andyjohnston

Thank you lifejogger, I appreciate the feedback. Is anyone else reading?

Lukla is not a big place. I know, you're shocked, aren't you? Lisa led the way as we weaved and dodged between the buildings. There were no signs anywhere, but in a place this small I assume they aren't really required. Just the same, I was completely turned around. Left and right, in and out, up the occasional small set of stairs. If I had to find my way back, forget it. After a while, we came to a short alley where Lisa stopped me in front of a non-descript, green door. She took a deep breath then rapped twice. We waited several seconds and nothing happened. She rolled her eyes and then banged harder. The door opened with a scrape to reveal a man behind. He was about six feet tall, dressed in a blue shirt with brown overalls. "I'm here," Lisa said as she tried to push her way in. The man held her back, and raised his right hand, pointing one finger to me. "He's with me," Lisa said, before motioning for me to follow her. Inside, the building was made of stone, with a few pieces of wooden furniture, and table and three chairs, not much else. A fire was burning in the hearth, but it didn't do much to warm the place, and I was shivering. "I assume you brought what i want?" His accent was thick, and understanding his words wasn't easy. Lisa pushed me into one corner of the room then went back to him. They spoke in low tones so that I couldn't make out what they were saying. After a minute or two, Lisa pulled a small package from her pocket and handed it to him. His dour face lit up, and he held the package high, inspecting it. Then he went to the fire and again held it close for a few seconds before plucking a brown envelope of the mantle, and flinging it frisbee style at Lisa. "You have done well," he said. "This is the information you were promised." Lisa took a quick peek inside the envelope before motioning for me to rejoin her. I moved quickly and we soon found ourselves outside again as she led the way back to the airport. Lisa went past it and entered a dingy little café where she ordered for herself, and grudgingly got me something to eat as well. The building was quite a bit warmer, and the heat, along with the activities of the day, caused my eyes to feel heavy. My head nodded, and I dozed off.

It goes without saying, the view of the mountains was spectacular. We flew to the village of Lukla (you must've known that's where the next stop was going to be.) Picture the worst landing you ever made, well it was better than the bone jarring thud that happened to me. I pulled into the parking area and sat back. "Uh-uh," Lisa said. This time you're coming with me."

We left Cairo using one of the westbound runways and I hand flew the plane out to get a glimpse of the pyramids. But it was dark, and there wasn't a lot to see. So we flew to Tel-Aviv where we landed just long enough to change planes, into a 747. We took that plane all the way to Kathmandu. It was a long flight and by the time we got there it was day again. Good thing too, because I would not have wanted to be flying through the mountains without being able to see. It took me a bit, but I was finally able to get lined up for a visual approach on runway 2. As we taxied in, Lisa came into the cockpit and plopped down into the co-pilot's seat. "Finally," she said, "We're just about done." I had a feeling what that meant.

We didn't stay in Innsbruck long, before I knew it I was in another plane readying for takeoff. This time it was a 787...did I mention I was supposed to get it out of Innsbruck? I scraped the tail on that one! We flew over the mountains are across the Mediterranean to make a nighttime landing in Cairo. I overheard "Lisa" mumbling to herself, and got the impression the next few legs would all be flown in the dark. Great.

Under the cover of darkness, as people milled about the remains of the wrecked plane, Lisa dragged me away. We got as far as the closest field where she worked her magic again and we rented another aircraft, an Icon, which we flew about 20 miles to Paris, then made another hop to Orly. Then we boarded another small jet and flew all the way to Pisa. It was all done at night, and there really wasn't much to show. I wish I could always sleep like I did last night. When we took off again in the morning, I hoped to get a good view of the tower, but it wasn't to be. We took a King Air and flew all the way to Innsbruck, part of the way down that canyon. I still have no idea where we're going.

Our next stop was Paris. We took off from Heathrow in the rain and climbed up to 20,000 feet. They wanted me to fly in an Airbus. I'm pretty terrible with those fly-by-wire aircraft, but why listen to me? I'm just the pilot you're depending on. Sure enough, I couldn't control it, and we kept going down and...let's just say it didn't end well.

Well, not that unique. I've done several of these before, but none using MSFS. Older ones were FSX/P3D

In past jobs, I've played a bit more of a role (I'd like to say I was super important, but I know better.) This time, for now at least, I was just the pilot, ferrying "Lisa" wherever she wanted to go. When we landed at Heathrow, I was exhausted. Lisa let me sleep for a bit in the cockpit. I'm a terrible sleeper, just the same I was out enough that when I woke, I was alone. There was a text on the new phone telling me what time to be ready to go. As I learned, I would have a bit of down time where I would be on my own. I was able to get my hand on a small plane and do some exploring. I hoped to get an aerial view of Buckingham Palace, but I couldn't find it.

I waited. I waited a long time. It started to rain, lightly at first and then a lot harder. It had stopped and the sun was out again by the time Lisa got back, and this time she was alone. "Come on," she said. I was asking all sorts of questions but I didn't get any answers as Lisa led me at a good clip through the airport into a much larger jet. We took off with an entire load of passengers depending on me, a new experience in my book. Our destination was the Canary Islands. About three quarters of the way there, the plane decided it had enough of following the flight plan and started heading in the wrong direction. I had to switch off the LNAV mode and set a heading based on the map on my instruments. It was well after dark by the time I bumped in a rough landing, and Lisa wouldn't let me leave the cockpit. The reason became clear after a while as another group of passengers loaded up and we headed for London. I began to understand, whoever was potentially watching for us would be less likely to suspect the pilot flying a passenger aircraft, in case someone got hurt. That was my fear too!

Shortly after takeoff, I retracted the flaps and landing gear, and switched on the autopilot not long after. The plane flew a wide arc before capturing the course. As we climbed above 10,000 feet, I set a higher airspeed as we continued to climb. After a time, the woman joined me in the cockpit. "Hello," she said. I glanced at her with a nod. "I'm glad to have your help, I wish we could give you more information." "Sure," I said. "Will you at least tell me your name?" "You can call me Lisa." "And your real name is?" She smiled as she rose from the seat. "You can call me Lisa." The plane rocked from left to right as we flew. I don't think it was the weather causing it, so it must have been something to do with the plane. The sky was completely clear, with no clouds as far as could be seen. Eventually I set a steep descent and made a manual landing at KDCA. I parked and shut the plane down before stepping into the cabin. "Wait here," Lisa said. "We'll be back." With that they were gone and I was alone.

I stepped next to the plane, and even though I knew full well what to expect next, I jump a little at the sound of a woman's voice. I looked behind me to see two people. One was a woman who was not unattractive, she stood about five and a half feet tell and was dressed in a green sweater. With her was a balding man wearing a dark overcoat. The woman smiled wide and stepped forward with her hand outstretched, but her companion held her back. She glanced at him, then back to me while clearing her throat. "Thank you for assisting us." I pulled the door open and climbed inside to the cockpit. Setting the flight plan wasn't difficult, although getting the engines running took a bit more time. The plan they had given to me took me up to Washington, and before long we were airborne.

He didn't react, just continued to munch on whatever it was that was in front of him, I didn't recognize it. After a bit, I started to get impatient. "So are you going to tell me something?" He took a long sip of his coffee, and I wondered if his was any better than mine. Finally, he set the paper cup down and looked at me. His glasses were somewhat darkened, making it a little hard to see what was happening behind them. "If it was up to me, I'd tell you everything. But it isn't my decision." He handed me a slip of paper, and along with it a phone. "I suggest you throw yours in the garbage." With that he stood and turned to leave, but he hesitated and turned back. "One thing I will say, have your passport ready." With that he was gone, leaving most of his breakfast behind. I'm no fool, I had done this too many times before and my passport was tucked into my pocket. I glanced at the paper, it was a parking spot number back at Key West airport. I headed back, even on a little island like Key West there are taxis, and before heading outside I made a stop to mail my phone back to my home in... well, I'm not going to tell you that. I stepped outside into the morning sun. The parking area wasn't far away and waiting for me was a small jet.

I've told you about some of the things I've been involved with in the past, and i figured this job would be about the same. I had know idea that it would be more involved than anything I'd ever done before. It all started early one morning, late in the winter. I landed in Key West. I hailed a cab and followed the instructions I had been given. After so many times, I knew the drill, I'd be told only what I needed to know, and only when I needed to know it. The directions led me to the food court of a shopping mall not far away. He was hard to find. My contact was dressed in khakis and a pale blue shirt, and he kept his head down until I got close. "You made it," he said, as a l slipped into the seat across from him. The mall was just opening, and the workers were going about their chores getting the place ready. I sipped at my drink. It was pretty bad, even for food court coffee. "Obviously."

So I landed and parked. I figured that was the end of this trip, but then...

We were rescued by boat and made our way to the nearest airfield, CYRN. It's listed as being...Rankin Inlet, same as our destination. So I looked it up, seems that airport doesn't exist... Oh well. I had to rent another aircraft, at my own expense. Hopefully this one has enough to get us to the destination, we'll be over the water with no where to divert to.

I was afraid it would happen. About 100 miles out from Churchill, the last of my fuel was used up and the engines died. I happened to be over the water at the time, and the GPS showed about equal distances to land in any direction. I descended for a while, but then my instruments all cut out as well, leaving me hoping for the best. When I figured all was lost, I broke out of the clouds. In the distance was the shoreline, but I had no chance of reaching it. Out of pure luck, there were a few small islands in front of me, and I set up to land. With no instruments, no flaps and no landing gear, I managed a belly landing, and skidded into the water. Me and my passengers clambered for the shore. Everyone is okay, now we just have to get to safety. Let's hope there's so cell reception around here!

So I set up for a second leg to go from Moosonee to Churchill (CYYQ.) It's 600+ miles without a lot of places to go in case of emergencies. The weather is a bit better, I was hoping the somewhat better weather would help, but icing started again shortly after takeoff. It didn't last long though, and that allowed me to climb out quite nicely.

Though the map said I could make it in one trip, reality said something different, and after a few hundred miles I was running on fumes, so I diverted to Moosonee (CYMO) to top up.

I've been hired to ferry a few passengers from Ottawa-Carp (CYRP) which is the closest field to my home up to Rankin Inlet. It's a 6+ hour flight, so I've told my passengers to get comfortable. Even before takeoff, I had to de-ice my windshield. Lined up. Getting out wasn't easy as I was still having icing issues, but after a minute or I turned to follow the course. At 20,000 feet, I was just above the clouds. Whoops, clicked submit before I meant to. Well, not much to see for the next few hours.