That’s hardly fair. @Deacon211 Would be winning all of them… every year
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LOL, I don’t know about that.
But, it helps if you have ten times the word count of everyone else!
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After spending some time at Corsica (France), sightseeing the island, it is time to move on to Madagascar!
Back at the airport of Bastia, I found a Douglas DC-4 waiting for someone to take it to Sardinia (Italy). Freeware MSFS2020 aircraft, mixed reviews, no clickable cockpit, but despite I like it a lot! As far as I can tell, great visual model, good enough flight model, basic autopilot and overwhelming sound.
Leg 5: Corsica LFKB (Bastia-Poretta) => Sardinia LIEE (Cagliari-Elmas), MSFS2020, real-day, real-time, real-weather, Douglas DC-4, VFR/IFR.
Route as follows, following VOR’s (ADF-like indications only in the DC-4, mind the crosswind):
Also because I was scared a bit about the eastern part of Sardinia, should I fly a little off course …
Departure Bastia LFKB RW16:
En-route, over Ajaccio:
Engine and navigation instruments, mind the ADF needles:
Arriving over Sardinia:
The aircraft has 4 fuel tanks, but I was unable to switch them … Also, the aircraft seems to like fuel a lot … Had to do some “inflight refuelling” to fill al tanks again …
Approaching Cagliari LIEE, final RW14:
Credits to: https://flightsim.to/file/97331/dc-4-skymaster-fsxp3d-conv-to-msfs
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Next up, EHRD to LSZA, Rotterdam to Lugano. Not a very exciting departure but the approach into Lugano looks pretty and the departure should be neat with a setting sun over the harbour district!
Back in my beloved mini jumbo jet, fully loaded up to the limits with about 6 tons of fuel, plenty of reserve because she is not thirsty at all!
Rotation!
Goodbye Rotterdam, I’ll be back!
And then, just after flaps 0… MSFS crashed… Sigh… Lets do this anotherday…
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That’s a fair point. I was thinking the participant badge mainly as a way to welcome new folks to MS that join in the Xmas flight, where as the finisher badge is more recognizing an accomplishment.
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You guys are right, Anything that encourages folks to get involved with the Xmas flight has to be a good thing.
At the end of the day we aren’t talking about a MoH or VC… Totally agree it should be all about the fun.
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I was actually considering sitting this one out…. but if I’m going to get a badge… 
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Avro RJ 2: The second attempt!
Today we get the Air France Cityjet livery! I really do miss seeing this mini jumbo trundle about in real life.
EHRD WOODY departure to the west, you have to turn at either 400ft or RD166(Very close to the runway) and keep speeds limited to 220kts as obstacle avoidance and noise abatement. This means turning a tad north, and then turning south over the harbour where you can start the climb out(depending on ATC obviously).
People get to enjoy some cool synthwave music when boarding!
The wind is still quite significant as you can see! Fortunately it is almost a headwind which means we can do a reduced take-off run since the runway is longer then the maximum required length for a full load take-off anyway.
Turning at 400ft away from Rotterdam
Heading towards the harbour and getting ready for the climbout!
And awaay we gooooo!
Gosh I am bored now… This is why I usually do hops of maximum 45 minutes. Have a quick climb and decent and back to the good stuff! Hand flying fun approaches!
I guess I now should go vacuum or something…
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Approaching the alps over Germany. It’s a really boring flight, there’s a strong breeze but other then that not much happening. Not even Ice detection! There’s no dang switch to flip for me!
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Looks like we are roughly in line regarding the badge?
What do you think, @Troll ? What shall we do to make it a reality?
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Descending into the alps, I always forget how quickly this aircraft can descend do it became more of a step descent thing.
Didnt have time to take pictures of the approach but it was a doozy, 6.65 degrees of slope so I had to go full flaps and steep descent mode, plus a short runway made it hard to loose speed so I had to step on the brakes.
I also didn’t feel like flying 150nm extra to do the SID so I pretended to be vectored in by ATC to the ILS.
Next up, a short leg to Campo Del Oro(LFKJ). That should be a fun one!
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I like it!
Let me see what I can come up with.
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Lugano to Ajacio, here we go! This was a fun flight. Went with the smallest of the RJ family, the -70. As the sun is getting on Lugano we get some wicked shadows on the mountains! To avoid a 35 minute boarding time I just set both boarding and refueling to 5 minutes. This made aligning the INS the longest process today.
I wish there was a good way to calculate performance without smashing data into a webapp and just praying for the right data… It’s fun to do it yourself, right?! Anyway, lets grab a good stretch of runway for this take-off because the runway is not long here. At 33 flaps VR should be around 112kts.
My worries were not justified, this thing has power! Soon enough we can start getting some speed to initiate a high speed climb.
We get close to Ajacio once the sun has set, this means that we are going to dive into the darkness, fortunately they have a ILS here!
The approach lights are good but the runway lights and just, lights in general are a disappointment here, they also saved money on ramp light apparently.
The rain made the approach bumpy but setting the throttle and controlling the speed with pitch and the airbrakes is a good solution. You are supposed to have the airbrakes at 100% anyway so that you can activate the lift spoilers as soon as possible.
I briefly needed to turn on the entry lights so I could see the after-landing checklist.
Time to deboard into darkness, right in front of the tower… Honestly, this aircraft is a 4/10 experience in the dark!
Flight was supposed to take 0h50m and was until shutdown 0h54m so I think I aced that. Though flying online for funzies means I keep no schedule.
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Medina is on agenda today, though first I have to take it from where I left it last time - on water. Some 430 m below mean sea level
I reckon that flying at night might be fun, though sightseeing would suffer considerably. Therefore fast forward and early morning it is!
Leaving Dead Sea behind and climbing over Jordan.
Some time ago I was scrolling through my first Christmas flight AARs and noted how much I enjoyed the weather depiction and MSFS lighting engine. That was in 2020. Now I have to repeat the same thing, only addressed to MSFS 2024. Nice indeed.
Serenity in the cockpit. Pity I could not sip coffee with the VR headset on 
It was around 11pm real-time anyway 
You have already seen this chill place in the nose of the Albatross. It is really cool as hell 
So bear with me because more screens from this place may be coming.
I mean… just imagine sitting there, looking out…
3D modelling of the Albatross is not great.
It is EXCELLENT!
…back to flying.
Most of the track miles were over Saudi Arabia. I still remember a picture my sister sent me from an airplane flying over this country saying something along the lines of “greenery as far as the eye can see” She was right. But back the time I did not appreciate how many faces desert can have:
Approaching Medina. I had to resist temptation to increase the sim rate to 2x as the Albatross seemed a bit slow in comparison to the Learjet in this phase of flight
I warned you!
On the apron and checking some neat features like opening the cockpit hatches.
The Prophet’s Mosque is the next POI on my list.
The Prophet’s Mosque is the second mosque built by the Islamic prophet Muhammad in Medina, after the Quba Mosque, as well as the second largest mosque and holiest site in Islam, after the Masjid al-Haram in Mecca, in the Saudi region of the Hejaz. [Wiki]
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So, how about a badge called X-Mas Aviator 2025?
Distributed manually to those who complete the x-mas trek?
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May I only suggest to distribute it to all participants of the Christmas flight in question as opposed to only those who finish it?
This way it would be:
- in line with the broad concensus here in the thread, and
- rewarding also those who try hard but for whatever reason can’t make it.
How about that?
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I see…
A participation badge.
But as the group settles on a goal, shouldn’t this be rewarded for achievement? I mean, it’s not about just flying anywhere you like and then say it’s a christmas flight?
OTOH, the complexity will vary greatly with where you live, or start out from.
If I had participated last year, to Svalbard, I could’ve completed the flight with significantly less effort than @Harry_Bumcrack put into it.
So, I guess it depends on what you want?
There must be some rules though.
Participation should mean publishing a route and at least one leg with an AAR?
Completing should mean reaching the destination and publishing an AAR?
An idea. Badges come in three values, Gold, Silver and Bronze.
We could have Gold for completion and silver for participation…?
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Umm 
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Ah! I misread your post.
Must have forgotten about your visit! Too many beers? 
Anyway, the point still stands, what level of participation should be required?
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I think we can agree that a Christmas Pilot/Aviator badge is something that most of us would like to see?
How does this sound as a proposal:
For a ‘Leg’ to count, it must be accompanied by an AAR.
Christmas Pilot Gold Level/ Gold medal Xmas Pilot… (we can work on the exact words). Awarded for completing a Xmas flight.
Silver. Must have completed at least two legs or half the distance, whichever is the lesser.
Bronze. Awarded for 1 leg.
I would also suggest that the award is made ‘in perpetuity’ and retrospective so any current member qualifies. Even if they are not participating this year. That also allows an upgrade path, for those who have not yet been able to complete the journey.
Maybe even a ‘Diamond’ badge for those who have completed ‘X’ number of Christmas flights?
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