Just another day in the office - What could possibly go wrong? (PIC HEAVY!)

[CptCaveman]

So I just finished installing all my new content and getting it all going together nicely and decided to go on one of my FSPassenger virtual airlines routes from London Stanstead to Glasgow International. Just another milk run for the company, as its one of my airlines daily flights.

 

So here I am sitting in my 737-800, newly painted and ready to roll. I go through all my pre-flight checks get IFR clearance, load up FS passenger and get taxi clearance. I then pan over and spot one of my main rivals aircraft sitting at the gates getting ready to roll. I get my backside in gear and managed to get pushed back before he can finalise his flight plans. ;)

 

http://s30.postimg.org/6rd2zamhd/2015_8_13_18_33_18_957.png

 

 

I then notice that the weather is not very nice today in London. Seems like a major storm is brewing and ATIS is reporting big crosswinds, high speed gusts and heavy rain. On my way to the runway I spotted more of "The competition" making its way to the gates.

 

http://s27.postimg.org/5zegpj0yr/2015_8_13_14_26_21_364.png

 

Stansted is busy today, lots of "that Irish airline" passengers floating around the airport. Happily I managed to scoop up 130+ customers for my flight, so its a fair number of people and should net a tidy profit. I then get take off clearance and head on out in to what is a rather nasty thunderstorm. The plane is bucking around in the turbulence, the passengers are hollering in fear, I have gusts of 30+ knots and lashing rain to contend with while trying to maintain a steady climb rate. :eek:

 

 

http://s23.postimg.org/ml815y8fv/2015_8_13_18_46_29_174.png

 

http://s13.postimg.org/4lz9p2pnb/2015_8_13_18_46_25_174.png

 

 

The gusts are pretty severe and keep changing direction making it extremely tough for the autopilot to maintain the correct speed. So I turn the wick up and set her for 280 KTS right as I transition above 6500Ft. Then with her CFM's screaming at full chat, my 737-800 bursts through the lower cloud deck and I am greeted by beautiful blue skies. But there is more weather up here and it might get bumpy again any second.

 

http://s14.postimg.org/tj26se97l/2015_8_13_18_49_11_15.png

 

Once more unto the breach! I reset the climb angle and get confirmation on the radio I am to climb to my cruising altitude of 36,000ft. Up there I get great fuel consumption rates thanks to improved efficiency, so I make the climb to altitude.

 

http://s10.postimg.org/7zzcj6cdl/2015_8_13_18_47_38_774.png

 

 

(Continued below)

[CptCaveman]

Part Deux

 

Steadily, we climb and start to rise above the weather-front. Its tough on the "old girl" Lucky Lucy (my planes nickname). She has been with the company since the start, and was already heavily used by another airline before I got her. But she is well maintained and has performed like a champ since day one. It wont be long till we get over the storms and in to clear air.

 

http://s22.postimg.org/b8fehyqcx/2015_8_13_18_52_13_766.png

 

 

With what sounds almost like a sigh of relief from the engines, we hit altitude and start to level off. I had her set to Mach 0.77, and her course is set so now its simply time to cruise.

 

http://s21.postimg.org/r75psn1ef/2015_8_13_18_51_55_156.png

 

 

I start up the in-flight movie for the passengers, which today is an Episode of Star Trek DS9. The passengers love it and settle down to watch the show, with it featuring a space heavy plot and lots of CG action. It seems like a good time to send around the drinks trolley so I ask Brenda (My stewardess today) to go around and see if anyone wants some free soft drinks or perhaps some of the modestly priced alcoholic beverages we have on sale. All the while we maintain our cruise to Scotland.

 

http://s18.postimg.org/72gr104o9/2015_8_13_19_18_59_175.png

 

The local scenery is quite nice this time of day, and the weather is pretty much long behind us. While its still cloudy and slightly overcast in places, and the sun is shining. Its a rather lovely summers day for Scotland.

 

http://s24.postimg.org/83fr2rl9x/2015_8_13_19_35_57_706.png

 

 

We eventually cross the decent point and are told by TC to start our decent for approach. So I tune the autopilot decent rate and airspeed, so that we are set on a nice slope.

 

http://s7.postimg.org/6cq0qk1sb/2015_8_13_19_36_33_769.png

[CptCaveman]

Teh Fird bitz

 

As we descend, control sets us up for a nice ILS approach in to Glasgow. It happens to take is over some stunning local scenery and Brenda comes in to the cockpit to remark how lovely it is when your above the clouds.

 

http://s27.postimg.org/ln7weht43/2015_8_13_19_40_10_921.png

 

 

http://s13.postimg.org/dt9l66k47/2015_8_13_19_43_57_81.png

 

 

And so with the flight now reaching the outer ILS marker for Glasgow, I set the nav system to "active" and turn on VOR lock. I slow us down to 210KTS for the approach under ILS and pop two notches of flaps. The nav system captures the beacon and we are starting to line up with the runway. I then go through my final approach and landing checklist and everythings been fine since the bumpy weather.

 

http://s16.postimg.org/8d4xqi3b9/2015_8_13_19_44_53_414.png

 

And right there it all goes to hell in a hand basket! The landing gear wont cycle to the down and locked position. I have no idea if the gear is down or not, and I am now only 12k out from the airport at 2900Ft. However I do not panic, and I have my towel!

 

I take stock of the situation and try to cycle the gear a few times to see if its just a display problem on the flightdeck. Nothing happens, and there are no noises from the gear assembly plus the readout remains firmly in the red. So I cycle the landing gear using the manual release system.

 

Shock horror, that fails to work too. So I know almost certainly my landing gear is knackered and it's at this point I make the call for an emergency landing and radio a mayday message to Glasgow Tower. They tell me to make a fly-by of the tower and they will check if my gear is down.

 

http://s29.postimg.org/fkxtoufc7/2015_8_13_19_49_45_660.png

 

Oh oh! That's not good. Tower has confirmed on my flypast that I have no landing gear down. I am in a VERY bad spot, and will have to use every ounce of my skill and every bit of my brainpower to get this wounded bird on the deck safely if possible.

 

 

Training takes over, I set max flaps. I come around on a racetrack course to line me back up with the runway again. I drop the speed down to 150 KTS and trim up a shade. Unfortunately this is far too severe a speed drop since this is my first ever gear failure and we lose 1000ft before I recover enough speed to keep us level at 400 ft.

 

GPWS is going nuts yelling at me about the glide-slope and my height with the lack of landing gear. And to make matters even worse, I get massive wind shear right as I am on final with only a few hundred meters to go. I yank and bank, kick the rudder hard over and then roll us back to level flight at 50ft dead center of the runway. My heart is racing but my mind is clear and my actions calm. I slow her down to 145 KTS very VERY gently and let her drift down the last few feet. I retard by a fraction to kill off the last bit off speed.

 

And we are down! I get her stopped using reverse thrust, and letting her coast to a stop while I hold the stick dead center to keep the last of the wings upward flex so they don't strike the runway. We slither to a halt, get the doors open and the emergency crews roll to our position.

 

 

http://s18.postimg.org/9ixq675pl/2015_8_13_19_56_42_342.png

 

 

Landed like a BOSS!

Passengers give a round of applause.

Then they GTFO.

 

Result!

 

 

 

*NOTES*

1.) FSX is awesome with extra content

2.) Tower did not ask for flypast, I made that bit up. But every single other part is 100% true.

3.) Collisions were fully active, and I was expecting to get a crash message any second as I landed.

4.) Belly landings are a lot easier in a game.

 

Extra content added -

REX Essentials with SP3 (max HD settings)

OrbX FTX Global base (Hybrid mode)

OrbX FTX Global openLC Europe

OrbX FTX EU Scotland.

FSPassengers X

Freemesh X Europe

POSKY 737-800 with my bug fixes for wheel position, panels, lights, fuel pumps and my own personaly made aircraft skin.

 

You may also notice that I get what are pretty good frame rates for FSX. I have no idea why you peeps all limit your game to 30fps. Mines runs great at 60FPS most of the time, with 40-50 fps in airports with traffic or when heavily loaded with HD textures.

 

All I really did was use the FSX tweak site changes to the CFG file and then set it to cap itself at 60 frames and activate widescreen mode. Jobs a good one. And far better performance than all these other frame limiters outside of the game.

 

Mind you I do have a fairly "beefy" rig;

i7 4770k OC all cores @ 4ghz (24/7 ~ 365 days a year)

8Gb Crucial Ballistix Sport 1600

AMD R9 270x 2gb

 

Its let down by my HDD's which are just mechanical sata 300 drives. But not by much, because they are constantly defragged, cleaned and kept at low capacity levels.

 

Oh and I forgot to add; If you want the skin for the 800 just send me a pm and ill post it.

[aviator66]

Very good pic's and story.

Dan