Variations On A Theme

By Ron Blehm
Alastair Monk
Hans Linde
Bill Smith
Tony Radmilovich
Peter Stark
Rik Vyverman
Alejandro Irausquin
(26 April 2004)

What happens when you take eight simmers from different countries and different backgrounds, give them a basic flight such as NZ513, and give them 30 days to complete the flight however they want? What happens is, "Variations on a Theme" and in this piece we'd like to share our experiences in flying this regularly scheduled route.

The Flight

A regular scheduled service of just 50-minutes duration. (An ideal flight for Flight simmers who are pressed for time.) Inspired by the video, "Boeing 737, 25 Years of Kiwi Service": The video commentary states, "This is the kind of flight that the 737 was designed for." Flight 513 departs Christchurch (NZCH) at 9:40 AM and arrives at the scenic resort town of Queenstown (NZQN) at 10:30 AM.

The route is fairly straightforward and looking down from FL260 the scenery can be quite beautiful, but the approach into the mountainous terrain around Queenstown is a tricky one. You will have first of all filed an IFR flight plan, which will have you heading outbound of Christchurch on the 216 radial, (VOR 115.30). You will climb quickly to a cruise altitude of 26,000 feet, by which time you will already be able to pick up the VOR for your destination (Slope Hill VOR 113.60).

On the day that you fly this route, if the winds at Queenstown are from the south, (just as they were on the video), you will be flying south-southwest down a valley with a road and a river below you. Keep a lookout ahead and to the right, and in a few minutes the airport should come into view. When you have the runway in sight, turn right, back towards the Slope Hill VOR. Then as soon as you are clear of the high ground below you, SLOW DOWN and increase your rate of descent to 1000-1500 feet/minute. If you attempt to make a straight in approach from here, you'll end up too high over the runway threshold. You'll need to commence a zig-zag descent onto the runway. So make a descending right hand turn, and then turn left over Lake Hayes. Then make a right turn from your base leg onto runway 23. Your speed over the threshold should be about 120 kts if you are using the 737-200 series. I strongly suggest that you do not rely on ATC.

If you are too high over the runway threshold, I recommend you divert to Invercargill (90 nm to the south) because it will be too risky to try and re-configure yourself for another approach without ATC assistance. (Remember that you've cancelled your IFR clearance!). If visibility is poor or if there is low cloud, I recommend you divert to Invercargill.

If you are successful, then you can depart Queenstown at 12:20 PM and fly back to Christchurch as Flight 524. Have fun!

Find a VOR/DME approach plate for NZQN at:
http://www.navyair.com/images/NZQN_VOR_DME_ALPHA.jpg

Peter Stark of Australia:

I arrived at Operations in Christchurch an hour before the scheduled departure of my allocated flight, "World Travel 734" which was to become a regular commercial service connecting Christchurch to Queenstown via NZFC (an add-on airport available only at www.toomuchfs.com).

I checked the weather. Light winds from the southwest meant a runway 20 departure from Christchurch and a 20L approach into NZFC. This was a difficult approach due to the high terrain to the northeast of the airport. The glideslope had a steep angle of 5°. There was quite a bit of cloud about, but mostly broken so we might be in luck. I filed the flight plan and proceeded to the aircraft.

We were flying a leased Air New Zealand B737-400. My co-pilot for this leg was Alastair (more from him in a bit). I had heard about this guy before but hadn't the pleasure of flying with him. We share a passion about DC3's, radial engines, the smell of oil in the cockpit and tailwheels.

We took off from Christchurch right on schedule at 09:20. The traffic was light and ATC offered to cancel the Standard Departure. We accepted and a turned to the right to intercept our track towards NZFC. The clouds prevented a good view of Mt. Cook to our west, but the early morning fog hung low in the valleys and the view made you feel good about the world.

Within a minute of us leveling out at FL220, ATC cleared our descent to NZFC and confirmed that a 20L ILS approach was operating. During descent we had broken through the cloud base at 5500 feet, so we completed a visual approach rather than rely on the autopilot trying to intercept such a steep glideslope and sharp localiser intercept angle. The nice long runway allowed a smooth landing despite being a little fast on final. We were immediately cleared to Gate 7.

Alastair and I quickly returned to our B737 for the last leg into Queenstown. The passengers were already boarding as we returned to our seats. The departure was prompt and uneventful. We had no sooner reached our cruise altitude of 18,000 feet when ATC was clearing us for an immediate descent into Queesntown. As some of the hills were still obscured by cloud, we elected to do a Runway 23-Alpha VOR/DME approach. We established ourselves at 10,000 feet on the Slope Hill VOR (113.60) 038 radial. We started a shallow descent to maintain the published descent profile, which had us at 7100 feet just as we passed the 7 nm mark. We had flown this approach into Queenstown before and knew that once we had cleared the surrounding range of hills, we could descend rapidly down to our MDA of 4700 feet. If the weather was reasonable, we would then hopefully be able to go visual for a right base to runway 23. In anticipation of this, we reduced speed to 150 knots, lowered our gear and 20° flap.

We broke clear of cloud as we passed the last range of hills and were greeted with a spectacular view (right). While there was some broken cloud and remaining patches of fog, the runway looked clear and the winds were quite light. We continued our deceleration to 135 knots and lowered the remaining flaps while altering our heading to intercept final.

In quick succession, we rolled out on final and continued to decelerate to 125 knots. At this low airspeed our nose was quite high but as long as our rate of descent didn't get too high we should be OK. The lower our ground speed on touchdown, the greater our chances of avoiding something terribly embarrassing!

As we continued our descent deeper into the valley, the light faded as the sun passed behind some large cumulus which were building to the north. It seemed we had just arrived during a lull in the weather. The approach was slow and a little flat, but we touched down on schedule and right on target. We had no problem stopping by the exit taxiway and continued to the terminal.

Ron Blehm of the USA:

The 6th of the month: I load up the Cebu Pacific DC-9 and check the load and balance. After a quick walk around and preflight we are ready to program the computer (my PC not the FMC - does the DC-9 even have an FMC?) for our route into Queenstown using the VOR at NZFC (an add-on airport available only at www.toomuchfs.com) as a midway waypoint. The weather today: Overcast (spelled, f-o-g-g-y) but calm winds and no rain, very flyable. Wait just a minute, the 09:40 AM departure slot is already spoken for by NZ513. So we'll get a jump on the morning rush and leave at 09:25 AM. Since Hans is reportedly afraid to die this month, (and I'm experienced in that realm) I'll take him along as my F.O. to "learn the ropes," then he'll be good to go it alone! (More from Hans in a moment, read on...) We contact ground for pushback at 9:26 AM and receive our taxi clearance out to runway 02. We taxi out while setting up the autopilot and nav radios. Hans adds in the flaps and runs through the pre-takeoff checks and we are cleared to depart at 09:34 AM.

Once we are through the "soup" and ATC turns us south I dial up the VOR for FCI (109.00) and it shows 104 miles. We continue our climb up to 20,000 for cruise, not too high but it's a shorter flight anyway. Below it's only clouds and some occasional, very light bumps.

"China Southern five-two-niner, turn right heading two-six-zero. Descend and maintain flight level one-two-thousand, expect visual to runway 5." Now the plate I have suggests that for runway 5 we set-up on the 037° radial inbound at 30 miles from 6000 feet. Problem one is that after ATC hands us off about 15 times, they vector us in from only about 16 miles out. Problem two is that ATIS is reporting Queenstown is "socked in." Suddenly ATC reports, "China Southern, airport is directly to your 9 o'clock position, turn left, cleared for runway 5."

"Oh NO! I can't see ANYTHING out there." I turn left but hold the 2100 feet ATC left me at... "China Southern, turn right heading 180 and climb to niner-thousand feet. Contact New Zealand Center." I guess that means I missed the airport? So THAT's why they suggested we not use the default ATC!

With that, I cancel IFR and fly 210° about 32 miles out, then I follow my own route in on the 037 radial to 19.4 DME before turning to 048°. I have the MAP as 1700 feet at 5.2 miles DME. At that point we are still in the thick cloud so I go ahead and drop to 1,500 feet. At 2 miles DME I figure it is a lost cause to try and land this morning. I go missed for the second time and as I climb out of the cloud I dial up the FCI VOR at NZFC once again. See Hans, I didn't kill you off - yet! We fly back to NZFC for an ILS landing into 02R at 11:00 AM.

The 11th of the month: Weather today is very scattered clouds at 8000 feet, temps in the lower 40's (F) which means it's time to get to Queenstown. I load up an old classic, the 727, with full pax. and bags and skinny gas. We depart NZFC from runway 20L just after 11:30 AM. This is a quick up and down so I fly the entire route by hand (no autopilot assist of any kind). I fly over the 386 NDB at 8000 feet, capturing the 260° radial inbound the VOR, stepping down according to my plate. By 10 miles I have visual on runway 23 and turn in, dropping flaps and gear to be fully set-up and trimmed by 3 mile final. There is a little gusting wind out of the 180's but landing was on the marks or at least as "on the marks" as I can get when flying by hand!

Hans Linde from Germany:

Approach Plate for NZQN:
http://www.navyair.com/images/NZQN_VOR_DME_ALPHA.jpg

Flight plan: NZQH-CH (115.3) - FCI (an add-on airport available only at www.toomuchfs.com) (109.0) - SH (113.6) - NZQN

Total distance: 188 nm

This time I decided to do a real weather real time flight. I sat in front of my computer in the evening, 2200 my local time. This meant in Christchurch, NZ, it was 0800 in the morning. When I downloaded FS real weather I couldn't believe what I got: 1/8 clear skies and a wind of ZERO. I couldn't have done it better myself, although - it was freezing; 24F (-4.4 C) Shiver. Something's wrong with the order of our flight locations. We're following winter on the planet. I feel a strong demand to break out of this sequence.

As I entered the staff office at Christchurch airport to get into preparations for the morning flight 513 to Queenstown, I wasn't sure how the day following this clear morning would look like for me and a couple of passengers. As you all know my experience in flying heavy metal is somewhat limited. High mountains and no ILS. Just a relatively un-precise VOR approach with a turn to a short final, it's like the Alaskan airports. A 737 into a place like this?

Ultimately I decided to take the WoodArt Designs Dash 7 instead and, can I say that I felt released? I knew the Dash 7 from a previous flight and it would be a plane I probably could handle into NZQN. As I looked out of the window I could see its beautiful WoodArt Design livery in the dawn.

I filed my flight plan and didn't lose any time. When I studied the flight path I just couldn't believe that it was a procedure for a heavy jet. It looked like an approach suitable for a drunken sailplane. I decided to rely on official data and planned to take the VOR/DME Alpha approach to runway 23, if winds allowed an approach from the west.

I started engines and got advice to taxi to runway 20. At 08:16 I was cleared IFR to Queenstown, turned onto the runway and got airborne at 08:18. I cleaned configuration, climbed out westbound, adjusting to a 222 degree heading towards the FCI-VOR. I engaged AP and leveled off to cruise altitude at FL200 at 08:35, DME 68 to FCI.

After passing FCI I locked NAV1 to the Slope Hill VOR and turned to 205 degrees at DME 88 in order to intercept the 218° approach path to runway 23 at DME 20.0 from the south. At 09:08 I was 46 nm from SH and it was time to begin a slow descent to PISA waypoint (DME 15.0). At PISA I should arrive at 10,000 feet. I had calculated that a speed of 150 knots and a descent of 1200 fpm after passing PISA should keep me on the glide path to MAP at DME 2.0.

At PISA waypoint I noticed that the view outside still didn't give any hints where to go. It seemed we were descending directly into the mountains. I carefully watched the instruments to stay on the rails and began to set flaps. This was a good idea because when I reached FAF at DME 7.0 at an altitude of 7000 feet I realized that the hillside beneath the plane was only a few hundred feet below. Still no airport in sight but a valley in front which offered some sort of flat terrain. Lower the gear. The airport should get into sight to the left and that would be the moment to disengage AP and deviate from the 218 radial to SH in order to turn to final on runway 23. This was the case 2 nm from SH which meant about 4 nm from the threshold. I still was a little bit too high, but it seemed possible to try a direct approach (right). Didn't look bad at all, at last. The approach chart had been very precise and everything was in place as expected.

I first got that vague feeling that something wasn't the way it should be when I was about 2 nm from the threshold. The VASI showed that I still was coming in too high and a hillside was lying in the final approach path. But the thing which disturbed me was the fact that the runway seemed to reach into the lake at the far end. Somehow funny. And then it happened. When I reached DH the runway began to VANISH directly in front of the plane! What kind of dirty trick was that supposed to be? It was too late for a go around and I dumped the plane into the landscape. It touched down on a hardened surface but in the same moment I lost visual references outside the cockpit. Blindfolded I threw in the brakes, trying to keep the plane somewhat straight in a direction where the runway should have been. Where was I? What had happened? So this was the end. It had struck me at last. Madness. Too much FS (right).

I fell back into my seat, breathing heavy. A moment later I realized that I wasn't the only breathing creature in the cockpit. In the First Officers seat - where the hell did he come from? - I stared into the eyes of a small demon who jumped to my neck the moment he realized that I took notice of his presence, shaking my head and yelling: "Gotcha! You FAILED! You failed the test! You bloody simulation nut will NEVER become a REAL pilot. Hahahaaa!"

I don't know how long this seizure had taken in real time but the next thing I was aware of was that I was staring at the DME and identified the digits 4 and 5. I felt puzzled and after a few seconds of recovery I realized that the autopilot was in full control of the Dash 45 nm from Slope Hill. Time to prepare for the Queenstown approach. I took a deep breath, leaned a little forward in my seat, took another look on the approach chart and initiated the descend.

(In fact, I had been clever enough to save a recovery file 45 nm out of Queenstown. You never know. Before I continued the flight I deactivated the NZ-mesh files in the FS-Library. This demon now should be tamed.)

Taking into account that Queenstown is listed in the dangerous airports list, approach went like a breeze. Although there were mountains to the left and to the right, I found the way down without hesitation, disengaged AP when in sight of the runway and touched down safely at 09:30. On the way to the terminal I had an undetermined feeling of a deja-vu, wondering when I had been here before.

Rik Vyverman from Belgium:

For my PIREP I tried to come up with something original and I think I've found something that can be both entertaining as well as educational. It's a well-known fact among pilots that alcohol and flying do not mix, hence the famous '8 hours between throttle and bottle' expression. But how bad is it to fly when you've had some drinks? I've put it to the test and discovered that it really is a bad idea to fly when you're intoxicated.

I broke out the 12-year old Scotch Whisky and poured myself a glass during the cockpit preparation. What happened during the flight is a mix of near misses and some amazed ATC faces. You recommend the 737-200 for this flight? Pfff, why not a 747-400? Yep, you got it, the first glass of scotch is getting to my head and I start feeling a little invincible. So lets pull the mighty 747-400 out of the hangar, I'll bet I'll be able to fly this leg.

After one glass of Scotch... Since at this point the scotch effects weren't noticeable everything went great. I punched all figures in the box and prepared the cockpit for start up and push back. This is all too easy I say to myself while pouring in a second glass.

'Christchurch ground, TC744 request push back'...'TC744, Christchurch ground, shouldn't you close those cargo doors before the push?' Whow...did I forget to close those things? Yep, I did actually! Only a few minutes into the flight and already one serious event! What's next?

During the start up I forgot to turn on the anti collision beacon, too bad for that marshaller that got sucked into the number 1 engine...

In my eagerness and my nearly invincible mood I almost collided with a parked 737 on the ramp. I guess I expedited that taxi turn a little too much...

After a second glass of Scotch... I found out that taxiing in the 747-400 is pretty easy, even when slightly intoxicated. Although the ground controller must have said something about my 'over the top' taxi speed but I can't really remember a radio call telling me to slow down. But more serious events were coming.

Normally it's standard practice to check brakes, flight instruments right at the beginning of the taxi. During the taxi flaps will be selected, along with autobrake RTO. The only thing I did was to select the autobrake to RTO, the rest was omitted due to obvious reasons.

On the runway and after receiving the take off clearance I noticed that flaps weren't set for take off. Moreover, they weren't selected at all. The same goes for the landing lights, strobes and transponder. I pulled together all my pride and requested a short delay on the runway to get things back into flying shape. It was only from the outside view that I noticed that something was wrong. Of course the cockpit safety features would have advised me that take off wasn't to be started, but still...

Imagine if I tried to take off without the 20° of flap...no more 747-400, no more plane to fly my 'round the world tour'... Amazingly, the take off and climb out went really great. The automatic flight system did the job here, but still I was rather impressed that I was still able to get this thing up to cruise altitude. Time to drink that third glass!

After a third glass of Scotch... 'Nothing much to report here, the scenery in this part of the world is really beautiful although cruising at FL280 and .85 isn't exactly ideal for sight seeing. Come to think of it: .85 at FL280 is also very close to the 'red tape' on the airspeed indicator. A little faster and the overspeed warning would have sounded. This could have been a potential serious event number 5. Needless to say is that I arrived in Queenstown in a record time. Ground speeds of 495 knots were registered.

The approach and descent were pretty much like described and they went without a hitch. To make it a little harder I poured in my fourth glass of Scotch.

After a fourth glass of Scotch... Now I'm starting to feel really tipsy, just as the most challenging part of the approach is coming my way. This was going to be a true test of my flying skills. 'Be mindful of the terrain' I remember from the description and so I did. Or didn't I?

Without fear I started descending through a cloud without a clue whatsoever of what terrain was lying beneath. When I broke out of the clouds, the GPWS was crying 'TERRAIN, TERRAIN...PULL UP PULL UP'. What's the big deal here? I've still got some 100 feet terrain clearance haven't I? I decided to continue the approach.

Landing this bird proved to be no biggie. Although, the steep descent path kept my speed a little high and provided me with some deceleration problems, no big deal. The landing was no major issue, little before the blocks, but I wanted to vacate ASAP because this narrow runway wouldn't allow me to turn and backtrack.

As you might have guessed...slowing down this bird to vacate at my intended exit point wasn't quite feasible. I had to continue to the end and try to turn it around. I soon found out that this was impossible without sucking debris into the engines and without 'swamping' my jumbo jet. 'Queenstown ground...TC744 we require some assistance...a tow truck would be nice.'

Conclusion: During this rather short flight I almost managed to crash the 747-400 two times, not taking into account the near ground collision with the 737 and the problem with the backtrack at Queenstown. After living the experience I can sum up some problems that will face you when trying to fly intoxicated:

1. fixation on less important issues
2. omission of important issues
3. 'Bold behavior' causing narrow or absent safety margins

Alastair Monk of the United Kingdom:

At the airport the passengers embarked, and mindful of the detailed instructions, I mapped out the flight plan and waypoints on my laptop using FSNavigator. On checking on the passengers, I found some were happier to be flying in such an elderly craft than others.

After taxiing out to runway 2, I took off and immediately banked left to pick up the airway at waypoint HODDE, just before crossing a large river. Target altitude was set to 11,000 feet, about the maximum possible without providing oxygen for the passengers. The weather was good, with light cloud.

As we approached waypoint GRE at about 9000 feet we could see the sea to our left and a series of rivers linking it to the mountains to our right. Reaching our cruising altitude, I adjusted the engines to give about 140 knots, although some wanted to go faster (as always!) and as we headed for waypoint GPN everyone admired the splendid scenery to our right. As we continued, we headed towards some snow-covered mountains and I wondered if we'd be high enough to clear the terrain. Fortunately we were!

Passing GPN, some cloud had developed, masking the view to our right, which was a shame. Above us, some gray storm clouds ensured that we kept to our planned altitude. Shortly after, we passed over some more water and Omerama (NZOA) just to our right.

At 56 miles DME from the Slope Hill VOR, we descended slightly to 10,000 feet, keeping an eye on things! By 46 miles DME from Slope Hill we banked the plane left to 220° and at 29 miles DME we started our descent to 7,000 feet, although at present there was cloud at our current altitude. As we descended, we passed a bay to our right.

At 19 miles DME we banked left to 200° and started a further descent to 5000 feet, passing over snow-covered terrain, and following the path of a river. At this point I adjusted course to 212° and we continued at 5000 feet, the mountains below seeming awfully close! Ahead was a dip in the mountains. Switching off the autopilot, I flew the plane over the last ridge, and, at last, we could see the airport (right). I lowered the gear and the first stage of flaps, and tried to line up with the runway, a little off to my right. At about 3000 feet, I dropped the flaps to 1/2 and tried to keep the runway in view. Unfortunately the DC-3's compass was rather masking the approach! Never mind, I was able to straighten up, and just short of the threshold I dropped the flaps and managed a touchdown with the main gear. A little nose-down, but I didn't want to overshoot! Soon enough the tail came down and we stopped just short of the turn-in to the hardstand to our left. Phew! So this was Queenstown!?

Alejandro Irausquin from Venezuela:

Since I was some months late getting this flight prepared I find myself unsure if it is 2004 or 2003...As I'm flying Eugene Heyar's Stratojet Excalibur (a DeLorean look-alike) I realized that I was reaching "transfer speed" but still didn't know what that would mean (980 mph, why 980?), a weird phenomenon occurred. Suddenly several blue rays like lightning strikes surrounded the windshield, and I guess the plane, accompanied with a not familiar sound. It couldn't be shockwaves. What then? It ended as suddenly as it started, and the cockpit was really cold. "Which surprise have you for me now?" I wondered. The weather was somehow different, but everything else seemed OK. I continued to NZCH, landed after a 747-400 whose pilot seemed drunk, and parked not far from a 737 which was waiting in the ramp for some reason. Surely a VIP that didn't show up in time, what a waste.

The actual flight - Air New Zealand Flight 513

"This is the kind of flight that the 737 was designed for". A nice statement, but one that didn't suit my taste. I am not used to flying heavies in FS, so I expected to use a different plane for this flight. Sorry!

As I entered the building I can swear that I saw Peter and Alastair walking to a distant exit door. "What are those guys doing here? They should be at Los Roques" I told myself while my name was pronounced over the intercom: "Mr. Irausquin, Mr. Irausquin, you are being expected at the fuel ramp". The complete fuel area was occupied by a pair of long sleek wings. As I wandered around the aircraft and looked through a window, I saw none other than Ron himself: "Air, you spent a big deal of time with this plane panel. Now get in and use it!" I climbed in the cockpit and readied to go.

I filed an IFR flight plan and entered it in the FSAvionics FSGarmin530. As some of the other members did, I included NZFC as one of the waypoints. This Garmin unit seems to be perfect for IFR, but not the "I Follow Rivers, Roads and Railroads" fashion. Take off went uneventfully and soon I was enjoying the nice features of NZ landscape, while ascending to 10,000 feet, under ATC instructions. As soon as I was told to maintain own navigation I did set the AP HDG function. The rest of the flight was done in a similar way, a quite smooth ride, even with weather options set by using WeatherMaker, a freeware automatic weather creation utility from Calibre Software. The Voyager is a great plane to fly from the VC, and the added Nav equipment greatly simplifies the navigation.

Something that does not pass unnoticed is the wetted nature of NZ lands. It is filled with rivers and lakes all the way from Christchurch to Queenstown. Finally we reached our NZ headquarters, all the time under ATC guidance, and almost perfectly on track. As we fly over the airport, I realized that I never have landed on it. Too bad Alejandro, not honoring the designer's work. The small field near from what I guess is a house looks especially appealing.

As we continued towards to the KALDI intersection I included in the flight plan from the approach chart, we were still impressed by the high number of rivers and lakes in the route, like Lake Benmore, we flew over the Chau and Pukaki rivers. Suddenly my scene changed, where before there was nothing in the horizon, now I can see a stunning gray and red Dash 7 moving away in the same direction as us! I would swear that she had the WD letters painted in her tail. But how?

I was so puzzled that I failed to follow the indications regarding ATC and altitudes, so when I finally had NZQN in sight I was too high. I tried the zigzag maneuver proposed but later realized that I had already cleared the mountain and there was no need of it.

And now it was time for the real fun, keeping the attitude of my ride (Early tests on this plane showed some pitch instability, so when the FS2004 version was released promising enhanced flight dynamics I installed it in FS2002 and replaced the older version, apparently without success). Trim for landing was not helping me, and every time I tried to correct my alignment with the runway the plane pitched up and down nearly out of control.

(The following occurred after several tries to properly align with the runway. Hans, thanks for the hint!)

Finally over the runway, with the plane trimmed and aligned I cut the power and settled on the runway. I could hardly breath, so I opened the canopy as soon as the wings lost all lift.

As I reviewed all the events, an idea was getting stronger in my mind: The sudden appearance of the Dash 7, the choice of the Voyager to fly in NZ, Peter and Alastair leaving the building at Christchurch, the waiting 737, the erratically handled 747, the DeLorean's alike futuristic Stratojet Excalibur. All lead to the same conclusion:

"Mea culpa! The date is not 2004, we are back in 2003!!!"

"Air, It took you the whole flight to figure it out? Man, you really need to take a rest from all that unfinished panel design and flight-testing work!"

Tony Radmilovich from the USA and Bill Smith from Australia:

Captain's (the "Pro") report in normal text
VIP passenger's (the "Con") comments are written in italics.

I had been warned about the early winter weather here and was pleasantly surprised to find sunny skies. The weather was holding and considering that we were going to be flying a rather tricky visual approach into Queenstown this was a good thing. By 09:00 I had filed my flight plan pre-flighted the 737 and had been briefed on the challenging approach ahead. Even though the weather reports for Queenstown were good, I made sure there was enough fuel to get to our alternate airport at Invercargill.

At the check-in counter things were not going exactly as I had planned. The stupid woman had mislaid the list of special requirements that I had faxed to Air New Zealand yesterday evening. It had taken me most of the day to write it and revise it and now she couldn't find it! She suggested that I stand aside to let some other passengers complete the check-in process while they tried to track down my fax. Time was getting on and I had already seen our Captain and F/O going through the gate, presumably to begin their pre-flight checks. Airline pilots usually look so impressive, radiating a confidence bordering on arrogance, but not this morning. I don't mean to be unnecessarily critical but the captain looked kind of heavy set and sweaty, and the back of his uniform looked a bit creased. In fact, he appeared to be a little anxious and I wondered how many times he had flown the tricky approach into Queenstown? I thought that I should run after him and offer him one of my homemade approach charts, but before I had a chance to do that I was called back to the counter.

'Mr Smith! We've found your fax!'

Angrily, I raised my index finger to my lips 'Shhh' and glared at her. Didn't she understand that I was traveling incognito? As the author of the most eagerly anticipated book about FS ever written I did not want to be mobbed by fans asking me about the book's release date. (Hence the beard fixed with double-sided tape). As it happened, the check-in lady's New Zealand accent resulted in my name being pronounced as "Smuth", so there was no harm done.

But a cursory glance at the fax resulted in further frustration for me.

'No. No. No!' I cried in exasperation. 'This is only the second revised version. Where's revision "C"? The one I faxed last night? Oh never mind, just get a notebook and pen and write this down.'

I started to run through all my special dietary requirements again but she cut me short.

'But Mr. Smuth, there are no meals served on flight 513. It's only 50 minutes long.'

So instead I arranged for my favorite brand of bottled water to be served as soon as we reached cruise altitude, then I wandered off to the coffee lounge to buy a sandwich to take with me on the flight. (Along the way I stopped one of the cleaners and politely requested that he to go and replenish the soap dispenser above the third wash trough in the gent's restroom).

It took quite some time to get exactly what I wanted at the coffee lounge because I found that the service there was fairly indifferent. In the end I actually had to go behind the counter and cut off the slices of cheese that were overhanging the edge of the bread before I allowed them to re-wrap the sandwich in plastic film. Then I made my way back past the check-in desk where I could have sworn that I heard the words 'control freak' muttered under the breath of the attendant.

As I handed over my VIP boarding pass I realized that I must have been the last passenger through the gate for flight 513.

09:25 As I'm running through the pre-departure checklist, the head flight attendant, Ed called on the intercom to say that the final passenger, some VIP is on board. We were getting a little concerned because we were not supposed to depart without him and he was extremely late.

09:35 Doors closed and pre-start checklist complete. We were cleared for pushback right on time.

09:41 Pushback complete and engines started. We had just begun our short taxi to runway 20 when Ed buzzed the com again. "Uh... Captain? The passenger in 4a wanted me to inform you that you were one minute late with your pushback."

"Why are you bothering me with this?" I asked rather curtly, not meaning to take it out on poor Ed.

"Well Captain... he's ... uh... well, the VIP that we are supposed to humor at all costs."

"Great" I said. "Tell him that the tower is so far away that it took an extra minute for the pushback clearance to reach us."

'One minute late for pushback, but at least I got the window seat that I asked for.' I wrote in my notebook. But the view out of the tiny window was so restricted that I couldn't tell which way we were turning or which runway we were heading for. (I made a mental note to write to Boeing R&D and request for larger windows in their future designs.) We eventually came to a halt at ninety degrees to a runway. Well as I was sitting on the left hand side of the plane, and the sun was shining through the right hand windows I could deduce that we were facing roughly northwest, about to make a left turn onto runway 20.

09:45 Cleared for takeoff. The 737 has a fairly light fuel and passenger load so we are able to rotate at about 130 kt. Climb-out is smooth and easy at 3000 fpm and we are soon cleared to intercept the outbound Christchurch 216 radial. Aside from picking up a little turbulence at 5000 feet, the weather has been great. With just a few light stratus clouds below, I looked out to take in some of the beautiful New Zealand scenery below. Once at our cruise altitude of FL260, I turned off the seatbelt signs and sat back to review the charts for NZQN.

We leveled out much sooner than I had anticipated, and I thanked the flight attendant as he handed me my bottle of water. Unfortunately the expected announcement from the flight deck did not eventuate, so I pressed the call button to summon the attendant again and requested that he ask the captain for some data on our present position so that I could enter it into my notes.

09:56 No sooner had I pulled out the charts than the com buzzed again.

"Captain, it's Ed."

"What is it Ed?"

"Uh... Sir, the passenger in 4a wants to know our altitude and heading."

You've got to be kidding. Who the heck is this guy? I decided to be a good customer service captain and humor him.

"Tell the nice passenger that we are at twenty six thousand feet and flying to the southwest."

10:01 Back to the charts. Between the terrain and the circuitous route, this looked like it was going to be an interesting approach. I've heard some horror stories about trying to attempt this in marginal conditions and was very glad we were going to be able to see where we were.

The information that the flight attendant gave me about our position was so vague that I began to wonder if he was taking me seriously. I resisted the temptation to pull out my official warrant card, instead, I pointed to the logo on my cap and gave him a sly wink. He smiled and winked back.

'A little more information then?' I asked. He leaned forward and wrote what appeared to be his home phone number on my copy of the in-flight magazine. Oh dear, that was not exactly what I had in mind.

10:08 Just as I was about to ring for some coffee, the com buzzes.

"Ed, how did you know I wanted coffee?"

"I didn't sir. It's 4a again. He said he wants to know the exact heading, not the general direction."

"Tell him we're currently flying a heading of two one seven and when you're finished with your flight briefing at 4a, could you bring me some coffee?"

10:12 The Slope Hill VOR lit up on NAV2 and we were just switching it over to NAV1 when Ed entered the cockpit with my coffee.

"Thanks Ed."

"No problem sir. By the way, that VIP guy in 4a said to tell you that you should be flying 216, not 217."

By this time I was beginning to lose my good customer service attitude.

"Tell Mr. 4a that I thank him for his concern and I can assure him that we will end up in the right place."

10:15 ATC just cleared us down to FL180.and I began preparations for the approach. At a little below FL190, we were cleared down to 10,000 and we began to appreciate the mountains below. Granted, this was nothing like the Alps we had to fly through last month, but they were imposing enough keep your attention when you are flying between them. A small mountain will kill you just as fast as a big one.

10:20 We're at 7000 feet and have just been handed off to Queenstown Approach. It had been recommended that if conditions warrant, we cancel our IFR plan at this point and continue on visual. Apparently Queenstown Approach likes to keep you at around 6000 feet and then make you dive for the airport. Since visibility was excellent, we did just that.

The seatbelt sign came on as I felt the plane bank to the left to configure for a landing. But something didn't seem quite right. I began to wonder whether the big fat guy flying the plane had read my notes thoroughly. I mean, what's the point of writing out all those precise instructions if he's just going to ignore them? I was really reluctant to summon the flight attendant again as he seemed to have taken too much of a shine to me. But I needed some reassurance that the big tub of lard up in front had things under control. I could even offer to fly the approach myself if necessary...

We chose to take the southern route, following a river valley around toward Lake Wakatipu. As we were making the turn to 170, the com line began buzzing again. I swear I've spent more time talking to Ed than ATC on this flight.

"Yes Ed?"

"Um... 4a wants to know why you are turning left."

"Tell 4a that if we don't, he will become a feature of the mountain ahead."

I wasn't imagining it, this just didn't look right to me at all. And neither was it my imagination that each time I pressed the call button, the attendant leaned in even closer to me and his smile was wider...

10:23 Once at 4500 feet, we slowed to 180 kts and disengaged the autopilot in order to have a better ability to respond to the terrain. This is an approach you really get to fly! Ed is on the com again.

"4a says you should have turned right back there sir."

"Tell Mr. 4a that I'm a little busy right now and that if he is unsatisfied with the direction of the airplane, he may disembark at any time."

10:26 We made the turn to 250, heading back toward the SH VOR and followed the valley until we had a visual on the airport. It was a relief to see that we had made it through the mountains without a hitch and had a runway in sight. We began a slow descent at about 700 fpm and made the turn to final.

With the left side of my face pressed hard against the window, I only caught a momentary glance of the runway lights ahead before the plane straightened up to line up with 23. Instead of pressing the call button, this time, I just screamed out' We're going too fast!'

10:28 As I was getting lined up, I noticed that our airspeed had crept up to 160 kts and I put in a little airbrake to slow us a bit. Just then the com buzzed again.

"This better be important Ed!"

"Um... 4a thinks you are going too fast, sir."

"Ed, listen carefully. This is important. If 4a so much as opens his mouth again, you are under orders to come directly to the cockpit, get my newly authorized .45 calibre and shoot him. Is that clear?"

"Yes sir. Shoot him."

10:29 Gear down and outer marker blinking. I got the airspeed back to about 135 kts and we came down right on the numbers. Since I wasn't planning on flirting with the end of this short runway, I had set the auto spoiler and used full reverse thrust. It reminded me of hitting the parachute in my old drag racing days, as I felt the harness pulling hard into my chest. We easily made the second turnoff at a leisurely pace and taxied to the gate.

I had sweated so much during the approach and landing that my beard had begun to come un-stuck. I had fully intended to wait around and give the captain an appraisal of his landing, but that over-friendly flight attendant was leering at me and miming the "call me" signal with his fingers. Using my left hand to hold my beard in place and studiously ignoring his gaze, I stood up and made my way hurriedly towards the exit door. Just before I got to the door, I pointedly looked at my watch and made "tsk tsk tsk" noises.

10:31 At the gate I shut down the engines and turned off the seat belt sign. Usually I like to thank the passengers as they de-board the plane but this time I took my time leaving the cockpit, hoping that the first four rows would have left by the time I opened the door. For once my timing was spot on. Just as I came out I asked Ed if 4a had left yet. He said yes and pointed the fellow out. All I could see was the back of a rather thin man wearing shorts and a really nice baseball hat, carrying a book in one hand and what looked like a stack of charts in the other.

I asked Ed if he ever found out who this guy was.

"No sir. Never did, but he wanted me to pass along one more message."

"I'm tingling with anticipation Ed, What?"

"He said you were a minute late getting in."

Each of the authors would like to thank Nels personally and FS.com professionally for allowing us to share our varied and unique stories with the rest of the flight simming world. We hope that this has inspired you to try something different...or something more traditional...or something really out of the ordinary with your own Flight Sim Games.

To e-mail any of our authors:

Ron Blehm: pretendpilot@yahoo.com
Bill Smith: leesmith@ca.com.au
Alastair Monk: alastair@mash4077.f9.co.uk
Hans Linde: hans.linde@gmx.de
Tony Radmilovich: tony@woodartdesign.com
Peter Stark: pjstark@highway1.com.au
Rik Vyverman: rik.vyverman@pandora.be
Alejandro Irausquin: airausquin@cantv.net