Sirrus

What sort of range do you get from your Spit?

More recent abandoned heliports were the heliport actually on the Las Vegas Strip near the Monte Carlo which was there in 2003, but had gone by 2007, and the "Fly High Heliport" on the Irlo Bronson Highway/I192 out of Kissimmee, heading West, that was a fixture for me from 2008 up to 2018. It now seems there is a supermarket on the site. However, Frederick Zealor did an excellent version of it that works well in FSX and is a regular landing spot for any new heli I acquire.

Where? If you are going to fly from the Scottish Capital you might, at least, spell it correctly. It is spelt EDINBURGH, like it says on the terminal building.

With the start of the European and UK display seasons 10 days away, and especially the 80th Anniversary of D-Day, along with 3 days of Fairford and a week at Farnborough, not forgetting the Tour de France (which finishes in Nice this year) and La Vuelta, my itinerary is getting fuller day by day. So participation in this "mini challenge" depends on where it is, how long it is, and how long it takes to organize. Otherwise, see you guys in the Autumn.

With only two Airbus's delivered so far and 120 Boeing 737s in service, it's hardly a transformation!

Very, very true. In both Boeing and Airbus the direction of travel comes from the top. Personally, I would like to see less accountants and more engineers in boardrooms. Companies make better "stuff" with engineers at the helm, Henry Royce and the Merlin, William Lyons and the E-type Jaguar, as well as Enzo Ferrari and Henry Ford at their respective companies. I've flown quite happily on all the above types, spending ten years crossing the Atlantic, usually in a 747. I want Boeing to be successful, I do not want Airbus to be my only option in airliners, so they have to clean up their mistakes (of which V-22 may be one) and get back to making great aeroplanes again. And... if an aircraft kills 30 people in testing, and then a similar machine kills its test pilots, then perhaps, just perhaps we should look again at tilt-rotor technology. Maybe the idea is ahead of the engineering that makes it work.

Like introducing a flawed system to apply trim in the 737, like having lithium battery fires in the 787, like having a fuel system in the KC-46 that "leaks like a sieve"... Poor design is related to corporate culture. The decisions made at the top trickle down to the shop floor, to the assembly line and to the design office. Just having some say "it can't happen" when it regularly does happen, is a reflection of an attitude that comes from the boardroom, not just poor design work. And the V-22? The downdraught is horrendous, the noise it makes is appalling and it's just too, too complicated. No wonder nobody else wants it.

Ah, Boeing, these were the airplane builders that killed 346 people after they tested and certified the 737 MAX 8.

Can you clarify this, please? Leonardo have only lost two test pilots in the crash of N609AG according to the Aviation Safety Network.

Haven't you heard...What happens in Vegas, stays in Vegas!

The recently released Virtavia CH-46, now as freeware, gives rise to some special colour schemes:- a Naval one at North Island another at Point Magu a Columbia Helicopters 107 at Aurora - it is marketed as a Columbia 107... Sky Aviation bought four to fight fires with... ...whilst the USMC used them to carry around the Press Corps attached to POTUS. This one seen waiting at the East River Heliport 18 September 2009. and New York Airways used them to connect Newark, Manhattan and Idlewild/JFK quickly, avoiding the traffic. This is NYA600 at the Manhattan Heliport before going on to Newark.

Regretfully more commercially sensitive info. I'll give you a heads up when it happens.

Purists will tell you that PRXIs were produces with a unarmoured "wrap around" windshield as fitted to PL983 and MB950. But this is one of only two flyable PRXIs in the world, the other being PL983. MB950 is in the USAF Museum at Wright-Paterson AF base in Dayton, Ohio. However, a nice looking aeroplane, but I still think that the larger oil tank under the nose spoils the classic profile of the Spitfire. And, under development, for FSX/FS2004 is:- ...slated for release later in the year.

This one?

...and in FSX but fs2004/fs2002 had a choice of... a Barnett J4B-2 or a Bensen B-18 (I think) or a Gyrobee, or a Kellet (the windows don't show up in FSX, but it is really easy to fly) or this biggie... ...the Helicopter Museum used to have a section of this in its exhibits. There were also variations of this for FS2002/FS2004 and the FS9 version works well in FSX. Just turn the sound down!

These two are for FSX (a good reason to switch to FSX)... a Magna M24 Orion gyroplane... ...and an RAF 2000 GTX-SE autogyro. Both very nice flyers.

Shouldn't that be mainland England, Scotland and Wales, otherwise how do you get from Chester to Bristol?

I repaint aircraft and use them to follow bicycle races -e.g. Tour de France, La Vuelta etc.-, to get to and from Grand Prix Races and the occasional airshow. Currently awaiting their turn in the paintshop are:- a recently rebuilt Spitfire PR11. The large oil tank under the nose alters the profile of the aircraft and being a photo-reconnaissance aircraft, carried no guns, Also awaiting the painters attention is this... a Jurca J100 Spitfire replica. Built out of wood, using the Jurca plans, this one is powered by an 1200 hp Allison V-1710-81 engine and is as quick as the original, but costs a lot less money! Time will tell what colour scheme it will eventually have.

The paint scheme was fictitious for a static aircraft. Having had the provenance of a fictitious aircraft questioned, and, in doing so ruining a story line for a future adventure, and several hours work, I am minded not to answer any more questions about this aircraft.

This is a CH-46E.

The scheme is fictional but based on a CH-46 of HMMT-164 which carried an experimental gloss green scheme in 2015. It is/was being lined up for a new story line for later on in the year.

All cities are, unless the city fathers are have a little foresight. There is not a week passes that a cyclist is injured/killed in London these days. Amsterdam has more cycle ways than any other city I've been to, Nice has a cycle path along the Promenade D'Anglais and I noticed that cyclists in New Orleans use the tramways to avoid the traffic! I once saw a cyclist on Highway 192 heading West out of Kissimmee and marvelled at his bravery. Belgium is the place to go for cycling. Every Sunday, roads are closed, and cycle clubs run their own races. If there is a collision between a car and a cyclist, then the car driver is deemed to be at fault, or so I was told. And, MAD1, Sturmey-Archer still exists right here in the Netherlands! So, if you needed to you could order a new Sturmey-Archer 3 speed hub for your bike (via your local bike shop). They do make a 5 speed hub, with an internal brake, and an eight speed hub, also with an internal brake as well as a 3 speed hub for tricycles. A walk round to my local bike shop I think. Not good at all, When I had my hip done, the guy in the next bed had a new knee replacement. He's now pain free and walking normally. I see him regularly at our physio class. He's now waiting to have the other one done! And to bring the thread back to Flight Simming, I wanted a cyclist, just to explore different places, and I found this:- ...and the motorized bicycle is a French built Solex 3800 with some fanciful additions. I went looking for one but they are now "collectors items" with prices to match! As to the Curate on the bike, he looks familiar!

A real race that separates the committed from those who should be committed! You must be a cyclist, sir. That's how you knew about Bianci bicycles... These days I ride a Pashley tricycle, but I used to be a 14 mile a day guy, 6' tall and 75 kilos/170 lbs on a lightweight Claude Butler road bicycle.

So,whilst others have been making their way back home from Australia, at home in Amsterdam, I have been recovering from my second total hip replacement. Major surgery indeed, as one has to learn to walk again! However, with the passage of time, and a very pretty physio, I am able to walk, drive and fly again, so I took on the delivery of two refurbished EC120s to be delivered to Nice from Paris. It so happened that there was also a major cycle race happening at the same time so our route nearly planned itself. The route was:- Day 1 Le Bourget to Chavenay Day 2 Chavenay to Montargis and then on to Auxerre Day 3 Auxerre to Chalon (after watching the team time trial!) Day 4 Chalon to Valence via Mont Broiully Day 5 Valence to Sisteron (a gliding paradise) Day 6 Sisteron to Nice and hand over our EC120s. Our ride from Amsterdam to Le Bourget was one of our “hack” aircraft, which is also available for lease or rent. At Le Bourget we picked up our Colibris and a Diamond DA42 which would act as mother ship should anything untoward happen on our way South. "Our" Diamond DA42 with Sean Beckett and I flying. Somewhere South of Chalon, the weather deteriorates into rain, not at all what we were expecting. At least, we had no snowfalls as we wound our way through the Alpes Maritime. The first EC120 with Lottie Vincent at the controls The second EC120 with Joe Grimley in charge. He hated the colour scheme which will be altered when its new owners take it over. Finally, we made Nice. One of my favourite cities, I learned how to “prune” a large yukka tree here from one of the City's Parks Department employees (with a chainsaw!). This is in a pot, but in the ground they can grow up to 30 FEET TALL!!!! Hence the chainsaw. It starts to grow back within a year. We hand over the EC120s and spend a couple of days in a cold and wet Nice (to watch the finish of the race) before all climbing back into the DA42 and returning it to Le Bourget and taking our Cessna Titan back to Amsterdam. With the Cycling World Tours now coming thick and fast, I shall have to see if there are any more jobs that take me near to a race:-) As an aside, my business partner in Florida sent me a picture of a heli he has just bought. He doesn't think it was ex HMX-1, the Presidential Flight, but a special scheme as adopted by some aircraft of HMMT-164. He'll know more when he gets it in the hangar. Hmmmm...

I do "ferry" runs taken from a RW sources, Skyliner and Air Britain, and, if none of those appeal to me, I try to learn to fly something I don't usually fly, like a glider or a helicopter. Currently, I'm trying to master the autopilot in the Bell 407!