andyjohnston

I pulled back on the yoke and the nose raised, at least I had some control. I pushed the left rudder pedal, and the plane slowly rolled back upright. So much for going to LA. As I cruised over the city, I decided that there was only one way to fix this situation, and that was to get the B-17 up the coast to the Boeing factory. The plane had been outfitted with a crude autopilot, and I climbed to just under 8000 feet and switched the altitude hold on. That took some of the pressure off as I followed the coast to the north. But the distance I had planned was a lot less than the amount I was going to have to go. How far could I go?

Another day, another dollar flying these big birds I've made a name for myself in. It all started one spring morning in San Francisco. I go to the airport early, as had been planned, and there was a B-17 sitting on one of the aprons. It wouldn't take long to get it down to LA, I'd get there in plenty of time to do some sightseeing and pilot a flight out. I'd seen this particular aircraft before. Someone told me the paint scheme was supposed to be like stars and stripes. To me it looked like it was wearing pajamas. The engine startup went perfectly, talk about lulling me into a false sense of security. I taxied down to the end of the runway, so far no issues. I advanced the throttles and made some slight adjustments using the rudder to keep aligned with the runway. The plane lifted off as smooth as can be. It was shortly after though, that it happened. A bang so loud that it could be heard over the roaring engines. The kind of sound you never want to hear coming from an aircraft you are at the controls of, or riding in as a passenger. With that, the plane started to roll to the right. I turned the yoke a bit to compensate...no response. I turned it hard all the way to the left, but nothing happened.

Epilogue I knew my break wouldn't last long. After the repair work was completed, I was asked to take the aircraft up and fly it manually once around the pattern and land again. Thanks to all who left comments, greatly appreciated. And thanks as well to the over *3000* people who have read this story as it progressed, I hope I kept you entertained. Where shall I go next? I wonder...

I was able to fix the instruments in Winnipeg, but still had damaged control surfaces. I figured that would be the end of my problems, but descending into CYOW I noticed that engine one had also died. Maybe this wasn't such a good idea after all. Plus, a few miles from the field the weather got bad. I had kind of expected that, and hoped it would clear up as I got closer, which it did. I had to keep the speed up quite a bit higher than normal to compensate for everything, and was cleared to land on runway 32. Which meant I would have to fly past the field, then turn around to get lined up. I think I need a break But I know it won't last long.

More issues, when I extend the flaps, I lose control. I'll have to land flaps up! I'm cleared to land on runway 36 at Winnipeg.

Somewhere outside of Moose Jaw the attitude indicator failed, I'll have to steer it manually. 100 miles out of Winnipeg, engine three failed, but somehow I've picked up speed until I'm doing the same airspeed I'm used to in this plane. However, looking at the GPS, the ground speed is way down. I don't get it.. Edit - holy cow, the altimeter has failed, I'm descending steadily! I didn't realize it at first.

Arriving in Vancouver I'm so tired of making little jumps so I went to see if there was any other way home. I was able to get my hands on an old 747 which I'll fly home empty (no co-pilot, crew, passengers, cargo.) They couldn't guarantee how good it'll hold up and made me agree I was taking it "as is." I'll hope for the best. EDIT - right away, I'm up at FL 300 and the plane is flying a little more than 50 KIAS slower than I'm used to, plus when taking off it seemed to be pulling to the left.

Once again, landing at one of my favourite airports at Mountain Top Where I had to go through customs before proceeding.

Thanks again for your kind words and encouragement! Back in North America (barely) landing at Eareckson.

Coming in to Tokyo. The next hop will cross the ocean back into North America.

Arriving in Hong Kong

Had a dream last night where I was talking to a guy who wanted to be a fighter pilot. But not flying in war zones, that's dangerous. And he didn't want to test new planes either, that's dangerous too. He just wanted to be able to fly fighter jets around for no reason. You know, like they do all the time...

I had thought about going south to cross into the Americas, but the distances are too much for this aircraft, so I'll follow the normal route through the east, which includes landing at Kathmandu.

Leaving Madagascar Arriving in the Seychelles On final

Thanks for all your positive comments, I've got a long way to go!

Leaving Cape Town near the southern tip of Africa. Next stop: Madagascar.

Crossed over to Africa and made my first landing at somewhere or other. Some years ago I used to fly in and out of Banjul, so I made it my next landing, a little after dark. In the morning I set out again for a landing in Togo, and followed that up with a landing at...that little island of the west coast.

From Paris it was on to Gibraltar.

From London I followed the VOR down south to Paris. The last time I was in this part of the FS-World, the weather was bad and I couldn't see much, so I was glad to be able to do a tiny bit of sight-seeing.

https://www.jpost.com/OMG/Largest-plane-ever-made-the-Antonov-to-help-against-coronavirus-622790

Spent the night in Iceland before continuing on to London. Was having some crazy framerate issues and was barely able to control the aircraft, let alone get much in the way of screenshots.

Descending into Greenland.

In one of my most recent flights I found myself in a Mooney Acclaim with a glass cockpit and flew it out to St John's, Newfoundland, so I figured I'd make another trip around the world. So here I am, ready to set out:

Though it wasn't far to get home, I decided to stay the night. By morning it was pouring rain when I left the building at HE North. I flew back home to the nearest field, and the weather cleared about halfway there. I borrowed a helicopter to get back home. The neighbours hate it when I do that.

Airport is a freeware of my own creation, Chicago scenery is the free demo of DrZewicki (which I'm sure I spelled wrong) Chicago . Rather than go right home, I decided to make a stop at a field I visit all the time, the add-on HE North.