It’s that time of year again when we need to start considering where we all want to meet up for our annual Christmas flight! I figure a large portion of our members would enjoy a warm, tropical location since most of us will be freezing in December, so I’ve proposed three South Pacific locations for our flight. Take a look around the internet and Wikipedia, explore some of the free and payware options for your sim of choice, and vote in the poll at the bottom of this post…!
Tahiti - Fa’a’ā International Airport (NTAA) - 11,200’ runway
Interesting options! I think my vote goes to either Tonga or Tuvalu, I’ll grab a Beechcraft C90 from New Zealand where a part of my family lives! Would be a fun challenge!
Cool options!
I went for the one with the shortest runway, as long runways make me nervous.
Also, Tuvalu - Funafuti… Roll that around on your tounge. Delicious!
I’ve sorted made a plan already… I might be running ahead a bit of myself but I tried to limit legs to 500/600nm, in the Carenado C90 most likely. I might grab the Mirage for a few legs since it’s such a fun aircraft!
Push comes to shove, well I’ve got my trust tinmouse to get me there!
Interesting indeed! I have landed at NTAA on three occasions, all for fuel stops while heading to or from New Zealand. It was night all three times, so I can say that I have set foot on Tahiti three times, but have never seen any of it. Bora Bora is close by too.
I voted for NTAA because it is probably the hardest to get to if you choose to fly something other than a modern airliner. I will probably try to land at all three though. This is going to be a fun trip!
I have never participated in a XMas fly-in. I am curious if you all have ever flown to any of the islands in Micronesia, the Marshals or the Carolines? I was once based on Guam and our bread and butter was the epic “Island Hopper”: Guam-Chuuk-Ponapei-Koserai-Kwajelein-Majuro-Honolulu (I probably spelled half of those wrong). Of the set, Chuuk (formerly Truk for you WWII buffs) and Koserai are the most interesting.
Of the three listed choices, I have no preference. If I go, it will be by helicopter most likely. (or Maybe Huskey).
I haven’t decided 100% yet, but I am seriously thinking about picking up the Shorts Solent available on X-Plane.org to make it an old school navigation challenge.
I would probably fly my VSkyLabs DC3 from Austin to Los Angeles, and then the flying boat from there to Hawaii, before flying down to Tahiti. From there, the other islands should be relatively easy… relatively .
I’m also planning on bringing a flying boat - there’s a freeware Catalina I’ve had my eye on, and the Albatross as well. To that end I’m more interested in Tonga or Tuvalu.
Fun fact:
Seen from Germany those islands are very close to the most distant point on Earth.
So regardless of what we will choose: that’s far far away. So I might fly a few legs with a big plane that has good range.
I might join you all this year. I’m thinking XP11 with the X Trident Tornado, and just spawning the tanker when I need to do refueling inflight. Thrust reversers also mean that runway length isn’t an issue. I’m in with whatever destination you all prefer.
I won’t be able to join this year as I’ll be away from my sim from October to New Years…but I’ll be eagerly reading how you guys will fare!
If the chosen location will be in the Pacific Islands and you’re flying via NZ, go ahead and visit NZNE on the way through (assuming you can stop in a tad under 800m of runway). I’ll shout the beers!
I’m sure it’s just because I’m a beginner but what throws me off more than the runway length at NZNE is the 9-meter width of the runway. It’s just not very wide. On centreline the Robin’s wingtips are almost on the grass.
The ‘picture’ on circuit and final looks different because of it. I’m sure it won’t take long to get used to but on the first flight it felt strange - the time for roundout came quicker than I expected.
That’s a greater challenge than the length!
When I started on the Dash, doing short field landings (800x35m) an instructor told me: «I have never understood why they call them ‘short fields’? They have never been too short. They have been too narrow, on occasion. Should call them ‘narrow fields’ instead»
