Part 8 Visiting Africa, Indian Ocean And Return To Europe

I'm glad to welcome you again for the last time on this Airbus A330-200 that is now about to conclude its virtual journey around the world. A very long journey that could actually have been finished off within a few weeks, but which was spread over more than one year, the first leg dating back to July 2006. Nevertheless, the late conclusion of this series coincides with the release of a highly detailed (and expected) scenery of my home airport, Brussels, where the adventure will definitely come to its end – a fairly nice end then.

But before that, we've still a large array of places to visit. Our aircraft will first leave Rio de Janeiro, the previous part's last stop, to cross the Atlantic and reach Cape Town, flying one of the entire journey's longest legs. That will be the last opportunity to tackle the ETOPS flights, the special procedures that allow twin-engined aircraft to cross the oceans as we will see below. From Cape Town, we will head towards the Indian Ocean, visiting the islands of La Réunion and Seychelles. Then, back to Africa with stops at Kilimanjaro in the Rift Valley and Dakar, both modeled with FS2004 default textures. A short flight from Dakar to Tenerife in the Canary islands, belonging to Spain, will introduce our return to Europe as well as to high quality add-on landscapes. Paris–Charles de Gaulle will be our very last destination prior to going back to Belgium, where we will find brand new sceneries for the terrain and, as announced, Brussels airport.

In the conclusion words of this series, we will briefly recall the whole trip's features and also touch on some real environmental concerns.

Finally, an acknowledgements section will pay tribute to all the people who have made this virtual trip come true. The usual Credits section, giving reference to the software and documentation used for this article, will be displayed last.

Flight Horizon 2006 around the world is now again ready for boarding. Passengers please go to the gate and get your boarding pass and passport ready. Horizon Dreams wish you a pleasant flight.

Leg 31: Rio de Janeiro, Brazil – Cape Town, South Africa

This transatlantic flight will leave Rio de Janeiro at sunset for a morning arrival at destination, the night being shortened by a 5 hours time lag between Rio (UTC–3) and Cape Town (UTC+2).

This 8 hours flight would be less long if we were flying an A340 type, i.e. a four-engined aircraft, allowing us to fly a more direct route across the Atlantic. Twin-engined airliners may though be authorized to cross the Atlantic, the other oceans and remote land areas, but following special rules called ETOPS.

ETOPS or Extended Twin-engine Operations permit the newer twin-engined commercial aircraft to fly routes that, at some points, are further than a distance of 60 minutes flying time from an adequate diversion airport, at the approved one engine inoperative cruise speed in standard conditions and still air.

The main purpose of ETOPS is to provide high levels of safety while facilitating the use of today's twinjets on routes which were previously restricted to three and four-engined aircraft. Taking advantage of the efficiency, performance and safety features of the modern twin-engined aircraft powered by high-bypass engines, ETOPS also permit more effective use of one airline's resources.

Before an airline can operate a plane under ETOPS conditions, the aircraft must first have either been designed or modified and approved to meet the ETOPS certification requirements. This is the responsibility of the aircraft manufacturer. The ETOPS Type Design Approval for one given aircraft is split into two parts:

• the ETOPS type design eligibility
• the ETOPS type design capability

ETOPS type design eligibility concerns the aircraft design features prior to entry into service: the aircraft manufacturer must first demonstrate that its aircraft complies with the ETOPS design criteria. This includes of course the propulsion system reliability (eg. a maximum inflight shutdown rate of 2/100 000 engine hours for 180-minute ETOPS) but also the electrical power sources and systems redundancy, APU and emergency generator design, minimum crew workload, ice protection and safety assessment.

The ETOPS type design capability is obtained when the aircraft/engine combination has attained a sufficient reliability level based on in-service experience. Generally, the aviation authorities require from 100 000 to 250 000 engine flying hours of experience in order to obtain a statistically viable reliability analysis.

If an airline wants to operate ETOPS flights, the candidate aircraft must have received its ETOPS Type Design Approval but the airline must next get the ETOPS Operational Approval from its national aviation authority prior to starting ETOPS services. In that way, the airline has to prove that it has the appropriate experience with the aircraft/engine combination and that it is familiar with the intended area of ETOPS operation.

The first ETOPS flights (90 minutes) took place in 1985 with TWA (B767) and Singapore Airlines (A310). In 1986, PanAm inaugurated the first transatlantic A310 services.

The Airbus A330 with Rolls Royce engines obtained the ETOPS Type Design Approval with 90-minute diversion time (ETOPS–90) in 1995 and is eligible for 180-minute ETOPS. Meanwhile, operators who intend to progress to an ETOPS–180 approval must demonstrate one year of trouble-free ETOPS–90 experience with this aircraft/powerplant combination. ETOPS–180 rules make 95% of the Earth's surface available to ETOPS operations and therfore increase the airline efficiency and flexibility.

Today's flight, as well as the flights that were made across the Pacific in Parts 4 and 5, will observe an ETOPS–180 rule. This 3 hours diversion time is unrealistic if we consider that our RR-powered A330 is a brand new aircraft that carried on with the trip from the Tel Aviv stop in Part 3. But we are ignoring the real one-year of trouble-free experience rule described above: with a only 90 minute maximum diversion time, most of Around the World 2006-2007 oceanic legs would not have been feasible.

Flight Plan

From RIO DE JANEIRO/GALEAO ANTONIO CARLOS JOBIM INTL (GIG/SBGL) to CAPE TOWN INTL (CPT/FACT)

ETOPS-180 enroute alternate FHAW ASCENSION AUX AB

Destination alternate FAJS JOHANNESBURG SBGL15 PCX1 PCX UA611 ALGAL ETOBO UA405 RIV RIV3B FACT01

Distance 3548 nm (6564 km) Flight time 8:00

An ETOPS flight requires specific definitions, fuel planning, cabin equipment, flight crew preparation and dispatching. We will not go further into details here but give a few notions to illustrate and understand today's flight.

A suitable airport is an airport than can accomodate the ETOPS rated aircraft for an emergency landing and which satisfies the ETOPS dispatch weather requirements within a validity period.

A diversion or enroute alternate airport is a suitable airport to which a diversion can be accomplished, and whose flying time from the point of emergency shall not exceed the ETOPS maximum diversion time (180 minutes in our case).

The typical one-engine-out diversion speed is 400 kts (TAS) and the Airbus A330 single-engine ceiling is 22,000 feet.

The ETOPS entry point (EEP) is the point on the outbound route where the aircraft goes further than a distance of 60 minutes flying time (at the scheduled one-engine-out diversion speed) from the last suitable airport. From the EEP, the aircraft enters the ETOPS area of operations.

The ETOPS segment starts at the EEP and finishes when the route remains within the 60-minute area from a suitable airport.

An Equitime Point (ETP) is a point on the route which is located at the same flying time from two diversion airports. We have two ETPs for our present flight. The ETP positions can be easily and geometrically determined in no wind conditions (this is what is done here). In windy conditions, the ETPs positions must be corrected by the wind effect. This is one of the tasks of the dispatcher.

The critical point (CP) is the point on the route which is critical with regard to the ETOPS fuel requirements if a diversion has to be initiated from that point. The CP is usually the last ETP within the ETOPS segment.

Finally, the ETOPS fuel planning is special and split into two parts: the first one corresponds to a standard fuel scenario from the departure airport to the CP and the second one corresponds to the critical fuel scenario from the CP to the diversion airport (FHAW in our flight). The ETOPS fuel planning is then compared to the standard fuel planning from the departure to the destination airport (and considering the destination alternate, FAJS in our flight). The highest of both fuel requirements shall be considered as the required block fuel for the flight. I confess that I've restricted myself to the usual standard fuel planning here, considering that we've a very long distance from the destination to the destination alternate: 686 nautical miles (1270 km), which is comparable with the distance between the CP and the enroute alternate. Also, the PSS simulated MCDU doesn't handle the ETOPS flights. In the real aircraft, this is well the case and the ETOPS specific points (EEP, ETP, CP) are recognized in the active flight plan and can be displayed on the Nav Display as well.

Our ETOPS-180 route, however, is fairly realistic. We need only one enroute alternate for the flight and there is hopefully one island in the middle of the South Atlantic that offers a suitable airport: Ascension island. This is one of the eight islands of St Helena, a British overseas territory, whom principal island is St Helena. St Helena is famous to be the dethroned French emperor Napoléon Bonaparte's last residence. He was sent there as a prisoner by the British government after his defeat at the Waterloo Battle in 1815, and remained there until his death in 1821. Ironically, we will pass near the Waterloo battlefield in the very last seconds of Around the world 2006-2007 when we will be approaching Brussels.

Ascension island, located around 800 miles northwest of St Helena, is lived in by a bit more than one thousand people. The airport (FHAW) has a 10,000 feet runway and VOR/DME equipment. But if the flight goes off normally, we shouldn't pay any visit to that remote location.

Graphic display of our ETOPS-180 flight from Rio de Janeiro to Cape Town. The map also reveals that there is a direct airway (UA559) connecting the two cities, but it penetrates the ETOPS exclusion zone and will therefore only be available to three or four-engined aircraft.

Rio de Janeiro Galeao Intl – holding point runway 15. Another 'classic' encounter with this old 737-200 of the Brazilan carrier VASP.

Runway 15 is shorter than runway 10, but taking off from it has a notable advantage that is useless to comment. Already at 3300 ft.

Passenger's view 1000 feet higher. Initiating a left turn on the PORTO One standard departure.

Back to the 60-minute diversion time area after our ETOPS Atlantic crossing and now with South Africa's coast in sight.

CPT (PA):

Ladies and gentlemen, this is your captain speaking. We've now successfully completed our Atlantic crossing following the special ETOPS rules that I had briefly told you about yesterday. As you have already been advised by our cabin crew, we've started our descent to Cape Town and we should reach our destination within fifteen minutes. Here from the flightdeck, we have a beautiful sunrise just in front of us and we've the African coast in sight. Weather in Cape Town is pretty nice with scattered clouds, fourteen degrees centigrades and a light wind from the north. During our approach, right-sitting passengers will enjoy a magnificent view of Cape Town and Table Mountain. Local time at destination is a quarter past six a.m., please adjust your watches! As usual, please follow carefully the last cabin crew instructions until we are safely parked at the gate. Thanks for your kind attention.

The last time I visited Cape Town during another virtual flight was on a South African A319 from Durban, in August 2005. Arriving from the east, the arrival procedure was totally different from the one described here. I was rather surprised, indeed, to see that the present Robben Island Three Bravo standard arrival path comes really close to Table Mountain, while I was first expecting an offshore trajectory during the flight preparation. The STAR having no altitude constraints (those being probably at ATC discretion in the real world), I let the Flight Management System compute the descent profile and the result was a rather close approach to the 3563 ft (1086 m) flat-topped mountain that dominates Africa's southernmost city.

Nice modeling of Table Mountain, provided by add-on terrain mesh with 76m resolution.

The textures are the FS2004 default ones.

A close approach to the terrain then (now at 4500 ft). This reminds me the rather low New York flyby in Part 5 and I believe that in the real approach here aircraft are much higher as well. Right turn to initiate the downwind leg for runway 01.

Leg 32: Cape Town, South Africa – La Réunion Island (France)

La Réunion will be third and last French overseas territory that we visit, after Tahiti and Guadeloupe. The fourth, if we also include St Maarten island, which is split between the Netherlands and French Antilles.

La Réunion, located in the Indian Ocean 700 km east of Madagascar and 200 km southwest of Mauritius, is a volcanic island that was born around two millions years ago. The eastern part of the island, however, is only 60 000 years old and is made up of one of the most active volcanoes on the planet, known as Piton de la Fournaise. The entire island is only the emerged part of a sub-marine mountain that is more than 30 times bigger! The island's first residents were Europeans who settled here in the beginning of the 16th century. La Réunion is a French territory since 1642.

Flight Plan

From CAPE TOWN INTL (CPT/FACT) to ST DENIS/ROLAND GARROS (RUN/FMEE) Alternate FIMP MAURITIUS FACT01 WY1D WY BDV DNV ETMOS UA402 GETIR GETIR3E FMEE14

Distance 2159 nm (3994 km) Flight time 4:40

After the Wolseley One Delta departure, we'll first head towards Durban, then hit the southern tip of Madagascar prior to reaching the destination. Some thunderstorm activity is expected on arrival, but nothing really serious.

Passing GETIR and starting a 180 miles-long STAR procedure.

The sun sets as we've 68 miles more to go. Developing thunderstorm clouds are confirmed.

On the base leg for runway 14. This is the typical shape of the cumulo-nimbus (CB) cloud, whose summit can reach the tropopause, up to an altitude of 18 km (60 000 feet) in the tropical latitudes.

Now established on the ILS, at 3900 feet and 17 miles more to go. The approach path fortunately goes round the CB cloud, usually triggering heavy turbulence.

At 3000 feet, 8 miles away, getting prepared for landing. Night is falling quickly while further dark clouds hide the summits of the island.

This is the northern coast of La Réunion, which is exposed to the east trade winds and has a more rainy climate than the southern part of the island.

Though encountering some difficulties on short final, because of a rather strong crosswind.

Safely down.

Leg 33: La Réunion island (France) – Mahé, Seychelles

As the last tropical spot to be visited in this journey, the Seychelles are an archipelago of 115 islands spread over a wide area in the Indian Ocean. The main island, where the international airport was built, is Mahé. As well as the other neighbouring islands, including Praslin, it has neither volcanic nor coralline origin but is a micro-continent connected to Africa.

Flight Plan

From ST DENIS/ROLAND GARROS (RUN/FMEE) to SEYCHELLES INTL (SEZ/FSIA) Alternate HKMO Mombasa FMEE12 NIBIS3C NIBIS UR401 RUBAM SEY FSIA13

Distance 989 nm (1830 km) Flight time 2:30

For this flight (which is nothing but a straight line between the two airports), the alternate airport distance from the destination airport (954 nm) is almost the same as the flight distance itself! Unless I've missed something, from Mahé, the closest suitable airport for the A330 is to be found on the east African coast.

Nice morning departure and directly bound towards Seychelles.

So long La Réunion

Flying the VOR DME Rwy 13 approach at Mahé, which ends up with a full visual landing.

Leg 34: Mahé, Seychelles – Kilimanjaro, Tanzania

Back to some kind of old memories for me, as this destination was already visited in a first world tour published in early 2003. The fact is, there is not much add-on scenery to fly into in the central Africa region and Kilimanjaro is probably the best that the FS2004 default scenery can offer.

The Kilimanjaro is a solitary extinct volcano that dominates the surrounding savanna. It is also Africa's highest point with 5895 m (19 650 ft). The summit is covered with perpetual snow, but this ice cap is nowadays dramatically reducing, making the Kilimanjaro one of the most meaningful symbols of climate change.

Flight Plan

From SEYCHELLES INTL (SEZ/FSIA) to KILIMANJARO INTL (JRO/HTKJ) Alternate HKMO Mombasa FSIA31 PRA UA610 KV HTKJ09

Distance 1144 nm (2116 km) Flight time 3:00

That's interesting, we have the same alternate as for the previous leg. We will first head towards Praslin island, 25 miles north of Mahé, then head directly towards Kilimanjaro. KV VOR/DME is located on the airport.

Arriving a bit too late to enjoy the Kilimanjaro during day time. That will be for the next leg then.

Leg 35: Kilimanjaro, Tanzania – Dakar, Senegal

This is the last long range leg of the trip. We will cross Africa from one end to the other and the flight distance is almost the same as for the Rio de Janeiro – Cape Town leg. The route will include Mwanza (Lake Victoria), Kigali, Goma, Kisangani, Yaoundé, Douala, Port Harcourt, Lagos, Cotonon, Lomé, Accra and finally Abidjan. In the meantime, we will cross the equator for the sixth and last time in our journey.

Flight Plan

From KILIMANJARO INTL (JRO/HTKJ) to DAKAR/LEOPOLD SEDAR SENGHOR (DKR/GOOY) Alternate GBYD BANJUL HTKJ09 MODAM UB531 KGI UA610 NLY UR984 TST UA609 ACC UB600 AD UR979 ERIDI ERIDI2A GOOY36

Distance 3552 nm (6571 km) Flight time 8:00

Taking off runway 09. There is far too much snow on the top of the mountain for this FS2004 default scenery. Nowadays the snow covers a surface of only 2 square kilometers, while it was covering an area of 12 km² in 1900. The Kilimanjaro has lost more than 80 percent of its ice cap during the 20th century.

Approaching Kigali (Rwanda)

Flying over Dakar on final to Rwy 36

Leg 36: Dakar, Senegal – Tenerife, Canary Islands (Spain)

Tenerife is the biggest of the Canary islands, located west of the coast of Morocco. The Teide, the principal volcano of the island, is also the highest summit of Spain (3718 m). Tenerife is one of the most popular charter destinations in Europe. On April 27, 1977 a ground collision between two Jumbo Jets from KLM and PanAm occurred on the small Los Rodeos airport. The accident was partly due to fog and was recorded as History's worst air disaster. A bigger airport, Reina Sofia, was built afterwards in the south of the island benefiting from a better climate. This is were we will land today.

Our flight plan is first a straight line towards Gran Canaria, the second biggest island of the archipelago, following the UB600 high altitude airway. Then we will turn left towards Tenerife and we'll almost be directly bound on the landing runway axis.

In this leg, we will enjoy what is, up to my mind, one of the best freeware sceneries ever developed for Flight Simulator (also see credits). An incredible, professional terrain mesh and textures quality will make the end of our flight as real as it gets.

Flight Plan

From DAKAR/LEOPOLD SEDAR SENGHOR (DKR/GOOY) to TENERIFE SOUTH/REINA SOFIA (TFS/GCTS) Alternate GCXO TENERIFE NORTH GOOY36 LIMAX NULET UB600 GDV TERFE GCTS26

Distance 875 nm (1619 km) Flight time 2:10

Above Gran Canaria at 16000 ft, approaching GDV VOR.

After the left turn, now at 10 000 ft and proceeding towards TERFE.

Final approach to Tenerife South runway 26. Good weather for landing, and for a little ride on the Teide mountain as well.

Another uneventful landing. Welcome back to Europe!

Leg 37: Tenerife, Canary Islands (Spain) – Paris, France

I wished to make a last stop in another great European city prior to eventually going home. Located on the way back to Brussels, and having still some nice photographic scenery to fly into, Paris was the place to go.

Finding the shortest route from Tenerife was not that easy, since we are back to Europe and more busy skies, were the high altitude routes are often one-way corridors. We will first head towards Santiago de Compostella in Spain, hugging the west coast of Portugal. Then, we'll cross the Gulf of Gascogne and finally hit the French coast near the city of Nantes. Back to Europe, but also to more gloomy weather today with an overcast sky and moderate visibility conditions on arrival.

Flight Plan

From TENERIFE SOUTH/REINA SOFIA (TFS/GCTS) to PARIS/CHARLES DE GAULLE (CDG/LFPG) Alternate LFPO PARIS/ORLY GCTS08 KONBA3E KONBA UN866 STG UN741 TUROP UN864 NOVAN UT460 ERIGA UN741 KEPER KEPER3H LFPG08R

Distance 1600 nm (2960 km) Flight time 3:40

Paris–Charles de Gaulle, our destination, is one of the biggest airports in the world and the seventh one considering the number of passengers (ranked as number 2 in Europe after London Heathrow). Its construction started in the early seventies to supply the existing Orly and neighbouring Le Bourget airport. The latter was the first airport of Paris and is still active nowadays, but restricted to general aviation as well as the famous Salon du Bourget event. Paris CDG is a continuously growing airport that has now four runways and actually seems to be made up of two airports, 'Roissy 1' (or CDG 1, in the north) and 'Roissy 2' (south), everything being connected by a complex taxiway system. We will be bound to Terminal 2 on our present flight with a landing scheduled on the recently built runway 08R.

Ready to leave – the sun will rise shortly.

Cleared for takeoff.

CPT: FLEX, SRS, RUNWAY... Power set.

F/O: Checked.

Already above 20 000 ft, farewell to the Teide.

Heading north at Mach 0.82

Passing KEPER at 27 000 ft, starting the standard arrival to Paris CDG.

Cloud break abeam the famous Versailles castle and gardens, residence of the kings of France from Louis XIII to Louis XVI. 25 miles left to go.

Getting prepared for localizer capture (now at 5000 ft).

Paris here we come! Here is the La Défense business district and the futuristic Grande Arche.

We can also see the Eiffel tower in the distance.

Now fully established. Together with another aircraft approaching runway 09L.

Short final. The facilities that we see on the left (Terminal 2) are only the southern part of Charles de Gaulle airport.

Seconds from touchdown – the Air Europa aircraft is taking off from runway 08L.

Leg 38: The Final Leg - Paris, France – Brussels, Belgium

Well, every thing has to end one day. This very short flight (we will reach Brussels within less than one hour) will conclude a 14 months long adventure. In fact, the first leg took place in mid July 2006 and this last leg was flown on September 15, 2007. Weather in Belgium was nice that day, though rather cool, and similar conditions (excepts the wind direction) were set in Flight Simulator.

I'm thus going home and in the meantime I will discover a recently released brand new scenery of Brussels Airport. We will leave Paris CDG in the late afternoon, expecting a sunset arrival at destination.

Flight Plan

From PARIS/CHARLES DE GAULLE (CDG/LFPG) to BRUSSELS (BRU/EBBR) Alternate EBOS OSTEND LFPG08L NURMO9H NURMO UN874 CMB UZ373 ARVOL ARVOL1B EBBR 02

Distance 173 nm (320 km) Flight time 0:50

After taking off from runway 08L, we will observe the NURMO Nine Hotel SID and remain on the runway axis for a few miles, then turn left heading to Cambrai. We will climb up to 24000 feet (7200 m) but will not stay there for long. After Cambrai VOR we will use the UZ373 airway that is reserved for Brussels arrivals. Though radar vectoring is usually expected upon arrival, we will follow the ARVOL One Bravo STAR then fly the published ILS approach to runway 02 (the shortest, transversal runway at EBBR). The result will be some kind of zigzaging path.

Holding point runway 08L, number two for takeoff. This runway is among the longest ones in Europe (4215 m) and ATC is currently directing the departing aircraft to taxiway S1 that is not connected to the runway tip.

Already at 6000' but still outbound on the takeoff runway heading (left), passing PG084 fix at 9000' and heading north (right).

25 minutes after engine start we are already approaching ARVOL and the Belgian border. We are abeam Lille-Lesquin airport (LFQQ) and descent has started

ATC (Paris Center):

Horizon two zero zero six heavy, contact Brussels Center on one two five decimal zero.

F/O:

Brussels on 125.0, Horizon 2006 heavy. Good day.

...

Brussels Center, Horizon 2006 heavy, good evening, with you at thirteen thousand.

ATC:

Horizon 2006 heavy, good evening, descent and maintain nine thousand, expect ILS runway two approach.

CPT (PA):

Ladies and gentlemen, this is your captain speaking for the last time. We are now back above our home country and we should be landing in around twenty minutes. During our approach we will first fly over Flanders and the west of Brussels, then head south towards Wallonia and we should finally align on the runway somewhere near Waterloo. As you see, weather is nice for our return and temperature at Brussels is now sixteen degrees centigrades. That should be an easy landing. In the name of the whole crew I would like to thank you for your kind cooperation throughout this very long journey, and in particular during the more difficult moments and delays that we have encountered. We should be right on schedule today so you may fully enjoy these last minutes of flight in this Horizon Dreams Airbus A330. Thanks for your attention and bye bye.

Between ARVOL and AKOVI (now at 10 000'), above the city of Ronse/Renaix, on the boundary between Flanders (the Dutch speaking part of Belgium) and Wallonia (the French speaking part). The hills that we see below are interesting since they are the first heights to rise from the Flemish plain that stretches up to the North Sea, 65 kilometers away. We can also see the Scheldt river in the distance.

ATC (Brussels Center):

Horizon two zero zero six heavy, contact Brussels Approach on one one eight decimal two five.

F/O:

118.25 Horizon 2006 heavy, good day.

...

Brussels Approach, Horizon 2006 heavy, good evening, with you at nine thousand on the ARVOL One Bravo standard arrival for ILS runway two approach.

ATC:

Brussels Approach, Horizon 2006 heavy, roger, continue approach, descend to two thousand. Maintain two thousand until established on the localizer. Altimeter one zero two three. Contact Brussels Tower on one two zero decimal seven seven when established.

Passing KERKY at 5000'. This small town is Ninove, 20 km west of Brussels. The watercourse is the Dender, a Scheldt tributary.

The METAR observation for Brussels airport was:

EBBR 151730Z 04507KT 9999 SCT030 16/08 Q1023 NOSIG

METARs are meteorological airport reports (or aviation routine weather reports) that are updated every 30 minutes. They provide weather observations (not forecasting) for a particular airport. The METAR code contains all the necessary information about wind, visibility, sky condition, temperature, pressure etc.

In the real world pilots can access the METAR data through the ACARS system. ACARS (for Aircraft Communication Addressing and Reporting System) is a digital datalink system for transmission of small messages between aircraft and ground stations. Such messages can include weather information, of course, but also all the messages that are used to communicate between the aircraft and its base (not Air Traffic Control), such as enroute delays or aircraft performance reports. Downlink messages are sent by the aircraft, uplink messages, such as weather reports, are received from the airline's computer system. Basically, the ACARS system works a bit like email. The interface between the pilot and the ACARS Management Unit (MU) is usually the MCDU. A print function is also available. If set automatically upon receiving a message, the ACARS can also be compared to a simple fax machine.

Unfortunately, and not surprisingly, the ACARS system is not modeled in the simulation, but real time METARs are easily available on the Internet.

So here's the nice weather 'hidden' in the METAR code:

Brussels Airport, observation made the 15th of the month at 17:30 GMT, wind direction 45°, wind speed 7 knots, visibility: 10 kilometers or more, sky condition: scattered clouds at 3000 ft, temperature 16°C/dew point 8°C, QNH 1023 Hectopascals, no significant change within the next 2 hours.

Already at 2000 ft, a few miles before localizer capture.

This is not a river but the canal from Brussels to Charleroi, an important thoroughfare in Belgium.

CPT: Cabin crew, please be seated for landing.

Localizer capture near Waterloo.

The countryside under the aircraft's nose is Waterloo battlefield.

Final approach to the end of the adventure.

ATC (Brussels Tower): Horizon 2006 heavy, cleared to land runway two, wind forty four degrees, six knots.

LANDING CHECKLIST

CABIN CREW....................ADVISED
AUTOTHRUST....................SPEED
ECAM LANDING MEMO.............LANDING NO BLUE 

Seen from here, this new airport scenery already seems outstanding. The new, 65 meters high control tower is visible on the right.

This is what the spotter would feel outside the airport fence...

... and the pilot's feeling is not bad as well. Very accurate modeling of Rwy 02. A bit too low for this last landing.

This is the last airborne second of Around the world 2006-2007.

Finally down and braking action. We can see the old terminal and the old tower here on the left.

ATC: Horizon 2006 heavy, exit runway when able.

Was I so in a hurry to go home, or wanted to make ATC happy, but the runway was quickly vacated by the high speed taxiway Echo Five, with reverse thrust still applied! A very short taxi to the terminal was to follow then.

CABIN CREW: Ladies and gentlemen, welcome back to Brussels, it's forty-five minutes past seven local time. Please remain seated until the seatbelts sign has been turned off and the aircraft has come to a complete stop at the gate. Thank you for flying this long journey with us and we hope to welcome you again in the future on other Horizon Dreams flights. Thanks for your attention.

ATC (Brussels Tower): Horizon 2006 heavy, contact Ground on one one eight decimal zero five.

ATC (Brussels Ground): Horizon 2006 heavy, taxi to gate one forty-five right by Romeo four.

Just reminding us that we had left for a long time, a new airline is born at Brussels!

Brussels Airlines started operation in March 2007 after the merging of SN Brussels Airlines (former Sabena) and Virgin Express.

The very last meters to gate 145R. No more marshallers here but an automatic docking guidance system.

The 'Pier A' is the newest terminal at Brussels Airport, inaugurated in May 2002 to accomodate the Schengen flights.

Engine 2 just after shutdown. As well as his team-mate Engine 1, we can say that they made a good job.

SHUT DOWN CHECKLIST

BEACON.....................OFF
FLAPS......................RETRACTED
ECAM STATUS................CHKD
PARKING BRAKE..............SET

THE END.

Conclusion words for Around the World 2006-2007

First of all, a few figures. This virtual journey has taken us to 39 destinations in 30 different countries and overseas territories. We have travelled 59,490 nautical miles or 68,790 miles or 110 060 km – that's nearly the third of the distance from the Earth to the Moon. If the whole journey was spread over more than one year, we have added up around 130 flying hours, that's 'only' 5 days and 10 hours of flight. The longest leg was Leg 19 Guam–Anchorage across the Pacific with 4,369 nautical miles or 8082 km. The shortest leg St Maarten–Pointe-à-Pitre (Leg 27) covered at distance of only 148 nm or 274 km.

We have visited the FS2004 world, usually enhanced by add-on scenery for many destinations, but only giving an idea of the current available flightsimming software. This project has given me the opportunity to give a general overview of Airbus systems and philosophy, while touching on some further technical topics. Using the same charts as the ones used in the flightdeck (enroute charts, approach charts etc.), as well as many online and offline documentation, the realism level was one of this project's purposes. But we have seen that if many procedures or systems can be exactly simulated, others cannot. Much information was provided throughout the review and I've tried to make a good balance between the travel aspects and the technical stuff. Though many of you have kindly reported a general good technical quality for the articles, inevitable mistakes were made, and the readers feedback was also greatly appreciated. The New York steep descent mistake was the best example for this.

If most of the IFR rules were carefully observed, I have also taken the advantage of the liberties that Flight simulation can offer. Flying offline, I have set various weather situations, choosing the weather for each destination, though keeping the climate of the several regions visited in mind. Setting thunderstorm activity at Dubai or clear skies in the middle of the Alaska winter would have been quite laughable. Flying during more than one year in the northern and southern hemispheres, we have even encountered winter conditions two times, in Anchorage and five months later in Ushuaia. There was also an alternation between day and night flights, sunsets and sunrises, though day flights were the most frequent. Other actions were slightly departing from the real world, proposing the very special Amsterdam–Sion–Geneve leg in the beginning of the series or flying ETOPS–180 with a brand new aircraft for example. Finally, we have, as usual, been able to enjoy both flightdeck and passenger views, since in flight simulation you can be both the pilot and the passenger of your aircraft: cabin crew announcements are even available, please check Flightsim.com File library if you don't have 'em yet! The inflight aircraft external views are an exclusivity of flight simulation as well, unless you have a spot plane in the real world.

The map displayed above shows what the actual trip looked like, and slightly differs from the scheduled route that was introduced in Part 1. In fact, 18 destinations were cancelled during the project's unfolding, mainly through lack of time, but also with articles size in mind. Further stops were first scheduled in Europe, Australia, New Zealand, the United States, Central America, the Caribbean, South America and North Africa. My first round the world trip had only 11 destinations, we have though travelled to almost four times more places here.

This project is the modest outcome of ten years of IFR flightsimming. I'm trying to recall my very first IFR flights with FS5.1, flying the first airliners available at that time (Flight Shop) to some European destinations with neither FMC nor MCDU but a basic 'VOR to VOR' navigation and analog panel gauges. The features described in this series, though only revealing a small part of the FS2004 expedients, were still belonging to 'science-fiction' not a so long time ago.

BRUSSELS – LONDON – AMSTERDAM – SION – GENEVE – NICE – MADRID – MALAGA – IBIZA – AJACCIO – LAMEZIA TERME – ATHENS – TEL AVIV – TEHRAN – DUBAI – KATHMANDU – PHUKET – HONG KONG – SYDNEY – GUAM – ANCHORAGE – HONOLULU – TAHITI – LOS ANGELES – NEW YORK – TAMPA – MEXICO – ST MAARTEN – POINTE A PITRE – QUITO – USHUAIA – RIO DE JANEIRO – CAPE TOWN – LA REUNION – SEYCHELLES – KILIMANJARO – DAKAR – TENERIFE – PARIS – BRUSSELS

... what a nice trip. But we all know that travelling has a price that our home planet has to pay. If we disregard the electrical power that was needed to make my computer work, this virtual trip was rather environmentally friendly. But I've wondered what would have been the environmental impact of such a flight if it had actually taken place, considering the greenhouse effect gasses emissions. The result is not really funny.

If Around the World 2006-2007 had been an actual event, 3062 tonnes of CO2* would have been sent into the atmosphere.

This project's purpose is of course not to discuss the Global warming problem. Meanwhile, if all of this was only a simulation, it was obviously furthering aircraft and air travel. I could not serenely conclude this series without touching on this problem, since air transport does have something to do with it. Worldwide air traffic, including passengers and freight, releases hundreds of millions of tonnes of carbon dioxide into the atmosphere every year. In fact, current estimations report that air traffic is responsible for 3 % of the worldwide CO2 emissions, not considering here the other concerning emissions such as nitrogen oxides (NOx) and contrails. Despite the constant progress made on the engines and fuel efficiency, aircraft are still far more harmful to the environment than other means or transport such as boat or train. During a long haul flight, each passenger produces as much CO2 as if he/she was travelling by car on the same distance. Short haul flights are even more polluting. If we come back to the last leg of our trip, flying from Paris to Brussels with a wide body aircraft like the A330, even with a full load of passengers, is actually the very last thing to do! On such distances, the high speed train competes with the aircraft in terms of time and definitely in terms of CO2 emissions, this is therefore the only sensible choice in this case.

If many oil alternatives for road transport such as biofuels already exist, finding a reliable replacement for the kerosene Jet-A1 and producing it in sufficient quantities is not a piece of cake. Many researches in that domain are currently carried out, including biofuels (but facing the huge needed crops surface problem), synthetic fuels or liquid hydrogen. If the two first options would only need minor changes to the existing engines, the latter would generate the design of completely new aircraft, and cause further security problems because of its tricky handling. Making the aircraft environmentally friendly is then another great technological challenge for the 21st century. In the meantime, air traffic will continue to increase an it is currently doubling every ten years. At this rate, the air transport part in the anthropogenic CO2 emissions could reach 25 % fifty years from now. This projection is however made in the worst IPCC emission scenario.

In this rather gloomy context, is the future of durable air travel not simply and only... virtual ?

Acknowledgments

The first thanks go to you, the readers of this series who have faithfully followed this long story from the beginning to the end. Many of you have provided me with comments, remarks or questions and it was a pleasure for me to reply, and also learn more. Since the messages were coming from many different countries, I have also travelled in that way.

Secondly, a major tribute has to be paid to the Flight Simulator add-ons developers. Without them, this feature would never have happened. Those high skilled people provide the flight simulation community with additional aircraft, sceneries, sounds or utilities that make Flight Simulator really something else than a game. Among them, the freeware add-ons developers deserve a special thought also. Seeing the high realism level that is nowadays demanded, they spend much time and energy to create high quality add-on software and distribute them on the web for free! The professional level of such works is sometimes incredible. The Canary Islands scenery that was visited in this last part is a very good example for this, but for sure there are many others. Quoting all the developers who have created the add-ons that were used in this round the world flight project would be too long here. With the respect that is due to the authors, they are however all listed in the Credits section for each article.

Last but not least, I would like to thank our webmaster Nels Anderson warmly, for his kind cooperation throughout this long project (and its long articles), and more particularly for the precious assistance that was requested to obtain the permission to publish the copyrighted Jeppesen charts (appearing in Parts 1, 2 and 3).

Credits

The following flight simulation software was used to make this review:

Main

• Microsoft Flight Simulator 2004 A Century of Flight (patched)

AI Traffic add-on

• Ultimate Traffic by Flight1 Software

Aircraft add-on

• A330/A340 Professional developed by Phoenix Simulation Software (PSS), distributed by Just Flight
• Project Open Sky Airbus A330-200 version 2 for FS2002/2004

Payware scenery add-on

• VFR Photographic Scenery East & South-East England developed by John Farrie (Visual Flight) and Getmapping PLC, distributed by Just Flight
• Switzerland Professional by Mailsoft - Flylogic

Freeware scenery add-on

• Belgium 7000 (Belg7000) VFR scenery version 2.3 by Fred. Bridoux
• Belgium terrain mesh scenery by Jean-Gabriel Laurent
• Antwerpport scenery version 2 (add-on for Belg7000 enhancing Antwerp port and the Belgian coast) by Johan Thiers
• Brussels - National airport scenery version 3.2 (beta) by Robert Buysen
• Brussels - National AFCAD2 file for Robert Buysen's scenery by Thierry Caestecker
• Ostend airport scenery by Benoit Facon & Hans Vandale
• The Netherlands 2000 scenery version 2.91 by The Netherlands 2000 Design Team
• Genève - Cointrin airport scenery by Daniel Gauthier

Utilities

• FSUIPC version 3.48 by Pete Dowson
• Active Camera 2004 version 2.0 by Guillaume Darier & Serge Baye
• Replacement runway black texture by V. Nauta

Flight simulation, Real aviation, general information documents, websites and other references

• PSS A330/A340 Professional manual & tutorial
• JEPPESEN SID, STAR, Approach charts, Airport diagrams, High & Low altitude Enroute charts
• Approach charts reproduced here (SIMCharts by Jeppesen designed for use with FS2004), courtesy of Jeppesen
• Jeppesen SIMCharts legend & glossary
• Formation Pilote: Instruments de Bord (Th. du Puy de Goyne, A. Roumens & P. Lepourry), Cépaduès Editions, Toulouse, France
• Airbus official website www.airbus.com
• Airliners (W. Green & G. Swanborough), Bloomsbury Books, London, UK
• www.airliners.net
• Project Open Sky A330-200 aircraft repaint in Horizon Dreams livery and real photograph taken at Brussels - National by Cédric De Keyser
• Digital editing and fictional elements added to the photo by Cédric De Keyser
• Horizon Dreams fictional advert added on the photograph uses Microsoft Windows 2000/XP (FR) default background bitmaps "Dune" and "Tropiques"
• Around the World 2006 logo uses a reduction of the Earth model provided by Orbiter 2006 Space Flight Simulator by M. Schweiger
• Michelin road map of Switzerland (used for some geographical information in the third leg)

Any comments about this first part or suggestions concerning the following ones are welcome.

Cédric De Keyser
Brussels, Belgium
cdk@ngi.be