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Retired man looking for some Carenado repaints for planes that struggle with frame-rate for me. Carenado DO-228-100 Carenado D18S I like to fly in the Orbx South America areas (Argentina-Brazil) for their excellent frame rate on my older system. I prefer registrations appropriate to the areas, but unconcerned whether the livery or registration is real world or hypothetical. One thing I've found (although I'm no expert) is that the more recent HD releases also have huge textures inside of a common folder, not sure if that is dragging down performance, or not. Seems like it would, so maybe those textures can be reduced? Lower resolution liveries or textures always appreciated. Thank you
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Going Places - Across The Pond To South America By Rodolfo Astrada It is 3 o'clock in the morning when we start our imaginary taxi for an early departure across the Atlantic expecting to make landfall at dawn over Brazil. Make that 3 o'clock virtual too. Our mount, D-ALCM, flies regularly this Dakar - Campinhas leg for real under the Lufthansa Cargo livery. Dependable with 16 years under the wings, she earns her keep day in and day out no matter where - Hong Kong, Memphis, Johannesburg, Mumbai, Tel Aviv, Mexico, Novosibirsk, Buenos Aires, Chicago, whatever it takes. A few figures to get some perspective, this exercise never fails to amaze me, no matter how much taken for granted the result may be in the end. Assume conservatively 15 daily hours flying to allow for turnarounds and a conservative 400 kt mean speed. Also assume 25 days a month to allow for scheduled maintenance spread throughout a year. This translates to a ballpark of 1,800,000 nm or 3,240,000 km depending on how about the mark my assumptions fall. Now, the mean Earth - Moon distance is about 385,000 km, then any given year our MD11 makes the equivalent of over four round trips to our natural satellite. This may sound naive or we have grown so used that it does not make a point, yet I never fail to be impressed. Getting to this is the result not only of technology matured over decades, but also of a business operation engineered in a way that makes this flying self sustaining and profitable, which is doubly remarkable in the end. But we have the Atlantic to cross now, and it will take about 3000 km to reach South America. Which is almost exactly what Alcock and Brown had to fly in their modified Vickers Vimy WWI bomber on June 14-15, 1919. While we effortlessly cruise in shirtsleeves leaving to automation the task of flying, Alcock and Brown fought for 15 hours the whole gamut from snowstorm to freezing, to rain, to mechanical failures, only getting some help from coffee and reportedly some "volatile" additive smuggled in ... No matter the flight was cut short when what looked like a nice grassy filed to land on ended up being a swamp, they were the first to jump the pond in a single go, airwise. /i Talking about Atlantic crossings, several years ago I was particularly attached to that legendary workhorse, the Lockheed C-130 Hercules and was looking for a good photoreal, functional panel for FS98. What this has to do with the Atlantic you will see shortly. Not satisfied with what was available at least as freeware, I took to build my own C-130 panel. By then - early 1998 - I was developing some serious software for a customer in C and had acquired Microsoft C/C++ Visual Studio. This, and the publicly available FS98 SDK, made for a nice chance to experiment. Armed with a demo but functional version of Photofinish that shipped with a handheld scanner, some looking around and experimenting with actual cockpit shots plus lots of patience, I built my own version. For that I borrowed a hodgepodge of gauges more or less good looking no matter how close to the real thing, but what I could not find at least to satisfaction was the center stack of engine gauges, so those were the ones I designed and built from scratch, from dial templates to needles to dynamic library modules. That panel I uploaded to FlightSim.Com, in May 1998 (rac130p0.zip), making briefly into the top 10 downloads, got a little over 8000 by now, and had then some nice feedback from users all over the world. Whatever, the idea was to have a reasonably functional panel for the Herk and go places with it which I did with enthusiasm. Crisscrossed America and went down to Antartica, found and installed a base in my scenery and built another in King George Island with the tools available for FS98 featured here in FlightSim.Com. King George Island is where the Uruguay Antartic Base is located adjacent to the Chilean base which operates the runaway. When the Uruguay base was first deployed in December 1984, supplies and personnel were flown in with a tired Fokker F27 specially fitted with internal auxiliary bladder tank to extend range. There were two F27s and two identical Farichilds in our Air Force, one of the Fairchilds fell in the Andes, you know the story of the rugby team of whom a score of survivors were eventually rescued after two young players walked their way out of the mountain to find help. It will be permanently etched in my retina the diamond formation of the four planes I once saw, well before that tragedy. None is flying any more now. Back to the antarctic base resupply, the hop from Punta Arenas had to be decided on a brink when weather just looked good and hopefully acceptable for the return trip. Drill being basically cross fingers, be ready to turn around immediately less risk being stranded. In more than one occasion the resupply trip had to abort midway because of deteriorating weather or higher than forecast winds or whatever nature happened to throw at on those unwelcoming high latitudes. It was only later that the trusty Fokker was relieved by four newly acquired (second hand) C130's, taking supply duty in a much more relaxed manner with speed, endurance and altitude capabilities at their favor. Then of course I had to make the Atlantic crossing which is why I digressed, only my idea was by the southerly, longer route which meant I needed a stepping stone, Ascension Island ideally located for the role. Problem was Ascension Island was nowhere to be found, neither in the FS98 scenery nor in any other scenery collection as far as I was able to check then. But what the heck! It is 1998 and Internet times and there are tools and information out there waiting to be recruited for the occasion, so go do some research and build it from scratch! For the location and layout I found a good map in the Web, and Ascension being a small island, just traced the contour by hand. For the mountains - Ascension is a volcanic island tipping out from the mid Atlantic ridge - I found a scenery shapes tool for that purpose on FlightSim.Com; sorry I do not remember which one. With those tools and the elevation profiles included in said map, I assembled the scenery package complete with the Royal Air Force airstrip located true to reality which was the purpose of the whole exercise. Then after some test flying around, I set to make the crossing in my C130 with GPS as only tool to navigate up there. In order to complete the intended objectives of both crossing the Atlantic and making into Africa, a natural place for the Hercules to serve duty. The Hercules remains today an iconic workhorse for rough and difficult missions particularly in humanitarian and disaster relief duty after a very long career. A very long career like that of the Boeing 727 which can be found still now performing cargo duty, will be with this airliner shortly. And after hours of mesmerizing cruise suspended high over the ocean, warm and cozy in the darkness, as if hurtling at more than 800 km/h inside an alumininum tube 10 km high in the stratosphere were a rather unsubstantial piece of information than something with a real meaning, we make to Brazil. Recife is a frequent stopover for Lufthansa cargo only less so than Campinhas which is the cargo hub for Sao Paulo, Brazil's commercial and industrial center of gravity. Not surprisingly, Recife was one of the first settlements the Portuguese established in South America, being right in the easternmost corner of the continent. In its origins, fishing and later sugar cane trade were the main economic activites from its foundation in 1537 onwards. Trade, technology, health services and tourism are now powerful levers for a regional economy which affords one of the best places to live in Brazil in terms of quality of life. Down the road among the stream of coastal waypoints before digging inland is Salvador. Salvador de Bahia is one of those places one cannot afford to miss given the slightest chance as is also the case for Rio, only be prepared to face some security issues, nothing that cannot be coped with basic commonsense. It was the first capital of Brazil until the role passed to Rio de Janeiro in 1763. Like Recife, Salvador's main export during the colonial period was sugar, being for some time the largest exporter worldwide. One of the most widely known attractions in Salvador is the historical center which became known as "pelourinho", a reference to the central court where mostly slaves were punished. Recall the widespread sugar cane plantations were insatiable consumers of slave labor and Brazil inherits today a strong presence of descendants from those shadowy times. Whatever, the historical center has been subject to careful restoration under the designation of cultural heritage by UNESCO. Of course Brazil's thousands of miles of Atlantic coastline are represented here by year round balmy wheather, sun, sand and blue and white surf to enjoy from all corners of the world through world class facilities and services. Talking about sun, sand and surf, in Uruguay we used to boast not only of Punta del Este, but of our Atlantic coastline notwithstanding it being less than 200 km, good for just about four months in the year if you are looking for summertime. Yet it is surprising how much Brazilians flock to our tiny beaches considering their own gorgeous Atlantic coastlines. One frequently told reason is Uruguay features that kind of tranquility not often found in Brazil where security or just harrasement from street merchants play against otherwise paradisiacal locations as much as is the case for renowned international sun and sea resorts elsewhere. I was flying (virtually) around here last year in the FSX Maule. How come? It was late 2015 and I was looking for something different after having completed three round the world trips with the Level-D 767 along different routes. Just for a change I selected the Maule and placed it in a random little field in Alaska. Shame I did not take notes, do not remember precisely which one, could not find it later. Whatever, after some frolicking around, decided to head south to some other airfield within less than 100 nm, and then another. Then I just let myself drift south, cross the coastal ranges near Valdez, kept jumping airport to airport never more than a couple of hundred miles away. After over a year flying low and slow I completed the trip to Montevideo, bad I did not keep a log, could have made for a good story, I remember well Seattle, San Francisco, Los Angeles, Guadalajara, Mexico DF, Oaxaca, Panama, Maracaibo, Isla Margarita, Paramaribo, Macapa and so on. No matter, I will sprinkle anecdotes as I can recall from that adventure in upcoming features. So that's it, landed in Campinhas, made a quick turnover and launched again for Montevideo at last! This leg is only 850 miles long and takes us down from the Brazilian planalto to the state of Rio Grande and finally to my home Uruguay. The flight path goes over Curitiba which not by chance is also a regular stopover for our MD11. Curitiba is a major economic hub for Brazil, and home for one of the most innovative public transportation systems integrating a network of buses of different capacities and speeds which served as inspiration for similar systems elewhere. While comparatively close to the coast, Curitiba sits on the Altiplano Paranaense, mean altitude about 3000 ft. so winter temperatures are lower than expected at this latitude while the ocean proximity damps otherwise expected large temperature excursions. While he was born in Rio, not Curitiba, there is a museum dedicated to Oscar Niemeyer, the long-lived architect responsible for the design from scratch of Brazil's capital, Brasilia, iconic in its urbanistic boldness. Miles slip by underneath and we fly into Rio Grande do Sul, leave Porto Alegre abeam and finally cross into Uruguay airspace. Will leave for another occasion a more thorough introduction and rather race to a quick arrival, it's been a long trip from Dakar and the risk of being boring creeps up dangerously, so enough for the time being. Here we are at last! In front is the new terminal opened to public December 2009, the older terminal which lays out of sight to the right being repurposed for cargo. Sometimes I fear of running out of ideas for writing this series, but then start to remember this or that experience, or things learned, which seem to be never-ending. That I have been around for some time by now no doubt helps in this department, so if you can bear me along, we'll be sharing more in future installments. To meet exotic far away places, talk about many airplanes that left a mark in history, talk - why not - about inmersive experiences with fighter flight simulators, but then about great inspiring aviation writers like late Gordon Baxter or Len Morgan and much more. Rodolfo Astrada -
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Going Places - To Dakkar, En Route To South America By Rodolfo Astrada Off to South America! This trip is flown several times a week by MD11's from Lufthansa Cargo starting at Frankfurt. It reaches Buenos Aires by way of Campinhas and Montevideo. First leg Frankfurt - Dakkar is 4600 km / 2480 nm and takes a little less than six hours depending on winds, stretches over contrasting sceneries: France, Spain, Morocco, Mauritania and Senegal. From cold and snowy Germany to the dry and scorched Western Sahara to equatorial Atlantic shores. After an early afternoon takeoff, the first hour breezes by over western Germany and across France before arriving at the Pyrenees. It is amazing how small Europe is, relatively speaking; it takes only a few hours jetwise to cross it whichever way, yet here is where western civilization was born, where contrasting cultures such as Nordic and Latin or Slav and Celtic met, mixed, spiced here and there with influx from Middle East and Asia, fought, mixed again and reached out to the four corners of the world. While McDonnell Douglas formally launched the MD11 project in 1986, it was natural to be looking for DC-10 derivatives much earlier. Preliminary studies aimed at a stretched version with higher capacity - 390 to 550 passengers - or greater range or both. Through cooperation with NASA and with a specially fitted DC-10, several performance improvements were investigated leading to development of distinctive winglets for increased efficiency. Yet, studies lingered among various model designations with no production commitment. By late 1983 and with no new orders booked for the DC-10 except Air Force KC-10 tankers, development of a successor was halted, only to be revived only years later with a different target, capacity limited to 320 passengers, range in the 5900 to 7500 nm ballpark and an all cargo version rounding the offer. The new airliner was designated MD11 and like the 767 and A300 was to have a two pilot glass cockpit. So the time came for The Board to unleash the company's sales force, scramble order book in hand and reach out for customers. In hindsight, with Boeing's 777 twin engine project under way and the inroads Airbus twin engine jetliners were making perched on an extended ETOPS certification, the lower efficiency afforded by a trijet did not look like a very smart move no matter the fact that orders and options were adding to about 100 MD11's at launch time. Looking down and to the right, the sight of Gibraltar, brings about tons of history and literature featuring the famous Rock as central character. From its geologic origins as a piece of crust freely buoying on the Earth's mantle which happened to jam against Spain, to the legendary Pillars of Hercules marking the confines of the ancient known world, to the rather incongruent political situation of less than 7 square kilometers of United Kingdom territory grafted on an otherwise spanish countryside. To cast a different approach for a change, I will rather focus on geologic history. The Strait of Gibraltar is the only connection between the Mediterranean and the Atlantic but it was not always so due to the vagaries of plate tectonics. A land bridge joining Africa with Europe closed out the Mediterranean for about 600,000 years ending 5.3 million years ago. Fresh water influx from all basins feeding the Mediterranean was not enough to offset evaporation, so it slowly dried up and took with it the Black Sea. Clues leading to this amazing discovery were revealed first by seismic studies and later by cores extracted from salt beds drilled during prospect in search for oil. What studies revealed were not only unequivocal clues of deposits due to evaporation, but also deeply buried riverbeds, continuation of major afluents like the Nile once exposed while the Mediterranean was drying up. About 5.3 million yeas ago the land bridge colapsed and an unimaginable cataract surged out from the Atlantic, started to refill the Mediterranean basin. Some scientists think it was higher than the Angel Fall and broader than the Niagara and Iguazu toghether, yet others believe it was less dramatic. In the bottom of the Black Sea rest the remains of ancient settlements. There is a strong suspicion the biblical flood, the Atlantis and similar lore are rooted in the catastrophic deluge following the opening of the Gibraltar strait, when the newly filled basin overflowed past the Bosphorus into the Black Sea. The ride for the MD11 was not smooth from the very beginning. Due to manufacturing and supplier problems, its first flight was almost nine months behind schedule in 1990, with certification obtained by year's end. First revenue flight was made by Finnair in December 1990. Delta was the first US carrier to get its MD11's. It was then when the fate of the MD11 was sealed because of a sin no aircraft manufacturer can afford, failure to meet performance specifications. The promised range of 7000 nm at rated load could not be met, forcing either to schedule shorter routes or to reduce payload with direct impact on business results, which drove several airlines to withdraw booked orders. The problem was addressed jointly by McDonnell Douglas and engine manufacturers P&W and GE through an improvement program involving engine performance and aerodynamics, and by 1995 the original goals had been achieved. But it was too late and the final blow was yet to come. In 1997 McDonnell Douglas merged with Boeing, which for a time kept the MD11 production line open albeit only for the cargo variant. While some derivatives from the model were considered, nobody really expected Boeing to commit on a project competing with its own line while featuring no obvious advantage or gap filling capability. This is how D-ALCN owned by Lufthansa was the last MD11 to roll off the production line at Long Beach in October 2000. One may wonder why MD11's are still flying despite the comparative higher direct operating costs stemming from lower fuel efficiency. While counterintuitive, this actually makes sense because an MD11 costs only a fraction of what a 777 is worth and this translates in turn in competitive total operating costs when insurance and leasing is taken into account (most airliners are not owned by carriers but by holding companies). In the end 200 MD11's were built, but now you can count on seeing on average no more than 30 in the air any given day. Last passenger revenue flight was in 2014, FedEx is by far the largest MD11F operator with Lufthansa in second place. Deep into Africa, we hover over the Maghreb, home to the Atlas Mountain range. The Atlas trace their lineage to the epoch when America and Africa collided, being the Appalachian in America the mirror sisters from that remote time, yet some sections are of a more recent origin stemming from the push that closed Gibraltar. As is usually the case with terrain subject to former active transformation and mixing, the Atlas region is rich in mineral deposits such as iron, lead, copper and other resources. From southern Morocco we find ourselves climbing the High Atlas towards that abrupt transition reaching west to the Atlantic where the Sous river flows to its final destination. Interestingly, another mountain range, the Anti Atlas beyond the Sous basin forms a natural barrier protecting it from the Sahara east by south from where we are. As we progress down west Africa into Mauritania, the harsh rocky desert below bears human settlements with undecipherable names. Again one cannot but wonder how is is to live down there, which epoch in fact is running. Home of the bereberes for centuries, nomads gradualy migrated south ahead of the encroaching Sahara which claims over 90% of the country. From 1000 BC and for 500 years Arab invaders struggled once and again until attaining final dominance but by the end of 19th century French forces entered north of the Senegal River, the southern frontier with the namesake country where we are headed. Like most of Africa, Mauritania was under European rule well into the 20th century. Harsh subsaharian climate and Shael droughs bring endemic famine, poverty and conflict to a region where. It's hard to believe in our times, one fifth of the population lives in slavery. The 20th century brought multiple attempts for modern democratic governance with equally multiple coups most of the time with support of military factions. Things look more settled these days despite political dissent running strong. International recognition of legitimacy and the lifting of economic sanctions formerly raised against dictatorial rulers are easing hardship for people inhabiting an unfriendly landscape, lighting hopes for a better future. Crossing well south of Samara, reaching into Zouerat, a look through Google Earth reveals towns like Fderik which seem mostly like ghost settlements in the process of being swallowed by the desert, yet it is an iron ore crushing mill village sharing with Zouerat mount Iijll deposits from where the mineral is shipped by train 600 km west to the port of Nouadhibou. Iron ore constitutes almost one half of Mauritania's exports. No trace of a tree as far as can be seen. At least there is an airport in Zouerat. A few miles past and to the left of our path lies another little known wonder, the "Eye of Africa" or Richat Structure near the town of Ouadane. The Richat Structure is a deeply eroded dome about 40 km or 25 mi across which exposes striking concentric rings of quartzite and rocks of volcanic origin, but what makes it spectacular to watch is the extensive transformation brought by hydrothermal activity which endows contrasting iridescent hues. Once suspected the result of a meteoritic impact, no evidence of shocked rocks or other telltale structures support this hypothesis, so a more earthbound geological origin is likely. Active investigation is under way to decipher how this eningmatic feature came to be. Look for it in Google Earth, it is impressive. Like the DC10, the MD11 had also its share of mishaps most often because of human error, but then again the not so friendly handling characteristics - in particular high approach speed and poor crosswind performance - have been singled as contributing factors. The MD11 was one of the first airliners to use static compensation where fuel is alternately pumped in or out of an embedded tank in the stabilator for trimming, instead of relying only on aerodynamic pressure, thus contributing to better efficiency. Like all rear mounted engine airplanes the MD11 suffers from an inherent longitudinal control authority problem. Engines are heavy so an aft placed one shifts the CG in comparison to otherwise similar planes. This is particularly obvious looking how far aft the wings of an MD80 or Bombardier CRJ jet look. Now, the plane's fulcrum is located at the center of gravity, so if it is closer to the empennage, the lever arm for pitch and yaw control ends up shorter, demanding larger tail surfaces to compensate, which translate in higher drag. In the MD11 aerodynamic pitch authority in particular was sacrificed for efficiency as noted earlier. Compounding the issue, the MD11 stabilator is actually smaller than that of the smaller DC-10, which was to blame in some incidents / accidents. Interestingly the MD80, CRJ's and B727 have their stabilizer placed as far aft as possible over the vertical fin to stretch the pitch control lever arm. By the way, how does a seasoned 727 skipper handle a late sinker? Pulling the yoke? Wrong, PUSHING the yoke. Pulling the yoke just slams the far aft placed main gear onto the pavement while pushing the yoke helps arrest a little the force with which it meets terra firma. Now, if the MD11 was in the end a flawed design, and it did not succeed commercially, and on top of this it is not that friendly to handle, why is it I am writing about it? Well, finding an answer to that is probably as hard as trying to reason why you fall in love. You know, all airplanes have a face don't they? Look at the above photo, doesn't she say "don't mess with me, I'm busy, get off my way"? Talking about the Boeing 727 or three holer as it was affectionately known by crews, since we are mostly over with the saga of the MD11 it is time to pick a new subject. Also a trijet, the 727 was a revolutionary airplane for its time and enormously successful with over 1800 built, dozens still in service 50 years after first flight. Stay tuned for upcoming features. As the sun falls over the Atlantic horizon in blazing colors we reach for the last stretch of this flight, accross the mighty Senegal river embracing and giving name to the country whose capital is Dakkar, our destination. As much as Mauritania is an arid unfriendly place, Senegal is more representative of the Africa we imagine, but not to bore with history and geography at this length, a more thorough visit will wait for another occasion, rest asured we'll be coming back to Dakkar frequently. Back in early 1988 I was finishing my private pilot instruction when time came for the solo cross country. It was a Sunday morning when I leisurely preflighted CX-BGX, the C152 in which I learned to fly for real, loaded and tied down a can of fuel and folding stair for later refuel, and took to the sky. It was February, the midst of summer here in Uruguay, and at 8:00 in the morning the air was silky smooth. I could release the yoke and just nudge the pedals to keep wings level, that smooth. Severe VFR, no radio or any form of electronic navigation, just clock, flight plan, chart and watch for familiar landmarks leisurely rolling below my lofty 2500 foot cruise altitude. From home field at Canelones Aero Club to Carmelo Aero Club, the first leg went left of Santa Lucia, over Escilda Paullier, Rosario, Tarariras and Conchillas up to the Uruguay River where Carmelo lies. I was gliding in a descending left turn to final over the river, to the sound of the wind at last winning over the engine drone now idling, when I saw them. Down on the beach three men walking, long shadows cast on the sand by the early morning sun. They were looking at me and waving and I rocked the wings in return to their immense delight. And landed following suit, to complete the first leg. Which is just what we have done, only virtually, here in Dakkar under the gathering darkness at the edge of the ocean on Leopold Sedar Senghor International Airport, runway 36. See you next time across the pond to Buenos Aires (via Campinhas and Montevideo of course). Rodolfo Astrada -
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Come And Visit South America By Bastian Blinten 2 May 2008 Hello again! Starting point for our tour today: Maracaibo, Venezuela. We are going to explore the South of America so that no poor flight simmer out there is running out of new places to try! Today we are going to just a few well known places so there is no Rio de Janeiro on the list. I've never been to South America. A big pity. My grandfather is from Chile and my uncle grew up in Buenos Aires, Argentina. They both had German roots, settled over to Germany later and lived here for the longest part of their lives. I still have relatives in Argentina and hopefully one day I'll go and see this part of the world with my own eyes. If you check a topographic map, you'll find that the Andes divide the continent from North to South. The file library offers hundreds of megabytes of mesh sceneries that give you a detailed look of this part of the journey. I collected the biggest part of the Andes resulting in an extra CD with more than 500 megabytes. It is currently not installed so don't worry if the screen shots don't show high detail mesh. Our aircraft for the first leg is an Aeropostal Airbus A310-300. The famous Antoine de Saint Exupery helped build up this airline in the early 1930's. The 3D-movie "Wings Of Courage" tells the true story of one of his pilots, transporting mail across the Andes in an open biplane these days. He crashes in very bad weather but survives relatively unhurt. Although lost in the high and wintery mountains he makes his way home on his own feet. Today we enjoy a little more comfort and set course for Manizales, Columbia. I admit I had only been there once and didn't remember the place well but on arrival I recollect that this was an impressive one. Take a look! The approach is at eye level with the city which is on our left and straight "into" a mountain. The runway is fairly short for my Airbus and the terrain provides an interesting approach and prevents any go-around. OK, this is now or never and I must admit that my first two tries would have resulted in a terrible hole in the ground. The airport is at 6000 feet and I was flying with pretty full tanks resulting in an approach speed of around 170 kts. This is too much. After a good fuel dump things get better and I finally get to stop the A310 on the last few yards of the runway. To avoid further neck-breaking I switch to the King Air and head for Ecuador. Latacunga is another high elevation airport near mount Cotopaxi which you can see in the background. It is raining and there is not too much to see at this freight airport. I head further south to Lima, Peru. I have never been able to find any add-on scenery for Peru and the default terrain seems pretty boring. My number 1 for the most boring place in flight simulator! A big sorry to the people of Peru. It is probably a great place. Just needs somebody to liven it up in our virtual world. Never mind. There is still enough to see. We follow the impressive Andes for Bolivia which has been mentioned in several articles. La Paz is more or less the top of the world if it comes to airliner landings. Today we head further south east and touch down at colorful San Javier. Takeoff from the single grass runway and further south east to the border of Paraguay. Again, except for a mesh, there is no scenery enhancement for this country. So we fly by the capital Asuncion and all the way back across the Andes to the Pacific coast. Next stop: Valparaiso, Chile. It is a city with great cultural heritage and has been the most important sea port before the opening of the Panama canal. It is a must-see and for a quick virtual check, offers some well done freeware add-on. So does the capital Santiago de Chile. Several times a week I can see the LAN Chile Airbus A340-600 arrive from Santiago via Madrid to Frankfurt. The approach is well visible from my kitchen window. This is a beautiful airliner in a most lovely finishing! The city lies between the mountains and the sea. It looks impressive even in flight simulator. Some Pacific islands are part of Chile, such as the Robinson Crusoe Island and the famous Easter Island, Rapa Nui. Chile also claims a part of Antarctica. We are not going there today but instead to the most southern part of the country to the base of Antarctic flights: Punta Arenas. While we are freezing in Europe or Northern America it is now midsummer down here. But don't expect warmth. Better watch out for strong Antarctic winds any time of the year. OK, finally back north. We are close to Argentina and are going to visit its capital Buenos Aires, offering lots of eye candy. We will soon fly on in the default B747-400 with the new Aerolineas Argentinas livery. But first we are enjoying the day in the city and have another trip north to the border of Brazil. The Cessna Caravan takes us to the Iguazu Falls, one of the beauties of the country. Only then we are ready for the next larger trip. After takeoff we stay low for a closer look at Buenos Aires city center with another air- and seaport. Still low across the Bahia Samborombon to have a short glance at Montevideo, Paraguay. Finally Brazil! Rain forests, large fields and if there is a city it is probably huge and lies at the sea. You will find free add-ons for most of them. We choose Sao Paulo Congonhas airport in the middle of the city. The runway is pretty short for a 747 but we make it okay. I just love the shiny exterior of this big bird! Sao Paulo is a giant of a city. Almost 20 million residents live in this ocean of houses. The city is a great industrial center but there are slums and great criminality. It is among the top ranking city concerning the amount of helipads. The businessmen who can afford it, prefer flying instead of taking a car through the dangerous streets. So maybe a good place for those virtual heli pilots. Out next flight is a short one to Belo Horizonte which is further inland about 100 miles north of Rio de Janeiro. The airport offers some nice surroundings with lakes, parks and detailed hangars. Next stop is further north. A B737-500 takes us to another great metropolis Belem. The add-on scenery nicely depicts the style of a major city and I'm afraid the real Baia de Marajo is as brown as you can see it here. So much about the cities. Brazil, that is the Amazonas region, the lung of our earth which is suffering badly. The DeHavilland Twin Otter takes us up the Amazonas river to find some of the remote places. After a short stop we are turning north for the final leg of our South American journey. We are going to Paramaribo, Surinam. We have covered every country now except Guyana and French Guyana. Maybe you might enjoy a flight along the northern coast of the continent to have a peek at them also. Landing at Zandery airport and parking. I can sniff the ocean and I am longing to cross the Atlantic to return to Germany. The next day there is slight rain as I prepare the Airbus A330 for departure to Frankfurt. It's a long way and the plane is heavy. It takes a while as it lumbers down the runway towards the almost visible sea. Finally we get airborne. Goodbye South America! Bastian Blinten b.blinten@gmx.de -
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