs.  But now that I’m safely on the ground, it is time for bed.  My ride to the hotel awaits.

The next flying day has arrived.  I departed UHPP headed to ATU on the Alaskan Island of Attu.  I departed North America on 1 October when I flew from northeastern Canada to Greenland.  Now almost six weeks later, I’m officially back in North America and have crossed the international date line.

My travels continue east from ATU to PADK, Adak Airport on Adak Island, Alaska.  After a brief stop for fuel, I pushed on to PADU in Dutch Harbor, Alaska.  Dutch Harbor has been made somewhat famous from the Discovery Channel’s Deadliest Catch.  My wife and I both love this show and is pretty much the only reality tv show we watch.  I wanted to spend a little more time in Dutch so I checked into the local motel for the night.

The next day started early.  I departed Dutch and continued northeast through the Aleutian Islands.  This has been a fun route.  I’ve tried to keep the legs short and have enjoyed flying into the small island airports.  I plan to continue this northeast direction on through the Aleutians until I reach the southwest corner of Alaska.  At this point I plan to continue somewhat around the southern Alaska coastline and will spend a little time exploring around the Pacific Fjords.  I now own the Orbx Pacific Fjords scenery and will visit some of the smaller airfields represented in this software package.  I’m thinking of adding the Tongass Fjords X scenery as well.  Ok…well when I looked at the website I couldn’t resist.  So I will now have plenty of eye candy to keep my entertained as I fly through southeast Alaska and northwest British Columbia.    Once I return to Colorado, I think I’ll take a vacation to this area of Alaska and British Columbia and rent a float plane and really explore this region.

From Dutch I headed towards Kodiak Island and PADQ.  The weather was nice which made for great flying weather out of Dutch.  I did fly over the Dutch Harbor area and it looked like several crab boats were getting ready to head back out.  I look forward to watching their adventures next Spring on Deadliest Catch.

I think if all goes well I can be back in Colorado just before Thanksgiving (about 10 days from now).  When I started this journey I really had no idea how long it would take. I’ve done around the world flights before but never in a single engine prop plane.  A few things I really didn’t know when I started this journey as just how frequently I would be able to fly.  So I honestly thought it would be sometime after the first of the year before I arrived back home.  But I’ve made great time and have been able to fly a lot more days than I thought. 

Oh by the way, how do you like the Polaroid’s?  I had been blogging directly to my WordPress site via a web browser.  This had worked fine up until just a few days ago when the text of a draft blog article completely disappeared.  Ouch that really hurt as I had been working on it for several days.  So I started looking for offline options.  I wanted something I could work on draft articles which would be saved locally to my hard drive and then I could upload them to my WordPress blog site.  Voila….Microsoft to the rescue.  Windows Live Writer to the rescue.  WLW allows me to do just what I wanted.  I can upload the draft versions so they are backed up to my site.   The Polaroid frames are just some of the features of WLW.  But enough about this.

After refueling I departed Kodiak Island and headed north to fly over Homer, Alaska then turned east towards Chenega Bay, Alaska and a small gravel airfield C05 where I’ll fuel and continue on towards the south to Sitka, Alaska.  Sitka will position me to spend a little time exploring the Tongass Fjords and Pacific Fjords add-on scenery software I spoke about earlier.  Before leaving Sitka, I plan to look into float plane rentals and will certainly be back up this direction to explore all this area has to offer very soon.

Once I finish my quick exploration of Tongass Fjords and Pacific Fjords I’ll continue heading south through British Columbia, Canada towards Washington State and Starks Twin Oaks Airpark (7S3) for which I have the add-on scenery from Bill Womack.  I think my general direction will be a fairly direct route on down to Colorado passing through northeast Oregon, Idaho, Wyoming and then into my home state of Colorado.  From Starks I estimate it to be at least two flight legs which is certainly doable in one day.   

I arrived in Sitka, Alaska on a very overcast afternoon as you can tell from the photograph above.  But I’m done for the day and plan to ask around to see what might be available for rental now as I’m eager to explore for a few days.  I talked to the guy down at the float plane area and he told me he had a very nice C185 Amphibian model.  I could pick it up immediately and keep it for as long as I wanted.  With the weather being what it was I opted to wait until the next day as I heard the weather would be clearing.

The next day arrived and it was time for me to go down and pickup the rental.  I left my Mooney in safe hands and signed out the C185 Amphibian and departed for a day or two of discovery around the Tongass Fjords.  I thought it would be nice to spend a night or two at one of the many US Forest Service cabins in the area.  Most are accessible only via float plane or by boat with some hiking.  I’m not opposed to some hiking, but this is a flight sim blog, so I’ll stick to float planes.    I’ve picked a few areas I wanted to visit.  These are all in the vicinity of Sitka.

The first area I thought I would visit was about 12 miles from Sitka called Salmon Lake.  It was a little hard to find but I found it and managed to land on the lake without issue.  I pulled the C185 up on the bank and was in the process of getting out when a brown bear walked up.    I decided to quickly close the door and let the bear have salmon lake.  I would go elsewhere and I did. 

I decided to fly up north of Sitka as there are several cabin locations to choose from and I would visit a couple and decide which one I liked the best for this trip.  Of course I would also be researching for future trips as well.  But bottom line is I’m having fun exploring this beautiful area of Alaska.  I will say, I hadn’t done much float plane operations until now.  Sure I’ve played around with the default models…but have never done this type of adventure flying.  Some of these cabin locations are situated in small bodies of water and in tight coves.  It might look like trying to land a 747 in a bath tub, but with practice you can ace these water landings with ease.

After visiting about a half dozen of the cabin locations near and north of Sitka, I’m going to head up and check out the Glacier Bay National Park area.  The glacier I’m going to explore today is in Taylor Bay (fitting huh).  Flying along the glacier was an awesome experience.  Perhaps on my next trip to Alaska I’ll rent a plane with skis and land on a glacier.  Of course I need to read up on my rules and regs to make sure that doesn’t break the law.

After exploring the glacier a little more (from the air) I decided it was time to head back to the cabin I selected.  The cabin is Goulding Lake Cabin, located about 60 nm northwest of Sitka. The cabin is nice and secluded with a canoe.  I’m just hoping the bear stays away this time.

Well I’m going to publish this update and spend a few days here in this cabin doing some fishing and relaxing.  I’ll pick the story up again once I return to Sitka, Alaska and pickup the Mooney.  This will start the final update, update 10 which will take me all the way back to Colorado.

Around the World – Update 8

November 10, 2010 / admin / 0 Comments

As my 8th update begins to unfold in front of your eyes, I have been on this journey for over one month, have flown over 27,000 nm in just over 152 hours.  On this trip, I have visited many old favorites and just as many brand new destinations.  The one element I’ve realized from this trip is just how much fun it is to fly low and slow. 

The first few legs of this update will have me departing Manado, Indonesia and flying north to and through the Philippines and up to Taiwan then across to mainland China.  Once I arrive in China I plan to fly up the east coast to Shanghai then cross over to Japan.  I plan to fly up and through Japan.  I’m sure at this stage update 9 will take over.  I haven’t decided how I’m going to cross from Asia over to North America.  I haven’t had time to research the possibility of island hopping my way across the Aleutians or just continuing up through Asiatic Russia and cross directly into Alaska via the Bering Strait.

The day began much like the others.  I only have a limited amount of time to fly and will only complete two legs to position myself in northern Philippines.  I departed WAMM for RPVA in Tacloban City.  A quick re-fuel and I was back in the air headed to RPUT in Tuguegarao in northern Philippines.  This is where I’ll stop for the day and resume my journey in hopefully a few days.

Well I’m back in the cockpit of my Carenado Mooney for what I hope will be a long day of flying.  My hope for this day is to make it from the northern Philippines across the Philippine Sea to Taiwan then across the East China Sea to mainland China.  I’ll travel up the east coast of China to Shangai where it will position me to head back across the East China Sea to Japan. 

The day began early with weather and atmosphere briefings.  While I can expect some clouds with a few chances of rain along today’s journey, the dust from the volcano down in Indonesia should not be a factor.  I departed RPUT just after sunrise headed for RCYU in Hualien, Taiwan.  This would be a quick fuel stop then onto mainland China.

Final into RCYU

From RCYU, I headed west across Taiwan and across the East China Sea to mainland China.  I traveled up the east coast of China to the outskirts of Shangai to ZSSS.  ZSSS is the Shanghai Hongqiao International Airport and one of two major airports in Shanghai, China.  I grabbed a late lunch and then resumed my flight back across the East China Sea to the southern tip of Japan and RJFA.

Holding short runway 18 ZSSS in Shanghai, China

The flight over to Japan was uneventful.  I landed at RJFA located in Ashiya, Japan and will call it a day.  From here I’ll fly up to the Tokyo area then on up to northern Japan.  I’ll make the decision for the next few flight legs prior to departing northern Japan.  I’m favoring the island hopping I’ve talked about before.

I had a brief amount of free time on Saturday and decided to fly on up to Tokyo.  The weather was cloudy, but overall very good.  I left late in the afternoon and would be flying after dark.  The sunset was beautiful over southeastern Japan.

Sunset over the Sea of Japan.

I flew into RJTY, Yokota Air Base located in western Tokyo.  I’ll spend the next few days in Tokyo and hopefully resume my travels next week.

Well I’m back in the saddle again…or er….back in the cockpit.   I departed Tokyo before sunrise on what is planned to be a great day of flying.  I’m headed north up through Japan to RJEB, located in Monbetsu, Japan.  From RJEB I plan to turn slightly northwest and head to UHSS.  UHSS is located on the Russian island of Sakhalinsk. 

I’m going to close this update out and post it on the web.  Update 9 will document my crossing from Asiatic Russia back into North America.  I have options….plenty of options mapped out.  Most of these options will just depend on weather conditions.  Time will tell. 

Thank you for reading. 

Jerry

Around the World – Update 7

November 1, 2010 / admin / 0 Comments

My position as of this posting is WAMM (Manado, Indonesia)
I’ve traveled a total of 27,709 nm
I’ve burned a total of 2,448 gallons of fuel
I’ve flown a total of 152.25 hours
My next destination is Philippines

The day begins with what hopefully will be a long day of island hopping from the Australian mainland to New Zealand.  Getting from Australia to New Zealand in one leg is just not doable in my Mooney as the distance is over 1000 nm.  At first glance I really didn’t think it was doable until I began looking into the islands which are located just to the west and north of New Zealand.

The comfortable range in my Carenado Mooney is approx. 6oo nm.  With a good strong tail-wind I can stretch that, but it starts to get outside my comfort level.  When flying over populated areas in Europe I did push this as I had many backup locations to land to refuel.  But flying across open water, especially shark infested waters, I’m not willing to take those chances. 

Thankfully, there are two islands which are heavily used in the real-world for smaller GA aircraft to fly between Australia and New Zealand.  The first is Lord Howe Island and YLHI airport.  The airport is 462 nm from Sydney and will be the first leg.  From YLHI, it is still over 700 nm to NZ.  So I will depart YLHI and head northeast to Norfolk Island and YSNF.  This leg is approx. 486 nm and will position me for a third leg of 460 nm to NZKT and the northern most airport in New Zealand, Kaitaia Airport.

This trip has been so much fun.  As I’ve stated before, I’m really not sure what I enjoy the most….the flying or the planning.  Perhaps the answer is equal parts of both.   As I mentioned in my introduction blog post about my plans to complete an around the world flight, for much of my simming time in the past 10-12 years, it has been done in jets.   Flying fast and high, you see the flight sim world differently. 

Now there is nothing wrong with flying heavy jets.  I’m looking forward to when I return home and can resume flying some of my favs including the Boeing 747, 777, MD-80 and Fokker 100.  But I love flying low and slow and plan to intermix the two a lot more than I have in the past.  Until then I will continue my Around the World Adventure and continue sharing my updates with those of you who read my blog.

On final into Lord Howe Island Airport

Final approach into Norfolk Island.

On final into Kaitaia, New Zealand. A long day of island hopping comes to an end.

Today was a long day of flying covering over 1400 nm in a little over 9 hours.  It was great to do the two island hops to get from Australia to New Zealand.  I will spend a few days flying south down through New Zealand.  I’m looking forward to it.

Well the journey continues.  The next few flying segments will take me down through New Zealand.  I departed NZKT and headed for Wellington (NZWN).  This is the 45th leg of my around the world journey.  From Wellington I flew down to Wanaka and NZWF.  I decided to visit Wanaka from some screenshots I saw of the airport on The Flight Simulator Network.  I will depart Wanaka and head back north to the north coast of New Zealand and begin another series of island hopping flight legs.  I will re-visit Norfolk Island and then continue heading north hopping from one island to another up to Papua New Guinea.

The day of more island hopping has arrived.  I departed NZWR in Whangarei, New Zealand for Norfolk Island Airport YSNF.  Of the almost 50 flight legs completed and an approx. 20 or so to go, YSNF will be the only airport I will have visited twice in my trip (other than my home airport of KAPA).  Unfortunately there’s just no other way.

After re-fueling and grabbing a bite to eat, I departed Norfolk Island for a new destination of Noumea, on New Caledonia NWWW.  The island has a rich history which includes Captain Cookand much more.  I’ve really enjoyed reading about all the destinations I’ve visited along the way and sharing as much as possible with each of you.

As my journey begins to wind down, I’m already thinking about the next Around the World flight I want to do.  What I’m thinking about now is doing a flight that somewhat traces the coastline of all the continents.  As an example, I would depart the west coast of the US and fly south into South America, then down to Antarctica and back up the east coast of South America and up to some island hopping across the Caribbean then up along the eastern seaboard of the US etc.  The adventure would take me along some of the same destinations as this adventure, but also many others. 

The decisions that lay in front of me for this new adventure is when and what type of aircraft.  No decisions have been made but I am leaning towards upgrading the Mooney for a twin engine prop model. 

Continuing on my journey today of island hopping through the south pacific, I departed NWWW for NVVV and Port Vila, Vanuatu.  This was a shorter leg compared to the previous two for today but designed to position me for a long first leg tomorrow to fly up to Guadalcanal Island.

As today begins it also marks one month of my journey.  I departed KAPA on September 30 and hopefully today I’ll make it to Papua New Guinea.  It’s been a tough “up hill” climb from southern New Zealand and I’m very close to the equator.  Unfortunately the “up hill” climb will continue, but I’m having so much fun.

I departed early Saturday morning from Port Vila headed on a long leg to Honiara International Airport, AGGH on Guadalcanal Island.  Guadalcanal is also rich in history and played an important role in WWII.  After grabbing lunch and re-fueling the Mooney, I departed AGGH for WGL in Wanigela, Papua New Guinea.  WGL is located on the southeastern coast of PNG and is a small grass strip.  I will stop for the night here and resume my flight up through the heart of PNG tomorrow.

The day started bright and early.  The weather is just simply gorgeous today.  The past few days I’ve had thick cloud cover with a ceiling of 5,000 – 6,000 feet and cloud tops extending through 8 and 9K.  But today the clouds (what little there are) are light and visibility is great.  My journey today will take me up through the heart of Papua New Guinea.  I installed the PNG mesh scenery for FSX from OZx.  This is beautiful freeware scenery for this region and I’m enjoying flying over it. 

I departed WGL for AYMH located in Mount Hagen, PNG.  Much of my journey for today will be in a northwest direction up through PNG towards Borneo then turning north to the Philippines.  While I haven’t set many goals for this trip, I would like to be north of the equator by the end of today.   While I’ve enjoyed the virtual spring like weather of flying south of the equator, I’m ready to return back to fall conditions.

AYMH was a little more tricky than most airports I’ve visited along the trip.  Like Kathmandu, it also reminded me of some of the airports in the Rocky Mountains.  The airport is at an altitude of 5361 with peaks around it topping out around 8,500 or so.  I was pleased the visibility was clear.  I fueled and quickly departed.  I needed to circle the airfield a few times while gaining altitude to be sure I’d clear the mountains to the northwest.  This put me en route to WABI in Nabire, Indonesia.  Taking on fuel, I departed for WAMM in Manado, Indonesia.  I’m officially north of the equator.  Yea!!!

I plan to take a few days off from flying.  When I resume, I’ll depart WAMM and head north to the Philippines, Taiwan then mainland China.  I’m easily on track to complete this journey prior to the end of November (perhaps even prior to mid-November).  I’m well over 75% complete.

Until next time,

Jerry

Around the World – Update 6

October 24, 2010 / admin / 0 Comments

My position as of this posting is YSBK (Sydney, Australia)
I’ve traveled a total of 19,892 nm
I’ve burned a total of 1,828 gallons of fuel
I’ve flown a total of 113.0 hours
My next destination is Lord Howe Island

As of this blog posting, I’m officially “Down Under” in Australia.  I’m really pleased that I elected to take the long way around the world and head down to Australia prior to heading home.  It would have been easy to just continue my eastward journey from India across to China etc.  But this trip hasn’t been about what is the easiest or the fastest.  If it were, I would have just continued flying east when I hit the Nordics across Russia.  I would have been home by now.  Again, this trip is about fun….it is about learning and it is about my own adventure.

Now, I’ve spent the last couple of weeks looking at the Australian Continent and specifically how I wanted to tackle it.  My journeys over the next several days will take me south across the Australian outback.  If you look at the map.  Find Darwin to the north and draw a semi-straight line somewhat southeast to Melbourne.  I then plan to fly down to Tasmania from Melbourne and then back up towards Sydney.  If doable, I plan to continue up the coastline and then head east to Lord Howe Island then on to New Zealand.  I need to research this further as I’m really starting the doubt whether the Carenado Mooney has the range to make it from Lord Howe Island to New Zealand without having to swim and I know those waters are shark infested.    But I have an idea and I have plenty of time to put it in place.

My point of entry to Australia was the city of Darwin and YPDN airport.  From Darwin I flew south to Tennant Creek, YTNK then continued on south through the Australian Outback to Alice Springs,YBAS.  Alice Springs is very much the outback oasis and pretty much the largest city since Darwin. 

Flying over Alice Springs, Australia just before landing for fuel at YBAS

From Alice Springs, I continued south to Coober Pedy, YCBP and then on to Port Augusta, YPAG.  I then headed southeast over to Horsham, YHSM which would set me up to fly down to Tasmania and YDPO and Devonport, Tasmania.

Short final to YDPO, Devonport Tasmania.

From Devonport, Tasmania I decided to fly on to Sydney and will use the smaller GA airport of Bankstown, YSBK.  I really love the smaller GA airports compared to their larger international counterparts.  When flying in my Mooney, I find my taxi time to and from the active runway to be much, much shorter and the traffic is somewhat lighter.  Of course this can be a good thing and it can be a bad thing.  I certainly like to have a little traffic both in the air and on the ground. 

Sydney is truly a beautiful city depicted in FSX.  Oh…I did elect to wait on purchasing the Orbx add-on scenery for Australia.  I will certainly return to Australia and spend some time touring more of this beautiful country.  Today’s weather in Sydney was cloudy and raining, but I did manage to spend about 20 minutes flying over the city and checking out all the notable landmarks like the Sydney Opera House and the Sydney Harbor Bridge. 

Sydney Opera House and Harbor Bridge from right side.

Short final for runway 11L at YSBK in Sydney.

I’ll spend a few days in Sydney before departing for Lord Howe Island.  Lord Howe Island airport (YLHI) is approx. 323 nm northeast of Sydney and certainly doable in the Mooney.  However, from YLHI to New Zealand is outside the range.  But I can fly 486 nm northeast to Norfolk Island Airport (YSNF) then fly 460 nm south to Kaitaia, New Zealand (NZKT). 

Once in New Zealand, I plan to fly south to at least Christchurch (and perhaps further south), but at some point I’ll turn and head back north back to Norfolk Island.  Once there I have a couple of different options.  I can proceed back to Australia via Lord Howe Island, or continue island hopping up to Noumea and just continue hopping from island to island on up to Papua New Guinea.  From PNG I’ll continue northwest to the Philippines, Taiwan, mainland China and Japan.

Speaking of island hopping.  I’m researching how I’ll cross from Asia to North America.  I’m looking closely at the Aleutian Islands as a way to cross over.  I will continue to research this option as I’m still a few weeks away.

Until next time,

Jerry

Around the World – Update 5

October 21, 2010 / admin / 0 Comments

We’re picking up on our journey today, departing from Jerusalem headed to Cairo, Egypt.  It is in the pre-dawn hours and I’m reviewing today’s weather across the region.  It looks to be a wonderful day.  The cloud cover over this portion of the Mediterranean will burn off after sunrise.

Departing LLJR just as the sun is rising over Israel.

The awesome pyramids just west of Cairo. This was the highlight of today’s trip.

The Sphinx along the Giza Plateau, near Cairo, Egypt

While it was out of the way to travel through Egypt, it was certainly worth it to view the pyramids and Great Sphinx of Giza.  If you’ve never seen these in FSX (or in real life), I would encourage you to depart Cairo in a single engine aircraft and travel west.  You can’t miss them.  I found thiswebsite which shows the locations of the major sites to visit in Egypt. 

After flying around Giza, Cairo and around the Nile I landed at HECW (Cairo West), refueled and departed as quickly as possible.  I had a lot of ground to cover to get across Saudi Arabia to either Qatar or the UAE.  I wanted to best position myself for the next leg of the journey and got on my way.  I knew the flight from Cairo to either Qatar or UAE would require at least one re-fuel stop.  So I planned to go from Cairo to Tabuk, Saudi Arabia.  It would be a short leg of 365 nm and one that I thought would allow me to reach Qatar. 

I departed Cairo and made it to Tabuk without issue.  Once in Tabuk I realized I had possibly made a planning error and it would be very tight to get from Tabuk to Qatar without refueling.  But I had a couple of airports I could stop at for fuel if needed.  Fingers crossed I departed Tabuk hoping for a nice strong tailwind.  In stead of a tailwind, I found a strong headwind and this strong headwind would stay with me most of the trip.  Getting low on fuel and knowing I would not make it to Qatar, I landed at Z26G and took on enough fuel to complete my journey to Qatar.  While perhaps not something to be done in real life, but I landed at OTBH which is home to the US Central Command.  It was great to see the US Airforce Jets and support aircraft depicted in full force.  I parked my Mooney and prepared for the next day of flying fun.

The next day has arrived and it is time to depart Qatar for OPJI, in Jiwani, Pakistan.  I departed Qatar just as the sun was rising.  My days journey will have me flying across Pakistan and India.  When I began this trip I figured I would fly to India, but my route would take me in a southerly direction for Sri Lanka.  I had planned to cross from Sri Lanka to Sumatra.  However, since trading in the default Mooney for the Carenado, my fuel capacity went from 95 gallons to 66 gallons.  This means I will need to modify my route.  No problem.

My route over the next few days will take me in a northeast direction into India.  I will go to Agra to see the Taj Mahal and perhaps head to Kathmandu before dropping down into Myanmar, Thailand etc.  I’m really looking forward to exploring more of this region and also Australia and New Zealand.

I’m enroute to Agra, India to visit the Taj Mahal.  It will be more of a fly over and around then briefly land at VIAG for fuel, lunch and preparation for the next leg of my journey which will take me to Kathmandu, Nepal and VNKT airport.  Unfortunately, VNKT is a far as I’ll venture into Nepal.  I’ll then turn and head southeast toward Bangladesh.

Taj Mahal

The highlight of this recent portion of the trip was flying into Kathmandu and through Nepal.  The terrain reminded me a lot of Colorado and the Rocky Mountains.  I had to do my research for the region as I wasn’t 100% certain of the altitude and just how tall some of the peaks are.  I wouldn’t be coming close to Mt. Everest, but the charts I found online indicated the areas directly around Kathmandu topped out around 9K.

Once leaving Kathmandu, I headed Southeast towards Bangladesh, Burma and Thailand.  I then headed South into Malaysia then to Singapore.  This series of legs were completed over the course of a couple of days.  Upon reaching Singapore (about 10 days ago) I came down with a cold or the flu in real life and spent several days off work and mostly in bed.  I’m am back at work and feeling much, much better.  I plan to depart Singapore and head down into Indonesia landing at Jakarta, then eastward across Indonesia to Darwin, Australia. 

Until next time,

J