Nice job!
I’ve been doing those flights since… the second one I think, but IIRC most of the time I have to use the orthodox church’s Christmas date (Jan 6th) in order to make it.
BTW, it is really a cruel that an animal that looks so soft and cute (see your polar bear picture) is so deadly and doesn’t want to be petted at all.
Another chance to do a long leg - let’s go!
Nighttime departures under a full moon are very pleasant!
On climb, heading northwest
After crossing the Gulf of Suez we overfly a wind farm north of Zaafarana
Cairo.
We now head feet wet over the Mediterranean sea. Overlooking Al Alamein International Airport.
After some flying over water with not much to look at, we arrive at Kriti.
Heraklion, with the Nikos Kazantzakis International Airport to the right of frame.
As we approach landfall near Astros we see the great city of Athens lighting up the horizon:
And after flying over some mountainous terrain we reach the coast again.
We cross the Med again and, despite my caution to myself in the last writeup, we take a detour to see the Capo Santa Maria Di Leuca Lighthouse - which is in the sim as a Point of Interest so it should be there!
I was zooming in to try to get a better view, and I just noticed my pilot is wearing his sunglasses at night time …
We won’t make it to Firenze with the fuel we have, so we stop at a friendly place from the Falcon 4 Balkans Theater days, Brindisi!
Nobody seems to be around this time of night, so we grab a splash of fuel and get on our way again.
As we continue northwards the sun starts to peek above the horizon …
Not every day you can get a shot of the aircraft lit by sunlight and moonlight at the same time!
The weather in Florence was not great:
Minimums:
We climb and head northwest for Milano
Huh. The moon is upside down 
The weather in Milan isn’t great either, but at least I can see the runway!
And I didn’t know TigerAir flew all the way to Italy … I should look at updating my liveries pack
Spectacular!
I thought 3 people was an organization and fifty people was a movement. 
It’s funny you should say that. One time I was doing late afternoon/evening CAS with my wingman and I’m getting bummed out because he’s finding all the targets and I can’t find squat.
Then I reached up to scratch my nose under my O2 mask…and hit my dark visor! 
Leg 3: EGQS (RAF Lossiemouth) → EGPB Sumburgh Airport
A bit late with the report for this as I flew it over a week ago.
No Xmas flight is complete without a Twin Otter, which seems perfect for this short hop to the Shetland Islands.
There aren’t many paintscheme’s available in MSFS2024 for this so far, so I opted for this putrid looking retro 70’s shirt lookalike.
Spawning outside, I could hear the Shaft theme, fully expecting Richard Rountree to rock up any moment.
Firing things up seemed quite straightforward, though I’m still having trouble with Simbrief/Navigraph and the Garmin type nav’s… Its probably me, but I can’t get the plan I’ve planned into the Garmin like I could in 2020.
Clicking the autopilot sent me on a HDG selection, I had no FPL programmed, so like all good Xmas fliers, just carried on regardless.
Not long after flying over the Orkneys the weather took a turn for the worst, so a bit of dead reckoning was required. Probably breaking many flying rules, I descended until I could see the wet stuff.
Eventually after much peering into the murk, I spot some lights, hurrah! Well done me.
Checking the charts, the safer approach is to overfly then turn and come back on a reciprocal,
Turning on to finals I spent a while trying to get confirmation I’d lowered the gear. I just couldn’t find the gear handle… then it dawned on me. Its apt that there are many places up here called “Twatt” as that’s what I felt like.
After the gear shenanigans, I was a bit high, but deploying full KPM (Keets Piloting Magic), I managed to get the rubber on the tarmac. Its a good job this isn’t real as I may have broken a glitter ball or two.
This felt more like a proper Xmas flight, completely unsafe and would likely have resulted in me losing any form of license I’d have been lucky to get. Time for a beer and some shape tossing at the local.
Leg 4: EGPB (Sumburgh Airport) → ENBR (Bergen Airport, Flesland)
After the previous disaster, I decided to go back to the A400, I just love this thing in MSFS2024.
The route to Norway is another short hop, that is achievable in the small amount of time for the day. So a quick plan and this time the Simbrief thingamajiggy does its magic and we’re all set. Perf sorted, TO checked and we line up on the runway and turn the noisy bits up to 11.
Just after lift off, I got the call from SWMBO that I was required. Feeling like a child that has just got their turn to bat in the local cricket game, I reluctantly shouted to the pavilion that I’d only just got in to bat, but it fell on deaf ears.
Next time I got the chance was a few days later, take two…
The A400 with such a small amount of fuel loves to climb… We’re quickly a ToC but I can spot on the radar its getting a but murky up ahead.
Time for a quick check of the STAR, all discontinuities sorted, the RNAV approach is all plumbed into the FMS.
As we descend, its getting dark, everything looks good, not like an Xmas flight at all.
Another leg done. I need to do some checking of what I can fit in and when the sun is out now… Two legs maybe left…
That’s because you are in the Northern hemisphere silly 
If I want to make it before Christmas then I have to accelerate a bit. So here is my second leg.
…well, actually it is the rest of what I planned for leg one, but anyway.
I used real weather, but not real time because I want to see something out there.
So I set early morning.
Bremen (EDDW) to Esbjerg (EKEB).
Good morning Bremen! (Kinda bad weather though. The good news is that the option to roll persuasion was there again, so I was allowed to take off).
Go! And into the souposphere. At least it wasn’t freezing.
Not a lot to see here. I pretended to see a hole in the clouds, though.
What this sim (and I hope its successor) does really well is causing that great sense of relief and achievement when you pop out of the clouds. Just beautiful.
Technically this was VFR, but I used an NDB to find my way north, at 9000ft.
I saw the ground now and then. This is near Brunsbüttel.
I followed the coast. But in case I didn’t see anything I had several VORs and DMEs ready to give me a little corridor to fly through. The wind kept blowing me toward the east but it was manageable.
Büsum
St. Peter Ording (EDXO)
Südfall and Pellworm. The city of Rungholt was here once, before it vanished in 1362.
Langeneß. It is a “Hallig”, a small island that can be reached without a boat during low tide.
Sylt. The northernmost German island.
Time to turn a bit or I’ll end up somewhere in the North Sea.
Weather cleared up just a bit, so I could see my favourite island, Rømø. I had to make a decision there, however. My TOD was close and that weather didn’t look like it would provide another hole until Esbjerg (around 20 miles north), so I descended here.
I love land sailing on that wide beach down there. You can also see the dam that allows you to get your car onto the island without using the ferry from Sylt.
Back into the souposphere near Ribe, Denmarks oldest city and the location of a really cool viking museum that I visited this year.
I got lost for a moment, but the DME led me to Esbjerg. I still dialed in the ILS but that was mainly for practice.
On final. Some decent crosswind, and I was slightly high, but the approach turned out fine.
An uneventful landing, as I like them.
Parked at Esbjerg. The prop kept windmilling though. What do real pilots do in that case? Is there any way to stop the prop from spinning (other than feathering it, which I did).
That was 180nm, 1.5 hours of flight time. Next up… I have no clue. Probably going to grab something faster and fly directly to somewhere in Norway. Thanks for reading!
Congrats @Harry_Bumcrack for getting to the destination!
I can relate to what you say about keeping the motivation high. As much as I like the Christmas flights and am looking forward to flying them every year, this one was particularly challenging for me for a number of reasons, e.g. busier family life, busier work life, started to replay Morrowind in VR (works pretty well!.. but the time spent… ).
Anyway, yesterday I landed in Svalbard as well.
Starting from Luxembourg, Europe, the total distance was… in comparison to others here… nothing to write home about but it was a good fun nonetheless.
For the last leg I took the DC-6. Reflecting on my past flights, this is becoming sort of a tradition already 
Real weather but not real time. I did not want to spent the whole flight in pitch black and so I forwarded the month slider to March. This kept the snow and allowed for some limited sightseeing along the way.
Getting ready in Tromso…
…and leaving it behind few moments later. Note the Sandnessund bridge on the port side.
Climbing away.
As you can see from the map above, there was not much to see on the way… with the exception of Bjørnøya (Bear Island) located conveniently right on my flight path.
There is no navaid let alone an airport on the island as it is a nature reserve. I may come back in MSFS 2024 to do some trails and to check whether the fauna on the island lives up to its name.
First glimpse of Svalbard.
Second glimpse of Svalbard!
Weather was great and ILS available so I flew a visual approach to intercept the ILS for rwy 10 over the Isfjorden.
All in all a smooth leg that just tops the whole Christmas flight this year.
I feel happy and relieved to leave the DC-6 on the apron and head to the bar. Hope some beer is still left 
I got an idea for our @moderators:
This Christmas flight is already in its 10th iteration. It became a Mudspike tradition… at least for me. They’re fun and they’re challenging.
How about acknowledging those who participate and actually make it from the origin to the destination? (timing does not matter) How about a badge titled… dunno… Xmas flight participant or Christmas pilot or something to this effect? I would be proud to wear one
Congrats!
Thank you and congratulations yourself. Regardless of distance flown, the Christmas flight AAR thread is one of my favourites here at Mudspike and it needs as many contributors as possible.
A pity there aren’t really any ‘good’ piston engine heavies for XP11. I love that DC-6 and the Condor that @TeTeT has been flying.
Beautifully done! Congratulations!!!
For this leg, I flew up from Copenhagen to Stockholm.
It was a short flight but it gave me the chance to get reacquainted with iniBuild’s A300 for MSFS2024.
I did myself a favor and picked up FlyTampa’s Copenhagen, I’ve really enjoyed it so far and it works well with 2024. Definitely will get more use out of it doing Vatsim’s “Vectors to Copenhagen” event on Mondays.
Stockholm, however, is a decent hand-crafted airport that was enjoyable to fly into.
Copenhagen EKCH - Stockholm ESSA - MSFS2024 - iniBuilds A300-600F
I really enjoy the cockpit of the A300-600, it’s a nice balance of just enough old-school and analog to be cool without requiring a flight engineer.
I haven’t yet decided if I’ll get Just Flight’s rendition of the slightly more dated -400
Next up, Tromso!
Great idea! Maybe a new one every year. Something like “Mudspike Christmas Fly-in 2024”
Maybe a combo of your and @apollon01 's idea?
Something short like Christmas Pilot, but it is only valid for the year - kinda a ‘use it or lose it’ deal?
Leg 3- Oslo to Longyear. Let’s get this wrapped up.
I started parked up at International Gate 51, right where I left off. This time I thought it appropriate to use a SAS livery. This is an 1100nm leg- easy day for the 737.
Gorgeous day here in Oslo. Just waiting on my “takeoff clearance”.
Away we go!
On the climb out
Established on the cruise- FL335.
About half way there
Busy shipping lanes!
Starting to get dark up here
On the descent
Runway in sight (finally!)
(record scratch) ooooh, not a great landing. But the plane is still useable and I didn’t get a crash notification. No screenshots of that one. But, here I am all parked up.
And that’s a wrap for this 2024 flight. I’ll be in the crew lounge with a cold Dr. Pepper!
Congrats on finishing.
Christopher Walken drinks it warm! Maybe try that, considering the location?
(In my best Walken impersonation)
Uh, no, no, I don’t think so. Cold is betta. Much betta. 
Penultimate leg time!
Today we’re going to fly from Milan to Tromsø:
The weather at Milan is still either foggy or smoggy (I’m not sure which it is meant to be):
It’s a busy ramp as we start up and taxi out
Takeoff is uneventful, and as we climb out we catch a glimpse of Milano:
I’ve never visited the Alps, but flying over them …
The weather over Germany worsens until it is an almost complete overcast:
But that makes for a beautiful sunset!
We continue northwards into the arctic night.
And soon the weather clears below us but starts to have a few clouds above:
After a nap (hey, it’s late IRL! 
) I arrive over Norway
The nap is definitely not why I didn’t stop for a splash and dash … besides, the FMS said I would arrive with 20kg fuel remaining when I came back to the sim 
Approaching Tromsø:
But we arrive safely at Tromsø, and find our wayward antipodean charity aeromedical transport has arrived ahead of us
Almost there …
And greetings @Troll! I’ve got some beginner questions about 3D printing to annoy you with… but I brought some Queensland beer not that second-rate stuff @Harry_Bumcrack brought 
