-
Posts
483 -
Joined
-
Days Won
13
Content Type
Profiles
Forums
Blogs
Events
vBulletin Articles
News
Downloads
Gallery
Store
Everything posted by Melo965
-
Your Grand Canyon Excursion was fun! I have yet to be there in real life. Have already broken some regs there in the simulator though.
-
Leg 4. Claremore Regional OK (KGCM) to Cordell Municipal OK (F36) 180 miles. Estimated time = 48 minutes. Same setup as before, using FSX Acceleration, Active Sky 2016 for weather, and Little NavMap for navigation. Flying with fuel only in fuselage tanks this time. The wing leading edge tanks were just worked on at the 50 hour maintenance point, so I decided to fly with those tanks empty for this leg. 85 gallons should still be sufficient for this flight. I should have flown this leg the other day when the weather was CAVU. Pulled up the weather map today and this is how it looked. Should still be able to get there Ok, but it will require some IFR flying. Parked at Claremore Regional, starting the engine for another westward leg. Forecast winds are between 30 to 35 knots blowing from the southwest almost all the way so it should be an interesting flight. Holding short at Runway 17 waiting for ATC clearance to take the runway. Climbing through 3,500 ft on the way to cruise altitude of 6,500 ft. Already in the soup. At cruise altitude, glad to be above the clouds. Time to close the canopy and settle in for the flight to Cordell Municipal. Not what you would ever want to see behind you during the war. There were clouds below on all sides from horizon to horizon. Finally left that cloud layer behind, flying over Tulsa Oklahoma. After less than 3 minutes flight time, another cloud layer ahead. Passing Cushing Municipal on the right. Half way there and 2 minutes ahead of schedule. Passing between two small airfields in a minute. Woodleaf Aero Estates on the left and Myrick on the right. Passing Oklahoma City on the left. Flying over Sundance airport. Changing my flight track further to the south, hoping to avoid those clouds ahead. Those pesky clouds are back again. Flying over El Reno Municipal. Noticed another aircraft converging. It turned out to be a MD-80 but it was 18,000 feet above me, so no factor. On a day like today during the war, the pilot might have to go to an alternate target to get any pictures worth bringing home. Fort Cobb Reservoir below me. Curving south for a straight in approach to Runway 35. My leg 4 route. You might notice that after I passed Fort Cobb Reservoir that my flight track was a bit erratic. I converged with another aircraft that was also a few thousand feet above me. I messed up the external camera views to the extent that it took some time to get the aircraft back in a proper attitude and trimmed. Learned my lesson about trying to take pictures instead of just aviating. These shenanigans put me a bit behind schedule unfortunately. Destination in sight ahead. No flaps yet, might make it on time after all. Spitfire flaps have two settings: 0 degrees or 87 degrees. A slightly hot approach, as our Lysander Rally pilot can confirm is sometimes my style. I am flying a warbird after all. I did manage to touch down on the runway and finally got her stopped just in time. It required a light touch on the brakes so I did not nose over. My mechanic would be very upset if I damaged his prop! As you can see no luck on the centerline this time. Touched down one minute late. Here is the weather map at the end of the flight. This was the most challenging leg so far. I was fortunate that the destination was clear of clouds down to ground level. Engine off and parked at Cordell Municipal. Ready to get some well earned rest. Used 71 gallons of fuel this leg. 14 gallons left. Won't cut it that close on future legs. Time from engine start to engine shutdown = 62 minutes. Maybe there is some wisdom to flying with someone else so they can share the workload, even a nun would have helped on this leg of the journey. Just no room for her in this cramped cockpit. My shoulders are almost touching the sides on both sides. Leg 4. Claremore Regional OK (KGCM) to Cordell Municipal OK (F36) 180 miles. Estimated time = 48 minutes. Actual time = 49 minutes. V1 (Wheels up to Wheels down.)
-
We had a great time when we visited the Shuttleworth Collection. The Lysander was Magnificent! And the other star of the show, in my opinion, was the Spitfire.
-
Hope you feel well enough to fly soon.
-
JSMR I love your instrument panel, very classy!
-
Awesome, great work!
-
My centerline record is not as consistant or good as I would like during this Rally. Keeping one eye on the clock is distracting. I always do much better at western Washington airports near home, or when I am visiting you over there in the UK. Of course you landed on the numbers - like normal!
-
And PP, I forgot to mention this flight was wheels up to wheels down as requested. My total flight time from startup to engine shutdown was 50 minutes.
-
Best of luck with the re-do flight! Do you want me to lend you my mechanic? He worked wonders for me.
-
Yikes!
-
Leg 3. Jones Lebanon MO (KLBO) to Claremore Regional OK (KGCM) 158 miles. Estimated time = 43 minutes. My equipment is finally working correctly again after some intense effort by my chief mechanic. And more than a few exacting test flights. Just signed off on the form 700 and ready to contine the Route 66 Air Rally. Same setup as before, using FSX Acceleration, Active Sky 2016 for weather, and Little NavMap for navigation. Flying with full fuel capacity this time. 66.5 gal in each wing leading edge fuel tank. The fuselage tanks are 48 gal for the upper tank and 37 gal for the lower, for a total internal capacity of 85 gal. Total fuel capacity = 218 gallons. If I flew carefully with lean fuel settings I could probably do the total Rally distance of 1,643 miles in one go. Parked at Lebanon, starting that beautiful Merlin Mk 70 engine. With canopy open per standard RAF procedure this time. Is that a Beechcraft Baron next to me? Not the same aircraft as one of the other pilots in the Rally are using in any case. On the way climbing to cruise altitude of 6,500 ft. Spotted a Beechcraft Baron off to my left. Wonder if he is following me from Lebanon. Going into a shallow dive so I will pull away from him without drawing undue attention. Passing Springfield Branson airport (KSGF) on the left. Tempted to swing around and do a photo pass. My cameras are itching to be used on every sortie. But I have a schedule to keep on this mission. Flying over Mt Vernon Municipal (K2MO). A bit hazy today but good flying weather. The only weather warning was for moderate turbulence above Flight Level 180 and we are not going anywhere near that altitude "yet". I did see some reports that other Rally participants have had to climb higher further along the route. I wonder how our two helicopter participants will do at that stage. Hope they have no issues. Neosho Robinson airport (KEOS) off to the left. Plenty of places to set down in an emergency, but the Merlin up front is performing perfectly so far. More than half way there now. The city of Neosho falling away behind me. I missed their annual Fall Festival the first weekend of October. May have to stop by here again next year. Approaching Grand Lake O' the Cherokees. That sure looks like it would be worth another visit sometime too. Climbed up to over 8,000 ft. Flying over beautiful scenery. Better start my descent for Claremore Regional soon. Destination in sight. Descending for landing. Just under 2,000 ft at the moment, doing my typical curved approach to see past that big V12 engine up front. Down safe with no issues. My controls are well harmonized. Will have to buy a pint for my chief mechanic the next time I see him. At least I did a better job with the centerline this time. My Leg 3 Route. Used 50 gallons of fuel this leg. Shut down and parked at Claremore Regional OK (KGCM). Wonder where they want me to deliver the pictures from this flight? Usually someone meets me right away to collect the films for processing. Leg 3. Jones Lebanon MO (KLBO) to Claremore Regional OK (KGCM) 158 miles. Estimated time = 43 minutes. Actual time = 41 minutes. V2 Hope my next Leg is not V3, and the one after that V4, etc.
-
We really appreciate you doing your best to keep track.
-
My grandfather (Army) served in World War I, was wounded but got home safely. My Uncle (Army) survived the Battle of the Bulge in World War II. He went to Heaven on Veterans Day in 2010. My Dad (Army) served stateside during Korea. He was a scientist doing secret work in a lab. My brother (Marines) helped to liberate Kuwait. My Nephew (Air Force) is carrying on the tradition. Many thanks to all the Veterans and their families!
-
That was Awesome! Thanks!
-
Got a reprieve, hope to stay out of trouble from now on.
-
Ok, thanks. Will do. I will try to behave from now on.
-
Hey I just saw this. Do I need to refly legs 1 and 2? I measured from start of takeoff roll to full stop on landing.
-
My Leg 1. Lansing Municipal IL (KIGQ) to Zelmer Memorial IL (5K1) ETA = 46 minutes. Actual = 46 minutes. V0 My Leg 2. Zelmer Memorial IL (5K1) to Jones Lebanon MO (KLBO) ETA = 44 minutes. Actual = 43 minutes. V1 So my current total of V1 is correct. Regarding Kit (BossSpecOps), all the votes I saw allowed him to redo Leg 1 so his record should be: Leg 1. Lansing Municipal IL (KIGQ) to Zelmer Memorial IL (5K1) ETA = 1hr 20 minutes. ToT (Time on Target) = 1hr 20 minutes. V0 Please correct Kit's leg 1 to V0. My chief mechanic is complaining that I throw his aircraft around in the sky too much. After he gets done, I hope to have my controls overhauled and recalibrated properly. Then I can get back in the air and work on Leg 3 to Claremore Regional OK (KGCM). And I agree, reading all the stories and adventures is great fun!
-
Great work! Congratulations Kit!
-
Missed the centerline again. Maybe by Santa Monica I will get it right at least once. My sister is visiting for a few days. I will be back on the flight line by Sunday or Monday. Have safe and enjoyable flights all!
-
Our Spitfire Mk XI was published in FS98 in the year 2000, which is ages ago in the flight simulator franchise. Kit was a Superb test pilot for that endeavor, his flight test input and animating all the moving parts was invaluable.
-
I am also fine with Kit getting a redo. Everyone should have at least one practice flight before attempting the real thing. The spirit of this Rally is to have fun together after all!
-
Welcome Kit! I keep forgetting to start with the canopy open on the Spitfire, thanks for the reminder.
-
Leg 2. Zelmer Memorial IL (5K1) to Jones Lebanon MO (KLBO) 164 miles. Same setup as before, using FSX Acceleration. Flying with both leading edge wing tanks at 50% capacity for this flight also. Starting with just under 180 gallons of fuel. Lined up and ready to start engine at Zelmer. On the way from 5K1 to KLBO. Flight level close to 4,500 ft. Same position from external view. Still on the way, climbed to 6,500 ft. A cloudy day today. Winds from the south strengthening as the flight progresses. Cutting through between clouds and staying VFR. More than half way there. My leg 2 route. Down and stopped at Lebanon. Landed 1 minute early. I thought my joystick and rudder pedals were fine, until I got close to the landing approach. But on final it was hard to control the aircraft and I barely made it down, almost ran out of runway. Before leg 3 I will do a full re-calibration of my Thrustmaster joystick and MFG Crosswind rudder pedals. Note to self: Don't reinstall Acceleration during an event next time! Second note to self: Slow flight on final approach is much easier in a Cessna 172 than it is in a Spitfire. Used 52 gallons of fuel this leg. Took off at 3:45 PM ETA 4:29 PM Actual 4:28 PM Variation 1 minute.
-
No ammunition at all. Flying the Photo Reconnaissance version. Just cameras on board, so still behave yourself.
