The 2024 Australian Air Rally - The FBO

[Melo965]

Wittman Regional (KOSH) to Foss Airport (KFSD)

 

Pre-flight done, ready to start the engine.

 

Advancing throttle for take off on runway 18.  Will try for a flawless takeoff with the crowd watching.

 

Climbing out on runway heading.

 

On course and climbing through 8,700 feet.

 

30 minutes flight time.  Flying close to 11,000 feet altitude.

 

Half way there after 38 minutes.  Altitude around 12,000 feet.  Not much to see except white clouds and blue sky.

 

1 hour elapsed so far.  Still at 12,000 feet.

 

70 minutes so far.  At Top of Descent.  Still nothing to see but clouds and sky.

 

Descending through 6,800 feet.  Hope to break out of the clouds soon.

 

2 minutes later.  Broke out of the clouds at 3,800 feet.

 

Airport in sight ahead.

 

Lined up for Runway 21.  Is that man made pond below big enough for Kit to land in?

 

Over the numbers.

 

Landed safely in the rain.  A 1 hour and 17 minute flight.

 

Parked at Foss Airport.

 

This airport is named after Joseph J. Foss.  He flew Wildcats in Guadalcanal during World War II and was awarded the Congressional Medal of Honor.  Here is part of his citation:  "His remarkable flying skill, inspiring leadership and indomitable fighting spirit were distinctive factors in the defense of strategic American positions on Guadalcanal."  He became an Ace during his first week of air combat, and eventually matched Eddie Rickenbacker's score in World War I.

 

My next stop is Ellsworth Air Force Base (KRCA) on the other side of South Dakota.

 

[ViperPilot2]

59 minutes ago, Melo965 said:

Wittman Regional (KOSH) to Foss Airport (KFSD)

 

Pre-flight done, ready to start the engine.

 

Advancing throttle for take off on runway 18.  Will try for a flawless takeoff with the crowd watching.

 

Climbing out on runway heading.

 

On course and climbing through 8,700 feet.

 

30 minutes flight time.  Flying close to 11,000 feet altitude.

 

Half way there after 38 minutes.  Altitude around 12,000 feet.  Not much to see except white clouds and blue sky.

 

1 hour elapsed so far.  Still at 12,000 feet.

 

70 minutes so far.  At Top of Descent.  Still nothing to see but clouds and sky.

 

Descending through 6,800 feet.  Hope to break out of the clouds soon.

 

2 minutes later.  Broke out of the clouds at 3,800 feet.

 

Airport in sight ahead.

 

Lined up for Runway 21.  Is that man made pond below big enough for Kit to land in?

 

Over the numbers.

 

Landed safely in the rain.  A 1 hour and 17 minute flight.

 

Parked at Foss Airport.

 

This airport is named after Joseph J. Foss.  He flew Wildcats in Guadalcanal during World War II and was awarded the Congressional Medal of Honor.  Here is part of his citation:  "His remarkable flying skill, inspiring leadership and indomitable fighting spirit were distinctive factors in the defense of strategic American positions on Guadalcanal."  He became an Ace during his first week of air combat, and eventually matched Eddie Rickenbacker's score in World War I.

 

My next stop is Ellsworth Air Force Base (KRCA) on the other side of South Dakota.

 

 

When you depart KRCA, turn South to 190°, fly for 40 minutes and land on 17L at Centennial (KAPA). Go to the Perfect Landing Restaurant and meet me for Lunch!  

 

Here's the Menu:

 

https://theperfectlanding.com/our-menu/

 

Alan 

[Bossspecops]

Yes, it surprised me too. I couldn't zoom in close enough from the Tower View to see exactly what the type was, but it had the right proportions for a K-28. 

 

It may have been 'imported' from a traffic file from a scenery add-on somewhere that I'd not noticed before.

[Rupert]

12 hours ago, PhrogPhlyer said:

Interesting, Navy blimp? Not seen any LTA in AI before.

I agree! I certainly haven't noticed one.

[Rupert]

9 hours ago, ViperPilot2 said:

 

When you depart KRCA, turn South to 190°, fly for 40 minutes and land on 17L at Centennial (KAPA). Go to the Perfect Landing Restaurant and meet me for Lunch!  

 

Here's the Menu:

 

https://theperfectlanding.com/our-menu/

 

Alan 

I'm all over that Crab Benedict!!  And some Rye Toast complete with lots of Joe to wash it all down!!

[Bossspecops]

Hmm, I think I may give up on going home and head for Colorado! I'm hungry just LOOKING at that menu! 

[Bossspecops]

Having had a nice overnight on Bermuda it was time to carry on homeward as the wind was from the west, definitely the best direction for me, but there was one rather more fundamental problem. The distance from Bermuda to Lajes in the Azores Islands is 1900 nms or so, and the Sealand's max range is only about 1200 nms on a good day. 

 

But luckily I have friends in high places from my time as Albion Airways SpecOps Director, and I also know a good scenery designer, Melo, right here in this Forum.  So I've arranged a 'refuelling depot' in the middle of the Atlantic. 

 

Getting away from Bermuda went fine, and I opted for a runway take-off this time. The arrow shows were I was parked last night on that massively long ramp,

 

 

It's a very civilised place, and it was nice to see the cars driving on the correct side of the road for a change. 

 

 

Of course flying for some 1000 miles over the Atlantic did not give me too many chances to look at nice scenery, mostly it looked like this.

 

 

But now and then it was like this, yeuk!

 

 

After then after the requisite number of hours, around five, I started my descent while being homed onto an NDB beacon seemingly out there in the middle of the ocean., and eventually I could see a slight glimpse of my target! 

 

 

Contacting the ATC went well, and they gave me a good talk down for my approach, but then they'd had a LOT of practice doing that, but maybe not for a small amphibian!

 

 

Yes, it was a USN carrier group with a VERY large deck for me to land on in the middle, a few escort destroyers and a supply tanker too. In case I made a hash of the deck landing the plan was for me to water-land alongside the tanker and fuel up while afloat!

 

Getting right on the flight path here, and nicely lined up but flying VERY slowly, or as slow as I could without stalling as I don't have an arrestor hook and have to stop in the deck's length!

 

 

By pure fluke I put her down almost directly on the correct spot, just before the wires and was quickly onto the brakes!

 

 

And then it got REALLY difficult!

 

As the carrier scenery couldn't be aligned with the RW weather I used, I'd switched off the RW weather and generated a similar setup but with a 45 kt wind directly down the deck. That's 30 kts from the carrier sailing into wind and a 15 kt wind.

 

As I came to a halt in a remarkably short distance (but 'Austral Roses' landing speed is only 65 kts or so) and throttled back, the aircraft started to skid backwards along the deck! Even the parking brake had no effect, and I was in danger of sliding clean off the ship over the round-down and into the sea! 

 

I  took the brakes off and opened the throttle again till she was moving and taxied her forward of the island to a parking space between the two deck-edge lifts there, but then had to slew her into position facing sideways as otherwise she was skidding back again. For some reason she didn't skid sideways when parked, which was good.

 

 

I'll experiment with the wind speeds when it's time to fly off toward the Azores.

 

 

[PhrogPhlyer]

50 minutes ago, Bossspecops said:

quickly onto the brakes!

 

Nicely done. With a tail hook it would have been just the opposite, full power on touchdown in case of a bolter.

[ViperPilot2]

1 hour ago, PhrogPhlyer said:

Nicely done. With a tail hook it would have been just the opposite, full power on touchdown in case of a bolter.

 

I'd call it an OK PASS; no unnecessary Calls, in the groove... the Grade every Naval Aviator aims for!

[taoftedal]

2 hours ago, Bossspecops said:

The distance from Bermuda to Lajes in the Azores Islands is 1900 nms or so, and the Sealand's max range is only about 1200 nms on a good day.

 

Well done Bosss ... I thought you might backtrack and follow the Lindbergh's 1933 route ('Listen! The Wind') across and home ... maybe next time!

 

 

 

 

[PhrogPhlyer]

3 minutes ago, taoftedal said:

'Listen! The Wind'

This is, in my humble opinion, Anne Lindbergh's best book.

A must read.

[Melo965]

19 hours ago, ViperPilot2 said:

When you depart KRCA, turn South to 190°, fly for 40 minutes and land on 17L at Centennial (KAPA). Go to the Perfect Landing Restaurant and meet me for Lunch!

 

I will be there!  Thanks for the invite.  Now that you posted the Menu, maybe more people will show up as well. 

 

Other activities used up my daylight today.  Will plan to meet you there tomorrow.

 

[Melo965]

5 hours ago, Bossspecops said:

So I've arranged a 'refuelling depot' in the middle of the Atlantic.

 

Glad I could help!

 

5 hours ago, Bossspecops said:

By pure fluke I put her down almost directly on the correct spot, just before the wires and was quickly onto the brakes!

 

 

 

Excellent landing, I had no doubts! 

 

[Bossspecops]

5 hours ago, PhrogPhlyer said:

Nicely done. With a tail hook it would have been just the opposite, full power on touchdown in case of a bolter.

 

I'm not quite sure that 'full power' is something that equates with only a couple of Gypsy Queens to provide the 'power'. 

 

It felt decidedly dodgy sliding backwards with the brakes full on! This morning I dropped the wind speed by 10 kts for take-off and it worked a treat. PIREP in the morning.

[PhrogPhlyer]

1 hour ago, Bossspecops said:

I'm not quite sure that 'full power' is something that equates with only a couple of Gypsy Queens to provide the 'power'

Even with ONE Wright-1820 spitting out 1475HP, landing on the Lexington was one of the most thrilling and scariest moments of my life.

[defaid]

16 hours ago, Bossspecops said:

For some reason she didn't skid sideways when parked, which was good.

 

This suggests the gear was still rolling despite the brakes being set. I've forgotten which sim you use but is it possible to alter the effectiveness of the brakes (for FS9 either aircraft.cfg or the air file)? It would allow you to restore the more cooperative wind when landing.

[Sirrus]

1 hour ago, defaid said:

is it possible to alter the effectiveness of the brakes (for FS9 either aircraft.cfg or the air file)?

Yes, certainly is.

In the config file, there are usually three lines that can look like this;-

[brakes]

parking_brake=1       //Parking brake available   

toe_brakes_scale=0.74    //Brake scalar        The number here may vary. This one comes from a CLS Piper Arrow.

 

You may adjust the "toe_brakes_scale" line, up to a value of 1. When the aircraft noses over, you know you've gone too far.

Many WW1 aircraft have this set at 0.

It take time to find the right number for each aircraft without skidding on a wet runway, or burying the nose in your local grass strip.

If you decide to go this route, be careful and good luck.

[Rupert]

13 hours ago, PhrogPhlyer said:

Even with ONE Wright-1820 spitting out 1475HP, landing on the Lexington was one of the most thrilling and scariest moments of my life.

Yep!  Life wouldn't be nearly as worthwhile without a few good moments and great sounds like that to remember!! 

 

Michael

[Bossspecops]

I'm flying FSX these days (and wishing I'd still got FS9 I must admit.............) and I can tweak the brake's effectiveness. I was too darn busy figuring out how to stop falling off the stern of the ship to check that them wheels were still rotating or not. 

 

I'll get on and sort those brakes so it doesn't happen again, after all I may come across all sorts of carriers than need landing on any day of the week............. 

[ViperPilot2]

18 hours ago, Bossspecops said:

 

I'm not quite sure that 'full power' is something that equates with only a couple of Gypsy Queens to provide the 'power'. 

 

It felt decidedly dodgy sliding backwards with the brakes full on! This morning I dropped the wind speed by 10 kts for take-off and it worked a treat. PIREP in the morning.

 

All this time, and I never realized your airplane flew on Gypsy Queens! One thing's for certain; they're very durable engines.

[Melo965]

On 4/12/2024 at 9:39 AM, Bossspecops said:

after all I may come across all sorts of carriers than need landing on any day of the week............. 

 

If you need our carrier group to rendezvous with you, just send us a message through the usual channels and give us a few days notice to reposition the fleet!

[Melo965]

On 4/10/2024 at 5:15 PM, Bossspecops said:

the site of the Wright Bros. inaugural powered flight in 1903, on the Kill Devil Hills.

 

I do plan to go there someday.  Definitely on my bucket list. 

 

[PhrogPhlyer]

1 hour ago, Melo965 said:

I do plan to go there someday.

And if able to fly yourself there, the experience is definitly enhanced.

[Melo965]

I was at the Miramar California Air Show back in 2004.  (Before FS9 was published).  At the Air Show they had a booth with FS2004 (FS9) running.  There was a mock up of the Wright Flyer where you could climb up on the wing and use the same controls that Orville used on that historic December day.  While I was waiting in line I saw almost everyone pull up to quickly and then stall and crash.  When my turn came I was very quick to level off in ground effect right after liftoff.  Managed to gingerly swerve around a tree without crashing and finally landed on the beach well past the 852 foot marker.  The woman running the booth was impressed with my flight! 

 

[Bossspecops]

The flight to the carrier from Bermuda was more economical than I'd estimated, and with the wind continuing to come from the west I calculated I could make Lajes in the Azores without using 100% overload fuel.

 

The Sealand was a bit of a handful taxi-ing on the deck even though the windspeed had dropped some 10 kts (Adjusted in my custom weather profile for take-off, later to revert to Active Sky......) and the Navy towed me into place near the stern with one of their nifty deck tractors. Take-off flap and full throttle produced a satisfying amount of acceleration and I had the tail up just past the island, using the WWII type 'straight deck' take-off path.

 

 

And well before the deck ran out I was airborne and away. Who needs catapults, eh?  

 

 

As a result of a request from the Air Boss I made a 180, flew downwind on the north side of the group and then made another 180 and did a fly by over the deck for assembled gawpers on the island. Great fun. 

 

 

So that was goodbye and many thanks to my friends in the US Navy (and to Melo for generating the carrier group for me )

 

 

After that it was over 900 nms of pretty well nothing, just wave after wave on the surface of the Atlantic 5000 ft below me.

 

 

Approaching the Azores it started to cloud up a bit and the wind was much gustier, and it was doubtful if the forecast winds for Lajes would hold good. This was my first glimpse of the island group as I started my descent, that's Ilha do Faial ahead of me there.

 

 

And that's my only diversion airfield on this leg, Horta.

 

 

Sure enough the wind direction changed through 180 degrees as I passed Horta, and that needed a turn to the north around Ilha Terceira to reach Lajes airfield on the north side. It's arrowed in the pic below, but it's invisible from my position.

 

 

Sadly the default FSX scenery for Lajes is pretty much rubbish and the dreaded 'blue islands' re-appeared for me as well. And there's not just A tree on the runway centreline, there's a whole FOREST! 

 

 

The rather sparse buildings on the airfield are actually floating some 4-5 ft above the ramp and runway, but the pic below was carefully posed to avoid sight of the gap!

 

 

An overnight at Lajes was a rather pleasant prospect, maybe not as much as the one (or two....) in Bermuda, but very acceptable, and tomorrow I'll be off to Gibraltar, that tiny British rock at the west end of the Mediterranean.