August 25, 2018 / admin / 0 Comments
As you are reading this tour update entry, my wife and I have hopefully (I wrote this obviously in advance) safely arrived in Antwerp Belgium and are enjoying ourselves visiting family and seeing a few sights in the area. I believe this is my 7th or 8th time to visit Belgium and we always find new things to do and revisit a few places again. We’ll stay in Belgium for a week, then return back to England where we will stay a week out in the English Countryside of Kent. But don’t worry…while I’m traveling around Belgium and England, you’ll still have regular/scheduled tour updates over the next two weeks. Plus if you are somewhat new to study level aircraft, I’ll be releasing an article on 3 September with tips on how I learn these complex aircraft.
It’s been a whirlwind of travel and touring the past couple of weeks for our jetsetters. The week of relaxation experienced by all back on the island of Madeira is all but a distant memory. But not to worry, once we reach Svalbard, Norway…we’ll once again pause travel for a week before heading west across to Greenland and North America.
History of City
Trondheim, founded in 997 as a trading post and served as the capital of Norway during the Viking Age until 1217. Today, Trondheim has a population of 193,501 and is the third most populous municipality in Norway.
History of Country
Norway is a unitary sovereign state in Northwestern Europe whose core territory comprises the western and northernmost portion of the Scandinavian Peninsula. Norway has a total area of 148,747 square miles and a population of 5,258,317.
History of Airport
Trondheim Airport, is an international airport serving Trondheim, a city and municipality in Trondelag County, Norway. The main airlines at the airport are Scandinavian Airlines, Norwegian Air Shuttle and Wilderoe.
History of Airline
Norwegian Air Shuttle, is a Norwegian low-cost airline. It is the third largest low-cost carrier in Europe behind EasyJet and Ryanair and the ninth-largest low-cost airline in the world and the largest airline in Scandinavia.
Flight Briefing
NAX1066
EGNM – ENVA
Planned Fuel – 15,000 lbs
Planned Altitude – 37,000
Distance – 694nm
Flight Time – 1hr, 55min
Route: POL UP17 TIPTA UM82 RIVOT UM89 ALOTI T400 ZOL P5 TOTKO Z86 NELSU NELS1L
Flight Journal
While our stay in Leeds may have been short, our travelers packed a whole lot of touristy things into the time they had available. Visits to the Royal Armouries Museum, Harewood House and Kirkstall Abbey. I think some of our travelers were a bit confused when they learned Leeds Castle is not located in Leeds, England. Well that’s down in Kent and is one of the spots my wife and I plan to visit on our European holiday. But I digress….
Our chariot (A Norwegian Boeing 737-800) awaits us at the Leeds Airport. The ground crew here has been spectacular at helping us keep to our schedule.
Pushing back from the stand and getting our engines started.
It’s actually late evening, but being this far north the sun doesn’t set until fairly late. We’ll arrive into Norway well after 10 PM and it should still be daylight.
Up, up and away….
Our Orbx EU England ground textures are really providing the nice eye candy for our departure across northern England. Looks like some really nice farm land down there.
Naturally all the other add-ons I’m running to enhance the weather, sky textures, colors etc. are all doing a fantastic job here.
As a child, my wife believed if she had a plastic bag and a tall enough ladder that she could scoop up the puffy clouds and place them in the plastic bag. Who can really argue against that possibility?
Norwegian honors various individuals by incorporating their likeness into their liveries. The individual featured here is Max Manus who was a Norwegian resistance fighter during WWII. You can read more about Max here.
The Fjords of Norway are visible as we are flying over Norway. Orbx Global Texture does a fantastic job keeping the visual senses filled with immersion.
We’ll soon reach our top of descent.
I really like the Norwegian livery.
The view from the “left seat”.
I realize I may have gone a bit overboard with the images for this posting. But the views and ground textures are simply amazing.
Making our turn along the arrival into Trondheim.
The shadows are getting long, but still very much light at almost 10 PM.
Making our turn on final approach with the city of Trondheim just off the right wing.
Gear down.
Another view from the right wing on final approach.
Can’t have the left wing get jealous….What a view across the Trondheim Fjord.
Norwegian Flight 1066 cleared to land.
This approach over the water somewhat reminded me of landing at SFO.
At the gate and shutting down. We’ll soon depart for Tromso, Norway (our second of three Norwegian destinations).
Simulator Specifics
Prepar3d v4.3
ActiveSky Weather Engine
ActiveSky Cloud Art
Envtex & Envshade
PMDG Boeing 737-800 (Norwegian livery)
Orbx Global Texture
Orbx EU England
VATSIM
Route Planning Tools
AivlaSoft PFPX
Navigraph Charts Desktop
FlightAware
FlightRadar24
SkyVector
Google Maps
Computer Hardware Specs
Of the twenty-two flights of this years tour, this was one of my favorite as the views of this part of the world are extraordinary. This is certainly a place I hope to visit someday in real life. Until then…I’ll certainly do more flying in this part of the world. As Real As It Gets Right?
Until next time…
Happy Flying!!!
Jerry
August 22, 2018 / admin / 0 Comments
Ladies, Gentlemen and Children of ALL AGES, the time is here….as you’re reading this edition of the WorldFlight 2018 GBS Tour blog update, we’re T-Minus ~ 24 hours from the start of our European vacation. We will be departing Denver for London Heathrow on the British Airways daily flight. Our flight leaves (if on time) at 19:35 on Thursday and we arrive in London just before lunch (11:35 AM) the next day. We’ll spend a few hours making our way across London to London City Airport where we will fly to Antwerp, Belgium. This all makes for a super long day, but the business class seat on the BA flight does help as we both can get a few hours sleep.
But not to worry…I’ve worked hard the past couple of weeks to not only complete ALL items on my honey-do list…but also complete enough flights in advance to keep up with the twice weekly updates during the time we’re away, plus a few extra. Once we return from vacation, I plan to increase the blog release schedule to release three updates per week just so I can wrap up the tour around the time the real tour will complete around 10 November. Of course, there’s more motivation to have the tour completed prior to 20 November as that is the day Farming Simulator 19 releases. YEA!!!
History of City
The City of Leeds dates back to 1207, when Maurice Paynel granted a charter covering a small area adjacent to a crossing of the River Aire. Today Leeds has a population around 784,000 making it the second largest city in England.
History of Country
England is a country that is part of the United Kingdom and shares borders with Scotland to the north and Wales to the West. The best known evidence of human presence in the area dates back to approx. 780,000 years ago.
History of Airport
Leeds Bradford Airport began operations in 1931 as Yeadon Aerodrome. The Leeds airport is the highest airport in all of England at an elevation of 681 feet and the 15th busiest airport in the UK. It serves as a base for Eastern Airways, Jet2 and Ryanair.
History of Airline
British Airways is the flag carrier and largest airline in the UK based on fleet size. Established in 1974 after a merger of four airlines, British Airways serves over 160 destinations around the world and has a fleet size of over 270 aircraft.
Flight Briefing
BAW1066
EDDL – EGNM
Planned Fuel – 11,000 lbs
Planned Altitude – 36,000
Distance – 345nm
Flight Time – 1hr, 25min
Route: SONE7T SONEB UP64 TENLI UL602 SUPUR UL60 KOLAG L60 SOPEK L989 BODSO Y70 GOLES BATLI
Flight Journal
After a short stay and tour around the Dusseldorf area of Germany, our travelers must move on to our next destination in the WorldFlight 2018 tour with that being the city of Leeds, England. While not the shortest flight of the tour (that was the last flight) this flight is just under 350nm away, with a flying time of just under 90 minutes. For this leg we’re ferrying a British Airways Airbus A319 up to Leeds where it is scheduled to resume normal service.
While our travelers enjoy the more roomy/spacious Boeing 787, 777 or even the 737 (or Airbus A320), for a short flight like this, the A319 will do the job and we’re just fortunate to have the support and use of this BA aircraft.
We’re lined up and waiting for our take off clearance. We were just behind a larger Boeing 772 and need to allow a bit of separation to avoid any wake turbulence caused by the larger aircraft.
All safe now, cleared for take-off and we’re airborne.
Making our turn to join the departure. The Rhine River is below us.
The greater Dusseldorf area as we climb to our cruising altitude.
Just off the coast of Holland as we fly over Amsterdam headed towards the North Sea.
A wing view over looking the clouds building over the North Sea.
Making great progress.
Land Ho…the coast of England coming into view. We’ll soon begin our descent.
On final approach into Leeds.
Leeds
Cleared to land.
Parked at the gate in Leeds, England.
Simulator Specifics
Prepar3d v4.3
ActiveSky Weather Engine
ActiveSky Cloud Art
Envtex & Envshade
FlightSim Labs Airbus A319 (British Airways livery)
Orbx Global Texture
Orbx EU England
VATSIM
Route Planning Tools
AivlaSoft PFPX
Navigraph Charts Desktop
FlightAware
FlightRadar24
SkyVector
Google Maps
Computer Hardware Specs
Finally, some cooler weather. It appears the heat wave which has kept much of the UK and Europe has finally broken its hold on the area. Nice and normal daytime temps in the mid 70’s have moved into the area. Our travelers will spend three days in the Leeds area before heading to our first of three stops in Norway. We’re just two legs away from reaching the half-way point of our tour. I appreciate you coming along for the ride.
Until next time…
Happy Flying!!!
Jerry
August 18, 2018 / admin / 0 Comments
Before I get going with this tour update, I just wanted to give a brief shout-out to my fellow virtual pilots from virtual United Airlines. I recently joined this fine virtual airline and one of the members posted a friendly note in the forums about my blog site. Thank you! If you’re looking for a friendly, relaxed virtual airline…visit vUAL and fill out an application. When I’m back from vacation in mid September, I’ll do a proper write up on this wonderful VA. I’m having a lot of fun flying the friendly skies for vUAL and so can you.
As I’ve been keeping you informed on my honey-do list progress the past few tour updates, I’m pleased to let you know that as we’re less than six days from leaving on our real world European vacation, the list is almost 100% done. This blog posting is releasing on Saturday, 18 August and hopefully by the time the sun sets on Sunday…the list will be done. I’m fairly confident the list will be completed, but to be honest the few remaining tasks are not critical to our leaving and if they get done, they get done…otherwise I’m not going to stress over it. As my father often says, “Life is just too short to stress over the little things”. I agree….Let’s go flying!
History of City
Dusseldorf is the capital city of the German state of North Rhine-Westphalia and the 7th most populous city in Germany. Dusseldorf is known for its academy of fine arts, its pioneering influence on electronic/experimental music and its Japanese community. Located on the river Rhine, Dusseldorf is ranked 6th in the most livable city in the world.
History of Country
Germany is a sovereign state in central-western Europe. It includes 16 states covering an area of over 137,000 square miles. Germany is the most populous member state of the European Union with an approx. 83 million inhabitants.
History of Airport
The Dusseldorf airport is located approx. 4.3 miles north of downtown Dusseldorf. The airport is the 3rd largest airport in Germany after Frankfurt and Munich handling 24.5 million passengers in 2017. It is a hub for Eurowings and serves as a focus city for many other airlines.
History of Airline
Eurowings is a German low-cost airline based in Dusseldorf and a fully owned subsidiary of the Lufthansa Group. Founded in 1996, it serves a network of domestic and European destinations and some long-haul routes.
Flight Briefing
EWG1066
LSZH – EDDL
Planned Fuel – 11,000 lbs
Planned Altitude – 28,000
Distance – 240nm
Flight Time – 1hr, 15min
Route: DEGE2S DEGES Z1 ETAGO DCT HAREM/N0462F340 UN851 LOHRE Z850 ADEMI T854 DOMUX DOMU2G
Flight Journal
You might remember back a few legs (Leg 13), this was the longest leg of the tour with a flight distance of 2,130 miles. This leg, leg #20 will be our shortest leg of the entire tour measuring only 240 miles. But regardless of the distance, the same amount of planning is required. As we’re a bit rushed to get out of Zurich, we’ll start with push-back and engine start up.
Climbing out via our departure.
One last look at Zurich Airport as we circle around to join our departure route.
A quick climb to flight level 280 (28,000 feet) and head towards Dusseldorf.
Our Eurowings Airbus A319 cruising over Germany.
Beginning our descent.
The Rhine River is visible below.
Making our turn to join the visual approach.
The Dusseldorf airport ahead.
Bugs on the windshield? Yep, this is an immersion feature of the FSLabs A319 (soon to be coming to the A320). The windshield will become a bit dirty with bug splats which can only be cleaned while on the ground.
Parked at the gate and deboarding our passengers.
Unloading the bags from another successful flight.
That bag looks heavy. I’m sure that bag belongs to my wife.
Simulator Specifics
Prepar3d v4.3
ActiveSky Weather Engine
ActiveSky Cloud Art
Envtex & Envshade
FlightSim Labs Airbus A319 (Eurowings livery)
Orbx Global Texture
VATSIM
Route Planning Tools
AivlaSoft PFPX
Navigraph Charts Desktop
FlightAware
FlightRadar24
SkyVector
Google Maps
Computer Hardware Specs
Once again our stay in Dusseldorf will be rather short as we’ll be departing for Leeds in just under 80 hours. But that will give our travelers enough time to explore the area and enjoy their stay here.
Until next time…
Happy Flying!
Jerry
August 15, 2018 / admin / 0 Comments
As I mentioned in the previous tour update, the honey do list has been growing at a pace faster than I’ve been able to keep up with. But it seems as if everything that needs to be on the list, has been placed on the list and a hard days work last Saturday has things looking pretty good. There’s a good chance I won’t be left at home with chores to do while my wife enjoys vacation without me. LOL Of course, she wouldn’t do that…right? Let’s get right into the tour update so I’ll have some time to get back to the list.
As you can tell from the updated tour map below, the color magenta is slowly, but surely beginning to take a bigger presence on the map. While we haven’t yet reached the half-way mark, we’re very, very close.
History of City
Founded by the Romans in 15 BC, Zurich is the largest city in Switzerland and the capital of the canton of Zurich. It is located in north-central Switzerland and has an estimated population of just over 400,000. Today Zurich is a leading golabl city and among the world’s largest financial centers despite having a relatively small population. The city is home to a large number of financial institutions and banking companies. The official language of Zurich is German.
History of Country
Switzerland is a sovereign state in Europe and consists of 26 cantons (similar to states) with the city of Bern serving as the seat of the federal authorities. Switzerland is bordered by Italy to the south, France to the west, Germany to the north and Austria and Liechtenstein to the east. Switzerland has existed in its current form since the adoption of the Swiss Federal Constitution in 1848. However, the oldest traces of human existence in Switzerland dates back about 150,000 years.
History of Airport
The Zurich Airport, known as Kloten Airport, is the largest international airport of Switzerland and the principle hub of Swiss International Airlines.
History of Airline
Swiss International Air Lines is the national airline of Switzerland and operates scheduled services in Europe and North America, South America, Africa and Asia. Its main hub is Zurich Airport with a focus city operation in Geneva. Swiss operates a fleet of 86 aircraft of which all but 10 are Airbus. They operate 10 Boeing 777-300ER aircraft.
Flight Briefing
SWR1066
LEBL – LSZH
Planned Fuel – 15,000 lbs
Planned Altitude – 36,000
Distance – 462nm
Flight Time – 1hr, 45min
Route: DALI2P DALIN UN870 MAXIR UN853 MOBLO UZ662 LAMUR Z57 DOPIL DCT
Flight Journal
As we’ve officially entered the European segment of our world tour and while we’re still not at the half-way point, there’s still a level of accomplishment to be pleased about. The next few flights will have us visiting Switzerland (next stop), Germany, England and Norway. We’ll actually visit three different cities/airports in Norway before turning and heading towards Greenland. But before we can get to Greenland, we must depart Barcelona for Zurich.
Lined up and waiting for our take-off clearance. It’s a hot day today in Barcelona and our travelers are ready for a cooler (hopefully) stay in Zurich. But then again, all of Europe is currently suffering under heat wave conditions, but thankfully the hotel has air conditioning.
Up and away from Barcelona.
Heading out over the beautiful Balearic Sea towards the South of France.
Snow in the Alps…that’s a welcome sight.
With the recent high temperatures, I highly doubt there is that much snow in the Alps. But it’s still pretty to look at and I can confirm (living near the Rocky Mountains) that our high mountain peaks will still have snow on the very top usually through much of July and into August.
Beginning our descent into Zurich.
Runway in sight
The Swiss countryside. I hope to visit Switzerland someday in real life. My wife actually lived in Switzerland for several years before we met.
Short final view from the flight deck.
Another Swiss Air just pushing back from their gate and about to depart Zurich.
Parked up at our gate and in the process of deboarding.
Simulator Specifics
Prepar3d v4.3
ActiveSky Weather Engine
ActiveSky Cloud Art
Envtex & Envshade
FlightSim Labs Airbus A320 (Swiss Air livery)
Orbx Global Texture
VATSIM
Route Planning Tools
AivlaSoft PFPX
Navigraph Charts Desktop
FlightAware
FlightRadar24
SkyVector
Google Maps
Computer Hardware Specs
Our travelers will spend a little over 72 hours in Zurich before we pack up and head to Germany. Until then, I hope you are having a wonderful month of August and enjoying the tour.
Until next time…
Happy Flying!!!
Jerry
August 11, 2018 / admin / 0 Comments
As the weeks of summer quickly tick by, so do our flight legs. With a third of the tour safely in the books, we’re closing in on the half-way mark. Life of course is busy, busy, busy for me right now. With less than two full weeks before my wife and I fly to Belgium, I’m struggling to keep up with the honey-do list. It seems for every item I manage to check off, there are a couple more items added. At this rate, I’m really not sure when it all will get done. But the good news for me is I did manage to convince her that we don’t start anything new until after we return, so for now the tasks more or less all involve finishing up a few small projects and then just focusing on things that MUST be done prior to leaving. But of course, this brings up the dreaded “S” word….yes….shopping! Wish me luck!
I hope you enjoyed the write up from tour leg #17. I can’t wait to find another reason to fly into Madeira. I think (for now) this has been one of my favorite legs. As I had never flown into the island before, the visual approach was slightly stressful. Now of course if you are not a flight simmer, perhaps you can’t understand how a flight made in a simulator can be stressful. I guess that’s just the immersion and perhaps the closest thing I can compare this to with other simulation based games might be the stress we feel when we’re running late on an ETS2 or ATS delivery job or perhaps the final days of fall in Farming Simulator and the weather forecast shows rain, but you still have over half of your crops still on the field. It’s a good level of stress and again it just further adds to the immersion. After all, I think that’s one of the reasons we all enjoy our simulation based games so much.
History of City
Barcelona is the capital and largest city of Catalonia, as well as the second most populous municipality of Spain. Founded as a Roman City in approx. 15 BC, in the middle ages Barcelona became the capital of the County of Barcelona and later merged with the Kingdom of Aragon. Today Barcelona is the home to around 4.8 million people, making it the sixth most populous urban area in the European Union after Paris, London and Madrid.
History of Country
Spain is a sovereign state mostly located on the Iberian Peninsula in Europe. With an area of 195, 360 square miles, Spain is the largest country in Southern Europe, the second largest country in Western Europe and the European Union and the fourth largest country in the European continent.
History of Airport
The Barcelona-El Prat International Airport is located 7.5 miles southwest of the center of Barcelona. It is the second largest and second busiest airport in Spain behind Madrid-Barajas Airport and the 7th busiest in all of Europe.
History of Airline
Vueling Airlines is a Spanish low-cost airline based in Barcelona with hubs in Barcelona-El Prat and Leonardo da Vinci-Fiumicino Airport in Rome. Its name comes from the Spanish word vuelo, which means flight. It is the largest airline in Spain by fleet size and the number of destinations it serves. Vueling serves over 100 destinations in Africa, Asia, Europe and the Middle East.
Flight Briefing
VLG1066
LPMA – LEBL
Planned Fuel – 21,000 lbs
Planned Altitude – 36,000
Distance – 1037nm
Flight Time – 2hr, 45min
Route: DEGU3N DEGUN DCT NARTA/N0410F180 B18 ESP G52 MAGUM/N0452F240 UN870 PORLI/N0457F370 DCT UREDI/N0455F380 UN870 RBO/N0451F240 R870 PONEN/N0454F380 UT600 CASPE DCT
Flight Journal
The extra few days we’ve stayed on the beautiful island of Madeira have made a huge difference with the morale and attitudes for all. Our travelers and crew have enjoyed time on the beach, a few diving excursions and just the relaxation of not being under a tight schedule. But it’s time we resume the tour and head into the continent of Europe. Next stop…Spain!
We’re shuttling this Vueling Airbus A320 over to Barcelona. But before we can depart, we need fuel.
Myself, my first officer and cabin crew typically arrive about an hour before our flight to get the aircraft ready for departure. Our travelers have now made their way to the airport and are in the process of boarding.
But of course, we can’t leave until all bags have been loaded and the ground crew here are doing a great job helping us stick to our scheduled departure.
The ground crew attaching the tow bar and push truck to our A320.
Gear going up and off we go headed towards Spain.
One last look at the island of Madeira. I’ll be back…..
High above the clouds at a cruising altitude of 36,000 feet.
The west coast of Portugal.
Beginning our descent into Barcelona, Spain. Our arrival will bring us out over the Balearic Sea.
Final approach into Barcelona.
The Spanish coast looks nice.
Cleared to land.
On the ground in Barcelona, Spain.
Simulator Specifics
Prepar3d v4.3
ActiveSky Weather Engine
ActiveSky Cloud Art
Envtex & Envshade
FlightSim Labs Airbus A320 (Vueling livery)
Orbx Global Texture
Aerosoft Madeira X Evolution (LMPA)
VATSIM
Route Planning Tools
AivlaSoft PFPX
Navigraph Charts Desktop
FlightAware
FlightRadar24
SkyVector
Google Maps
Computer Hardware Specs
Another spectacular flight in the books. Once again we’ll resume our faster paced touring schedule and will be departing Barcelona in just three short days and we’ll knock out the European portion of the tour in just a few weeks (hopefully). We’ll slow things back down again once we reach Norway. As always, thank you so much for reading the tour progress articles.
Until next time…
Happy Flying!!!
Jerry
August 8, 2018 / admin / 0 Comments
Our next destination has somewhat been on my Flight Sim “Bucket List” for some time. The small island airport of Funchal-Madeira features one of the more challenging approaches of any airport we’ll be encountering on our tour. The airport is on the list of the 10 most dangerous airports in the world. If you would like to watch a YouTube video featuring an Airbus A320 making the approach and landing into Funchal, watch this video.
While the majority of our airport destinations have been on default P3D scenery, I’m pleased to be able to feature the Aerosoft payware scenery for the Funchal-Madeira airport. This will both enhance my immersion of the approach and landing, but also give us more more to look at as well. In addition, this is also the first time I’ve ever attempted this approach and landing. As I previously mentioned, Funchal-Madeira has been on my bucket list for some time, but as I didn’t have the scenery, I wanted to wait before I attempted it. Hopefully we’ll get our Airbus A320 on the ground safely as we begin the European portion of our tour.
Speaking of Europe. You’re reading this edition of our long tour on Wednesday, 8 August and in two weeks, + 1 day my wife and I will head out to Denver International Airport for our British Airways flight from Denver to London Heathrow. We’re both very much ready for our European vacation to Antwerp Belgium. We’ll spend one week in Belgium and one week in the English countryside before returning to Denver. For the most part, I plan on being mostly unplugged from social media during the two weeks abroad. However, I may occasionally post some pictures and comments in Discord. But no guarantees. But enough about all that…let’s get this journey started. I can’t wait to attempt this approach.
History of City
Funchal is the largest city, municipal seat and the capital of Portugal’s Autonomous Region of the island of Madeira. The city has a population of 111,892 which makes it the 6th largest city in Portugal and has been the capital of Madeira for more than five centuries. Because of its high cultural and historical value, Funchal is one of Portugal’s main tourist destinations.
History of Country
Madeira is an archipelago of Portugal and lies in the North Atlantic Ocean southwest of Portugal. The total population is estimated to be 267,785. Madeira was claimed by Portuguese sailors in 1419 and settled sometime after 1420. The archipelago is considered to be the first territorial discovery of the exploratory period of the Age of Discovery. Today, Madeira is a popular year-round resort, being visited every year by about 1.4 million tourists (almost 5 times the population).
History of Airport
The Madeira International Airport Cristiano Ronaldo is located 8.2 miles east-northeast of the regional capital of Funchal. Officially opened in 1964, the airport runways have been updated multiple times over the years. Often considered to be the Kai Tak of Europe because of its singular approach to runway 05, the runway was extended to its current 9,124 foot length using a concrete platform partly over the ocean. In 2016, it was announced that the airport would be renamed Madeira International Airport Cristiano Ronaldo in honor of Madeira native football player Cristiano Ronaldo.
History of Airline
Air Arabia Maroc (not to be confused with Royal Air Maroc) is a Moroccan low-cost airline, setup as a joint venture between various Moroccan investors and Air Arabia. The low-cost carrier was launched on 29 April 2009 and started operations that same year with its maiden flight serving Casablanca to London Stansted. Still a small airline, operating 7 Airbus A320’s serving Brussels, London, Marseille, Milan and Paris.
Flight Briefing
MAC1066
GMAD – LPMA
Planned Fuel – 16,520 lbs
Planned Altitude – 36,000
Distance – 403nm
Flight Time – 1hr, 30min
Route:
Flight Journal
As previously mentioned, the past few legs of our world tour have been fast paced. Since leaving Cape Town, we’ve spent less than 48 hours in each of the locations we’ve landed and both our travelers and crew are starting to grow a bit weary and I believe we all could benefit from slowing the pace down slightly. I believe our stay on the island of Madeira will do wonders for travelers and crew alike.
One really couldn’t ask for better flying weather for this leg. We have some mid afternoon clouds starting to build in Morocco. We’re loading the fuel needed for the 90 minute flight onto our Airbus A320.
Our passengers have arrived.
And so has the luggage
Time to pushback.
Take-off clearance received and acknowledged. Let’s Go!
Off we go into the wild blue yonder…
We’ve made our turn to join the departure and the airport is just off the right side.
Another turn before heading out into the North Atlantic.
Goodbye Africa
Cruising at Flight Level 360
Nice and simple livery for the A320
The island of Madeira coming into view as we descend into the area.
The runway at LPMA just to the left. Our approach takes us west of the island and then back around.
Island view
The airport just off to our right side.
Making our final turn on the visual approach for runway 05.
We have the runway in sight and we’re cleared to land runway 05 at LPMA.
Safely on the ground at Madeira.
Simulator Specifics
Prepar3d v4.3
ActiveSky Weather Engine
ActiveSky Cloud Art
Envtex & Envshade
FlightSim Labs Airbus A320 (Air Arabia Maroc livery)
Orbx Global Texture
Aerosoft Madeira X Evolution (LMPA)
VATSIM
Route Planning Tools
AivlaSoft PFPX
Navigraph Charts Desktop
FlightAware
FlightRadar24
SkyVector
Google Maps
Computer Hardware Specs
This was a very enjoyable flight with a challenging, but fun approach and landing. It was nice to be able to check this airport off my flight sim bucket list and I’ll certainly be returning here for more flights down the road. Our group will stay here for several days before departing for Barcelona, Spain.
The overall progress of the tour is coming along nicely. The next leg is a little over 1000 miles, but then we hit a series of really short hops of just a few hundred miles each. I plan to crank out a few of these flights in quick fashion so I can continue with two sessions per week while I’m on vacation. Once I return from vacation in mid September, I’ll resume flying the tour legs and hopefully will be able to increase the blog writings to three per week just to try to wrap up the tour around the time of the actual event.
Until next time…
Happy Flying!
Jerry
August 4, 2018 / admin / 0 Comments
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.
Flight Briefing
RAM1066
GOBD – GMAD
Planned Fuel – 19,000 lbs
Planned Altitude – 39,000
Distance – 1035nm
Flight Time – 2hrs, 45min
Route: YF UR975 ARSOL ARSO2A
Flight Journal
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.
Until next time…Thank you for reading!
Jerry
August 1, 2018 / admin / 0 Comments
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.
Flight Briefing
ARA1066
DNMM – GOBD
Planned Fuel – 24,000 lbs
Planned Altitude – 36,000
Distance – 1319nm
Flight Time: 3hr, 30min
Route: POLT1Q POLTO UL433 TYE UA601 YF
Flight Journal
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
Computer Hardware Specs
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.
Until next time…Happy Flying!
Jerry
July 28, 2018 / admin / 0 Comments
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.
Flight Briefing
MSR1066
FOOL – DNMM
Planned Fuel – 12,975
Planned Altitude – 38,000
Distance – 517
Flight Time: 1hr, 30min
Route: ARKO2S ARKOT UG856 SITPO UP685 LIREX UR603 NAROM NARO1N
Flight Journal
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
Computer Hardware Specs
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.
Until next time….Happy Flying!
Jerry
July 25, 2018 / admin / 0 Comments
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.
Flight Briefing
ETH1066
FACT – FOOL
Planned Fuel – 70,000
Planned Altitude – 40,000
Distance – 2130
Flight Time: 5hr
Route: KODE1C KODES/N0489F390 UN186 ATUPI/N0489F400 UM436 ANVAG UN187 VNA UR526 IWONA EBRA1V
Flight Journal
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
Computer Hardware Specs
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.
Until next time…
Happy Flying!
Jerry
