Wombat gets Extremely Dangerous

[WombatOne]

Back in the air again. I did this one low level, no auto pilot, mostly because I wanted to buzz the cruise ships docked at St Maarten. I didn't install any scenery because I figured these two flights would probably be the only two I take here so why bother installing anything. I picked the Lancair Legacy, mostly because I really don't like the Mooney and I have tons of hours in the Legacy from flying a hopped up version at PROPS. Fun little flight none the less.

http://fs-duenna.com/flights/ShowFli...3hB1GcluuL32iA

[WombatOne]

Set three complete. If you figure in all the trouble I had just getting the plane I chose to work correctly in FSX it took me over a week to get this flight in the books. When I saw that it was supposed to be flown in a DC-3 I figured I'd use a C-46. Mostly because I'd never flown one before and I've been watching Ice Pilots on the Weather Channel and Buffalo Air flys it a lot. So I track down the Cal Classics C-46 and get her installed and I have no skins, just a gray airplane, inside and out. Works fine in FS9 so I figure I must have done something wrong in X. So after about a week of trading emails back and forth with the designer, who was helping the best he could but insisting I installed it incorrectly, I mean how hard is dragging and dropping files and folders, I finally got the answer over at SOH. Turns out I had to set my sim to DX9 instead of DX10, D'oh! I had never run into that particular problem before, so I learned something on this flight, that I was correct about FSX sucking rocks!

Anyway, pretty uneventful flight. My only bit of drama happened when I was about 30 seconds from touch down when my phone starts ringing. I know it had to be my brother with his absolutely impeccably bad timing. I wasn't about the answer the phone until after I had wheels down, and of course he hung up as soon as I picked up the phone, typical.

http://fs-duenna.com/flights/ShowFli...6DzKzZLCK3W2W4

[WombatOne]

This one scared me the most so far. I crashed 4 times practicing for this approach, in some of the worst weather I've flown in FSX. During practice I had thick low level fog and haze that totally obscured the runway, added to lots of low gray clouds as I was maneuvering through the hilly terrain. I got too slow and stalled it on one attempt, then the next two I came in too fast and had to do missed approaches, which ended up in crashes that I couldn't explain until during the third I actually touched down and wouldn't slow down. Seems I forget to turn off the auto throttle, D'oh! I finally got the plane down but was so shaken I decided to walk away for a bit and try it later. This flight had way better weather, I could actually see the runway during approach!!

http://fs-duenna.com/flights/ShowFli...8fxjKqZpQfrfi0

[TX_3306]

...Turns out I had to set my sim to DX9 instead of DX10, D'oh! I had never run into that particular problem before, so I learned something on this flight, that I was correct about FSX sucking rocks!

I've heard there were some issues with setting FSX to DX10 but not the other way around. I never did change the default FSX setting because Win7 runs DX11 already.

...I was about 30 seconds from touch down when my phone starts ringing. I know it had to be my brother with his absolutely impeccably bad timing. I wasn't about the answer the phone until after I had wheels down, and of course he hung up as soon as I picked up the phone, typical.

So I'm not the only one who always seems to be on final when the phone rings or the wife yells to say dinner is ready. Usually I know dinner is ready when the smoke alarm goes off.

[WombatOne]

Well, I got all the jet runs done. Not much in the way of weather, but as I was climbing to altitude I swear my altimeter must have changed barometer settings about 50 times. I think I climbed through 16k about a dozen times due to all the resets.

On to Lukla.

http://fs-duenna.com/flights/ShowFli...DRZCYndI0L5l58

[WombatOne]

Ok, I went back to FS9 because they screwed up the scenery for Lukla in FSX. I mean how hard is it to get one of the most famous airports in the world looking at least half way correct, sheesh! Anyway, it was a pretty boring flight overall. No weather, just letting Otto fly the plane until it was time to land. Funny story there though. I make my turn to fly up that valley, descend to 10,500 and get her all slowed down and configured to land when all of a sudden the phone rings. Yep, you guessed it, my brother with his impeccable timing once again. I had a few minutes to talk to him before it was time to give him the hurry up because I had to land. Made a nice slow approach, was coming in nice and steady too. About 20 feet off the ground the stall warning starts beeping and my heart jumped into my throat as I tried to power up, but made a really nasty flop onto the ground. Held my breath until the plane kept rolling and didn't crash, WHEW!!!! These Kodiaks are tough birds! I took a practice flight yesterday and I actually crushed the nose gear, killed the engine, and slid to a halt and never tripped the crash detect.

One more to go.

http://fs-duenna.com/flights/ShowFli...855CKjDEn6mhl8

[WombatOne]

18 flights, 18 landings, zero crashes, at least none when it really counted

Last flight was pretty easy, beautiful weather if a little bumpy in spots. I took the Kodiak again because I wasn't sure you'd be able to land a King Air at Lukla, and there was a bit of confusion in the document as to whether the King Air or the Twin Otter was the plane to take. The Kodiak just seemed a good fit for these last two flights. After all the short runways and tight turns to final I let her float a bit before landing at this one.

Mike put together an awesome package for this event, lots of hard work went into it and he deserves a big round of applause. This one was the most fun I've had so far with the events I've flown at Flight Sim.

http://fs-duenna.com/flights/ShowFli...hkTQVREha838eQ

[TX_3306]

Thanks Ed for your kind words. I'm glad you had fun with the flights.

[venture06]

Nice