Earhart's Inter-continental Round Trip Flight ... Let's Do IT!!

[drake1999]

I found this info at the FS98 forum:

Here is an interesting flight that is being planned for September 2001. It should hold some interest for the adventurous flight simmers. You might even find a replica of the Avro aircraft that is going to be used. For additional information log on to http://www.ameliaflight.com/ameliaflight/index.po? Jesse R. Callahan

*******************
This flight sounds great! I just flew the 1937 Earhart "Around the World" flight with Spud and Fred Young this summer. We have our logs posted at Fred's
site... http://www.flight-sim.net/hanger_talk.htm

Each time we completed a leg of the trip we sent it into Fred. It was great fun sharing the adventure with each other. As we each used the same plane but different games, FS98 and FS2000. I used Real Weather 5.0 and downloaded the needed scenery files from here at Flightsim as I went.

So what the heck...
I say let’s fly this one too. And post our logs here at this forum.

I have found a small plane similar to the Avro aircraft. It has a 20 gallon fuel tank instead of 35 gallons. So use the Aired program to increase the tanks on this bi-plane...

Travel Air
Length:24'2"
Wing span:34'8"
Power: OX-5 100hp v8 engine
Cruise:85mph, Top speed 100mph
Designer:Golden Wings

This plane can be found at this site ...
http://flightsimmers.net/tommy/gwings.htm

Under "Golden Wings for FS98" ... download Part ONE... the aircraft is in this zipped file.

The ADVENTURE awaits!!

Drake1999 over and out

[drake1999]

Earhart’s 1928 USA Round Trip Tour

I am using FS98 with Golden Wings conversion., which turns FS98 back to the 1920’s.

I have set the FS98 date and time back to 9/3/1928 and using today’s weather via Real Weather 5.0

I will not be using any navaids, only using an atlas as the roadmap. The plane I am using is a Travel Air 2000 and I have increased the fuel tanks from 20 to 34 gallons to match Earhart’s plane.

Lloyd Stearman designed the Travel Air 2000 in 1924 here are its specs:
Length:24'2"
Wing span:34'8"
Power: OX-5 100hp v8 engine
Cruise:85mph,
Top speed 100mph
Gas capacity: 34 gal
FS98 Designer: Golden Wings


Earhart’s 1927 Avro Avian 7083 specs:
Length: 24’ 3”
Wingspan: 28’
Cruise speed: 87 mph
Maximum speed: 102 mph
Gas capacity: 35 gal

Leg 1
Rye, New York to Bellefonte, PA

9/3/1928
I am leaving from New York PAA Seabase, which in the 20’s was just south of Rye, NY. It is 9:00 AM with clouds at 25,000 feet and no wind. Visibility is 20 miles and I will be heading 280*, an excellent way to let the journey begin!!

9:10 AM, I am crossing the Hudson River and off to my right I can see a large suspension bridge. That had to be a real sight as Amelia flew past it in 1928. I am doing 75 knots at 3500 feet holding 280* heading.
9:46 AM, I am passing Trinca Airfield, which is off to my right.
10:37 AM, Passing Hazelton airport and I see the Susquehanna River up ahead, I will follow the river to Danville.
11:07 AM, I am just north of Danville and going to head 284*. The clouds have moved in and are scatter lightly at 2500 feet, just below me.
11:50 AM, I see a large body of water ahead now, it should be the Foster Joseph Sayer Reservoir.
11:53 AM, I have spotted a bright yellow object in the distance going to check it out.
11:58 AM, The object was here at Bellefonte, a huge yellow beacon tower, it worked … lol
12:01 PM, Landed and ate lunch while the crew fuels the plane.

Flying this leg without navaids, over a part of the country I don’t know was a nail biter. I guess if you are totally lost, you just put the plane down and ask where you are.

Time: 3 hrs. 1 mins.
Fuel usage 11 gallons

[drake1999]

Leg 2
Bellefonte, PA to Miller (Pittsburgh), PA

2 PM, I left Bellefonte with clear skies after a hardy lunch. My heading is 275* there is a 14 knot wind from the west (260*), but the visibility is still 20 miles.
2:13 PM, I am passing Mid State airport which is on my right, doing about 60 knots
2:45 PM, There are several clouds now at 6500 feet and I still am heading into a 13 knot wind. I am at 4000 feet and have picked up the speed to 75 knots.
3:00 PM, I can see the mountains up ahead, so I am going to 5000 feet to clear them and get above these scattered clouds.
3:10 PM, I can see Indiana County/Jimmy Stewart airport off to my right.
3:16 PM, The sky has cleared up and I am going back to 3500 feet
3:30 PM, I see the Beaver Run Reservoir to my left, it looks so peaceful down there. Too bad I didn’t bring along my pole. Pittsburgh should be coming up soon, and the clouds are beginning to roll in again at 3700 feet. My visibility is down to about 6 miles.
3:55 PM, I can see downtown Pittsburgh now and I’ll follow the Allegheny River into the fork where it meets the Ohio River, then head 270*.
4:14 PM, Miller airport is in sight and straight ahead of me now.
4:21 PM, Landed and home for the night.

Drake1999 over and out

[drake1999]

Leg 3
Pittsburgh to Dayton

9:00 AM, I have left Miller Airport with overcast skies at 2000 feet. Winds are light at 5 knots for the west (250*). The visibility is only 3 miles this morning… not good : (
9:13 AM, I am finally up above the clouds at 3500 feet and doing 75 knots
10:00 AM, This is not one of the best days for visual flying, nothing up here at 5500 feet to see but the tops of the clouds. If the weather doesn’t change this is going to be a long day.
11:52 AM, I am going down to look for Wright Patterson AFB, I have had nothing but cloud tops this whole trip… I miss Mother earth.
11:55 AM, Under the cloud coverage at 1200 feet, this is tree top flying .
12:16 PM, I see an airport, going to land here to see where I am.
12:24 PM, Good thing I landed, I am way off course. I am at Brown County airport and have to head 345* to Dayton from here.
1:05 PM, The clouds have lifted to 3800 feet and visibility is now 7 miles… Hey, It’s an improvement!
1:19 PM, I can see the runway lights of Wright Patterson AFB up ahead … any runway in a storm will do this afternoon.
1:25 PM, Landed for the day … and the afternoon is still young.

Fuel 14 gallons
Time: 4 hrs 25 mins

Drake1999 over and out

[drake1999]

Leg 4
Dayton to Terre Haute

9/5/1928
9:00 AM, Departed Wright Paterson AFB with clear skies and visibility of 20 miles this morning. There is a slight breeze in the air about 6 knots from 40*(NNE). I’ll be heading out 264* direction.
9:43 AM, Passing Brookville Lake to my left , now I know there is good fishing down there ‘cause this is my “neck of the woods”. Doing about 75 knots at 5000 feet.
11:17 AM, I am over a city, Terre Haute, I believe it to be.
11:25 AM, Passing over the Wabash River, but have not spotted Hulman Regional …hmm
12:34 PM, I see an airport up ahead, going there to see where I’m at.
12:39 PM, I am too far west. I am at Casey Muni, so I’ll head 77* to get back to Hulman Regional.
1:10 PM, I see Hulman Regional now up ahead of me.
1:20 PM, Landed and refueling. I’m a little off the flight plan but this is CST so it is 12:20PM their time. So, I am still in time to have some that “Lunch of Chicken Dinner”, I’ve heard so much about.

Fuel: 14 gallons
Time: 4 hrs 20mins




Leg 5

9/5/1928
3:00 PM, I’m leaving Terre Haute on a full stomach. The Travel Air 2000 checked out ok and she is refueled and ready for me. So, it’s on to Scott AFB just east of Belleville, IL. Heading 244* and the skies are clear.
4:10 PM, Clouds are rolling in at 5000 feet so I am dropping down to 4000 feet.
4:16 PM, I’m over Carlyle Lake, there is no mistaking this landmark …lol
4:41 PM, An airport is in view and dead ahead.
4:47 PM, It’s Scott AFB alright, going to turn and make my final approach.
4:55 PM, Land safe and sound here for the night.

Fuel: 6 gallons
Time: 1 hr 55 mins

Drake1999 over and out

[drake1999]

Leg 6
9/6/1928

9:00 AM, Departing Scott AFB under scattered skies at 25,000 feet and going to Hatbox Field, OK.
9:15 AM, I have hit some heavy fog, my visibility is only 2.5 miles
10:00AM, Still really hazy, doing 75 knots at 5000 feet
11:00AM, No change in the weather, I’m now at 6000 feet
11:32 AM, The haze has burned off and my visibility is 20 miles
1:04 PM, There’s a large lake below me. I believe it’s the Lake of the Cherokees, turning south now
1:35 PM, There are light scattered clouds now at 2000 feet, just below me
2:02 PM, I can see an airport head of me in the distance and there are 2 rivers meeting here as well, this must be Muskogee, OK.
2:12 PM, Landed and having the crew check the plane over this afternoon. The fellows at “Golden Wings” have turned the clock back here at Hatbox Field, the 1920’s scenery is great guys!

Drake1999 over and out

[dil52]

Hi Drake,
I have been trying to establish my new residence and get moved however, I have a tenent who is trying to get reestablihed also and is holding things up a bit.
Have been busy helping my nephew build and woodshop, plus a million other things, like setting up computers for friends, adding communication jacks etc.
We offically pulled up the tent stakes in Kentucky and carivaned to PA last Tuesday. Everyting is in temporary storage and that goes for the computer and FS and all. I find myself in total disary already. I'm fighting urges to go drive down the R/W in my car making believe I'm about to take off. I find myself looking a my own web site and drulling over the keybaorad of my sister's computer here with just FS5.:-)
Yes,physically AND mentally drained, but do hope to get my computer up and running, at least temporarily until we get established here. I'll be located less than a mile from the Ellwood City VOR which is even closer to where Im staying temporarily.

My sister, who has been staying up with the news informed me about the Amelia Earhart commorative flight. Please save your flight log (in MS Wordpad or Word)or something to that affect and I'll get you on the web site as soon as I get extablished.

So far it sounds fun. No NDB's even totally VFR and maps.... that's great. Since I know PA and Have flown from Willams Port to Pittsburgh many times I could probably find that. That is if I followed I80 and I79 in modern day scenery.:-)
Keep flying and I'll keep reading.
I have to get started and do it as soon as possible.
Bon Voyage my friend.
Fred
http://www.flight-sim.net

[drake1999]

I actually flew these 2 legs on Monday 9/10/01. I just have not been in the mood to fly or post them until this evening.



Leg 7
Muskogee, OK to Fort Worth, TX

9/10/1928
8:00 AM, Leaving Hatbox Field with the skies all clear and I’ll be heading 203* this morning.
8:19 AM, Passing over Eufaula Lake and doing 75 knots at 6000 feet
9:52 AM, I can see Lake Texoma below me now
10:37 AM, I am passing Lewisville Lake, which is just north of Dallas, Texas. This part of the country has some really large and distinguishable lakes.
10:52 AM, I have Meacham Intl. spotted
11:01 AM, Landed and getting some lunch as the Travel Air is refueled.

Time: 3 hours 1 mins
Fuel: 8 galloms

Leg 8
Fort Worth, TX to Hobbs, NM

9/10/1928
12:00 PM, The skies are still favorable here in Forth Worth. The visibility is 20 miles with a slight 5 knot wind coming out of the north. My heading this leg is 261*.
12:18 PM, The visibility has dropped to about 7miles, it’s really hazy up here now.
12:37 PM, Passing over the Brazos River. Cruising at 6000 feet at 75 knots
1:12 PM, The skies have cleared up and I can see the Hubbard Creek Reservoir just ahead
1:59 PM, I am passing over a large metropolitan area, I believe it is the “Prettiest Town I have ever seen”. Could it be Abilene?
2:15 PM, The haze has returned and visibility is only about 7 miles now.
2:55 PM I am over Morgan Creek, which is near Colorado City. Turning to a heading of 270*
3:10 PM, I have clouds rolling in under me at 5000 feet. Going to 4000 feet, the visibility here is 20 miles under the clouds.
3:31 PM, I can see a mountain range up ahead of me.
3:49 PM, I have it in sight, Hobbs Field!
4:00 PM, Landed and off to relax for the night.

Time: 4 hours 0 mins
Fuel: 14 gallons

Drake1999 over and out

[drake1999]

Ok, ok, so it’s been a few months now, but sense 9/11, I have not felt like flying very much.

Carlene has finished her round trip but I am going to finish this anyway. I have learn that Carlene does use a GPS to fly with and have but the GPS which is in the Super Caravelle into the Travel Air 2000. I am looking up the city’s longitude and latitude, then once at the city look for the airport.

Pecos, Texas is not default scenery for FS98 so I have added, “tx98v10a.zip”


Leg 9
Hobbs, NM to Pecos, TX

12/1/1928

11:00 AM, The skies are overcast at 8600 feet and the Temperture at Hobbs Field is 50 degrees. The visibility is good at 20 miles this afternoon.
11:05 AM, Heading 192* at 85 knots
11:39 AM, I have a large mountain range off to my right, the skies are beginning to clear up and I am seeing a bit of blue sky now at 8000 feet.
12:53 PM, I can see the Pesco River just ahead and it’s much wider then I would have thought.
1:06 PM, I can see the Pesco city limits now and I am beginning to search for the airport.
1:09 PM, I can see the airport off my right at 2 o’clock
1:12 PM, Lined up for the runway and there is a big Red and White checkered water tower at the end of RW14 .. lol
1:16 PM, Landed at Pecos Muni (PEQ)

Time: 2 hours 16 mins
Fuel: 4 gallons