Bossspecops

After an interesting interview with Elias this morning I got the Sealand prepped for the next Leg of the Race/Rally/Tour to Norsman. I'd been warned that the 'scenery' en route was not quite what I'd expect, and were they ever right! Having persuaded the Warrior pilot to move his aeroplane somewhere more convenient I taxied 'Austral Rose' out, and thanks to her short field performance (but not quite in the same area as my Lysander...) I got off using the northern sector of YKNG's single runway as was soon climbing up and away. I thought that runway was difficult to see on the approach, but worse was to come.... The broad flat tan scenery of this part of Australia was soon changed by a rather strange sight looming over the horizon. There looked to be a HUGE lake spreading from north to south right across my flight path, a most unlikely sight in these desert like parts I thought. But having reached the 'lake' there was an even more bizarre sight beyond it! Acres and acres of what seemed to be huge salt pans spread all over the place, and checking with my local geography books it seemed they were the tailings from the gold mines that abounded in this part of the continent. This sort of view repeated itself time after time as I headed toward Norsman, culminating in the truly VAST 'lake' at Norsman itself! It's just coming over the horizon on this view taken from the cockpit. Turning toward the lake's northern end to land up wind, the Noseman field should be about where the red arrow is on the east side of the lake. And turning south across the lake showed just how desolate it looked, and why I was advised NOT to try and land on it. Apparently it was likely that it would corrode clean through my hull before I had time to taxi to the bank! After a short approach I could JUST catch sight of the north-south dirt runway at Norsman, but it wasn't easy. Oddly the runway was closely fenced in on both sides and I had to turn to the ramp through a gate in the fences that weren't designed to take seaplanes wing floats into account, and my floats neatly removed a section of the fence each side of the gate. I'll 'enter into a negotiating posture' with the authorities here later on... The Flights Op offices here could best be described as 'basic', it's just that caravan and tent right there alongside me! But the town itself is just a short stroll away and I'll be resting up there before heading on eastwards. I hope it's a bit prettier the further on I go.

I managed to fly Leg 01 y'day too, and I'm intending to fly Leg 02 today, if and when the pesky Piper Warrior that flew into YKNG after me y'day would GET OUT OF THE WAY!

I set off on the Great Australian Trek Eastward y'day (UK time) with loads of other AI aircraft on the ramp at Jandakot to watch me make a hash of the take-off. As luck would have it I trailed one of them out to the runway threshold, not something that usually happens and it made a nice change having to wait till he cleared the area. Luckily my take-off wasn't too ham fisted as I've updated the Sealand's .cfg file and it's lot more stable in pitch now. Heading out across Western Australia made for some interesting views, it's NOTHING like the UK, quite a number of low houses spread over quite large areas, but then there's a lot more space there! I did spot a lovely looking lake off to the south west and thought I might do a 'splash and go' on it, but that would have screwed up my timing. I'll have more chances to do that on the Eastern Legs. Heading further south east the scenery started to resemble that on our Route 66 Rally in that was FLAT, but a little more varied in texture. I was cruising at 5000 ft and overtook an AI Piper Warrior en route, the first time that's happened to me on one of these Rallies, and I guessed he was heading for Katanning too. Perhaps he was on our Rally as well? In less than an hour I was getting ready to start my descent and I'd had a LOT of trouble keeping to a constant, predictable cruise speed, so I was hoping to get closer to my estimated timing on the descent, no such luck though. I got nicely lined up on the only runway at YKNG but the actual landing had best be left to your imagination, it wasn't one of my best........ After taxying onto the ramp I turned 'Austral Rose' around and went to report to Flight Ops, such as they were (a small shed on the other side of the ramp...) and on the way back to my aircraft the Warrior came into land! Another first for me, I've never noticed an AI aircraft do that unless it was at a massive airport like Sydney or Heathrow. The Warrior turned off the runway and headed for the ramp, only to stop and shut down right in the entrance! Quite how he expects me to get past him on the way out I've no idea. Off to Norsman tomorrow, which will be a bit of a longer flight, and hopefully more chance to get the cruise speed sorted out.

Thanks JGF, I'll have a closer look at it.

BRILLIANT flight, and in a single engined bi-plane too! What's the name of that timer gauge you have in the centre of your panel please? I like the look of it a bit better than the Davtron I have at the moment.

Exactly the reason why I'm flying an amphibian. Quite a few of the Eastern Route fields are fairly close to water, being it sea water or the fresher sort.

Magic to see the RFDS Citation where it belongs. It was a busy but productive few days re-painting out that scheme. My mission is ACCOMPLISHED as 'Austral Rose' landed at Jandakot at 1845 GMT this evening. The last sector was 'interesting' as the fuel burn was all screwed, as had happened before and I had to land mid-way to refuel, but I got here eventually. Many interesting scenery items en route, and I really like this combination of Orbx and OzX scenery, not that I've ever been there for real of course. Talk about barren wastes................... Deciding to refuel was prudent as I only had 50 odd gallons in the tanks when I got to YMEK, and it was a nice looking place with a MASSIVE runway. But nothing looked quite so good as the lovely fuel pump sitting there on the ramp! I passed some VERY strange scenic areas between there and Jandakot, this was just one of them..... But soon the big city landscape of Perth and its airport hove into view. I'm not quite sure I bothered to pay the landing fees at Jandakot as the whole area is covered in lakes and rivers and I could have put down almost anywhere! Turning left over those lakes brought Jandakot into view at last. And soon I was on my final finals! I love the sight of my own shadow down there on my left. And at long last G-AUST was there where she should be ready for the Rally in 3 days time. The final figures for my ferry flight are pretty mind blowing :- Total miles flown = 10928 Total hours flown = 75.7 Total fuel burnt (approx) = 2359 galls or 14154 lbs Average speed = 143 kts Average fuel burn = 4.7 galls/mile or 187 lbs/hr (both of which sound terrible to me, but that's aviation life for you) I had a great time on the flight, went to some interesting places and learnt how NOT to fly the Sealand! It's so unstable that it's almost impossible to fly any distance without using the autopilot, so that's what I'll be doing on the Rally, come what may. See you all on the start line.

En route to Perth it became clear I was going to run out of fuel yet AGAIN! There's something screwy about the engine modelling of this aircraft as the fuel burn rate looks OK, and the maths works fine just after reaching ToC, and then it all goes to pot. I'm dropping into Meekatharra (YMEK) to top up my tanks and I should be in Perth around 1830 GMT. Fingers crossed.

A CV-10! One of my FAVE aeroplanes ever, I love it! I like it so much I even tried to build a plastic model of one, and it's STILL being built after 10-15 years, one day etc. I finally reached Australia y'day, to much cheering and yelling at Derby as I checked in at Flight Ops there. THEN I went had a word with ATC as they let some gawp in a SAAB 340 backtrack down the runway as I was on finals! Landing OVER him was the only option as with her high thrust line, opening 'Austral Roses' throttles would have just shoved her nose down and INTO the 340! But I got here anyway, and later today I'll trundle off down to Perth to meet the rest of you.

Right now I'm 100 nms from the North Australian coastline, and about to make a right turn to head south east to Derby. The end is in sight. Oh yeah, I fully intend to fly Airbasil's East Coast route, that's one reason why I'm flying an amphibian, I can use it's flotation capabilities at quite a few of the places en route. And I'll time my flights anyway, whether in competition, or 'au concours', it's something I do as a matter of course with FS flights.

After a horrendous time getting from one end of Indonesia to the other, it was good having a relaxing day off yesterday in Bali, of all places. Having left Sultan Iskndarmuda (WITT) at an ungodly hour, I was faced with a 1500 nm flight to Bali, and no way would the Sealand do that even with the big tank in the cabin, so I planned to stop and refuel at Depati Amir (WIPK) which is a small island about half way, and in the middle of the Malacca Straights. There was some really high ground in North Indonesia, somewhat higher than my standard 5000 ft cruise altitude. Luckily my SID from WITT took me to one side of that one! All went to plan until my route took me to the Malyasian side of the Straights where I ran into the Mother of All thunderstorms! The winds were running at around 60-70 kts, it was raining like Noah's Flood and I kept on flying into MASSIVE thermals which had the poor Sealand up around 12-14000 ft in no time! Cutting the auto-pilot and getting the nose down was vital for survival and I dived to around 2000 ft to get below the worst of it. Refuelling at WIPK went without a hitch, but it was a 'minimal airfield, me being the sole aircraft in sight, and the only buildings there were the pumps themselves! I was soon on my way, back to a comfortable 5000 ft now I was clear of the bad weather, and made into Bali Int (WADD) at dusk with much relief. Being parked next to a 777 was a bit of a surprise and the Garuda crew must have wondered what the devil was going on with a 1950s vintage Brit amphibian parked right there alongside them too. While you're reading this I'll be en route to AUSTRALIA! The flight is 850 nms to Derby (WDBY) in Western Australia, leaving me one more leg to get down to Perth. Deep joy.

Yeah, I had to get up at silly o'clock this morning to go and see my two brothers in London, the younger one of which is flying off to Goa tomorrow for real..... And I 'flew' there the other day too! I did another two leg day y'day, Leg 8 from Goa Navy (VAGO) to Colombo in Sri Lanka on another mega-boring leg to a field in the north of Indonesia (WITT), the whole leg being over water! Again it was late when I got there, total darkness in fact, so yet another night landing. I'll get good at this eventually. On finals for Colombo, the biggest city I've flown to so far. The impressive Tower and Admin Bldg at Colombo. Yet another night landing. And there's that damn tree right on the runway centre-line AGAIN! I may take a day off now as I'm only 3-4 legs away from Perth, but the next Leg does go to Bali...............

I'm pretty well established in the repaint side of things, both in FSX, FS9 and previous sims. Do you have pics of the required scheme and are the models of your aircraft freely available?

I start up, check all the switches are set right (Often they're not....) and taxi out, TRY and ensure there's no AI on approach, and take off. With the gear and flaps back in place I turn onto the correct heading while still at climb power, and hook the auto-pilot up to my FSTramp flight plan. In theory that should keep her going nicely until the start of the descent, and much of the time I'm checking fuel burn and airspeed against predicted flight time to make sure I can make a good guess during the Rally itself. Currently, even after flying half way to Perth, I can't really say that plan is working too well. I seem to have a problem with mixture and prop settings not staying where I want them to and that screws up the timing, speed, and fuel burn, but I've got a few legs to go yet. Currently en route to Colombo.

I flew two sectors of my Ferry Flight out to Perth today, a very FS intense day for sure. I did manage to miss the Quatari mountains, but only by about 1000 ft (close counts, right?) and got down at Masirah with plenty of daylight left. Masriah happens to be the most easterly place I've ever been to for real, and it was weird flying into a virtual version of it, but the downloaded scenery was pretty much as it was, except the USN F-18s on the virtual ramp were P-3s and F-14s when I was there. On the long approach to Masirah. Nice to know the military are keeping an eye out for us. Having refuelled, and taken a bite to eat, I took off eastward again on THE most boring leg of the whole trip, as the entire length of it was across the Indian Ocean, headed for GOA (VGOA). For reasons unknown I became aware that my fuel state was going critical about 200 miles out, and had to make some serious mixture and throttle adjustments to ensure I didn't have to make a gliding water landing! It was getting dusk by now but it wasn't a full night landing as I did at Akrotiri, but take note of the two AI IndiGo A320s heading along the taxiway..... It's a LONG way down that runway to the parking, just past the tower, and the ATC there must have been asleep as they cleared one of the AI A320s to take-off right over me!!!! I had a 'free and frank exchange of views' with the Flight Operations Office after parking up for the night, as you can imagine................ Off to Sri Lanka tomorrow, or Ceylon to those 'of a certain age'.

I use FSTramp, I know how it works and can almost use it blindfold. At my age I'm not sure i want to try something else new in this field. Currently about to cross (or hit.....) some hefty looking mountains in Quatar. An hour out from Masirah.

I'll have to re-think my strategy as on current timing I'm not going to make Perth before the start date. I'll try and cram in two sectors/day for a while and see how it goes. Currently over the Persian Gulf en route to Masirah Island, a place I know well from my Albion days. And I've been there for real too, NOT the coldest place on the planet, I think it was 110 F in the shade, and the customer's roof top 'cooling water' tank was heating up his hydraulics!

IIRC that sextant came with the monster Aerosoft B314 Clipper for FS9 too, complete with a comprehensive manual as well. I must have it on my archive drive somewhere, and it'd be interesting to see if it works in FSX.

I'm currently crossing Saudi-Arabia aboard G-AUST and according to Active Sky I'm in the middle of a thunderstorm...... Really? I don't believe a word of it, I think they're looking at UK weather!

Currently the crew of 'Austral Rose' are enjoying the wonders of Berenice Int. Airport in the far south east corner of Egypt, such as they are. FSX's version of the airport, HE14, is totally bare, not a single building or taxiway marker anywhere, and as far as I can see, even with so called Egypt VFR scenery, there's nothing else for MILES! En route here, by pure coincidence, I passed almost directly o'head the place where I lived when I was 3-5 yrs old, which was in Heliopolis Egypt, much amazement on board of course. Anyway, Berenice is somewhere to land and refuel (virtually) and tomorrow we're off to Dharan, right across Saudi Arabia from one side to the other. I'm looking forward to some gripping scenery.......................not! O'head my old place of abode from 1945-47. Downtown Berenice.............yeah, right.

It's always good to have a Plan B. Unfortunately I don't have one. If I could access my archive drive I could download an Albion An-124 or even a Belfast, and 'do a Melo' with one of them to get 'Austral Rose' to Perth, but I'll just have to fly all the way. Today I made it to RAF Akrotiri in Cyprus OK, but it was a close run thing as I was flying on fumes when I got there and it was dark too! Thank goodness the RAF have good lights there. I've worked out all the other legs to get to Perth, and there's another 10 to go, mostly 600-800 nm legs, but a few just over 1000 nms. Fingers crossed.

That's EXACTLY what I'd done! Just started the descent to water land to refuel (my fuel burn calculations were a bit out...) and switched on the landing lights. It never occurred to me that had anything to do with it. I tried it again this morning and FSX works normally of course. [Bang head mode on] I'll keep a close eye on it as I head eastward over the next few days. Thanks for that, looks like we found it.

I was en route to Malta with G-AUST today, and just as I started the descent for an eventual water landing into Valetta Harbour the aircraft went violently unstable and all the outer skin vanished! Yes, really! And a pic below to show what I mean. I could only shut the sim down and re-start as well as I could, but what could have caused that? I've never seen that before in any shape or form. I did re-start and am currently moored in the Grand Harbour there, might take a day off tomorrow.

Melo checked it out for me, he's much better at that than I am, and he got her up to 25000 ft! So that meant I was doing something silly, and I was. I had set her climb rate at 800 fpm, and climbing a lot less rapidly improved things no end, and at 500 fpm I've reached 10000 ft easily en route to Malta today. Thanks for the pointers in the right direction.

I've got as far as the south of France on my ferry flight, avoiding Nice International and landing at LFMD, a nice little airport nestled under some hills just west of Cannes. Should be OK for some good food this evening I reckon. Here's 'Austral Rose' on finals for the runway there. Heading for Sicily tomorrow.