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Not only is my introduction a bit different this time around, but the flight is a bit different too. Over the past year I have been featuring some favorite flights of mine, some fun FS-Adventures, and encouraging you all to try the flights on your own time - maybe it could even take you somewhere you haven't been before! This flight is a bit different in that the scenery isn't really special, the approach isn't really hard, the weather shouldn't be much of a factor but this flight is posted for...shall we say, high public demand?
According to the information I found, the Islamic religion is one of the largest in the world and, in fact, it is expected to be the single largest religion by 2010. For those that may not know, Islam is a monotheistic religion which is characterized by (among other things):
It has been my honor over the years to meet many fine upstanding Muslims who, like me, happen to enjoy peaceful flightsimming. It occurred to me that even though I am a devoted, practicing Christian, if (and that's a big IF) I were a real-world pilot, I may be asked to fly believers into Mecca to allow them to take the Hajj. So this month, that is what we are going to do: we are tasked to fly virtual Muslims into virtual Mecca to allow them to make a virtual Hajj to the virtual Ka'aba shrine. Luckily, for those fixated on realism, I found the following add-ons right here on FlightSim.Com:
JEDDAH04.ZIP for Jeddah Airport
KABAHAJ.ZIP for the Ka'aba (House of Allah) shrine (but not the
Grand Mosque) (I actually thought there would be more than two
options - I was surprised)
In reality airlines add flights or use bigger aircraft during the Hajj to accommodate increased demand so for us virtual pilots I figured, "Why not?" This year the Hajj is occurring somewhere around Christmas/New Year's (for those without a Muslim Calendar handy) so really, this offering may be considered a little holiday tour.
This month you are encouraged to pick any predominantly Muslim city and plan a flight aboard the A380, into Jiddah which, for those who don't know, is in western Saudi Arabia near the Red Sea. One of the most populous Muslim nations is Malaysia and I found several Malay A380s in the file library. For my photos however I flew a shorter flight from Islamabad, Pakistan (see accompanying schedule) aboard an International Liveried Airbus. You are welcomed to use real weather downloads or, I've been having fun with a package that installs over two-dozen weather themes into your FS - so I picked something warm and hazy - again, why not? As noted in the attached schedule, I found that the only direct flights were after dark so if you do my flight, you now have to do two take-offs and two landings (I flew via Dubai)! Perhaps you can find a direct flight from Kuala Lumpur or London?
That's about it, pretty short this time but I hope that it will prove fun and educational for all of you - regardless of your religious affiliations.
Peace be with you all.
Ron Blehm
pretendpilot@yahoo.com
