And so, it begins.
Friday, 31 July 2026. 1942z
Philadelphia International Airport, Philadelphia, PA (KPHL) TO Laguardia Airport, East Elmhurst, Queens, New York City, NY (KLGA). 91NM.
It will likely surprise absolutely no one that I look to the start of Holiday Flight each year with a certain amount of fondness.
It gives me a mission to complete; and a reason to once again slip the surly simulated bonds in Flight Sim…which has been sadly languishing on my computer for several months now after a particularly inauspicious start to the year.
This year will be my first flying MSFS 2024. So I fully expect some hilarity along the way. We’ll see how it goes! 
Challenge one this year was to figure out what, if anything, I could fly from my FS2020 hangar in 2024.
As my first test subject, I tried the default DC-3, with American Airlines Flagship Knoxville livery by Jamespejam…still one of my favorite color schemes.
And since “in for a penny…” and all that, challenge two was to see if I could get Simbrief working for me in the sim; a program I had avoided for years because…reasons. 
In retrospect, I don’t know why…it’s awesome!
It was even so kind as to generate a perfectly legal flight plan for me, which has got to be a first in all my years in MSFS. 
PHL to LGA. 91NM.
After a bit of file fiddling, the DC-3 dropped onto the field looking airworthy enough.
As I had exhibited my usual level of preflight preparation (i.e. none) in setting up the Gooney Bird, I careened down the runway with abandon…
…as in, “I may need to abandon this aircraft if I don’t get it airborne soon!” 
It was about at this point that I realized that I had almost no idea how to use most of these nav instruments! Sure, all the usual suspects were there…RMI, OBS, etc. But, they all operated differently than their modern counterparts, so I couldn’t rely on flying intuition alone to help me fake it, till I could make it!
Ultimately, my mad fiddling got something tuned in and a couple of relative bearing needles up for Yardly VOR (ARD).
Which bought me at least a few minutes to figure the rest of it out. 
Eventually, I got everything settled down and pointed in the general direction of LaGuardia by the time I crossed the Delaware River just north of Levittown.
And, shortly after crossing the well-known Robbinsville VOR (RBV), pointing me out towards the mouth of the Raritan River…
I crossed over my old haunt, Old Bridge Airport (3N6), where I learned to fly almost 40 years ago.
Jumpin’ Jehoshaphat am I old! 
One last turn put me on the final few points of the MIP4 arrival. That’s Sandy Hook off the right wing.
Coming in over the Verrazzano Bridge with Manhattan in the distance.
Along with the obligatory storm cell over the field. 
I’m not sayin’…I’m just sayin’.
The duty runway had been RWY22 with fairly calm winds when I checked the weather, so I lazily took a teardrop to the right to set up for an abeam.
Then brought her back around to find airliners taking off directly towards me.
Oh well, I’m not one to stand on ceremony! 
She settled down nicely enough, despite dodging the row of crossing RJs!
As I didn’t have my FS2020 LGA scenery here, I chose to park her over on the Terminal A side…the old Marine Air terminal; once home of the Pan Am Clipper.
Well, there she is. One leg down. Hoping to see a good turnout this year and really looking forward to reading all your daring tales of aerial adventure.
See you out there…in the thin air.
on your first leg, nice pictures 
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first … Gives me also time to select route, planes and sim.
!