A direct route from North Las Vegas to Double Eagle Airport in Albuquerque, New Mexico took me over the Hoover Dam and parts of the Grand Canyon, and near the Meteor Crater. This is a recreation of that flight on FS2004.

I depart KVGT in the daytime, and cannot resist taking another low-level tour of the Strip. This time I see even more, including Big Ben, the Statue of Liberty, the Sphinx, and a billboard featuring Siegfried, Roy, and a white tiger. The attention to detail is impressive. I turn on course and see Hoover Dam in front of me. It seems to be taking forever to get to it, so I crank up the speed to 4x. I fly over the dam and the lake, and spy what appear to be sharp peaks in the distance. As I get closer, the “peaks†resolve into canyon walls. The Grand Canyon! Again I take advantage of the fact that this is a simulator and my recreations do not have to be exact, so I dip down into the canyon. It is very cool. I twist and turn above the Colorado River, forgetting that I am still at 4x speed. It does not take too long to crash.

I spawn again at North Las Vegas and take off again. This time I even “talk†to Las Vegas Approach and fly over the Dam at 5,500 feet, then climb up to 9500 feet. Even this high, the Grand Canyon is impressive. I drone along and increase the sim rate, with nothing below but brown, orange and red. I go to the map and move further along the route, near where Meteor Crater should be. I look and look, but do not see anything that can definitely be called a crater. I see a circular lake in the distance, but I do not recall any water in the real crater. Maybe that was it, maybe I missed it, or maybe Microsoft did not put it in. I continue on my route over the monotonous terrain, eventually approaching Albuquerque. More clouds form, and there are updrafts and downdrafts. The GPS indicates Double Eagle is right in front of me, but I do not see it. Finally, I spot a couple of long, long runways and make a hot, bouncy landing at the mile-high airport. (My actual logbook entry mentions the clouds and turbulence, and I apparently had a hard time spotting the airport in real life, too. So, the simulation was spot on.)

VIRTUAL LOGBOOK:

PA32-300 N30062 (FS2004)

From: KVGT (North Las Vegas, Nevada) To: KAEG (Double Eagle, Albuquerque, New Mexico)

LOGBOOK:

May 5, 1997

PA32-301 N8213Z

From: VGT (North Las Vegas) To: AEG (Double Eagle, Albuquerque)

SEL 3.5 hrs