Melo965 Posted March 12 Share Posted March 12 Tain Airfield (EGQA) in Scotland to Dean Forest Regional (EGDF) Starting the engines in the rain. Starting this flight from the Albion Special Operations Area at Tain Airfield. Just a bit of information about this aircraft to start. The CMC Leopard was a light personal business jet aircraft. It was a British four seat mid-wing cantilever monoplane of composite construction with all-swept flying surfaces. The engines are in pods on either side of the aft fuselage. Only two prototypes were produced. The excellent repaint to Albion markings is thanks to Kit. Tower view of the CMC Leopard G-KITS. G-KITS sitting on the runway. G-KITS from another angle. Ready for takeoff on Runway 14. Climbing out. Cockpit view. After 15 minutes up at 9,000 ft altitude. A cool perspective view. Half an hour of flight elapsed. Fuel at 54% so I will have to rethink the original plan to ger all the way to Dean Forest Regional in one go. About one hour into the flight. Fuel at 32% so definitely need to find a place to land and refuel. Still solid overcast below. Headed down to find an airport. Just below 2,800 ft and heading West towards the coast. For reference I am flying due East of the Isle of Man. Near the town of Barrow-in-Furness. Side view at the same moment. Yikes! That is what I get for letting down in unfamiliar territory. Levelled out right away and getting closer to the coast as soon as my heart stops thumping. Just over 2,600 ft, still heading West. Down to 2,100 ft, but thankfully coast is in sight ahead. Walney Island (EGNL) runway 17 in sight. Short final for Runway 17. Down safe, but still in the rain. 18% fuel remaining. Fuel tanks full again. Takeoff from Runway 06. Swinging around and heading south again. For the first leg of this flight I flew fairly slow trying to conserve fuel. For this leg there are no fuel worries, so opening up both engines. Just below 7,500 ft and climbing. 15 minutes into the flight, cruising at 13,000 ft. 30 minutes so far. At about 11,000 ft Altitude. Just about to head down toward the airport. At about 5,000 ft. Aiming for that gap in the clouds ahead. No more close encounters with hills! Just under 2,600 ft. Aiming for the River Severn ahead. Even though it is very foggy I am relaxed being in very familiar territory now. The River Severn, at 220 miles long, is the longest river in Great Britain. Kit can attest to the huge tides on this river as well. Just under 1,970 ft altitude. About to make the left turn to get lined up for Runway 06 at Dean Forest Regional. Believe it or not in the fog, I am perfectly lined up for Runway 06. Runway in sight. Short final for 06 at EGDF. About to touch down. Landed with 28% fuel remaining. Parked near the Scanman Airmotive Office and Hangar. Topped off the fuel. Dropped off the keys for G-KITS with Kit's mates. Can barely see the nearby tower in the fog. An eventful set of flights to be sure. Up next are my flights North and West in Spitfire PR Mk XI PL965 Across the Atlantic and North America to get home to Washington state. 2 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Bossspecops Posted March 12 Share Posted March 12 58 minutes ago, PhrogPhlyer said: Okinawa is home of Orion Beer (made in Nago). Pairs well with a world class Reuben at Five Star Deli in Chatan City. Or if you want a traditional fare, you MUST have Okonomi-yaki.. "Oki" or "The Rock" to US Marines, this island is an absolute pearl. https://www.orionbeer.co.jp/en/ https://okinawa.stripes.com/food-drink/taste-of-okinawa-every-day-sandwich-day-at-five-star-deli-in-chatan.html https://www.totalokinawa.com/umanosuke-okonomiyaki-maehara/ I wasn't hungry before I checked out those links. Looks like a heck of a place to eat, but it's WAY further east than I've ever been for real. Which was Masirah, where Melo just flew through. Regards Kit Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Bossspecops Posted March 12 Share Posted March 12 So glad you liked G-KITS Melo, she's a neat little aeroplane for sure, and I love flyting her too. That area of the country you let down over before landing at Walney Island is the Lake District, a very well known resort area in the UK but known for it's damp weather. Well, OK, WET weather then! As for the Severn, at Lydney Docks, immediately to the north of EGDF, and which you modelled nicely in the scenery, we have the 2nd highest tide rise and fall IN THE WORLD! At 32 ft we're second only to the Bay of Fundy in Canada, and they have a similar shape estuary as the Severn does, thus producing the massive tides. Tomorrow is going to be a really high tide too, the highest for maybe 10 yrs, and there's LOADS of motorhomes parked up on every spare space within miles. I expect you'd have noticed them on the verges of Station Rd at the north end of EGDF. Have a great flight back home in PL965, and I hope the weather holds for you. And if all else fails don't forget to call Anita, my youngest daughter, and she'll be able to rustle up a tanker for you I'm sure. 1 Regards Kit Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
jgf Posted March 12 Share Posted March 12 My current flight is circumnavigating England/Scotland in a Cierva C30. Started at Portsmouth, going counterclockwise, following the coast at around 3000ft altitude. A diversion up the Thames to sightsee London - Then back to the coast to continue north. 2 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Melo965 Posted March 12 Share Posted March 12 1 hour ago, Bossspecops said: So glad you liked G-KITS Melo, she's a neat little aeroplane for sure Yes, a very fun airplane to Fly! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Melo965 Posted March 12 Share Posted March 12 1 hour ago, Bossspecops said: Have a great flight back home in PL965, and I hope the weather holds for you. And if all else fails don't forget to call Anita, my youngest daughter, and she'll be able to rustle up a tanker for you I'm sure. Thanks! It will be great to be back in my Spitfire again! And I will keep Anita in mind. But with the PR leading edge wing tanks and the normal fuselage tanks, my 218 gallons per flight should do just fine. 41 minutes ago, jgf said: Then back to the coast to continue north. A very unusual and interesting machine. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Melo965 Posted March 12 Share Posted March 12 My planned flight home in the Spitfire: Only about 6,000 miles to go! 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Bossspecops Posted March 13 Share Posted March 13 11 hours ago, jgf said: My current flight is circumnavigating England/Scotland in a Cierva C30. Started at Portsmouth, going counterclockwise, following the coast at around 3000ft altitude. A diversion up the Thames to sightsee London - What a wonderful idea, and a wonderful aeroplane to fly too. You can operate from almost anywhere and fly slow enough to see the scenery too. Are you using stock FS9 scenery for the UK? There's a bunch of 'photo-real' stuff available from Just Flight, but it's a) not cheap and b) looks too flat from low altitudes. Regards Kit Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
defaid Posted March 13 Share Posted March 13 13 hours ago, jgf said: My current flight is circumnavigating England/Scotland in a Cierva C30. Started at Portsmouth, going counterclockwise, following the coast at around 3000ft altitude. Can I just point out that if you're circumnavigating England and Scotland, you can't follow the coast all the way? D Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Sirrus Posted March 13 Share Posted March 13 19 minutes ago, defaid said: My current flight is circumnavigating England/Scotland in a Cierva C30. Started at Portsmouth, going counterclockwise, following the coast at around 3000ft altitude. Shouldn't that be mainland England, Scotland and Wales, otherwise how do you get from Chester to Bristol? 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
jgf Posted March 13 Share Posted March 13 2 hours ago, defaid said: Can I just point out that if you're circumnavigating England and Scotland, you can't follow the coast all the way? D Perhaps I should have said I'm circumnavigating the island. 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
jgf Posted March 13 Share Posted March 13 4 hours ago, Bossspecops said: What a wonderful idea, and a wonderful aeroplane to fly too. You can operate from almost anywhere and fly slow enough to see the scenery too. Are you using stock FS9 scenery for the UK? There's a bunch of 'photo-real' stuff available from Just Flight, but it's a) not cheap and b) looks too flat from low altitudes. A novel and fun aircraft; top speed around 130kt, cruise is anything you like from around 35kt to 120kt, stall is about 25kt. Takeoff is a breeze, release the brakes and give 20% throttle, it will taxi maybe 50 yards and start climbing; a good pilot can land in the same space (I require a margin of error ....you must wait for the tail to drop on its own, and don't even think about brakes above 20kts or it will stand on its nose). Autogyros are quite popular today as kitplanes, though I've found none for FS9 All my England scenery is freeware except Visual Flight London; new mesh, LC, several object libraries, UK2000, a collection of RAF bases, farmstrips, etc. 2 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
ViperPilot2 Posted March 13 Share Posted March 13 33 minutes ago, jgf said: A novel and fun aircraft; top speed around 130kt, cruise is anything you like from around 35kt to 120kt, stall is about 25kt. Takeoff is a breeze, release the brakes and give 20% throttle, it will taxi maybe 50 yards and start climbing; a good pilot can land in the same space (I require a margin of error ....you must wait for the tail to drop on its own, and don't even think about brakes above 20kts or it will stand on its nose). Autogyros are quite popular today as kitplanes, though I've found none for FS9 All my England scenery is freeware except Visual Flight London; new mesh, LC, several object libraries, UK2000, a collection of RAF bases, farmstrips, etc. Unfortunately, there doesn't seem to be much interest in creating A/C like this in FS9 anymore... it's still cigar tube centric in our little Sim World. "I created the Little Black Book to keep myself from getting killed..." -- Captain Elrey Borge Jeppesen AMD 1.9GB/8GB RAM/AMD VISION 1GB GPU/500 GB HDD/WIN 7 PRO 64/FS9 CFS CFS2 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Sirrus Posted March 13 Share Posted March 13 These two are for FSX (a good reason to switch to FSX)... a Magna M24 Orion gyroplane... ...and an RAF 2000 GTX-SE autogyro. Both very nice flyers. 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
jgf Posted March 13 Share Posted March 13 1 hour ago, ViperPilot2 said: Unfortunately, there doesn't seem to be much interest in creating A/C like this in FS9 anymore... it's still cigar tube centric in our little Sim World. The Wallis autogyro was made for FS2002 but works fine in FS2004 (many homebuilt replicas of this flying today) - Three fictional autogyros - ultralight, homebuilt, and a modern twin rotor And the Pitcairn (there's also a payware model of this) Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Sirrus Posted March 13 Share Posted March 13 1 hour ago, jgf said: The Wallis autogyro was made for FS2002 but works fine in FS2004 (many homebuilt replicas of this flying today) - ...and in FSX but fs2004/fs2002 had a choice of... a Barnett J4B-2 or a Bensen B-18 (I think) or a Gyrobee, or a Kellet (the windows don't show up in FSX, but it is really easy to fly) or this biggie... ...the Helicopter Museum used to have a section of this in its exhibits. There were also variations of this for FS2002/FS2004 and the FS9 version works well in FSX. Just turn the sound down! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
ViperPilot2 Posted March 13 Share Posted March 13 1 hour ago, jgf said: The Wallis autogyro was made for FS2002 but works fine in FS2004 (many homebuilt replicas of this flying today) - Three fictional autogyros - ultralight, homebuilt, and a modern twin rotor And the Pitcairn (there's also a payware model of this) Mea Culpa... I meant that no one's creating new Rotary Wing goodies for Nine. For example, there doesn't look to be a Bell 505 or Robinson R66 for the FS9 Freeware arena. I doubt we'll see one anytime soon. "I created the Little Black Book to keep myself from getting killed..." -- Captain Elrey Borge Jeppesen AMD 1.9GB/8GB RAM/AMD VISION 1GB GPU/500 GB HDD/WIN 7 PRO 64/FS9 CFS CFS2 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Bossspecops Posted March 13 Share Posted March 13 10 minutes ago, Sirrus said: ...the Helicopter Museum used to have a section of this in its exhibits. There were also variations of this for FS2002/FS2004 and the FS9 version works well in FSX. Just turn the sound down! Agggh, the Rotodyne! I know more about that than I wish as I was living at RAF Benson in the late 50s when Fairey were testing the 'dyne. It was too noisy to fly from their home base at White Waltham but the RAF figured that their families were expendable so they flew it from Benson. Talk about LOUD! A chunk of the fuselage, one of the engines, the rotorhead and a few rotor blades were still at the Museum when I was there last, 2 yrs ago now. 1 Regards Kit Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
jgf Posted March 13 Share Posted March 13 The FS2004 Rotodyne is a nice model, no idea how accurate is the flight model, no VC if memory serves me well and the 2D panel was quite incorrect. I started work on a better panel but the only photo i could find was a small (business card size) grainy black and white image useful only as a pattern to draw the thing by hand; still have the remains of that project somewhere. The Kellett was a license built Cierva, though Kellett eventually made enough modifications to the basic design to claim it as a separate aircraft. Lack of payload and range was the major reason the military lost interest. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Sirrus Posted March 13 Share Posted March 13 1 hour ago, jgf said: I started work on a better panel but the only photo i could find was a small (business card size) grainy black and white image This one? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
jgf Posted March 13 Share Posted March 13 That's the one, but the image I found was about half that size. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
leuen Posted March 13 Share Posted March 13 The JKellet shown above did flights between the Phialadelphia Post Offce and Camden Aieport in 1939. This here does the flight as AI. A good reason to stay wirh FS9. BTW. Bernard 2 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
JSMR Posted March 13 Share Posted March 13 40 minutes ago, leuen said: The JKellet shown above did flights between the Phialadelphia Post Offce and Camden Aieport in 1939. This here does the flight as AI. A good reason to stay wirh FS9. BTW. Bernard Looks like something I sometimes pull out bug/insect spray for. 1 https://fshub.io/airline/RUA/overview Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
jgf Posted March 14 Share Posted March 14 2 hours ago, leuen said: This here does the flight as AI. A good reason to stay wirh FS9. BTW. Purists would recoil in disgust at the AI in my FS world. Bleriot crosses the channel every week. A Do-X flies from Germany to Rio every week. WWI era fighters and scouts tool around farmstrips in the US and Europe. The Hindenburg makes a world cruise every two weeks. The Jupiter 2 takes off from a "hidden" base in New Mexico, slowly climbs to 40k ft, then takes off at Mach3 for another "hidden" base in Australia. A UFO departs "Area 51" and tours the world, making several stops before landing on a floating "platform" 30K ft above Antarctica. The Sighing Flub ...er, Flying Sub (from Voyage to See What's on the Bottom") flies from Bremerton to San Diego every day. What will I see next? Fireball XL-5? a Klingon battlecruiser? a WWI bomber putting me in a holding pattern while it spends a seeming hour landing at LAX? The schedules of all these are such that I can fly for days and never encounter any of them, so it's always a treat. 1 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
ViperPilot2 Posted March 14 Share Posted March 14 13 minutes ago, jgf said: Purists would recoil in disgust at the AI in my FS world. Bleriot crosses the channel every week. A Do-X flies from Germany to Rio every week. WWI era fighters and scouts tool around farmstrips in the US and Europe. The Hindenburg makes a world cruise every two weeks. The Jupiter 2 takes off from a "hidden" base in New Mexico, slowly climbs to 40k ft, then takes off at Mach3 for another "hidden" base in Australia. A UFO departs "Area 51" and tours the world, making several stops before landing on a floating "platform" 30K ft above Antarctica. The Sighing Flub ...er, Flying Sub (from Voyage to See What's on the Bottom") flies from Bremerton to San Diego every day. What will I see next? Fireball XL-5? a Klingon battlecruiser? a WWI bomber putting me in a holding pattern while it spends a seeming hour landing at LAX? The schedules of all these are such that I can fly for days and never encounter any of them, so it's always a treat. The Multiverses converge, exposing themselves to our realm as do we. Also says something about having multiple Sim installs to frolic in another time, such as Golden Wings. "I created the Little Black Book to keep myself from getting killed..." -- Captain Elrey Borge Jeppesen AMD 1.9GB/8GB RAM/AMD VISION 1GB GPU/500 GB HDD/WIN 7 PRO 64/FS9 CFS CFS2 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Recommended Posts
Create an account or sign in to comment
You need to be a member in order to leave a comment
Create an account
Sign up for a new account in our community. It's easy!
Register a new accountSign in
Already have an account? Sign in here.
Sign In Now