Golden Argosy II

By Tony Vallillo (17 May 2005)

It's spring again, and an old pilot's fancy turns to...Rome! JFK-FCO is, for us, a seasonal route - we only fly it from April through October. From November until March I must seek out other pleasures. Fortunately, these are many and varied, and so I find myself flying to Paris, the Caribbean, and Buenos Aires in the "off season"!

But tonight I'm back on the "Golden Argosy" once again! And this time there is a new twist. I'm going to have a Wingman - a virtual wingman, to be sure, but a wingman nonetheless! I'm sure that many of you have been "shadowing" us in real time over the years, but at least to my knowledge, this will be the first time that it will be done with knowledge aforethought, and coordination between the two pilots, real and virtual!

The idea originated in some of the feedback from the original Golden Argosy series. Why not have a virtual pilot fly the exact same flight plan, at the same time, using the same environmental conditions that I will be encountering? Why not indeed? It so happened that Chuck Gehman, who has been flying the 767 for some time now by way of PIC and Level-D, volunteered to do the virtual flying, thus condemning himself to a very long Sunday night! Just how long would become apparent later!

We decided that I would call Chuck shortly before we departed and share a few unclassified details about the route, fuel load, weights, and the suchlike, so that the virtual 767 would match the real one as closely as possible. Real world weather would be available via the Internet, as would the NAT tracks for the evening. Chuck would plug all of this into his Level-D Boeing, and await clearance for pushback along with us.

Things went exactly according to plan until the day before the trip, when Flight Standards (the part of our flight department responsible for training and qualifications) called and informed me that I would be having the next three days off! Seems as though an F/O needed a route qualification and the first Rome trip of the season fit the bill. I was of two minds about this development, since I had bid this schedule specifically to fly this opening day trip, as I have done for both previous seasons that we flew JFK to Rome. (It seems only fitting that the Captain on this first flight to Italy be -- how shall I phrase this delicately -- of Italian descent!) So although I usually don't object too strenuously when offered a few extra days off (with pay, of course!) I was at least a little miffed that my annual San Gennaro fest had been purloined!

On Sunday morning, however, the call came that I was back on the trip. And, for the record, the rumors that I made the check airman "an offer he couldn't refuse" are completely false! In any event, our virtual formation flight was back on again.

A portion of the flight plan.

The drive to the airport went smoothly, and shortly after I arrived in operations I called Chuck for the first part of the briefing. The route was similar to the original route mentioned in the articles, differing only in the Atlantic track. The filed route was as follows:

Hapie 3 YAHOO, dct TUSKY, N91B CYMON, NAT Z GIPER, UN511 TAKAS, UN490 TERPO, UM616 LERGA, UM728 BTA, UL146 ELB, dct GRO, UL153 TAQ

Initial level off was to be FL 350, with a climb to FL 370 after BODNO, and eventually a climb to FL 410 at KOLON. Speed was filed as M.80 for the entire flight.

The Zero Fuel weight was 255,000 lbs, and the dispatch fuel was 99,100 lbs, for a takeoff weight of 354,000 lb. Only 10 seats were unoccupied, all in coach, a good load for the first flight. Center of gravity worked out to 29.6 percent. Chuck loaded all of this into his virtual Boeing, along with the weather, which at JFK was actually 260/18kt with 2900 scattered, 3600 broken and 5500 overcast, temperature 6 Celsius. The 31's were in use, landing on the right and departing on the left. We expected the Canarsie climb.

Our carefully laid plans began to go awry when we arrived at the airplane. The FB (the second copilot) had discovered a problem with the electrical system and the airplane was taken out of service. One of the advantages of being at a large airline is that there is usually another airplane somewhere that can be commandeered; and so it was that another 767-300 was discovered lurking about, scheduled to arrive at JFK around 19:30. This would mean, of course, a delay of around 3-4 hours, but it's better than a cancellation.

I phoned Chuck when these developments became clear, only to find that he, apparently in possession of a serviceable 767(!), had departed on schedule and was already somewhere beyond Nantucket! Chuck kindly agreed to hit the reset button, thus giving the real airplane a fighting chance in the great Atlantic air race! Actually, Chuck already knew that we had not left the gate. The Internet is a mother lode of information, especially about such things as the comings and goings of airliners! From "ourairline".com and several other sites, including a few that provide direct ATC audio and radar information for the New York area, he was able to gather that we were still tied up at the dock, so to speak.

Next in line for takeoff. The white lines are the preceding airplane on the roll, and the thunder from his departure shakes us just a bit, resulting in the slight jiggle in the photo!

In due course, the new airplane arrived, was cleaned and fueled, and we were once again ready to cast off. I had given Chuck one final heads-up from the cockpit via cell phone shortly before we left, so he was able to log on to the various sites and actually listen to us talking to ground and tower. We left the gate at 0047Z, and taxied out to runway 31L, which was still the active runway. After a relatively short 25 minutes, we were cleared for takeoff and lifted off at 0112Z.

Takeoff: 0112Z

The Canarsie climb is so named because, at around 400' AGL you turn left toward the VOR of the same name, located upon a spit of land jutting out from the neighborhood of the same name, a portion of the borough of Brooklyn. The procedure itself calls for a further left turn over the VOR, to track outbound on the 176 radial. Occasionally this is done, but more often Departure Control, as you near Canarsie, gives you a heading toward whatever offshore fix you are filed over, such as Hapie, or Shipp. This is the case tonight; and, in fact, we are cleared direct to Yahoo, for which we must turn almost 180 degrees to the left, passing close by JFK airport as we do so. We are not too terribly heavy, and so we have the flaps retracted by the time we are halfway through the turn. Steady on our course to Yahoo, we contact Boston Center, which has control of the airspace from mid Long Island eastward.

Well before Yahoo, we are cleared direct to CYMON, which is hundreds of miles to the east. This is not exactly typical, and is likely due to our long delay departing JFK - we have now fallen to the rear of the pack, so to speak. When we reach cruise altitude, FL 350, and things settle down a little, I think about my virtual wingman, and wonder how Chuck is doing on his own Argosy! If we still had the Airphones, I could actually call him; but alas, they have gone with the wind, apparently a victim of their high cost.

YAHOO - 0138Z 89,400 lb

We pass abeam Yahoo at 0138 with 89,400 lbs of fuel still onboard. The newer so-called Pegasus FMC's on later 767's have a key that will automatically insert abeam positions for every bypassed waypoint when you set up a direct routing, but tonight we have the old style FMC, and so we have to use the fix page to create abeam waypoints. It takes a few more keystrokes, and such is the sloth of the modern airman that we gripe about it!

Self portrait by moonlight.

TUSKY - 0200Z 85,100 lb

The air is smooth enough to turn off the seatbelt sign, and in the cabin, the Flight Attendants have started the meal service. This is a fairly senior cabin crew, which is typical of a Rome trip. With as many years of experience as this crew has in the aggregate, there is little that can happen that would fall outside their area of expertise. Nothing beats experience!

As we roll along past Moncton and Halifax, our oceanic clearance comes across the ACARS printer. Just what we filed - NAT Z at FL 350 and Mach.80. The enroute alternates are YJT (Stephenville), KEF and SNN. A check of the weather at Gander (YQX) shows why we are not using it - a mile and a quarter visibility in rain and fog! Likewise at Torbay and Goose.

CYMON - 0313Z 71,200 lb

Approaching CYMON we get another direct clearance, this time to 51N050W. In earlier times, we would have precomputed the estimated time and fuel over the fixes by doing the math right on the flight plan. Nowadays, though, a log comes over the ACARS printer shortly after takeoff, and the computer has done all of the figuring for us.

51N050W - 0338Z 66,700 lb

For the oceanic portion of the flight we will be communicating with Gander and Shanwick via HF radio, in a rigid format known as an Airep. Again, the newer FMC's on some of the airplanes are capable of automatically making position reports via Satcom, but tonight we are doing it the old fashioned way! All of this is exactly as it was described in the Golden Argosy articles, to which I now refer you for more details. The second break, mine, begins between 50 and 40 West, so I will get an hour or two of shuteye.

52N040W - 0422Z 59,400 lb
52N030W - 0506Z 51,600 lb

At 30 West we change to Shanwick Oceanic Control, still using HF radios. This airplane does have Satcom, but it is not tied into the FMC, and, in fact, is set up more like a telephone. We don't use it for Air Traffic Control communications except as a last resort. There is some occasional light chop, enough to turn on the seat belt sign, but not to be a concern. At this point, fed and sated, all of the passengers who can be asleep are indeed asleep. Only the insomniacs or those incapable of contortion are still conscious. For them, we have the dubious delights of Hollywood on the screens throughout the cabin!

The first movies aboard airplanes were actually shown in the '30's, but it was really just a demonstration. All the way to the early '60's conversation and reading served to wile away the long (and they were indeed long!) hours of transoceanic flights on piston engine airplanes. It was not until the jet age that Seattle and Hollywood joined forces. At first, an actual 16mm film was projected onto a single screen in the front of each cabin. A follow-on system, which was still employed on our 707's when I came aboard in 1977, involved a single huge reel of film at the back of the airplane. This reel fed the film through the hat racks up one side and then down the other side, whence it was taken up on another huge reel. In between, the film fed, in sequence, through 20 or so small screens that hung below the hat rack, every three or four rows. Each screen was a self-contained rear projector system, and the movie played in a sequential fashion. If you liked a scene, and were sitting in the back, you could see it time and again on each successive monitor, about 10 seconds apart! These film systems prevailed until the advent of video recording technology in the 1970's.

Dawn breaks at last!

51N020W- 0551Z 44,300 lb

Approaching DINIM we will re-establish VHF radio contact, this time with Shannon Control in Ireland. From here on out, the waypoints come fast and furious, and we will get a great many direct clearances, especially in France. These direct clearances seldom involve much cutting of corners, but rather allow for the elimination of closely spaced waypoints along a pretty much straight course. We are back in radar contact, of course, and so we no longer make position reports. All we need to do is keep track of the time and fuel over or abeam certain of the waypoints as we pass. We choose these ourselves, based upon time and distance - we want a time and a fuel check about every 20 minutes or so. Thus far, we are a minute ahead (fast) and 500 lb to the good. Fat City! We also get clearance to climb to what is now our optimum altitude, FL 370.

NTS - 0724Z 28,500 lb
BEBIX - 0744Z 25,600 lb
LATAM - 0802Z 23,000 lb
KOLON - 0819Z 20,000 lb

Ever since LERGA the Alpes Maritimes have been visible out the front window. Mt. Blanc, Europe's highest massif, is also visible a bit farther in the distance. The Mediterranean Sea out the front window reminds us to recheck the Rome weather. The report is not long in coming - good visibility, light southerly winds, and a temperature of 12 degrees C, around 54 in real degrees! Looks to be a terrific day!

South of KOLON, which is very close to Nice, ATC instructs us to descend to FL 270. This is well before we would do so on our own, since a clean descent from 370 would only involve around 120 miles distance, and we are much farther from touchdown than that. Nevertheless, to hear is to obey!

Passing GRO, having descended to FL190 we hear, on the radio, that which a pilot never wants to hear - holding instructions for aircraft ahead! Sure enough, Approach Control soon issues us our own holding instructions - at the TAQ VOR, as published. Checking the fuel we find that, although we are 400 lb to the good over GRO, the amount onboard, 16,200 lb., will not allow for too much dallying. Ciampino is the alternate, since the weather is good; indeed, weather is apparently not a factor in today's holding. It is more likely that traffic has gotten a bit bunched up heading toward the runways, and they need to sort things out.

All too soon we need the sunshades.

One turn in holding should be enough, and indeed it is. We are vectored to the final approach, although kept high enough that we will need to do a few "S" turns on final to arrive at a stabilized profile by 1000 feet AGL. Touchdown is smooth at 0911Z, just four minutes later than the original computer estimate on our flight log!

The Alpes Maritimes in the distance, with Mont Blan in the center.

Taxi-in is short in Rome, since our terminal is close to runway 16R, on which we landed. We tie up at the gate at 0915Z, which is 11:15 local time, exactly four hours later than schedule. Oh well, we're just glad to be here! Fuel on board at engine shutdown is 13,700 lb, only 300 lb lower than the original forecast. Let's see Chuck beat that!

The Alps, closer to the Mediterranean.

As I look at my watch and see that it is 05:15 Eastern time, I realize to just what lengths people like Chuck are willing to go to experience a realistic simulation of flight. We will discover when next we speak, several days hence, that we blocked in within a few minutes of each other - a remarkable performance indeed. Times and fuels are remarkably similar, as a comparison of the logs shows. Indeed, the only notable difference is our actual location at the end of the drill! My crew and I will now enjoy a layover in Rome, while Chuck will have to simulate that too, perhaps at the local Olive Garden! Ah, but he does not have to deal with the time zone difference or a nine-plus hour flight home tomorrow! Everything has its own unique rewards!

"Virtual cockpit" view!

This has been, in my experience, a rather novel way to test a product, but the Level-D 767 simulator has passed with flying colors, at least with respect to realistic systems and general performance characteristics. Some day, when I get a new computer, one worthy of such a fine program, I can have a look at the flight dynamics. If they are anything at all like the PIC program, I'm sure they are right on!

The flight log, uploaded via ACARS, with my notes of the flight.

So therefore, rejoice and be glad, because to get a significantly higher level of realism for the 767 will cost you many million bucks! Looked at in that way, Level D has created a real bargain! Happy Landings!

Anthony Vallillo
avallillo@charter.net

First off let me introduce myself. My name is Chuck Gehman and I have been flight simming since FS98. I fly with no less than 10 virtual airlines at the moment and have close to 2500 hours of "virtual" airline experience. Hands down my favorite aircraft has been and continues to be the Boeing 767, on which I have over 600 hours -- mostly with the older Wilco 767 PIC and lately with the incredible Level-D Simulations 767.

Not too long ago I emailed the esteemed Captain to thank him for giving the flight sim community his article entitled "The Golden Argosy." We have since struck up an email friendship wherein I constantly belabor him with questions about airline operations, the 767 and a real world ATP's life in general. He has been very kind (and patient) with me in my quest to accumulate all the knowledge I can about those issues. I think in turn I have informed him of what it is like to be a virtual airline pilot, and how most of us strive to make it "as real as it can get". This Captain in my opinion epitomizes what deep down inside all of us would like to be, and I see him as a true professional. I have learned more in a month from him about the "inside" than I probably knew up to that point in 7 to 8 years of flight simming. Now on to our task...

We conceived the notion one day of flying a route in flight simulator mirroring its real world counterpart in as many unclassified ways as possible. We doubt if this has actually been done before, wherein the real world pilot shared the information with the virtual pilot before departure and the virtual flight was conducted as closely to the real flight as possible.

The Captain called me from his flight ops around 1715 local EDT (it was the first day of daylight savings and that hour 'lost' will come in to play later). In a hurried way (we were both busy at this time) he gave me the flight plan KJFK (Kennedy Intl, NY, NY) to LIRF (Rome-Fiumicino, Rome, Italy). He also quickly gave me the zero fuel weight of the aircraft, the pax weights, cargo weights plus fuel on board. In addition we quickly discussed assumed temps, V-speeds and such. After that we ended the phone call in short order, as I knew he had work to do and I had to get FS running, get the route plugged in (default FS planner), get to the flight deck, which was of course cold and dark. After getting electrical power established I had to really fly inputting the SID for JFK the route including the NAT and the STAR for LIRF I assumed I would be receiving. Trying to be prepared as possible I was probably at the cpu around 1500 that afternoon checking wx and his flight to make sure everything looked to be on time with it. All appeared to be. I knew I was in for a long night Sunday evening, thus I stayed up very late Saturday night and slept in Sunday morning. Thankfully.

Had just finished everything up on the deck and checked the time and had all of one minute remaining to double-check everything. Yes I was pressed for time, but got things underway on time and planned to use my extra-long taxi to continue the double-checking. Lets face it, in flight sim I could have pushed and been rolling on the active within 6 minutes, but trying to keep it real I taxied over to 31L and held for about 15 minutes to properly simulate the Captain's real world taxi. About 25 minutes after push we were rolling and following a normal departure and climb -- so I decided it was time to check on the real world flights progress. On flightview.com, much to my chagrin, his flight was still being shown at the gate. Double-checking this with his airline's website I found it to be true that something was not right. Quickly killed the flight and was off to research what was going on. An hour of sim time lost...no big deal...this happens.

After verifying via the net that he had indeed not departed I wanted to know why. A quick call to his airline's automated flight status informed me that, due to a problem, there was to be an aircraft change and a gate change. Plus the flight was now tentatively being called for to depart at 8:30 pm local. 2 hours from now. Well not that bad, at least my "hurried" flight prep for this one was now washed out and sometimes when you are taking off you know in the back of the mind whether everything is "right" or not and I never had that feeling during the first attempt.

Was considering calling the Captain, and my battle of wills was finally concluded with me snatching the phone and searching for his phone number. Just then the phone rang and guess who? He explained there was a problem during the preflight of the aircraft and I responded with "I know". He seemed somewhat amazed here and I went on to tell him that he was getting a new bird and was now departing at the adjoining gate. I got a kick out of his amazement with this but some simple quick internet research can pull up a lot of info in real time. It turned out to be a blessing in disguise, since now we went over the flight info again and I discovered I had a few small errors in my route. This time around we had ample time to thoroughly discuss everything, and after the call I felt relieved that I had plenty of time to get all this set up "right" in the sim. Only difference I made in the "numbers" was I took a Captain's discretionary bump of 5,000 extra on fuel so I was planned for a brake release of 104,100. This was because during the first attempt the FMC was projecting me after TOC to only have around 7000 lbs of fuel left on arrival. I'm entitled to my bump and so I took it. Figuring this flight is so late adding 5000 more lbs is not going to hurt anything.

Attempt 2

Now prepped and ready sitting at the gate, after a last look at his new scheduled departure of 8:45 pm local, I started wondering how can I tell EXACTLY when he pushes so we can get the brakes released at the same time. One last look at the airline's site showed he had pushed at 8:47 pm local. I jumped into the sim and the sim time showed 8:47 local to the second! I quickly pushed back and began a taxi towards 13R that FS ATC was giving me. Of course I was quicker in my taxi than the Captain and decided to pull over into one of the taxi hold areas and pull up JFK Live ATC on the Internet. I could hear that they were using the 31's for departure, and shortly after that I heard his flight being instructed to hold short of taxiway Juliet. A quick glance out the LF window confirmed I was in nearly the same spot.

After waiting a few minutes, I taxied down to 31L and held short, waiting to hear his flight cleared for takeoff. It was deserted down here as all the FS AI aircraft were using the reciprocal. Here is where some worry crept in. I did want to take the active and roll when he was cleared to do so, however I had default traffic taking off into my face. A head-on collision in the middle of 31L would not be a great way to start this journey! Visibility was very good, and I could see the AI traffic at the far end finally dissipate down to where everything was clear. As soon as it was, like a sign from above, I heard his flight cleared to takeoff. I eased the throttles forward and performed a rolling takeoff feeling assured we were within a minute of each other.

Takeoff: 0113Z

Very good takeoff! I do not know if it was the fact I had the real flight's numbers or not but everything seemed perfect. We were to fly the HAPIE3 and there are a few different turns you can make to accomplish this. I knew the Canarsie turn was very popular so at 400' AGL began the left turn towards it. My Level-D virtual first officer was in fine form tonight, retracting the gear and flaps according to schedule, and soon we were cutting inside of Canarsie VOR to fly outbound towards Hapie. During the climb I pulled up JFK Live Radar and noticed his flight was airborne and just behind and below me (although this could simply be the internet lag). His flight was handed off to departure but the JFK Live ATC dep. page was down. Well we are on our own now! I whispered to myself "have a good ride Captain". I knew at this point I was armed with enough information to make this one truly "as real as it gets".

We had by this time ditched the default FS ATC, and since we planned to stay on the deck for the entire route traffic would not be any trouble thanks to LDS for their fully operational Traffic Collision and Avoidance System. Approaching Yahoo I noticed a flurry of default Project AI traffic quickly moving from my left to right across the TCAS and assumed that all the AI traffic was using the wrong NAT tonight. This suited me perfectly, since now there was one less thing I would have to worry about. I leveled off at FL350 and started settling in for a long haul.

YAHOO 0134Z 90,900 lbs.

We pass directly over Yahoo at 0134z with nearly 91,000 lbs. of fuel remaining. Later after having been debriefed by the Captain after the trip I noticed I am slightly ahead of him but over half of my "bump" fuel has already been burnt. Also he had been cleared direct a few times (unknown to me) and I had been flying the route exactly as filed. I am watching the end of the Yankees - Red Sox game in New York at this time and monitoring the flight in between pitches. Yes there are differences in real world flying vs. sim flying but the latters' are not all negative!

TUSKY 0202Z 86,600 lbs.

Clipping along and all is silent here in the house. Kids and wife are gone to bed and it's just me and the simulator. Looking back at the Captain's log I see he is slowly reeling us in and burning a touch less fuel to boot! Guess all those years of experience due mean A LOT.

CYMON 0320Z 71,900 lbs.

The Captain's direct clearance before the intersection has put him positively in front of us now, but that's OK...we will not have to hold on arrival. I plan to be busy during the NAT keeping up with all the enroute alternates and the "points of no return" so shortly before Cymon I wolf down some sandwiches along with some triscuits and cream cheese. Definitely a negative of flight sim vs. real-world!

AHA - Now that he can no longer cut the corners on some of these waypoints we are holding pace. Also the fuel burn has calmed down and we are very close in our numbers. It is about this time I assume the Captain is going to be napping. I consider this possibility myself but conclude it's a no-go due to the fact that I still have 1 failure per month armed on the sim. It has not happened yet in 250+ hours with the LDS 767 but if I take a nap I'm sure to have an unattended engine fire or some calamity that could put the flight in jeopardy. I shake the Z-monster off and open up the Golden Argosy for a re-read.

52N040W 0432Z 59,500 lbs.

OK by now all my bump fuel is gone. Where did it go? I'm not sure. FMC is projecting us with around 13,000 at arrival so there is no need for alarm but we will keep a close eye on it. Also around this time I lose the Captain's flight on flightview.com. No cause for alarm as surely it is just due to range reasons but I do double-check the news site quickly to make sure there is no breaking news of a 767 missing over the North Atlantic! (Oh ye of little faith! Capt. V)

52N030W 0515Z 52,100 lbs.

Looking later at the Captain's log I see the extra fuel burn has disappeared. Since we are now no longer as heavy we finally had a leg that we won the fuel battle. Now, looking back, I am sure this extra burn in fuel was due to different enroute winds we have been experiencing. FS default real-world weather is a great tool but let's face it, it is not an exact science. I can't harp on the FS weather too much, though, because on my log I have recorded light turbulence on this leg as well as the Captain. Must have been very light on my end because I do not recall turning the seatbelt sign on. Funny that the Captain mentions the movie -- somewhere around here I started watching "Goodfellas" on one of the movie channels. We are going to Italy...right?

51N020W 0600Z 44,000 lbs

Still no Captain on flightview.com, or news of a missing 767. Am wondering whether or not we will be able to pick him up on any internet flight trackers, as we are now approaching Europe. Ranging out on the EHSI I see a long list of waypoints approaching that appear to be no more than 5 meters apart! About midway between Giper and Takas the FMC begins requesting FL370 and I suspect that the Captain, somewhere in this vicinity, will be climbing as well. I figure the pax are still asleep, so I commence a very slow hand-flown climb to FL370. The systems of the LDS are excellent but the real beauty of this bird is her hand flying capabilities. I find myself leveling off at FL370 and still hand flying her for several more miles. Finally I know there are a multitude of waypoints to record, therefore I reluctantly reengage LNAV and VNAV with the left autopilot controlling. One other aspect of sim flying I have noticed is that my sim time has fallen behind the real time by a couple of minutes! I engage 2X acceleration for a couple of minutes and get everything resynchronized.

NTS 0732Z 29,000 lbs.

We've been flying now for several hours, and I have to admit no boredom to this point. As we crossed the French coast flightview.com once again began reporting the Captain's flight! I know now all is well with them and comparing the 2 map views I see we appear to hit the coast at the same time. Reinvigorated we slip effortlessly on.

BEBIX 0748Z 26,200 lbs.

At this time I remember the Captain telling me not to worry about recording every waypoint, especially since a lot of these waypoints are 2 minutes apart. Flight simmers are too hardcore for that -- every waypoint is recorded! Plus, it keeps me busy and keeps the mind calculating possibilities. Then too, in the middle of the night here, Goodfellas just ended -- I find myself with not much else to do at this point!

LATAM 0800Z 23,900 lbs.
KOLON 0818Z 21,500 lbs.

Just before Kolon I start checking Rome wx. Appears to be nice but I am hearing some distant thunder in the sim and way off in the distance directly ahead we see some VERY tall clouds. This may become very interesting! We see the Alps Maritimes off in the distance as well and slightly to the left of our track although they are somewhat obscured by clouds. Everything continues well during the latter portions of our cruise and we check back in with FS ATC. They order a descent to be initiated about 2 miles earlier than the FMC so we simply engage the VNAV DES NOW button on the FMC and we're descending. As the PA crackles to life informing the pax that we are close to ending this trip I wonder if the real-world Captain may be making a similar PA about this time. Everything is fine until as we are passing through FL300 the plane gets knocked sideways some as the wind violently shifts direction then as soon as the AP stabilizes everything we get hit again from the opposite direction. Enough of that -- I kick off the A/P and begin to hand fly the descent.

It's slightly before 5 am back here in the Eastern US and I notice I am not sharp at all with my hand-flying skills so on the side of safety we turn everything back over to Otto. We pass through the broken to overcast skies around 10,000' to find a moderate thunderstorm taking place over the field. FS ATC is giving me a visual to 7 so this is where I once again part ways with the ATC. I know they regularly use 16R for landing so we vector ourselves in to take the ILS to 16R from about a 20 degree intercept. I start to pick up the ATIS for LIRF reading as ...vis 3 in rain, thunderstorms in the area. I decide against hand flying the approach as by this point in the flight nature was beginning to catch up with my body.

We set her up for a LAND3 autoland and Otto takes over. I monitor the approach and the LDS sim simply nails the approach perfectly, I notice the flare commence and shortly after touchdown we engage the reversers and switch the A/P and A/T off. We taxi off and FS GND gives me a gate I have never used before. We begin to taxi there when we realize it is sending this international 767 flight out to what looks like a barn on the far north side of the airport. About this time we see a Delta 767-400 tied up at a respectable looking gate and we pull in beside him just as he is pushing back. I follow all of the shutdown checklists and just before killing the electrical power we notice the time in as being 0915z (1115 am local). At shutdown, fuel remaining shows 13,800 lbs. At this point although I am dying to know how the Captain's trip went. I head to bed and pass out knowing that as I fall asleep that I simply nailed that flight from start to finish.

A few days later the Captain and I once again correspond by phone but this time it's a lot different. We do have some flight info to share but there is no "rush". He is off for a few days now. We share real world flight stories and simulated ones. He explains to me some real world airline procedures and facts about the 767 and I begin to explain to him some of the workings of a virtual airline. I find whilst speaking to him that we are not that much unalike. We both love aviation and practice it by the means available to us. Him a 767 flight deck and me a LDS simulation on the PC.

As far as LDS goes this is by far the best add-on ever for flight simulator. On this example the flights were literally within a minute or so of each other and although I burnt a "touch" more fuel I feel this is the wx's fault and no fault of LDS. If you want the "immersion" factor, as I have searched for since I began flight simming, then the LDS sim is for you. I in no way work for them nor am I a beta tester, just your average simmer like the other 99.5% of us are. To this point there is nothing out there that comes close to the LDS sim and I advise all of you "on the fence" to check out their site and hopefully their product.

As for the Captain I cannot say enough for the man. He is the consummate pro and I'm sure he ranks VERY highly with his airline. That alone does not compare with his willingness to share some of his experience with the flight sim community and he is to be respected in the community if for no other reason than that fact alone.

Many thanks Captain for giving me the most realistic sim flight I have ever embarked on and I get great pleasure in sharing this journey with all of you.

"Sim" Captain Chuck Gehman
simboeing24@yahoo.com