Around the World in a Dash-8: September 2009

Tuesday, September 15, 2009

Flights 68 & 69 : San Diego CA to Kenora, ONT

Date: 11-Sep-09

Departure: 06:20 AM

Routing: Diagonally across the USA

Aircraft: Horizon and Worldwide Airways Q-400s

Altitude: 23,000 feet

Miles: With a fuel stop in Rapid City, SD

(90 mins to change planes) total miles was 1,441

Arrival Stats: Not counting the 90 mins stop for gas and aircraft change, total flight time was about 5 hours or 288 mph

Summary:

11 months

49,056 miles

Nearly 230 hours

213.5 mph average

50 different nations

This brings us to the end of this story and this blog. What for a summary of this experience on www.flightsim.com and do check out my other blogs/links for more flight simming adventures.

Flight 67: San Luis Potosi MEX to San Diego CA

Date: 09-Sep-09

Departure: After my traumatic arrival I was ready to leave by noon

Routing: Up the Gulf of California coast

Aircraft: Pacific Airways Q-400

Altitude: 9,000 then 13,500 then down to 6,000

Miles: 1,098

Arrival Stats: Arrived at 14:25, 3.5 hours is 313 mph

Notes:

225 miles to Durango

159 miles to Culiacan

202 miles to Obregon

120 miles to Hermosillo

187 miles to Punta Penasco

Just over 200 miles to San Diego

Scenic, uneventful flight into San Diego, over the city - great approach!

Flight 66 : Guatamala to San Luis Potosi MEX

Date: 09-Sep-09

Departure: 07:35 AM

Routing: Northwest into Central Mexico

Aircraft: Pacific Island Q-200

Altitude: Various 8-11,000 feet

Miles: 755

Arrival Stats: 10:30 AM is 3 hours or 251 mph

Notes: Left Guatamala City under clear skies - amazing how close the hills are when you really look! Soon out of the mountains of Guatamal we were over the generally more flat terrain of Mexico ... still some hills up around 9-10,000 feet but a bit flatter.

130 miles to Comitan

186 miles to Minatitlan

221 miles to Poza Rica

218 miles to San Luis Potosi

I almost missed this vital bit of information: On finals I noticed that the R main gear light was red.

Now why on earth would it do that? Looked fine from outside. I went missed ... cycled the gears a couple of times both from inside and from outside but always got the red light. Weird! Well, I didn't have a load of gas left but having done this a few years ago in a 767 (http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=vDS9TmVI9eY) I was confident I could do it in a Dash-8 too.

Watch the video to see what happened:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4AFi1P1AM_g

Wow! I even got the motors killed without bending the props - that was lucky!

Tuesday, September 8, 2009

Flights 64 & 65: San Jose COL to Guatamala City

Flight 64:

Date: 07-Sept-2009

Departure: 15:00

Routing: Diagonal across Colombia with a zig-zag across Panama

Aircraft: Aires Colombia Q200

Altitude: Various due to mountains - as much as 13,000

Miles: 776

Arrival Stats: 17:06 or 3 hours which is an average of 259

Notes: 411 miles to Turbo Colombia

201 miles to Colon at the north end of the Panama Canal

164 miles to David in the NW corner of Panama

Flight 65:
Date: 07-sept-2009
Departure: 18:00
Routing:San Jose Costa Rica to Managua Nicaragua to Toncontin Honduras to Guatamala City
Aircraft: Icaro Colombia Q200
Altitude: Various due to mountains, ended up at 12,000 feet
Miles: 641
Arrival Stats: 19:45 which is 2.75 hours and after dark. Average is 233 mph
Notes: 143 miles to San Jose - gotta do a future FOTM in Costa Rica!

172 miles to Managua

130 miles to Tegucigalpa

196 miles to Guatamala City

Flight 63 : Caraca VENZ to San Jose COLMB

Obviously, it's been a few months since I have flown on this project. In fact, I have been surprised how much "flow" I've been able to keep on this story-line. Well, a big, obvious break here - too much real life going on outside the sim.

Date: 01-Sept-2009

Departure: 10:08