It’s honestly pretty damn cool. Not perfect, but very fun!
It is time to pull the finger out. Enough procrastinating… For now 
Best laid plans of mice & men and all that. My personal challenge for this year is:
Real weather.
Real time (i.e. TO will be a ‘real’ local time)
No time compression/acceleration (i.e. a 4 hour flight is 4 hours real time).
OK. So I guess that is challenge(s), but you get the idea. Bottom line is that I need to set aside enough real time and hope the weather gods are smiling so that I can get down and ‘move it. move it’ with King Julian on NYE.
All set to start today, and hardware malfunction… I cracked my joystick extension. Superglue to the rescue. But it is now getting on to 1700 local time so nup, not today folks.
However, I have checked out that my ‘trusty steed’ for the first leg is all set to go for an early AM departure tomorrow (and all hardware is calibrated and working OK).
This was the runner up for my ‘only going to fly one aircraft’ choice from our China Xmas flight of two years ago. Seems like everyone wanted me to have a proper challenge and voted for the Vulcan (I still hate you @Freak ).
This will also be my first year using XP12. Out of the box scenery is a lot better than XP11, I have driven on that road more times than I care to mention and the only thing that is inaccurate is a Piaggio parked on the apron. Locals down this way would have their pitchforks out and burning that funny looking backwards airplane as a witch.
Early start tomorrow, but I have a room for the night at a Pub in Cooma. Bottle to throttle hours don’t count if it is virtual, right?
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Now, THAT’s a challenge!
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Leg 4: Base Aérea das Lajes, Angra do Heroísmo, Terceira Island, Azores, Portugal (LPLA) TO Tenerife North–Ciudad de La Laguna Airport, Tenerife, Spain (GCXO)
Alright. Continuing my education in the 727 at Miracle Flying School (motto, “If you survive the first lesson…it’s a miracle!”), I was slowly coming to terms with the jet.
Primarily for its significance in aviation history, as well as something of a tribute to those lost there, I decided that my next destination would be Tenerife. A comparatively modest 817NM on the great circle, I figured that I could do it in about 1+45.
Luckily, this leg was much less eventful than my last few. 
Today, we’re flying Air Portugal, livery by aviationchc. One thing I appreciate about these artists’ work is that they hold no illusions about how clean these old jets were; every one is as lovingly grimy as I remember.
After a little switch piggery, I finally get the INS aligned,
the fuel properly loaded,
and checked (this time), 
and off we go!
Takeoff roll is looooooong in this jet.
I’m sure that I woke more than a few people up as I went screaming out over the bay!
The prevailing weather was misty down low, but nothing that a little altitude couldn’t solve.
And in short order, we were turned on course and up to our cruising altitude of FL370. That’s São Miguel passing off our left wing.
After a quick level off check, everything looked (unusually 
) normal…
And, with the last few stars fading from the heavens, it was time for some sweet, sweet airline coffee.
Why is the cream always a little blue? 
Well, at that point, everything was going perfectly well.
But, idle hands and all that…
I was still bothered as to why my engine(s) had failed on the previous flight.
After a good think, I was fairly certain that the first engine had failed because I had accidentally shut the left crossfeed valve. That probably would have been fine by itself, but the FE had also turned off the outboard fuel boost pumps.
It would seem that the engine driven pumps just didn’t have the Schlitz to feed their respective engines alone.
I vaguely recalled from flying another Jurassic Jet or two that the boost pumps were necessary above a certain altitude but, when the second outboard had also failed previously, we were considerably lower.
Having an engine that simply can’t fly without some boost pump on seems like a bad design, but these were old jets, designed in a different time. So, who knows?
Having said all that, and newly aware that I could easily restart the engines via CTRL E, I tried closing the left fuel crossfeed again.
And the engine dutifully failed.
But, with a quick restart, I had her running again…
…and my question answered.
Which brought me to the next matter. Inflight icing.
I was quickly approaching Tenerife. And, while I felt that the temperature was currently too cold for icing, at -50C SAT, I was going to need to descend shortly.
Assuming the relief from anti-icing at low temps only extended to climb and cruise (which seems like a universal guideline), I was going to need to find the anti-ice panel without undue delay.
It’s funny, so much in the 72 is exactly like the 73 that it really throws a spanner in the works when something isn’t where you expected it to be! 
But I did find it eventually.
Hmmm, deceptively simple. Wonder what could possibly go wrong… 
Nothing, luckily. At least nothing that I could see! Whether it worked or not, I have no idea.
And so down we came.
I was determined not to be high this time. But still failed. The airplane is still a little slicker than I expect. Plus, in anticipation of some high terrain in the terminal area, I chickened out and reduced my rate of descent a bit.
Still, better than scraping it in across the island I suppose.
As a result of chasing the altitude, however, I was also late breaking off the direct leg for an intercept of the localizer. The intercept angle was maybe only 60 degrees. Not ideal, but not bananas either. But in close, the 1950s autopilot just couldn’t hack it.
TBH, I’ve seen a 2000’s autopilot or two not hack it either…but the irony was this one was entirely self-induced!!! 
Once I had the field in sight, I just decided not to watch George chase the LOC any more and did some of that pilot stuff (you know, the kind of pilot stuff that you can avoid through a little bit of planning and proper autopilot usage ).
The landing was butter. Specifically, the kind of butter you find in the last ten feet of the touchdown zone.
And here we are. Tenerife.
So, all things considered, not a bad flight.
The fuel issues which plagued me for the first few flights have been solved. I also think I understand the limitations of the fuel system a bit better now and, unless I accidentally click on the wrong hotspot again, should largely be able to leave its operation to the FE.
On the other hand, I should probably do a bit better job of descent planning in the future. Not that it really matters as I’ve always managed to get into a stabilized approach by the time I reach 1000ft.
But I do concede that I’m flying this plane (and, were I to be honest, every other in MSFS) as though they were Cessnas.
Which generally violates the old proscription against,
“Using your superior airwork to make up for a lack of superior headwork”.
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Great read, Deacon! I always enjoy following along on your journeys
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Well, it turns out ‘Supaglue’ isn’t all that super !
30 minutes into my first leg and I had a flight control malfunction. i.e. the only thing connecting my joystick grip to the base was the cable extension…
Bugger!
I wonder if I can fly this thing just using the autopilot? As it turns out, using it to fly towards my destination (Adelaide) wasn’t an issue. Landing was probably going to be a problem though.
I say ‘fly towards’ and ‘probably’, because the Cirrus has a max range of 500NM… at most economical cruise. Something else I should have checked beforehand, because YCOM → YPAD (direct) is 514NM.
You know how this ends, right?
With Adelaide not quite in sight, I find myself with zero fuel, zero hydraulic pressure, zero control and I’m heading straight to the scene of the accident.
So, the real life trip I had planned to make into town tomorrow occured yesterday (Thursday). While I was there I picked up a two part epoxy glue that is not only specifically for plastics, but (supposedly) makes Araldite look like the paste that they have in Kindergardens and nursing homes… You know, the stuff that is safe to eat.
After repair number two and allowing for the recommended 12-24 hour curing period, despite the one hour claim on the packaging, I finally managed to get underway today. But at least I knew the Cirrus didn’t have the legs to get me to my destination. Therefore two days late and a change of aircraft, I am underway. And not only in something faster, but could get me to Adelaide.
I fell in love with this little beauty last year. Epic E1000G.
Nothing fancy with this flight. Even though I downloaded a chart and loaded it into avitab (normally I jot down the appropriate freqs on a piece of paper and wing it), I have just plugged in a direct route to YPAD and I will pick up the ILS for Runway 23 when I get there.
Stiff crosswind, but heaps of torque actually helps…
Safely over what passes for ‘Alps’ here and my route takes me over a road that I have actually ridden many times on a motorcycle.
Coming up on the twin border towns of Albury and Wodonga. Below is Lake Hume, created when the put a dam on the Murray River and at 2,500km Australia’s longest river. They actually relocated an entire township that was flooded. There are still old houses, roads etc on the lakebed.
Tracking South of one of the larger inland cities of Mildura. I have no idea what that lake below me is. I have driven through Mildura numerous times and even spent a couple of nights there but never explored this part of the country.
Time to line up for approach on an uneventful, somewhat boring, flight.
Lining up on finals was ‘textbook’
The landing however 
I think I might have been a little hot because I bounced and ended up way off the centreline before I got her down.
So. Leg one of another long Christmas flight under my belt.
A bit about Adelaide
Funny city Adelaide and not necessarily funny ha ha.
One of our smaller State capitals and somewhere I have actually spent a bit of time.
My first visit was in 1989.
From about 2011 to 2017 I was a regular visitor because of the job at the time. I was either in transit to Woomera or otherwise supporting our Defence Science & Technology Group (who are co-located RAAF Edinburgh in Adelaide).
Weird vibe to the place. Adelaide is known as the City of Churches… Because of the disproportionate number of them.
It is probably just as well known for the disproportionate number of serial killings… Many unsolved.
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Goodness gracious- this thread is making me want to buy MSFS2024…
That would mean I’d have to learn and fly properly, which I have no time for.
But good simulation gods, these shots are masterful. Thank you guys.
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In that case, you want X-Plane 12 
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HAHAHAHAH good point.
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Hasn’t stopped me! 
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what challenge !? dont we all fly without it from the beginning ? 
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there are two proper ways how to learn to fly in a sim - (1) combat aircraft you learn on live server (2) civi aircraft you learn while you fly Xmas flight
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This one took literally all of a day to finish, for a variety of reasons I’ll get into. Let’s see how far I get this year, because kids and life and job and aging dog who constantly thinks he needs to be outside every half hour.
Leg 1: KRDU - KSGJ
I haven’t jumped on the MSFS 2024 bandwagon yet, but I HAVE spent the last month working on getting my XP12 install updated and I think (thought) ready for this.
Starting from the general aviation terminal at RDU as usual, and flying my old favorite C310L for the first couple of legs.
A bit further south, flying over Sharon Harris Nuclear Power Plant. Pleasantly surprised at the level of detail there.
Continuing south, making the first turn over Fayetteville.
And yes, this was one of mine.
…and roughly five minutes after I took that picture, the sim crashed. Apparently Ortho4XP had created the tile with some missing textures and landscapes. After fixing the tile, the next fun discovery: saved flights don’t actually work in X-Plane 12 without triggering an immediate crash to desktop.
A bit of finagling with the flight scenario settings put me back on track.
Not pictured: loading into a plane on a 10 mile final for Tailwinds (06NC), only to find the plane loaded into a cold and dark state. The fastest startup ever, combined with a very uncomfortable climb back to cruising altitude put me back on track.
Flying an IFR route following I-95 into upstate South Carolina
…and then there was another crash with an ortho tile not fully loaded.
Several hours later, and skipping over the takeoff from KFLO (it was on the route), we were back on track again over eastern South Carolina
Next turn was over KCHS, so a bit of Charleston on the way down the coast
Flying over Joint Base Naval Weapons Station Charleston. The white cross-shaped buildings just ahead of my port engine are the barracks buildings for the Naval Nuclear Power Training Command, where I spent a couple of very formative years, a very, very long time ago.
As we make the turn west, that’s I-526 behind me heading to Mount Pleasant and Isle of Palms beach, and to the right in the picture is the old naval base, shipyard, and current Port of Charleston.
And one last shot of the Holy City (so named because of all the churches in the downtown area on the peninsula). The Citadel, where the richest families in the South send their kids to cosplay Army cadet for four years while most of them earn Accounting or Pre-Law degrees, is right around the bulge in the peninsula outboard my left wing tip tank. Author Pat Conroy wrote a very charming little book about his time there, and it was turned into a movie a few years later. Also, you can’t see it from this distance, but Fort Sumter is between the two points of land furthest in the distance making up the entrance to the harbor.
A bit further south finds us flying over the town and Marine Corps Air Station Beaufort (pronounced “Beaufort,” and not be confused with the town in North Carolina, which is pronounced “Beaufort.”)
And only slightly further down the coast is the US Marine Corps’ premier spa and resort, known as Parris Island. I’ve always heard such wonderful things about it. You can see it just behind the trailing edge of the wing, as sadly I didn’t have time to stop and avail myself of the amenities.
Next up is the town of Hilton Head, which I’ve always been told means “Golf” in South Carolinian.
The next turn was over KSAV, but unfortunately between clouds and the distance from downtown, there wasn’t much to see. Except that we’d crossed into Georgia from South Carolina.
The next legs took us over the barrier islands of the Georgia coast, the best known of which is Jekyll Island. Also, the new water and coast effects look gorgeous, even with the old ORBX scenery for XP11.
Crossing into Florida…
Also, the new clouds from the lastest Beta updates are beautiful:
Setting up for the approach into St. Augustine. Founded by the Spanish in 1565, St. Augustine is the oldest continuously inhabited colonial town in the US (the Spanish had previously tried to colonize South Carolina thirty years earlier, but the mosquitos, snakes, and Native peoples strongly disagreed with this, and roughly 1/4 of the original colonists survived to flee a few months after arriving).
Parked at the main terminal (the default ATC got funny not long after touching down, so I took the initiative to park somewhere that looked important).
Next time (hopefully sooner than later), I’ll try and get further south, and maybe into the Caribbean!
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No surer a way to tell the locals that you’re “not from round here”. 
Great report!
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And sometimes it goes the other way.One time when the MIL was visiting we took her shopping in a very upmarket suburb in Canberra,
While browsing in a store the elderly proprietor asked in a very posh voice where we were from from… ‘Canberra’ the wife and I replied. 'I’m from Castlemaine said the MIL (pronouncing it Cassel-mane).
‘Oh you mean Carsel-maine’ said the woman. Quick as a flash the MIL retorted ‘Yes, but in Cassel-mane we call it Cassel-mane.’
Well I swear the temperature dropped a good 30 degrees and the look on the woman’s face… That one you get when you have just sucked on a lemon.
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