[ Club Chachapoya ] Meigs Or Bust

[jgf]

1 hour ago, PhrogPhlyer said:

Sometimes life just needs to slow down

 

Isn't it odd how fast the years go once life slows down.

[TomPenDragon]

10 minutes ago, jgf said:

Isn't it odd how fast the years go once life slows down.

What a great topic sentence for a story.  And yeah, such a sad reality.  I don't know about you other retirees, but I've never been happier.  My wife reminded me of something this morning: We passed our seven-year anniversary in our current house back in March.  It seems like we just moved in.  In a couple of weeks, she's going to notch another decade under her belt.  This summer's going to be 40 years for us.

 

Just yesterday...

[jgf]

When you are twenty, sixty is a million years away.

When you are sixty, twenty feels like yesterday.

[Bossspecops]

As luck would have, the Mini Meigs rally fitted in just perfectly with my looooooong flight home in 'Austral Rose' from the Oz Rally. I'd dropped into my old stamping ground of Minneapolis, I worked for a company based there for 30 yrs, and was there 3-4 times each year all though that period, so I knew the area well. I'd spent the night in an Eden Prairie hotel after eating at the Lions Tap , and was ready to head for Meigs the next day. That would have been a mere 300 nms or so, but I planned a little 'diversion' to a few places of interest, and it was nearly 400 nms eventually.

 

Here I am starting up at the FBO on the north ramp at Flying Cloud Airfield (KFCM) with the big VOR aerial right in the foreground. The wind was almost directly from the north, which meant a long taxi, but handy for my first 'place of interest'. 

 

 

Traffic was low (non-existent in fact, for some reason my FS traffic wasn't working around Twin Cities. ) And I was soon tail-up and on my way.

 

 

Soon I was crossing Staring Lake and turning slightly north east as I waved good bye to Flying Cloud.

 

 

My intent was to pass over my old employers' offices, that's MTS Systems Corporation, and to take pics of the place, but it seems that FSX has totally ignored their existence as there's nothing where they should be at all! Of course if my Minnesota MegaScenery package had worked I should have been able to carry out my plans, but so far the only 'support' I've had from them is to ask for my order number and to give me a list of FAQs, the usual cop-out with such companies I find. 

 

Anyway, this is where MTS SHOULD have been, but wasn't.

 

 

Turning on track to the south east I skirted west of Minneapolis-St Paul International and could clearly see The Mall of the Americas to the south, at one time the LARGEST shopping mall in the world! It was so large it had had theme park park rides in the middle! Does it still hold that record?

 

 

All the time I was climbing up to my 10000 ft cruise altitude, and it was a good thing too as the cloud was thick and heavy at around 2500 ft all the way up to 8000 ft, so there was very little scenery to see. I did manage to spot the Mississippi curving away to the south before the cloud socked back in again.

 

 

I wanted to spot Wisconsin Dells, an inland resort city I'd visited a couple of times in the 80s and 90s, and on one occasion had a ride there in an WWII amphibious DUKW, which was great fun.  Luckily there was a hole in the cloud at just the right spot and I could see the Dells below me.

 

 

From then on it was solid cloud almost the whole way, and it reached way up above me for quite some distance. I had to keep a close watch on my track as there was  huge MilOps area to the north of me and it would never have done to have a couple of F-16s on each wing tip! You can see the extent of the area in my flight plan map.

 

 

My original plan was to drop in at Oshkosh en route to Meigs as I'd been there a couple of times and found it a fascinating place. The ATC there were less than enthusiastic about my ideas as it seems they had some sort of event running and reckoned there wouldn't be enough ramp room even for my little 'boat, but they agreed to let me make a fly-by down their active, so I did. Passing Oshkosh to the west and preparing to make a sharp 180 onto their 18 active.

 

 

And is the sharp 180! That place sure looked BUSY!

 

 

Passing directly down the 18, there were all sorts of types parked all over the place, including a couple of B-52s and a BA Concorde of all things!

 

 

After that I resumed my 10k ft cruise and headed direct for the Windy City, passing the US beer capital to my left, Milwaukee.

 

 

It wasn't long before I was on my descent, except I was delayed by TWO CTDs!!!! Thank goodness I had got FSXSave to work or my temper would have been sorely tried. Coming down through 2500 ft I was soon in familiar FS territory with Meigs over to my left with Lake Michigan temptingly further east, my thinking being that if I mess up the approach I'll pull the gear back up and splash down on the lake!

 

 

But it was looking OK and I was soon 'in that Meigs groove' that we all learned to love (?)

 

 

The old routines were still there in my head and I managed to line the Sealand up nicely on the 36 approach.

 

 

And just as I eventually managed in the C172, I put her down almost right on the numbers and almost on centre line too! 

 

 

The familiar routines of 'flaps up, landing lights off, throttle back and turn in' and I was on the ramp again, for the UMPTEENTH time of course, but my first time in the Sealand. Maybe the first time a Sealand had EVER been to Meigs?

 

 

I'll be hanging around here for a few days a) to meet the rest of you guys coming in for the event, and b) as I've some 'domestic duties' to attend to for a few days, but then I'll be off east and headed back to the UK eventually, after some days flying I'm sure.

[MAD1]

Well, sipping my wake-up coffee on this Easter Monday morning (Oz time, east coast, AEDT), and perusing posts since my last visit, a lot of reading to catch up on. Seems it might be my 'bedside' reading instead of TV (only rubbish on that anyway). Also, seems we have budding (or should that be 'closet') novelists amongst us. Am enjoying their 'war and peace' sagas. Caused me to reflect just now: 'what is this phenomenon, these old guys, sim flyers, making up all these stories. Must be a psychological name for it. Aviation technical info, albeit via a sim environment, woven into pretend stories, hmmm, now there must be already a literature genre for that. Anyone know if there is, or if not, what it might be that is being created here?

 

Reminds me of all those pulp-fiction type novels over the last few hundred years, yeah, you know, something like "Biggles flys again", "Rip Tear, flying ace, in  Flying Adventure in Africa" etc. etc. Many a good 'ol radio serial produced from those over the years. (Clearly a Radio Chachapoya opportunity, i.e. not the script, but an actual audio recording, no, just thinking, not suggesting anyone do it.) And out of the fog at a lonely airport, late at night, strolls a figure dressed in a raincoat, homburg hat pulled down at a rakish angle on his head, leaning into that freezing Chicago drizzle, is that stalwart of such stories, the news hound, that old-school journo, Tim Bowlachilli. He's got wind of something going on, he can smell a good story from miles away, why are all these strange aircraft arriving at Meigs. Hmm, he'll haunt a few bars in Chicago that the flyboys are known to congregate at, and sidle up to a few of them with a nonchalent 'How ya doin? I noticed a few of you joystick jocks flying in. I'm a freelance journalist for a few flying publications. A few nice-looking dames you boys brought in as passengers, yeah, nothun much misses my eyes, I hang out in the Terminal often. And yeah, I have connections in the aviation world, I've been around a long time, so I know stuff, learn stuff. So, can I buy you another Scotch and get a few tidbits of news ....?)

 

Given the novelists are taking all that effort to write their stories, and put in great pics, I feel it's incumbent on me to read them in detail, not just flick quickly (scroll) through them. Taking the time, yes, as has been said, taking the time, causes much better joy and satisfaction. So, have just read, and enjoyed the first post, Scottish Mike's Learjet from Scotland to Meigs. And oh yes, that Monique is such bitch!

 

So, apart from the plane part of the stories, will be a challenge to keep up with the plethora of new bit-player characters: Scottish Mikes, TomPenDragon (I was going to ask him anyway if he could explain who all those people were in the Oz rally, and they're still in play it seems. And, by the way, I still have unanswered questions about Mikes 'Professor' and what all that was about. Ahh, the deep mysteries deepen, probably best to leave those stories dead and buried, having complete closure on any story destroys the suspense.)

[ViperPilot2]

So I'm at Meigs; DEVIL 505 is being donated to the Museum of Science and Technology by the mysterious 'silent partner'.

Suffice to say, I'm without a ride. This AM there was a car and driver waiting for me at the FBO to use, so after grabbing a couple

cemitas from Cemitas Puebla, the driver takes me down the shore to Gary Airport (KGYY) where my 'new' Ride awaits...

 

 

After Preflight, away we go back to Meigs.

 

 

 

Parked at the Pad.

 

[MAD1]

Newbie question (also to show that someone is reading posts in detail). ScottishMike, your final into Narsarsuaq, Greenland, is that normal to be low, 4 red lights? As someone who has yet to learn how to use that navaid, is the correct glide path 2 white, 2 red?

[PhrogPhlyer]

58 minutes ago, ViperPilot2 said:

Great shot!

[MAD1]

jgf. Think you're crazy flying in an open cockpit in that weather (I would have modified it, got electric heating of a beefed up alternator, and fitted perspex cockpit doors. Anyhow, hat off for your feat!

Nels. Just read your original 2008 article, very interesting. The linked site re history no longer exists. Had wondered occassionally, why did FS choose Meigs as the default field? Anybody know? Maybe the original developers had one or more people living in Chicago? https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Meigs_Field

[jgf]

9 minutes ago, MAD1 said:

why did FS choose Meigs as the default field

 

I assumed promotional money.  

 

Why is every other airplane in the sky in FS2004 a Cessna?

[alanpugh]

Oshkosh to Meigs in a Beech 18 - As my first post, with little time to develop a narrative, this is mostly a technical discussion of the flight. 

 

 

On the transient ramp at OSH with 5 passengers ready to taxi to runway 18.  Wind 214 @ 7, visibility 6 miles in rain, clouds 1,900 scattered, 4,100 overcast, temp/dewpoint 9/10. 

 

 

 

Holding short OSH Runway 18. We decided to stay VFR below the clouds for a while and pick up our IFR clearance in the air so our passengers could take a few photos of the OSH area.  

 

 

Shallow climb on heading 150.  Visibility ok up to 1,700 but we will need to go higher to clear Milwaukee airspace.  

 

 

 

Passing Lake Winnebago.  One of those coves is where the OSH Seaplane Base is located during the July Fly-In Convention.  Picked up our IFR clearance to 7,500. 

 

 

 

On top at 9,500. We requested higher, when we saw cloud tops at 6,500 but needed 9,500 to clear buildups.  First waypoint West Bend Muni KETB, turn to heading 170.  

 

 

 

Passing Milwaukee MKE, home of Budweiser beer and Harley Davidson motorcycles.  55 miles to go.  Started a 500 fpm descent to 1,700.  

 

 

 

MKE indication.  Thank goodness for those MSFS 2020 labels - they take all the guesswork out of IFR navigation LOL.  Winds reported 234 @ 18 at Kenosha KENW Wisconsin. Crossed border with Illinois.   

 

 

 

Level at 1,700 North of Chicago.  Skyline coming into view. Canceled IFR. We're flying the Chicage VFR corridor 3,500 or below 

 

 

 

Twenty degrees right to correct for wind drift.  Slow to approach speed 90 kts.  

 

 

 

Strong crosswind, our speed was too high and we floated halfway down the runway, the rudder control was marginal so we elected to go around. After this, while taking a screenshot, the view changed and was locked so we had to fly with forward view only. 

 

 

 

Second try, view has changed and not for the better.  

 

 

 

We ignored the standard advice to add 10 kts for wind and brought her in at minimun controllable airspeed MCA.  The windsock was straight out.  This time we rolled out with only 3 fishtails and still managed to (almost) stay on the runway.  

 

 

 

Taxiing to parking, relieved to be down safely.   

 

 

Little Nav Map showing approach with wind correction and one go-around at Meigs 

 

It's great to be back at Meigs where is all started, around 1984.  I flew commercial to Chicago and walked through here before taking a bus to Oshkosh back in 2010. It was a shame to see the chain-link fencing and waste of a good airport.  
 

[alanpugh]

28 minutes ago, MAD1 said:

jgf. Think you're crazy flying in an open cockpit in that weather (I would have modified it, got electric heating of a beefed up alternator, and fitted perspex cockpit doors. Anyhow, hat off for your feat!

Nels. Just read your original 2008 article, very interesting. And also read the . Had wondered occassionally, why did FS choose Meigs as the default field? Anybody know? Maybe the original developers had one or more people living in Chicago? https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Meigs_Field

Why did FS choose Meigs as the default field? 

 

Bruce Artwick, Sublogic Corp, the author of the first version of FS was either a student or worked near Chicago.  

[PhrogPhlyer]

10 hours ago, alanpugh said:

 

Strong crosswind, our speed was too high and we floated halfway down the runway, the rudder control was marginal so we elected to go around.

Applauding your strong usage of aeronautical decision making!!!

[PhrogPhlyer]

9 hours ago, alanpugh said:

As my first post, with little time to develop a narrative, this is mostly a technical discussion of the flight.

Narrative or not, welcome, and well done.

[TomPenDragon]

Announcement: The official Meeting thread is now open: https://www.flightsim.com/forums/topic/60205-club-chachapoya-2024-annual-meeting-01-04-april-meigs/?do=findComment&comment=314339

 

[TomPenDragon]

3 hours ago, PhrogPhlyer said:

Narrative or not, welcome, and well done.

We all have different ways of telling stories, Alan, and all (or at least all that don't violate the site's rules) are welcome here!  Some of us tell our stories with words, some with pictures, some even with poetry.  Feel like experimenting, workshopping some concepts and ideas? Bring them here.  And if you want some bedtime reading, or maybe a good summer novel, try reading the stories from the Bendix, the Route 66, and the GAAG.

[TomPenDragon]

15 hours ago, MAD1 said:

Also, seems we have budding (or should that be 'closet') novelists amongst us

I was a budding novelist in my teens and 20's.  Now, I'm merely ripe.

 

15 hours ago, MAD1 said:

I was going to ask him anyway if he could explain who all those people were in the Oz rally, and they're still in play it seems.

You had it in the beginning - mine is one large, serialized novel, with characters who flow in and out with each event, much in the way that those old-time, dime store novels used to be.  If you have time, start with the Bendix; if not, let me know and I'll catch you up.

[jgf]

14 hours ago, alanpugh said:

As my first post, with little time to develop a narrative, this is mostly a technical discussion of the flight

 

No rules here, be as verbose or succinct as you like.  It's all about having fun.

[PhrogPhlyer]

2 minutes ago, jgf said:

No rules here, be as verbose or succinct as you like.  It's all about having fun.

+1

[Melo965]

15 hours ago, alanpugh said:

 

Level at 1,700 North of Chicago.  Skyline coming into view. Canceled IFR. We're flying the Chicage VFR corridor 3,500 or below

 

Great job.  Weather does look a bit dicey though at times. 

 

[taoftedal]

Being in the Upper Midwest I planned a (floatplane) route through some of Minnesota’s and Wisconsin’s lake country on my way to Meigs, but given the weather over the last week a little ice remains and as such it was well to put safety first.

 

Little Falls, Minnesota sits near the geographic center of the state along the Mississippi River and among other things was the boyhood home of ... yup ... Charles Lindbergh.  It is also somewhat of a gateway to the lake country in northern Minnesota and as such seemed appropriate for my departure point.

 

Something classic seemed the right choice for the trip, but at the same time I needed something warm and comfortable.  The C-195 Businessliner fit the criteria and with my sectionals in hand I was off to the windy city!

 

 

Heading north out of KLXL it was clear that winter still held her grip in the northland ... snow everywhere except for the lakes which appeared to be open (good thing I did my homework).  Past the resort towns of Backus and Longville the lakes soon where the dominant feature and shortly Remer and Grand Rapids passed underneath.

 

 

 

At Cloquet and Duluth, Lake Superior came into view before turning toward the southeast and crossing into Wisconsin.  The cabin was warm and the Jacobs purred as Solon Springs and then Hayward drifted by and the entire Lake Chippewa Flowage.

 

 

 

Snow still covered the landscape at Wausau and Stevens Point but at Oshkosh winter seemed to loosen her grip.  Milwaukee and Racine were next at which point the Businessliner turned south and followed the Lake Michigan shoreline to Chicago.

 

 

 

Meigs was waiting and the tower guided us around to 36 for the landing.  A short taxi to parking and with the checklist in hand time to shut things down ending that beautiful Jacobs melody ... now ... where’s VP2 taking us for dinner?

 

 

I think it’s moose burger night back at ‘The Woodman Cafe’ in Remer ... 

 

 

[Melo965]

On 3/29/2024 at 11:32 PM, Airbasil_1 said:

Let's go in and out of there on the 73...

 

Very Impressive.  I looked up the takeoff and landing distances for a 737-100 and neither one was as low as 3,900 ft.

 

[Melo965]

On 3/31/2024 at 11:05 AM, TomPenDragon said:

 

 

Now that is a beautiful picture! 

 

[Melo965]

On 3/30/2024 at 1:15 PM, jgf said:

 

Thought I would need a fuel stop along the way, but with a fuel burn of 2-3 gal/hr she only used 11 gallons for the 275 mile trip, about four hours.

 

Very well done!  My Spitfre burns roughly 50 to 60 gallons/hour.  

 

[Airbasil_1]

11 minutes ago, Melo965 said:

 

Very Impressive.  I looked up the takeoff and landing distances for a 737-100 and neither one was as low as 3,900 ft.

 

Let's do a little Landing Challenge on Big Airliners let's see which one you can bring down... 
I'm thinking about trying it on the A330-223.