After my flight from Asheville to Memphis, I make my way over to the FedEx ramp to hop my next flight leg. The VMAX Boeing 757 Professional Extended is about as good as aircraft come for X-Plane - it’s just fantastic in every way.
With tanks near full (roughly 80,000 lbs. of fuel) we head out for our long cross continent flight to PANC (Anchorage, Alaska)…
Climbout is slow over the urban sprawl of Memphis while we take up an initial heading to the north-northwest…
We arm the autothrottle and bump it up to 300 knots after passing through 10,000. Initial climb altitude will be FL300…
Once out of the terminal area, we head on course. Our FMC flight route is YPE YYE J515 YQH DB JOH.ELLAM4
The VMAX 757 cockpit is simply jaw-dropping…
As we head up north we cross into Iowa and the Dakotas, the farmland stretches in all directions. A bit of weather lays along portions of our route, but nothing severe…
Eventually the weather starts to build into our flight levels. We’ve climbed now to FL360 but we are skimming through some of the tops, so anti-ice comes on as a precaution…
Crossing into Saskatchewan the terrain changes from farmland to mostly forested areas…
Approaching Fort Nelson, B.C…
Soon we are crossing into Yukon territory. I try to catch a glimpse of Kluane Lake through the cloud deck - Silver City (CFQ5) is down there and I have a professional interest there…
Through the breaks in the clouds I can see the terrain is getting more and more rugged - and beautiful…!
My center fuel tank pump lights illuminate, letting me know that I’ve exhausted all of the fuel in the fuselage tanks…
The scenery just gets more and more beautiful. The mesh is enhanced by the awesome alpilotx HD Mesh…
Approaching JOH VOR (Johnstone Point) it’s time to start a gradual descent. Not being very familiar with the area, I choose FL230, knowing that will keep me over the highest terrain in the area. The STAR suggests 12,000’ for the transition from JOH, so I know that elevation will be safe once I get past JOH…
Throughout the descent the scenery is just awesome. Glaciers, rugged peaks, valleys, passes… This is going to be awesome!
A bit of rain showers as I continue the descent. I wish I could point out landmarks, but I’m not familiar with the region yet…
Crossing JOH, I elect to fly direct to ENA VOR to fly the full transition to the ILS 7R at PANC. This will take me a bit out of the way, but it will get me established on final without any drama…
The scenery continues to unfold in front of us…
Soon we are past the mountains and over what looks to be coastal plains as we approach JOH…
After crossing JOH, we fly the long transition and get set up to intercept the ILS. The VMAX 757 is nice because you can control the left and right side instruments independently, so you can set the ILS on the flying pilot side, and keep the FMC map on the non-flying pilot side for reference and situational awareness…
Approach flaps going out…
We intercept the localizer and a dot below the glideslope we swing the gear…
The autopilot and autothrottles (set to around 150 or Vref+15) handle it all with no problems…
Through the murk the Ted Stevens International Airport / Anchorage (PANC) comes into view…
I’ve always loved the way the 757 looks in the landing configuration - the broad slotted flaps and outstretched main landing gear looking as much like the local Bald Eagle’s wings and talons…
Autopilot and autothrottles off…
Touchdown - spoilers and thrust reversers deploy…
As we roll out - I’m not super impressed with the Aerosoft PANC scenery. The airport structures and textures are fabulous, but they didn’t put any static aircraft! What a glaring omission! (I wonder if I can fix that somehow?)
I exit the runway, and taxi north toward the FedEx facility (again - empty!). As I pull into the stand, I sigh with relief. Amazingly, I’ve been able to run X-Plane and task switch all day (for nearly 12 hours!). Actual flight time in-sim is on the chronometer - 6 hours and 59 minutes! I land with 24,200 lbs. of fuel after having departed Memphis with about 80,000 lbs.- roughly $25,000 worth of fuel for this leg alone!
We pop the doors and I look out across the airport towards the Chugach Range…this is going to be an adventure! I’ve never been to Alaska in real life. I’ve never been north of Seattle. I gotta get there someday. I’m looking forward to meeting my hosts at EPOCH Alaska Air.
BeachAV8R