Around the World in a Dash-8

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

2009-09-15T11:39:00.000-07:00

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

2009-09-15T11:29:00.000-07:00

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

2009-09-15T10:53:00.000-07:00

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!

Flights 64 & 65: San Jose COL to Guatamala City

2009-09-08T09:49:00.000-07:00

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

2009-09-08T09:34:00.001-07:00

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

Routing: South to Canaima, then west to Colombia

Aircraft: Aires Colombia Q200

Altitude: 6,000 feet

Miles: 965

Arrival Stats: 4.5 hours or 214 mph

Notes: I had no idea that the Q200 could stay in the air this long! Granted, I wasn't trying to fly very fast but .... dang!

I have a Colombia Land Class Mesh installed and it put the river nearby up in a trough. Other than that it was a pretty flat flight.

Oh and one more thing - WATCH OUT FOR THE TREES on short finals !!!!

Flights 61 & 62 : Key West FL to Caracas VENZ

2009-07-14T15:20:00.000-07:00

Date: 15-July-2009
Departure: 06:40 AM
Routing: Cayo Coco Cuba > Providenciales > San Isidro > St. John's > St Lucia > Port Salines Grenada > Margarita > Caracas (Metropolitano)
Aircraft: Tobago Express Q400 and BeeWee Q200
Altitude: 4,000 feet
Miles: Total for both legs is 1,910 miles
Arrival Stats: See the "Notes" below.

Notes: Stopped for gas in St. John's. Time was 11:12. Departed 30 mins later with final arrival time 14:27. Minus the 30-minute stop gives flying time of 6.55 hours or 291 mph

I had been looking forward to this flight because I knew it would be scenic - I was not disappointed as the following photos will show!

Flight 60 : Jacksonville to Key West

2009-06-08T09:25:00.000-07:00

Date: Friday May 29, 2009
Departure: 07:00 Local Time
Routing: Down the eastern shores of Florida, over the keys to Key West
Aircraft: LIAT Caribbean Air
Altitude: 3,000 feet
Miles: 517 miles
Arrival Stats: 2 hours spot on, 258 mph
Notes: Lots of sand bars, beaches off from the mainland of Florida. Cities to my right, beaches to my left, water below. We recently had a feature FOTM in the Florida Keys (http://www.toomuchfs.com/) so this was still pretty fresh in my mind. Looking forward to the next few legs, hopping down the Caribbean Islands!

Flight 59 : Wiscasset, ME to Jacksonville, FL

2009-05-28T07:48:00.000-07:00

Date: Tuesday May 26th, 2009

Departure: 16:55 local time

Routing: Right down the East Coast of USA: Newport - Hartford - New York - Norfolk - Wilmington - Myrtle Beach - Savannah - Jacksonville.

Aircraft: Eastern Airlines Q-400

Altitude: 4,000 feet

Miles: 1,100

Arrival Stats: Arrived after 3.5 hours in the air - just after sunset at 20:27 local time. This equates to 310 mph average - I thought it would have been a bit higher ...

Notes: I was SHOCKED! Wiscasset Maine kept me there two weeks - what a great little place! Anyway, back to flying .... There was certainly more to see and do today - lots of time tuning VORs into the radio! I flew down the eastern seaboard over some better-known cities. Finally I enjoyed the sunset near Savannah, Georgia and just 73 miles later I landed in Jacksonville - Nuclear Powerplant shortly before finals.

Flight 58 : Gander to Fuel Range

2009-05-25T22:13:00.000-07:00

Date: Tuesday May 12th, 2009

Departure: 05:00 local time

Routing: Down the Eastern shore to see how far I get ...

Aircraft: Canada JAZZ Q-200

Altitude: 4,000 feet
Miles: 718

Arrival Stats: Arrived into Wiscasset Maine at 07:10. With the time change this is 3.2 hours or 224 mph

Notes: After a couple of days in Gander I was ready to head south. I had no real idea how far I was going to make it, just took off and headed southwest along the coastline. Being so far north, things seemed pretty bleak up here and the early morning light provided little color below. I flew over New Foundland and Prince Edward Island, through a couple of storm fronts, nothing big, finally putting down in a cute little village called Wiscasset. ("The prettiest little village in Maine - on the National Historic Registry since 1973)

Flight 57 : Sumbaugh UK to Gander Newfoundland

2009-05-18T07:47:00.000-07:00

Date: Thursday into Friday May 7-8, 2009

Departure(s): From Sumbaugh at 19:00 GMT

From Iceland at 22:09 GMT

From Greenland at 01:18 GMT

Routing: Hop-Scotch across the North Atlantic

Aircraft: Air Labrador Q-200

Altitude: 19,000

Miles: 2,091

Arrival Stats: Including the brief stop-overs for gas, stretch and bathrooms it took 9.8 hours to cover the full distance. Average then is 213 mph.

Notes: I had good weather and generally clear skies for my Atlantic Crossing.Seems like it took the sun a long time to set but once it did I had a real treat - about 3 hours of Arora Borealis! Finally I arrived into Gander for the weekend - 'round midnight or 1 AM local time Friday morning.

My plan now was to head

south into the Caribbean and

South America. I was looking

forward to views like this.

Flight 56 : Innsbruck to Sumbaugh, Shetland Islands

2009-05-15T08:25:00.000-07:00

This leg will be much easier to just do in narrative fashion - I have a story to tell!

I had spent just a couple of days in Romania, then flew across eastern Europe to Austria. After a week in and around Innsbruck I was ready to head across the Atlantic Ocean. I figured I'd head up north and see how far I could get. So Wednesday afternoon, May 13th, I climbed aboard the British Airways Q400 and set in a 1,022-mile route leaving mainland near the Belgium/Dutch boarder and following the east coast of the UK up over Edinburgh (a past FOTM on http://www.toomuchfs.com/) to Sumbaugh in the Shetland Islands (another past destination at http://www.toomuchfs.com/).

I left Innsbruck at 18:00 local time figuring I'd get into Sumbaugh in time for a hot cup of tea before rolling into bed at the same B&B I had used just a few months ago for our Flight of the Month. I departed westbound and climbed to an initial 12,000 feet, planning to drop lower as I flew along. I crossed over the Bodensee area (yep, another past Feature Flight on http://www.toomuchfs.com/) and headed for Luxemburg. Well, this is where the story gets interesting. I ran into a front of real-weather thunderstorms! (I tried, but never did get a good photo of the lightning)So rather than dropping I climbed, eventually ending up around 22,000 feet and changing course to avoid the biggest cells. I was outside the aircraft taking photos when, BANG! I must have been hit by lightning because I lost Comm Radios, Autopilot and GPS!

Luckily, I know how to fly and navigate without those things but, I figured being without Comms I should land. With the plane trimmed out nicely and only being 34 miles from Luxemburg, I ran to grab my manual of radio frequencies and dailed up the VOR and NDB, then I set my squawk to 0077 (should be 7700 for emergencies - I found out later) and started my descent. The lower I got the soupier the weather got - and I did not have the ILS frequencies so just had to guess that the NDB was near to the runway heading.

I crossed the NDB .... and flew on ... finally finding the runway and landing safely at 19:03 local time.

Obviously this does not finish the story because the leg continues to Sumbaugh.

Some 34 hours later I was able to depart Luxemburg

and continue on my marry little way - across Belgium, along the UK coast to Edinburgh, Scotland and on up to the Shetland Islands.

All told this was a 38-hour leg which means my average speed was about 27 mph!

Flight 55 : Sibiu to Innsbruck

2009-05-15T08:08:00.000-07:00

Date: Thursday 07-May-09

Departure: 5 AM

Routing: East across Romania, Croatia, Slovenia, Northern Italy etc

Aircraft: Swiss International Q400

Altitude: 11,000 feet

Miles: 595 miles

Arrival Stats: Arrived to Innsbruck at 08:22 but there are a couple of time zones in there. It's about 2.3 hours or 258 mph

Notes: Pretty flat across this part of Europe at least until you get into northern Italy which has been a Feature Flight beforeand of course, Innsbruck was a feature flight too. Different approach for me though, coming in from the south and descending down one of the valleys into Innsbruck.

Flight 54 : Kalamata to Sibiu

2009-05-06T09:34:00.000-07:00

Date: 05-May-09

Deprture: 06:00 AM

Routing: North over some VORs and some of the most scenic areas of the world.

Aircraft: Croatia Air Q400

Altitude: 10,000 feet

Miles: 574 miles

Arrival Stats: Arrived to a VFR approach, eastbound, just under 2 hours flight time. That's over 290 mph!!

Notes: What a great flight this was. After many weeks in Greece (and touring many of the thousands of Greek Isles) this was a perfect way to get back into this around the world project. I've been thinking about a Vitural Airline based in Korfu and after this flight I'm even more convinced that I should be flying to/from there during any free time I may have.I departed Kalamata southbound, then turned north and headed toward Korinth, then Thessoloniki. Beautiful scenery below!Then over Sophia, Bulgaria and across the mountains into Romania landing just before 8 AM in the quaint-looking town of Sibiu. Wow, that was great!

Flight 53 : Al Hoceima to Kalamata

2009-03-30T14:51:00.000-07:00

Date: 26-Mar-2009

Departure: 06:00 AM local Moroccan time

Routing: North African coast, Italy's boot and into Greece.

Aircraft: Flight Club Mediterranean Q-400

Altitude: 5,000 feet for 95% of the flight

Miles: Total Mileage was 1,282 miles

Arrival Stats: Arrived to lingering AM fog about 11:35AM. That's 1,282 miles in 4.5 hours is about 285 mph average.

Notes: I left Morocco just before sunrise and followed the North African coast over Algiers and Tunis before heading northeast over Sicily and the "boot" of Italy, then over into Greece. I had some fog below enroute to Algiers - obscuring the coastline. Then I had some lightning enroute to Tunis. Then there were some big bumps coming over Reggio in southern Italy but all-in-all, this was a GREAT flight - albeit a little long .....

Flight 52 : Lanzarote, Canary to Al Hoceima, Morocco

2009-03-05T11:57:00.000-08:00

Date: Sunday March 1, 2009

Departure: 10 AM local Canary Island time

Routing: Moroccan Coastline

Aircraft: Flight Club Mediterranean Q-400

Altitude: 3,000 feet over water, 6,000 feet over land

Miles: Total Mile were 716

Arrival Stats: Notably warmer and still windy. Just before 2 PM local time.

Notes: Finally time to move on I guess ... having spent several weeks in and around the Canary Islands I needed to continue my trek around the world (I still have Europe and South America to cover!) I set out on a crystal clear, windy day and headed across the water to Agadir Morocco.Then I turned northward over the mountains and climbed to 6,000 feet crossing Essaouira.

165 miles to Casablanca (Just had the Jan 2009 FOTM there)

157 miles to Tanger

107 miles to Al Hoceima

Flight 51 : Around the Canary Islands

2009-01-23T16:42:00.001-08:00

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=IUhbVyti3Oo

Flight 50 : Banjul, Gambia to Tenerife, Canarias

2009-01-12T08:38:00.001-08:00

Date: Monday January 9, 2009

Departure: 14:27 local

Routing: Up the coast to Tarfaya, Morocco, then west

Aircraft: Air Catalonia Q-400

Altitude: 12,000 feet

Miles: 986

Arrival Stats: Nearly 4 hours or nearly 260 mph

Notes: This was a scenic afternoon and evening flight up the western coast of Africa. Off the left wing was noting but open water, off the right wing was nothing but open desert but below were palm-lined beaches ...

After a Moroccan sunset ... I turned west and dialed in the Tenerife South VOR and ILS beam. Weather was, as usual, clear and breezy.

Flight 49 : Tamale, Ghana to Banjul, Gambia

2009-01-12T08:27:00.000-08:00

Date: Monday January 12, 2009

Departure: 09:50 AM

Routing: West-Northwest across Southern Mali and Guinea

Aircraft: Air Catalonia Q-400

Altitude: 24,000 feet

Miles: 1,072

Arrival Stats: 3.7 hours is nearly 290 mph!

Notes: Flat, Tan, Open Desert ... Okay, so the first 2.5 hours was really pretty dull (other than a surprising number of little no-name airstrips scattered about the desert). Then I started seeing little tributaries of the river Gambia and that was much more to my eye's liking.

Flight 48 : Yamoussoukro, Ivory to Tamale, Ghana

2009-01-09T08:30:00.000-08:00

Date: Friday January 9th, 2009

Departure: 06:45 AM local

Routing: Southeast to Accra, then north to Tamale

Aircraft: Air Canada Jazz

Altitude: 5,500 feet

Miles: 567

Arrival Stats: 08:30 local time but there must be a time change 'cause I was airborne at least 120 minutes. I figure 2.75 hours or 206 mph.

Notes: After a pretty quiet day in Ivory Coast I turned in early so that I could get up early Friday. It was still dark as I made my way back to the airport and an out-of-place livery. I may not get a better excuse to fly the JAZZ colors so why not here, on the sub-saharan savannah-lands of Ghana? The sun was just peaking over the horizon as I departed to the east and turned towards Accra. As the light grew I noted that there really wasn't much to see - until I reached the Atlantic Ocean at Accra. Then I turned north and flew over the giant lakes into the Capital of the Northern Provinces, Tamale. Not the most modern of African cities but with over 300,000 residents there certainly was enough to keep me here over the weekend!

Flights 46 & 47 : Livingstone to Yamoussoukro via Gabon

2009-01-08T11:03:00.000-08:00

Date: Thursday, January 8, 2009

Departure: 04:45

Routing: northwest across Angola

Aircraft: Flight Club Congo Q-400

Altitude: 21,000 feet

Miles: 1,303

Arrival Stats: 07:34 AM local time in Mayumba, Gabon.That's 4.75 long hours or 274 mph.

Notes: Really, nothing to see across Angola, nice flight up the coastline but needed to stop for gas and about a 4.5-hour stretch.

Departure: Noon

Routing: Northwest across the Gulf of Guineato Ivory Coast.

Altitude: 23,000 feet for this leg

Miles: 986 miles

Arrival Stats: Another 3.6 hours or 274 mph.

Notes: Not a very scenic day today. I thought about landing in Luanda Angola but wanted to drive on quickly over this area that seems pretty bare on things to see. The only real High-Light today was flying over where the might Congo River comes into the Atlantic Ocean.

My plan was to land in Libreville, Gabon but with timing and fuel that didn't work out. I also have some simming contacts in Ghana and wanted to tour that nation but then I'd be looking at a LONG flight across Mali and Eastern Mauritania and that doesn't sound fun! However, there is NOTHING in Yamoussoukroeither so a little Ghana tour and then around the coast may be acceptable. We'll see ..................

Flight 45 : Kasompe to Livingstone, Zambia

2009-01-02T09:28:00.000-08:00

Date: Thursday January 1, 2009

Departure: 10 AM

Routing: Random routes across Zambia: N'dola, Lusaka, and Mongu

Aircaft: South African Q-400

Altitude: 19,000 feet

Miles: 720

Arrival: 12:28 PM - That's 2.5 hours or 288 mph

Flight 44 : Kasaba Bay to Kasompe, Zambia

2009-01-01T18:17:00.000-08:00

Continueing my New Year's Eve touch-and-go tour through central Africa.

I know, I'm in Africa, why am I flying in US Air Express livery? Because I know I won't be using this when I get back to North America.

Anyway ... I left Kasaba Bay at 15:00and flew to Samfya, Zambia - Touch-and-go runway 12 at 14:50,then to Kolwezi, DRC runway 29 at 15:45 and finally Kasompe, Zambia runway 11 at 16:32

602 miles this afternoon.

Flight 43 : Kigali, Rwanda to Kasaba Bay, Zambia

2008-12-31T09:14:00.000-08:00

Date: Wednesday December 31, 2008

Sending 2008 out with a bit of a different kind of flight. Flying around one of my favorite real-world areas, I wanted to see a lot more than just flying over the areas so I set up a zig-zagging course covering about 859 miles in the Worldwide Airways Q-400. My goal was to perform a touch-and-go at EACH airport (unless otherwise noted).

Departure from Kigali at 06:00 AM

Goma, DRC Runway 18 at 05:22 AM

Real-World lava flows have covered the northern 1/3 of the runway/airport so I only use the southern HALF of Goma airport!

Bukavu, DRC Runway 17 at 05:32 AM

Kindu, DRC Runway 18 at 06:21 AM

Nope, not me in the photo!

Bujumbura, Burundi Runway 17 at 07:08 AM.I stopped here for breakfast, departing again at 09:00 AM

Gitega, Burundi Runway 12 at 09:13 AM (Only touched/bounced the mains, little room to roll-out at this airport)

Kigoma, Tanzania Runway 16 at 09:32 AM

Kalemie, DRC (Just across the lake) Runway 24 at 09:49 AM

Kasaba Bay, Zambia Runway 24 at 11:35 AM. Then I stopped for lunch and a change of aircraft departing again at 15:00 but that's the next post.

HAPPY NEW YEAR from Central Africa!

Flight 42 : Debra Tabor, Ethiopia to Kigali, Rwanda

2008-12-22T17:40:00.000-08:00

Date: Monday December 22, 2008

Departure:Noon

Aircraft: Flight Club Goma Q-400

Altitude, 13,000 feet

Routing: South to Lake Victoria and then southwest into Kigali - over some of the most fetile farmlands on the entire planet.

Miles: 890 miles

Arrival Stats: Clear and calm, 15:12 PM or 273 mph, 3.25 hours total flight time.

Notes: Ethiopian highlands, Uganda's Rift Valley, scenic lakes and beautiful northern Rwanda - some of my most favorite real-world places! I'll be happy to spend Christmas right here .....

Flight 41: Sharm el Sheik to Debra Tabor via Port Sudan

2008-12-21T20:52:00.000-08:00

Date: Friday December 19, 2008

Departure: 06:25 AM

As the real world outside is icy and frozen, my goal now is to make it into the warm climates of Central Africa for Christmas. After a few days here, I depart Sharm el Sheik, Egypt just after dawn on Friday morning In the deault, house-color Dash-8, and head down the Red Sea to Eritrea and Ethiopia. I stop for a quick "gas-and-go" in Port Sudan, no even on the ground 30 minutes.

Final stop this AM, just over 1,000 miles for the day is Debra Tabor in central Ethiopia - this area will also be featured next year on http://www.toomuchfs.com/.

Total time today 4.7 hours, average 212 mph.

Flight 40 : Kahramanmaras to Sharm el Sheik

2008-12-21T11:44:00.000-08:00

Date: Wednesday December 17, 2008

Departure: 7:40 AM - a little hazy

Aircraft: Flight Club Mediterranean Q-400

Altitude: Sea Level over the dead sea (Yep, autopilot set at 0000), 8,000 feet getting out of the Turkish mountains and 3,000 along the Jordan River Valley.

Arrival Stats: We were cooking today, 287 mph!

Notes: A beautiful area of Turkey ... then we flew south, along the west coast of Syria and Lebanon, then east over the southern Baka'a Valley, over the Sea of Galilee, then the Dead Sea, then along the Jordan River to the eastern finger of the Red Sea. Very scenic Flight Today. 597 miles total.

Flight 39 : Baku to Kahramanmaras, Turkey

2008-12-17T09:41:00.000-08:00

Date: Sunday December 14, 2008

Departure: 10 AM

Routing: West over Armenia and eastern Turkey past Mt. Ararat

(This will be the location of our feature Flight of the Month in April 2009 at: http://www.toomuchfs.com/)Aircraft: Q-400 Firefighter
Altitude: 13,000 feet just to be sure I clear everything

Miles: 732

Arrival Stats: 11:40 AM, 299 mph

Notes: If this area isn't historic then I don't know where is. The world totally and completely changed during Noah's flood but once the ark settled on Mt. Ararat, they stepped out into the world over which we are flying today. I'm sure that Noah's grandchildren, as teenagers, explored all around this area....

171 miles to Gyandzha, Azerbajan

96 miles to Yerevan, Armenia

71 miles to Agri, Turkey

73 miles to Van, Turkey

189 miles to Elazig

56 miles to Mahatya

76 miles to Kahramanmaras

Flight 38 : Turkmenbashi to Baku, Azerbajan

2008-12-17T09:25:00.000-08:00

Date: Friday December 12, 2008

Departure: 06:40

(Love that photo !!!)

Routing: Around the southern end of the Caspian Sea - over northern Iran

Aircraft: One last flight for the Widereo Dash-8

Altitude: 7,000 feet

Miles: 502 today

Arrival Stats: Morning arrival, 2.2 hours which works to 228 mph

Notes: After a couple pleasant days in Turkmenistan I headed around the south end of the Caspian Sea over Noshar and Rasht, Iran, then back north into Baku, Azerbajan. Uneventful but pretty scenic flight between the sea and the Iranian mountains - a bit hazy today though...

Flight 37 : Urgench, Uzbek to Turkmenbashi

2008-12-17T09:17:00.000-08:00

Date: Wednesday December 10, 2008

Departure: 13:00 local time

Routing: Further West

Aircraft: Widereo Dash-8

Altitude: 7,000 feet

Miles: 357

Arrival Stats: Just a quick after-lunch jaunt across Turkmenistan, 1.75 hours or 204 mph

Notes: Staying in this same aircraft I took a short day on Wednesday just hopping over to Turkmenbashi for the night.

Flight 36 : Almaty to Urgench, Uzbekistan

2008-12-17T09:00:00.000-08:00

Date: Tuesday December 9, 2008

Departure: 08:15 AM Almaty time

Routing: Westward!

Aircraft: Widereo Dash-8

Altitude: 9,000 to 13,000 feet

Miles: 738

Arrival Stats: Arrived at 10:40 AM, with time change that is 3.45 hours or 214 mph

Notes: I departed Almaty under clear skies,climbed to 9,000 feet and skirted along the mountains which mark the boarder between Kazakhstan and Kyrgystan. Just 115 miles to Manas near Bishkek. Then I had to climb up to 13,000 feet to clear more mountains before crossing back into Kazakhstan and over Shymkent. Finally over some plains I was able to drop to 8,000 feet for the last hour before coming into Urgench, Uzbekistan.

There really isn't a whole lot here but certainly some fastinating culture ...

Flights 34 & 35 : Karachi Pakistan to Almaty, Kazakhstan

2008-12-08T16:01:00.000-08:00

Date: Sunday December 7, 2008

Departure: 05:55 AM from Karachi

Routing: Northbound up the heart of Pakistan

Aircraft: Flight Club Mumbai Q400

Altitude: 6,000 feet

Miles: 612

Arrival Stats: Arrived at 08:10 AM which is 2.25 hours or 272 mph

Notes: I departed before dawn from Karachi and flew up the middle of Pakistan into Islamabad, straight-in approach to runway 33. A bit breezy but hardly noticed it ...

Date: Sunday December 7, 2008

Departure: 14:00 from Islamabad

Routing: Pretty much straight north

Aircraft: Flight Club International Q400

Altitude: 15,000 feet but then ended up at 22,000 feet

Miles: 615 and change.

Arrival Stats: This was 3.5 hours or 176 mph - unfortunately this delay meant that I arrived after dark at 17:27.

Notes: What delay you may ask. Here's the deal:

I departed a breezy Islamabad at 14:00, northbound as I had arrived. I began climbing to 15,000 feet and headed for the mountains. We had a feature flight of the month here last year (http://www.toomuchfs.com/) so it seemed familiar to me and I was looking forward to some AMAZING scenery.

The further you fly the more spectacular the mountains are! Just over an hour into the flight I happened to be looking down a great valley and I spotted an airport, Chilas. "I have to check that out!"So down I went for a quick touch-and-go. After climbing back up to 15,000 feet however I learned that I'd need to be higher to get back onto my route so I went on up to 19,000 feet. Still not enough I ended up zig-zaging between hills all the way to 22,000 feet and even then there were some peaks higher than my plane .... Once clear of the huge mountains my next waypoint was Kashi in western China, but by then it was getting dark. With clouds and valley fog, I had NOTHING outside until I finally saw the runway lights on short finals into Almaty. Total IFR the last hour of flying - fun actually.

Flights 32 & 33 : Xishuangbanna to Kathmandu via Bhutan then on to Karachi

2008-12-08T10:17:00.000-08:00

Date: Thursday December 4, 2008

Departure: Noon local time

Routing: Northwest over Myanmar and Tibet, then south into Paro, Bhutan.

Aircraft: Flight Club Blue Express

Altitude: 13,000 feet to Tibet, then up to 19,000 feet into Bhutan

Miles: 820 or so (no firm waypoints over the Tibet region)

Arrival Stats: 14:22 in the afternoon or 3.5 hours which works to around 230 mph

Notes: After a few days in this far-southern Chinese town I set off for what I hoped would be some spectacular flying ... I headed northwest over Putao, Myanmar (what a great sprawling valley) and then on into the Tibeten region of southwestern China. Finally over Lhasa I headed south into one of the most dangerous and tricky approaches in the world - Paro Bhutan. I had to climb up to 19,000 feet just to get in, then it was that spiraling descent over the NDB, downwind and a harrowingly close turn in the mountains to get lined up.And wouldn't you know it, Microsoft has seen fit to make this even tougher by putting the airport down in a bit of a hole! But at 14:20 in the afternoon I still had some decent light and had no problems putting this beauty of an airplane down safely.

A quick fuel-up laterI was heading the last 217 miles into Kathmandu.

This leg flies us RIGHT PAST some of the highest mountains in the known world, Everest and K-2 as well as others that tower nearly 10,000 higher than our cruise altitude.This last piece was one hour, 15:00 to 16:00 local time and I landed up just as the sun was setting over the hills.

Dinner and a quick nap later I loaded up the Flight Club Mumbai Q400 and made the 1,000-mile flight to Karachi, Pakistan in the dark. I left Nepal around 1 AM local time and arrived into Karachi well before dawn. (No photos from the dark flight over India.)

Flight 31 : Bangkok to Xishuangbanna, China

2008-12-04T10:24:00.000-08:00

Thursday December 4, 2008
Departed Bangkok at 05:30 AM

Our flight today took us over the following landmarks:

4,000 feet to- Stung Treng, Cambodia

5,000 feet to-Da Nang, Vietnam

9,000 feet to-Xieng, Laos

Then over Oudomsay, China

3.9 hours later (that's 267 mph for the 1,042 total miles) I landed in Xishuangbanna at 09:25 AM. Never heard of the place but here we are .....

Flights 29 & 30 : Banda Aceh, Indonesia to Bangkok, Thailand

2008-11-30T14:19:00.000-08:00

Date: Sunday November 30, 2008
Departure: 10:40 AM
Routing: Northeast to Phuket
Aircraft: LIAT Caribbean Airways
Altitude: The whole flight will be over water, 10,000 feet
Miles: Straight shot, 232 miles

Arrival Stats: 11:45 AM, 1.1 hours or 211 mph
Notes: The last short leg into Phuket in the LIAT Dash-8. Not in a steaming hurry to leave Banda Aceh ... smooth but windy flight over the sea to Phuket. Video of the landing ....

Date: Sunday November 30, 2008
Departure: 16:00
Routing: North into Bangkok
Aircraft: AirEx Q400
Altitude: A popular domestic route this afternoon, 16,000 feet.
Miles: 374 miles
Arrival Stats: 17:15 means a very quick flight, 1.25 hours or nearly 300 mph - The Q400 really cooks!
Notes: Sunset flight, arrival over the city just after sunset. I'll plan to be here for at least a week or so.

Cheers,

Flights 27 & 28 : Bandar Lampung to Banda Aceh via Aek Godang

2008-11-30T14:08:00.000-08:00

Date: Friday November 28, 2008
Departure: 2:00 PM
Routing: Continuing my zig-zag course up Sumatra
Aircraft: LIAT Caribbean Airways
Altitude: 6,000 feet until just before Aek Godang when I had to climb up to 9,000 feet to clear the mountains.
Miles: The first three-quarters of the afternoon's flying totaled 592 miles
Arrival Stats: 15:22 for a very quick gas-and-go. That's 2.4 hours or 246 mph
Notes: I had hoped to make it all the way to Banda Aceh (Famous for the profound destruction following an earthquake and tsunami three years ago) but with fuel running a bit low I opted to take a quick gas-and-go pit stop in Aek Godang.

Date: Friday November 28, 2008
Departure: 15:45 PM
Routing: Over to the eastern coast of Sumatra and up to the northern tip.
Aircraft: LIAT Caribbean Airways
Altitude: 6,500 feet
Miles: 374 miles for this last bit, 1.75 hours which equals 213 mph
Arrival Stats: Immediately after sunset, 17:27 PM
Notes: After a very brief pit stop in Aek Godang I continued up to my goal for the weekend, Banda Aceh. Our January 2006 Feature Flight of the Month at http://www.toomuchfs.com/ was here - written just weeks before the terrible earthquake and tsunami that struck the end of December 2005. Even three years later the destruction here is very notable and since I never fly on Saturdays I spent the day distributing goods I had packed along in the little Dash-8.

Flight 26 : Malang to Bandar Lampung, Indonesia

2008-11-30T14:01:00.000-08:00

Date: Friday November 28th, 2008
Departure: 8:50 AM
Routing: Zig-Zag to the northwest up the islands of Java and Sumatra
Aircraft: LIAT Caribbean
Altitude: 9,000 feet
Miles: Total for this leg is 478 miles
Arrival Stats: Arrived at 11 AM, 2.2 hours or 217 mph average (with wind)
Notes: After a couple of short days in Malang I was ready to head on through Indonesia - the people here have been nothing less than great hosts but time was marching on. I headed out just a bit before 9 AM on Friday with the following waypoints:
Semarang
Penggung
Tangerang (Near Jakarta)
Bandar Lampung
This flight included hills, mountains, water, clouds and a bit of wind but I arrived before lunch with no worries.

Flight 25 : Ruteng to Malang Indonesia

2008-11-26T15:47:00.000-08:00

Date: Thursday November 27, 2008

Departure: 09:40 AM

Routing: Continuing west across Indonesia to Bali, then a bit northwest.

Aircraft: LIAT Carribean Airlines - I know, Indonesia is nowhere NEAR the Carribean but I have other aircraft to fly in that area and looking at the sea and islands and mountains the plane sorta fits the scenery so don't e-mail me with your concerns, just enjoy the flight this morning.

Altitude: 6,000 feet to Bali, then up to 11,000 feet into Malang

Miles: 467 total

Arrival Stats: Just under two hours or 246 mph

Notes: The next morning I depart Ruteng and have several short waypoints on the way to Bali. We pass over Bima, Sumbawa, Mataramand Bali on the way into Malang which sets up in the central hills of Java, 154 miles from Despansur.

Again, nothing but great scenery along here including a lake far up in the top of a volcano! It's all great stuff and I'll be working up a feature Flight of the Month for 2010!
While you all are getting ready for Thanksgiving in the USA, I'm loading up for my next legs from Java up to Sumatra -- can you say, "Smell the Coffee" ?

Flights 23 & 24 : Darwin, Australia to Ruteng, Indonesia

2008-11-26T08:47:00.000-08:00

Date: Wednesday November 26, 2008

Departure: 10:00 AM

Routing: Northwest over Timor then west across Indonesia.

Aircraft: Pacific Airways Islands Livery

Altitude: 4,000 feet to Timor then up to 5,000 feet

Miles: 566 miles

Arrival Stats: Arrived at 12:27 PM which is average of 226 mph

Notes: After nearly a week touring the far northern areas of Australia and the Timor Sea I was back into the Pacific Islands livery Dash-8 to head into Indonesia. There was a bit of wind in Darwin but then I had smooth sailing. The first 380 miles is over water until landfall again where Indonesia and Timor boarder each other. At that point I had to climb up to 5,000 feet to clear the local volcanos and I continued another 186 miles to Wai Oti where I stopped off for lunch.

Date: Wednesday November 26, 2008
Departure: 15:00 PMRouting: Continuing West across Indonesia
Aircraft: Pacific Airways Islands Livery
Altitude: 4,000 feet
Miles: 103 miles

Arrival Stats: This was a very short hop to Ruteng - an airport on a plateau.

Notes:Man! This is really a beautiful area! A great place for www.toomuchfs.com to host a future feature "Flight of the Month"! I had thought about continuing on from here, only another 30 minutes to the larger town of Bima but I had also planned a change of aircraft here so ended up spending the night.

Flight 22 : Alice Springs to Darwin

2008-11-20T08:19:00.000-08:00

Date: Thursday November 21, 2008

Departure: 04:00 local

Routing: Northwest to the coast and then northeast into Darwin

Aircraft: Flight Club International - Alice Springs livery

Altitude: 3,500 but after an hour of buzzing the bushes I got bored and climbed to 10,000.

Miles: 871

Arrival Stats: Arrived at 07:23 AM, 264 mph average

Notes: With "nothing" going on in Alice Springs I was ready to move onto something more scenic. I left just before "dawn" and scudded along the ground for awhile, then climbed on up to 10,000 feet. The "green" finally fades in a hundred miles or so from the Oceanand despite ATCs instruction to land to the north I took the crossing runway from the southwest.

Weekend weather for Darwin looks AWESOME! See ya next week ....

Flight 21 : Mackay to Alice Springs

2008-11-18T07:56:00.001-08:00

Date: Tuesday November 18, 2008

Departure: 10:15 local

Routing: Roughly west across the vastness of Australia

Aircraft: Flight Club Alice Springs Q400

Altitude: 5,000 feet

Miles: 879

Arrival Stats: 12:35 with the time zone change is 3.3 hours or 266 mph

Notes: Not too much to share on this flight ... I was back into a Q400 this time, to the Alice Springs Hub of Flight Club International Airways. (Available on YahooGroups)Real weather was just hazy the whole way, very little to see even over the waypoints. I'm sure there is more around here in real life but I found myself thinking, "Why would anyone live out here in the middle of nowhere?"

Flight 20 : Cairns to Mackay

2008-11-17T15:45:00.001-08:00

Date: Monday November 17, 2008

Departure: 10:00

Routing: South along the coast

Aircraft: Pacific Airways Island livery

Altitude: 3,500

Miles: 345

Arrival Stats: Arrived at 11:45 which is about 200 mph

Note: Low and slow over a very scenic eastern Australian coastline. Started foggy but cleared about half-way along.Points along the way included Townsville and Hamilton Island.

Flight 19 : Port Moresby to Cairns, Australia

2008-11-17T15:32:00.000-08:00

Date: Sunday November 16, 2008

Departure: 04:30 local time PNG

Routing: Southwest to Weipa, then south to Cairns

Aircraft: Pacific Airways Island livery

Altitude: 4,000 feet (briefly to 6,000 coming into Cairns)

Miles: 733 total

Arrival Stats: Arrived at 07:15, 267 mph

Notes: Very early Sunday I fired up the "little Dash" and headed south, back onto my "planned" RTW route. (Not that I'm all planned out, but I hadn't thought I'd see Port Moresby ...)

There are some surprising mountains along eastern Australia but once over those there was some low-lying fog this morning. That's what I get for flying early I guess.

Flight 18 : Sorong, Indonesia to ... a little problem

2008-11-17T15:01:00.000-08:00

Date: Friday November 14, 2008

Departure: 15:20

Routing: Continueing southeast to the island of New Guinea. (Planned on landing on the Indonesia side of things.)

Aircraft: Pacific Airways Q400

Altitude: 4,000 feet but eventually had to climb up to 13,000 feet over New Guinea

Miles: Total today ended up at 1,000

Arrival Stats: Well ... it was 19:42 when I finally parked which meant 3.25 hours or 307 mph

Notes: I left Sorong in the mid afternoon, really not calculating that half of my route was heading east - away from the sun! I crossed Timika, Indonesia and noted that it was getting dark out. But I had had such a wonderful day in Sorong I wasn't ready to land yet so set my sights on Merauke Indonesia.

This is on the island of New Guinea where we (http://www.toomuchfs.com/) have flown before and certainly fuel on board was not a problem - yet. I had to climb to 13,000 feet to clear the amazing mountains here! As I set up for landing I couldn't help but notice how amazingly DARK the world was. This is, after all, New Guinea! "Drat!" I had been foiled again! Immediately I entered coordinates for Port Morseby, PNG into the GPS and continued there - to the lighted and more civilized airport. Weather, landing and facilities were all more then adequate for my needs.

Flight 17 : Davao, Philippines to Sorong, Indonesia

2008-11-17T14:51:00.000-08:00

Date: Friday November 14, 2008

Departure: 05:00 AM

Routing: South and then Southeast over some of Indonesia's 15,000 islands

Aircraft: Pacific Airways Q400

Altitude: 6,000 feet at first then down to 4,000 feet

Miles: 733

Arrival Stats: 07:30 local in Sorong - just in time for breakfast. That's 293 mph!

Notes: Because we were heading almost due south out of Davao we had to climb to 6,000 feet to clear all the mountains. Once we crossed General Santos and left the Philippines we could drop down to 4,000 and scoot right along. Lots of water today but also several scenic volcanic islands skattered along the way. Along with all of the other waypoints, our midway marker was Manado, Indonesia. The weather in Sorong was great, clear, warm and calm. Spent most of the day Friday there.

Flight 16 : Butuan to Davao

2008-11-12T11:50:00.000-08:00

Date: Tuesday November 11, 2008

Departure: 14:35

Routing: South across Mindanao

Aircraft: Pacific Blue Airways Q400

Altitude: 4,000 feet

Miles: 110

Arrival Stats: 15:05 or 220 mph

Notes: By Tuesday most of the "weather" had moved on and it was simply your typical tropical day, hazy, warm, calm. Nice time for flying a new livery.

Flight 15 : Roxas to Butuan

2008-11-12T11:29:00.000-08:00

After lunch and "half-a-day" in Roxas I was moving on ...

Date: Monday November 10, 2008

Departure: 15:00

Routing: Roughly south, over Tacloban

Aircraft: Eastern Q400

Altitude: 4,000 feet

Miles: 276

Arrival Stats: Blustery, rainy, warm. 16:12 or 230 mph

Notes: I left after lunch and it was a little breezy but my-oh-my was this a bumpy flight!The first part to Tacloban was mainly over water and not too terrible but then the bumps started and it was non-stopall the way to the shoreline. I followed the VOR in for a pretty good visual landing - no ILS here anyway!

Here's a little video of the landing:

Flight 14 : Pagbilao to Roxas

2008-11-12T11:09:00.000-08:00

Date: Monday November 10, 2008

Departure: 07:00 local time

Routing: East to Legaspi and then south to Roxas

Aircraft: Eastern Airlines Express Q400

Altitude: 5,000 feet

Miles: 243

Arrival Stats: 07:53 or 255 mph

Notes: Lots of volcanos along today's route, very scenic and even got some distant lightning to watch!

Flight 13 : Baguio to Pagbilao Grand Isle, Philippines

2008-11-12T10:05:00.000-08:00

Date: Sunday November 9, 2008

Departure: 10:15 local time

Routing: Over central Luzon, Cabanatuan VOR, east of Manila

Altitude: 6,000 feet

Miles: 158

Arrival Stats: Hot, Humid, Hazy. 10:55 local time or 219 mph

Notes: Clear skies for departure, dramatic views down out of the mountains and then building "haze" past Manila

and into Pagabilao Island.

Flight 12 : Taitung, Taiwan to Baguio, Philippines

2008-11-12T09:36:00.000-08:00

Well, it's been a few days ... you can't always schedule computer and intestinal break-downs! But, I got to take the train up to Taipei and tour the island of Taiwan so that's not a bad thing.

Date: Friday November 7, 2008

Departure: 06:00 Taiwan time

Routing: South to the tip of Taiwan, over water to the north point of Philippines near Laoag.

Aircraft: Eastern Airlines Express Q400. I know Eastern was a US airline but since we are in the Eastern part of the Eastern Hemisphere I'm using this one for a few flights. See also our "Philippine Flight of the Month" at http://www.toomuchfs.com/.

Altitude: 4,000 feet until into the mountains of Luzon, then up to 7,000 feet

Miles: 391 miles

Arrival Stats: Arrived at 07:35 local time which is 1.5 hours or 260 mph

Notes: I left Taitung just before dawn on Friday with local haze to about 1,000 feet, then clear skies all the way to Baguio. This city is not too far from the ocean but is well up into the mountains. I remember the scenic mountains from my real-world travels here in the early 80's. The airport appears to be south of the main city, a bit of a tough approach but we landed safely and I stayed for a couple of days. Really, these are not long flights but I want to really enjoy my time here ...

Flight 11: Shanghai to Taitung Taiwan

2008-10-27T10:00:00.000-07:00

Date: Monday October 27th 2008

Departure: 06:08 local Shanghai time

Routing: South along the eastern coast of China, then west over Taipei and down the "Spine" of Taiwan.

Aircraft: Skipper Avaiation Dash-8

Altitude: 5,000 feet, then up to 10,000 over Taiwan

Miles: 556

Arrival Stats: Arrived at 08:33 Monday morning. That's 2.5 hours or 222 mph.

Notes: Departure from Shanghai was just before sunrise. I then skirted along the eastern coast down as far as Fuzhou before turning west to Taipei. From Taipei I climbed up to 10,000 feet

and rode down the bumpy (turbulence) mountainous spine of Taiwan. Eventually I had to disconnect the autopilot and fly by hand to weave and bob through the mountains. I managed to stay at 10,000 feet but it wasn't an easy job to pull off!

Finally clear of the mountains I dropped back down to 5,000 feet and rode along the eastern shores down to Taitung, landing at "Fengnin" airport.

I noted something interesting in FS9 as I was taxiing back to the terminal and that is across the runway from all the buildings MS has put in a BUNCH of taxiways criss-crossing this way and that ... leading to dead-end parking areas and the like. Very odd! But I taxied over near the tower and shut down at 08:33.

Flight 10: Pyongyang to Shanghai

2008-10-27T09:36:00.000-07:00

Date: Sunday October 26 2008

Departure: 13:00 local time

Routing: West into China and down the eastern coast - bypassing Beijing.

Aircraft: DeHavilland Dash-8 House Colors

Altitude: 5,000 feet but then had to increase to 9,000 for safety

Miles: 680

Arrival Stats: Much better on the gas this time, 680 miles and still had 21% in the tanks. Three hours equals 226 mph.

Notes: It was a pretty short stop in Pyongyang, just enough time to grab some lunch and make the CFG changes to this unstable little pup - then I was off to Shanghai China! Interesting note about the airport in Pyongyang, the diagonal runway is like two miles from the terminal - weird!

The first half of the flight was uneventful, then the fog or smog or haze set in ... let the video speak for the landing!!

Flight 9: Kagoshima Japan to Pyongyang North Korea

2008-10-27T09:24:00.000-07:00

Date: Sunday October 26 2008

Departure: 06:30 local time

Routing: Northwest (near Nagasaki) over Pusan and Seoul.

Aircraft: DeHavilland Dash-8 House Colors

Altitude: 5,000 feet

Miles: 511

Arrival Stats: I landed just 2.5 hours later because I was out of gas. That works to just 204 mph - miserable!

Notes: Now ... I know this is a small plane but really, shouldn't it have more than 500 miles total range? On departure and especially on landing I found this little plane to be very unstable and "twitchy", very difficult to fly even when trimmed out.

So I landed, made some changes to the CFG file for both handling and fuel economy - I also grabbed some lunch before setting off into China.

Flight 8: Matsumoto to Kagoshima Japan

2008-10-27T09:11:00.001-07:00

Date: Friday October 24 2008

Departure: 15:00 local time

Routing: South over Osaka down to Kagoshima

Aircraft: All Nippon Airways Q400

Altitude: 8,000 feet to avoid terrain

Miles: 455

Arrival Stats: Under 2 hours works out to 260 mph

Notes: After lunch and a quick (4 hour) city tour I was back into the Q400 finishing my tour of Japan. I planned to spend the weekend in a place that http://www.toomuchfs.com/ toured back in 2006. Not a long or difficult flight down, just one hour and 45 minutes.

Flight 7: Khabarovsk Russia to Matsumoto Japan

2008-10-27T08:38:00.000-07:00

Date: Friday October 24, 2008

Departure: 08:00 local time

Routing: East over Sakhalinsk and then south to Japan crossing Fukushima north of Tokyo.

Aircraft: All Nippon Airways Q400

Altitude: 15,000 feet

Miles: 1045

Arrival Stats: 3.5 hours which works out to 294 mph

Notes: After my harrowing arrival into Khabarovsk just after sunset Thursday I spent the first couple of hours on the ground doing paperwork, then I was off into town to find food and a room. Early Friday morning I was back out at the airport to take an ANA Q400 into central Japan. Departure was clear and breezy and I immediately turned east to cross the southern tip of Sakhalin Island before turning south to Japan. It really is amazing to realize how close Russia and Japan really are. Plenty of water today and not much "texture" over the southern tip of Sakhalin Island so I set cruise at 15,000 feet - at least until we were over Japan. I rode down the eastern flank of the Japan mountain range, a bit south of Tokyo actually to my lunchtime stopover in Matsumoto. The new city of Matsumoto is the city comprising the mergers of the old city of Matsumoto and four villages.

It is surrounded by mountains and is acclaimed for its beautiful views.

Hiking and climbing locations in the mountains are readily accessible by local bus transportation. Matsumoto is attractive to travellers not only because of the traditional culture but also its calm climate and its products.

Flight 6: Magadan to Khabarovsk, Russia

2008-10-21T06:25:00.000-07:00

Prelude: Upon my arrival into Magadan (Mid-Day Tuesday) I had asked the aircraft maintanence folks to "check out the plane" (following my brush landing between legs 4 and 5). Wasn't I shocked 5 hours later to return to the airport to see my number two engine lying on the floor in pieces! "Visually!" I shouted. "Check it all out VISUALLY!" Hoover Dam! Now I was stranded in Magadan.

Date: Thursday October 23, 2008

Departure: 15:15 local time

Routing: South across the Sea of Okhotsk to Khabarovsk

Aircraft: Flight Club Red Dash-8

Altitude: 22,000 feet

Miles: 863

Arrival Stats: 17:30 local time, which works out to about 265 mph

Notes: Real-Weather was still showing clear skies Thursday afternoon - I'd been in Magadan for about 50 hours. So far as anyone could tell my plane was back in smooth working order and I was ready to go. The route today was pretty simple, head south across the Sea of Okhotsk making landfall near the River "reka" Amur and following that south to Khabarovsk a city that Wikipedia describes as, "the administrative center and the largest city of Khabarovsk Krai, Russia. It is located some 30 km from the Chinese boarder and is the second largest city in the Russian Far East after Vladivostok. The city became the administrative center of the Far Eastern Federal District of Russia in 2002 with a population estimated at 579,000."

Take off was uneventful, and I climbed through 4,000 feet before being cleared to turn south and pick up my GPS route. I continued climbing up to 22,000 feet and settled in for a comfortable three-hour cruise.

"Three-hour cruise" should give some warning as to what happened next. I was watching the beautiful sunset, some 210 miles from Khabarovsk when the horizon began buffeting around. Turbulance? Outside view showed a smooth flight but inside was horrible. I checked the gauges and found that the torque of my number two engine was about half that of number one. Sure enough, my number two was dis-assembling right there in mid flight at 22,000 feet! I tried pulling the throttles back with no effect. I tried the prop-sync switch off and on with no effect. Back to outside view and I had smoke now trailing from the engine. I pulled the fuel and condition levers back and shut down the motor. Then, I commenced a slow (200-300 fpm) descent to 5,000 feet.

Around 150 miles I began noticing some odd flashes outside the window. Was the video card going out now too? Nope, I was skirting some local thundershowers! This was just great!! I continued on ...

I had the VOR on the gauge and finally the ILS for 23L came alive. I disconnected the autopilot at 15 miles and trimmed out at 2,500 feet. Lightning still flashed about but not too near. I gradually added flaps and retrimmed. Finally at around 10 miles I had the runways in sight and headed in for runway 23R (the shorter, smaller, non-ILS runway) figuring if I botched it up the airport could remain open.

The gear dropped down on schedule. I kept my approach on the steep side so that I didn't have to add throttle and yaw myself out of position. I flared with heavy left rudder and glided down smoothly. Spoilers up but only reverese idle to slow down. I was able to taxi off at mid-field and headed over the the emergency vehicles that were standing by.

Wow ~ That was some fun!

Flight 5: Manily to Magadan, Russia

2008-10-20T10:01:00.001-07:00

Date: Tuesday October 21, 2008
Departure: 13:33
Routing: Continuing southwest to Magadan

Aircraft: Flight Club Red Dash-8
Altitude: 10,000 feet
Miles: 310
Arrival Stats: 14:59 is about 1.5 hours or 206 mph.
Notes: What can I say here? Finally with some fuel on board I fired the big turboprops and took off, downhill, just after lunch on Tuesday local time. (This was posted from Magadan Tuesday night, showing up on the blog as Monday) It was pretty breezy in Magadan but I was cleared to enter the pattern and land to the northeast behind a departing 737.

I taxied straight over near the repair hangar and asked them to, "Check everything out carefully."

Then, I hopped a bus and headed into town for a shower and a good bed. (Yes, this is a photo of the local bus!)

Flight 4: Nome, Alaska to Manily, Russia

2008-10-20T08:55:00.000-07:00

Date: Sunday October 19, 2008
Departure: 11:17 local time
Routing: West out of Nome - it didn't take long to leave North America on the horizon.

Our second waypoint over Russia was Anadyr (See this interesting piece: http://mrobards.blogspot.com/2007/09/anadyr.html) and southwest to Manily.
Aircraft: Flight Club Red Dash-8

Altitude: 12,000 feet
Miles: 930 miles.
Cruise: 16,000 feet again
Arrival Stats: 11:45 Monday October 20th (Yep, another 3.5 hrs) That works out to 265 mph but I had to take some laps to find a spot to land!
Notes: The lesson today folks is even if you've only been in the air an hour or so, STOP FOR GAS! I had actually set in a route from Nome to Magadan Russia knowing that it might be too far. I found about three airports or NDBs along the route and figured we'd be fine ... we weren't. Over Anadyr I still had "plenty" of fuel and the day was still young so I continued on.

About half-way between Anadyr and Magadan I realized that I'd certainly be short on the fuel range. So the search started for alternate landing sites. The search revealed many NDBs including the one's on my flightplan, but NO AIRPORTS - not even any runways! My next waypoint by this point in time was a place called, "Manily".

Frantically I searched the web but there are no airports even listed for the area. I did find a weather report, mostly clear and 15*. (This confirmed that my Real-Weather downloads were still working at least!) I headed down for the NDB, finding the ... village, not too far inland sprawled along a gentle hillside. I looked around the FS World for a road or something but finally just opted for a wide open, grassy field free of trees and buildings - I hoped that it wasn't too muddy. The landing was gentle and smooth but WOW those locals were freaked out!

Here's the deal: I swapped a weeks'-worth of food and supplies for a fuel truck which took the better part of 24 hours to arrive. We pumped a few hundred gallons into the tanks and I took off again (downhill) Tuesday afternoon, to complete the 310 miles to Magadan.

Flight 3: Juneau to Nome, Alaska

2008-10-20T07:39:00.000-07:00

Date: Sunday October 19th, 2008
Departure: 08:33 local time

Weather: Some local fog and drizzle then clearing

Routing: Up the west coast of Alaska, over Anchorage and out across the open tundra to Nome.

Aircraft: Alaska Airlines Q400

Altitude: Not too much to see this time so set cruise at 16,000

Miles: 947

Arrival Stats: 08:30 local time (?) Yep, three hours! Just over 314 mph (See what higher cruise gets you)

Notes: BURR!

After a wet and chilly weekend in Juneau I had another Q400 loaded with two-weeks'-worth of supplies and food -- you never know what the far northern reaches of the arctic will hold for you! I set off from Juneau eastbound, back up that canyon, until I had cleared the local ridges, then I turned north ...

and picked up my route. Along the way to Anchorage I crossed an area that we had toured in March of our first year at http://www.toomuchfs.com/.

Finally I had the Anchorage VOR showing up and knew that the best was over.

From Anchorage I set out across the open tundra hoping that nothing would break.

I had a couple of waypoints dialed in but in just over an hour I knew I wouldn't need them as the next point showing up on the GPS tracker was Nome - one of the most distant North American Outposts.

I landed easily under clear but cold skies. (I have to wonder if Real-Weather doesn't really work up this far north?)

Flight 2: Kalispell, Montana to Juneau, Alaska

2008-10-16T07:49:00.000-07:00

Date: Thursday October 16th, 2008
Departure: 08:00 local time
Routing: West over Spokane, Washington, then across the middle of the state near Grand Coulee Dam, past Mount Baker and over scenic Victoria, BC. We'll then turn north, skirting Vancouver Island and up the western coast of Canada - an area that I once called, "The most scenic area in all the flightsim world."

Aircraft: Air Canada Q400
Altitude: 12,000 feet initially, dropping down to just 5,000 feet as we come over the Channel and San Juan Islands. This kind of kills the gas mileage but the views should be worth it. Then we'll have to climb again to stay clear of the mountains ahead.
Miles: 1092
Arrival Stats: 09:42 which works out to 295 mph average.
Notes: Departed with clear skies but as usual, that changed over the cascades.

Once clear of the Montana version of the rockies there isn't too much to see over Spokane but once the Cascades start it gets much more entertaining. I was shocked and surprised to see the Grand Coulee Dam on the Columbia River off to my right as I cruised along.

In the United States, this is "the largest electric power producing facility and the largest concrete structure. It is the fourth largest producer of hydroelectricity in the world!"

12,000 feet kept me clear of the "foothills".

I was thinking that this may be a fun area for a future "Flight of the Month" on http://www.toomuchfs.com/

We came across the Mount Vernon VOR north of Seattle and over Anacortes and Friday Harbor where my wife and I spent part of our honeymoon all those years ago.

As I crossed the Victoria VOR I had burned off 33% of my fuel so decided to continue on to the north. At this point I commenced a slow climb up to 15,000 and also added some throttle to bump up my speed.

In due time I was ready to drop into Juneau, the state capital. ATC was directing me to a visual approach to runway 26. There is no default GPS approach for this one - procedures are basically to cross a southern NDB and then fly visual along a left-turning canyon until the airport appears ahead. Problem one was that ATC, in their cautiousness, wanted to hold me at 6,800 feet waaaaay too long. So I cancelled IFR and Flight Following and headed into the canyon sort of mid-way through the turn. This led to problem two, decreasing visibility and then rain and then some wind gusts on finals.

But what's to worry about? The Dash-8 is built for this stuff and the landing was smooth as ice. We slowed promptly and taxied over for gas - I only had 4% fuel left!

Flight 1: Kenora, ONT to Kalispell, Montana

2008-10-15T07:20:00.000-07:00

Well folks, it looks as though I have finally decided which way to head out ... West! I'll head toward the Pacific Coast with a swing through the Northern Rockies, then up through Alaska and across the Bering Straight. We'll see if I can't make it to Japan before the heaviest of winter sets in.

I've flown several versions of the Dash-8 for our feature flights on http://www.toomuchfs.com/ (as noted by the photos down the right-hand side of the page) but never to the full extent of their fuel range. So the question is, can they really fly close to 1,000 miles as published or will I need to tweak the configuration files a bit? Time will tell.

Date: Monday October 13th, 2008.
Departure: 06:44 local time
Routing: West across southern Canada, down into Montana and over the Bozeman VOR, then back up into Kalispell.
Aircraft: Air Canada Q400
Altitude: 12,000 feet and then up to 15,000 just before Bozeman.
Miles: 977
Arrival Stats: 10:18 local time which means about 271 mph average.

Notes: Departed with clear and cold skies.

Skattered clouds and light bumps up through 11,000 and then a smooth cruise at 12,000. Not much to see here across the great plains of southern Canada.

As I turned south to Bozeman the mountains grew up out of the haze and I climbed on up to 15,000 just to be safe.

I started my descent into Kalispell from DME 40,

and flew over the VOR on downwind to a visual approach into runway 20.

All-and-all, an uneventful flight with a scenic ending.

The Route - I have no idea

2008-10-06T15:29:00.000-07:00

As noted, I've flown many 'Round the World Tours in Flight Simulator and normally I pick my "theme" of various aircraft or weather or route or whatever and plan out my way around. This time will be different! Since this may take me a year or more to complete - I may even upgrade computers and sim versions during that time, I'm going to sort of fly, "where the spirit leads me" so to speak. What I mean is that I will more than likely make up my route as I go along.

Important question one is, "Where do I start?" Well, I don't rightly know but our October 2008 feature flight of the month on http://www.toomuchfs.com/ is based out of Kenora, Ontario and it seems, since I'm there anyway, I may as well make this my launch point.

Important question two is, "Where to go from here?" There's a part of me that wants to head for Europe but it's October and maybe South America would be better. I'm not really sure but I will tell you that I'm not too likely to strike off across the middle of some continent unless I'm heading for a specific destination. You'll probably see me within a thousand miles of the coast.

My Personal Guidelines:
1- Live, Real Weather downloads
2- Random engine out (one of them)
3- Default FS Flightplanner with GPS. I normally hand-fly everything but the cruise phase of a flight. While I am well-versed in tuning the radios and in VOR/NDB navigation, we must also admit that modern, real-pilots with their FMCs use GPS routing too.
4- Time Acceleration for cruise phase only
5- Realism and Crash Settings to the highest (most real) level
6- Daytime flying which is better for taking photos
7- Default FS9 ATC for departure and arrival
8- Cruise altitude only what I need, maybe 10-12,000?
9- I'll be using the default KingAir 350 panel. Why? Because it has all the basics of what I need, can be easily resized, has all the gauges showing up and no centerpost in the middle of my approach view. So, no, it's not the most real but it's FUNCTIONAL and that's mostly what I look for.
10- Periodic on-line flights with VATSIM (watch for Flounder1)

Wish me luck!

Dash-8s in my Hangar:

Flight Club Express Blue
Flight Club Express Red
Flight Club Express Black
Pacific Airways Island Livery
Horizon Airways
US Airways
Icaro Ecuador
AIRES Colombia
Skipper Airways
LIAT Caribbean
Widreo
Labrador Air
Canada JAZZ
British West Indies
DeHavilland House Colors

Q400 Stretch-Models:

Flight Club International
Flight Club Arequipa
Flight Club Alice Springs
Flight Club Mumbai
Flight Club Goma
Flight Club Congo
Flight Club Mediterranean
Peru Jaguar
Air Canada
Alaska Airlines
ANA Japan
Viking Air
Swiss International
Goma Airways
Tobago Express
Air Croatia
British Airways
Firefighter
South African Airlines
Air Catalonia
Eastern Airlines Express
Pacific Blue Airways
America West
World Wide Virtual
Horizon 25th Anniversary
AIREXpress

For more information about this or any other flightsim-related topic, please feel free to e-mail me: pretendpilot@yahoo.com

What on Earth is he doing?

2008-10-06T14:15:00.000-07:00

The Long History:
Microsoft's Flight Simulator was one of the first 'entertainment' software released for the IBM PC way back in November 1982. Bill Gates needed something to show off his new Microsoft OS for the PC, and so bought the product over from Bruce Artwick who first created it. The title has since sold over 22 million copies.

The Flight Simulator game has grown with each new reincarnation and has included "whole world scenery" since version 5 released in 1995. Is Microsoft really able to put the whole whole into a CD ROM? Well, yes folks, they did. Over the last five versions however the detail and animation has dramatically improved and FSX now ships on two DVDs.

The Short History:
I had a version of FS1 (or maybe it was 2) way back in the mid 80's but then was out of the loop until my wife bought me FS2000 in 1999. Since that time I have been "lost" to the world of virtual flying and the flight sim community. Who knew that there were hundreds and thousands of people out there that persue this "game" with so much time, talent and passion?

My History:
In late 2000 I had my first article published on http://www.flightsim.com/ - it was a Round the World Tour! Since then I've made several more appearances on that website. Just for fun (and these aren't all me...) follow these links:
http://www.flightsim.com/cgi/kds?$=main/feature/globe.htm
http://www.flightsim.com/cgi/kds?$=main/howto/tour.htm
http://www.flightsim.com/cgi/kds?$=main/op-ed/ed31.htm
http://www.flightsim.com/cgi/kds?$=main/feature/rtw.htm
http://www.flightsim.com/cgi/kds?$=main/op-ed/ed71.htm
http://farewellfs2004.blogspot.com/
Through contacts I "met" there I've joined forces with some other flight simmers around the world and we launched F.S Flight Club International on http://www.toomuchfs.com/ in January 2003. That website hosts a feature, "Flight of the Month" each and every month with Pilot Reports from our feature posted the following month. WOW! That experience has literally been life-changing for me! (We also host a Virtual Airline, "Flight Club International Airways" on YahooGroups)

As a means of providing an additional venue for posting my own Pilot Reports (PIREPs) I started a blog in mid 2008 which can be found at: http://cubflounder.blogspot.com/

Until I got buried in work and life and these monthly feature flights, one of my favorite things to do was to fly "'Round the World Tours". I've done many and written about several but only once have I completed an Around the World Flight in a single TYPE of aircraft. (I published a 737-400 tour on http://www.flightsim.com/ as the last of a feature called, "Floundering Around." You can search for it there.) This blog will track my biggest FS undertaking yet ...

To fly around the world in versions of the DeHavilland Dash-8, one of my all-time favorite Turboprop Aircraft.

Stay tuned, we'll see what happens.