World Tour Leg 47 (Maracaibo, Venezuela)

[jkvato]

Leg 47
Date: 3/13/04
Dep: SKPB / Puerto Bolívar Airport / Portete, Colombia
Arr: SVMC / La Chinita Intl / Maracaibo, Venezuela
Route: SKPB-SVMC
Distance: 102.1 nm
Time enroute: 1:00

In this leg we skip down to Maracaibo to see the largest lake in South America. Yep, Lake Maracaibo is the largest lake in S. America by area, while Lake Titicaca is the largest by volume. The Maracaibo basin contains Venezuela's largest oil fields and almost a quarter of the country's population.

For more info on Lake Maracaibo, see:
http://www.worldlakes.org/lakedetails.asp?lakeid=9069

Now for the flight!

Here's my custom repaint for FSD's Commander 115:
http://www.flightsim.com/dcforum/User_files/408f6a7d76840b20.jpg

Leaving this barren, abandoned place!
http://www.flightsim.com/dcforum/User_files/408f6aa47698685f.jpg

Still desert here, though Maracaibo will be nice and green :)
http://www.flightsim.com/dcforum/User_files/408f6b55771f5a7e.jpg

The Gulf of Venezuela on our left.
http://www.flightsim.com/dcforum/User_files/408f6b96772a1a53.jpg

As promised, some greenery:
http://www.flightsim.com/dcforum/User_files/408f6be57766bf11.jpg

The city of Maracaibo in the background:
http://www.flightsim.com/dcforum/User_files/408f6c2477815038.jpg

There's Lake Maracaibo ... this is about all we'll see of it, though ...
http://www.flightsim.com/dcforum/User_files/408f6c4a77a06439.jpg

... because we're turning final.
http://www.flightsim.com/dcforum/User_files/408f6c9a77d4e538.jpg

I was cleared for a visual approach, but they didn't descend me below the clouds ... so I took the liberty to do so anyway. Do ATC systems happen to run on Windows, by any chance? :-lol
http://www.flightsim.com/dcforum/User_files/408f6cce780920c3.jpg

Here we are on the ground ... giving some payback to an AI plane :)
http://www.flightsim.com/dcforum/User_files/408f6d3b78899824.jpg

Taxiing ...
http://www.flightsim.com/dcforum/User_files/408f6d6778b1d24c.jpg

Tying down:
http://www.flightsim.com/dcforum/User_files/408f6d8278bf1f04.jpg

Thanks again for dropping by and commenting! I apologize for the high compression that led to sub-par screenshots -- I'll try to do better in the future. Tune in next time as we head east to Caracas. Let's just hope that Carlos is in town ...


Edit: I forgot to mention that now I'm all caught up on the tour posts, I'm providing a link to my site that recaps the tour and give all kinds of trivial and useless stats! :-lol It can be found at http://www.jktaylor.com/flightsim/

[Shamrock128]

Nothing sub-par about these John!!! I enjoyed them :9

Nice Commander you've got there!!

[jkvato]

Thank you for the kind words, Al! :)

The commander is a fun toy! :)

[Pol]

Very nice!

http://www.flightsim.com/dcforum/User_files/403bb1bb41ff8cc3.jpg

AMD Athlon Thunderbird 1400 MHz
1024 MB SDRAM 133 MHz
GeForce 2 Ultra 64 MB
160 GB HD 7200 RPM
48/24/48 Plextor CD-Writer/Rewriter
Windows XP Professional
msn:pensacola at skynet.be

Greets

Pol

[jkvato]

Thanks! :)

[raggy99]

Nice

But you have far too much free time
:)

[PHCO]

Top shelf John - keep up the good work ! :7

[ketakopter]

Nice shots! :)

[boxcar]

So you dropped out of the clouds for the approach, eh? :-lol My system of navigation sometimes would flat scare about anyone! Ha! :-eek "Seat-of-the-pants" gets soiled sometimes.

Nice ones ... & it's great to see so much more of FS than has been seen by yours truly to date.

Been beta testing more scenery ... this time in the Great Rift Valley. Am hoping to get to that more complete e-mail today, my friend.

http://flightsimnetwork.com/dcforum/User_files/408fb9962e6417f8.jpg

Dwayne

[philliptan]

Great leg, John! :D

[EssexFireRescue]

Great Leg To Your Tour John. Love Your Aircraft!!! :7


Take Care

Peter
Essex County Fire And Rescue
Blue Watch
Brentwood
W51
"THINK"
http://www.flightsim.com/dcforum/User_files/408fd07642f0a07a.jpg

[RONONYMOUS]

So you finally made it to my homeland!!! :D LOL. Very nice pics there John!!! Your next leg should have some better scenery to show off the mountainous northern coast of Venezuela.

I have a request... How about a stop over at Barcelona (SVBC) after Maiquetia? That's where I'm from originally. It's just another 100 nm's east along the coast... so what do you say :-jumpy

If not, it's all good I know you have a strict plan to stick to ;-)

Take care buddy :-wave

[MikeM]

Green is back in your posts again! :-lol Nice flying John!

Mike

[jkvato]

Thank you Raggy, Flo, Keta, Dwayne, Phillip, Peter, Ron and Mike!

Raggy: Yeah, maybe I do have too much free time, but once the stat sheet is set up it takes only a minute to update. As for the tour -- at least I'm learning something along the way :)

Flo: Thank you for the kind words :)

Dwayne: I think I'll be doing some dead-reckoning legs every now and again. Makes it all the more interesting and it commits the geography to memory a little better :) Looking forward to the email.

Ronell: Yes, I'll be glad to stop in Barcelona. I'm in no hurry to get anywhere, and it should be a fun flight. :)

MikeM: Yes, it's nice to see green. Deserts can have their own beauty in real life, but they get very plain and redundant in FS.

[AndrewG]

Nice shots John! Learned some things about a great continent and saw some of it's beautiful scenery. Looking forward to seeing more.

Rgds,

AndrewG ( formerly Blue Max )

http://www.flightsim.com/dcforum/User_files/4089b23170ceabfe.jpg

AMD Athlon XP 2700+
768 MB of RAM
ATI Raedon 9500 Pro
Saitek X-45 Thrust & Joystick

[crashking]

Very nice shots!! And great repaint.
I'm happy to see you love AI planes as much as me :) :)

Crash

http://www.flightsim.com/dcforum/User_files/4046de9c1e31689b.jpg

[flyboy208]

http://www.flightsim.com/dcforum/User_files/40307ced4475a10b.jpg


I am really enjoying your tour John! This leg looked like alot of fun! Keep the great adventure going amigo!:-cool

[jkvato]

Thank you kindly, Andrew, Pierre and Mike! :)

[flyboy208]

http://www.flightsim.com/dcforum/User_files/40307ced4475a10b.jpg


Where are you headed next John?

[jkvato]

Gonna see Carlos in Caracas (if he's there!) :)

[PHCO]

John I have discovered your website and I like it very much and I still like this flight and the shots ! ;) :)

[jkvato]

Thank you, Flo. You're my inspiration! :)

[PHCO]

John- "You're my inspiration !"
--> Thanks buddy. I think it is quite funny to create a little website for such projects. It's my first time I have done this ... :) I like to improve the design .... Check out www.bravenet.com. There you can get all the website-stuff for free - counters, guestbooks, bla bla. :)

[Bulldog1]

Finally i got the time to say something...and i've following your trip's...can only say that i've enjoyed those i have seen. Great..love them!:D

[jkvato]

Thank you, Henry. I appreciate it :)