Same here.
That’s why I actually like to fly at day and in relatively good weather. The graphics are great for sightseeing.
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Magnificent pics! There are definitely times that I wished I had just cleared the skies to get a better look at the amazing scenery.
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dont worry, once you reach the XMas track destination you can always fly back home 
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Don’t think I haven’t considered it. 
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I certainly believe you, with the older sims it was the planes which were worth to be flown again, now we have great terrain added on top of that
so made it finally to the other side of the Alps… in the other sim
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Quito (SEQM) to Guayaquil (SEGU).
For this leg I decided to fly an airplane I picked up awhile back as a bit of an impulse buy. The Caproni-Vizzola C22-J Ventura.
It’s an odd airplane in that it looks like a cross between a glider and a jet.
The panel is steam driven while the engine instruments remind me very much of the Citation II.
Lined up on the runway…
There was a break in the cloud layer up ahead, so I decided to climb up on top.
Much better…
Another view of the panel. I have dialed in the VOR at Guyaquil and we are heading in the right direction…144.2nm to go.
Ilinza Sur has two peaks, the highest being 17208ft AMSL…
Getting closer to Guayaquil I came across a hole in the cloud layer. I took advantage of it and dropped down now that the mountains were behind us.
As a descended below the cloud deck a small airport appeared right in front of me…
Pressing on, the weather looks to be improving as I get closer to the coast.
I soon come across the Babahayo River. All I have to do now is follow it to Guayaquil.
Airport in sight with my gear down. Another player ahead of me on final.
Shut down with another leg complete!
You will all have to forgive me for abandoning my original plan of flying the DC6 the whole way but has been fun to break a few other planes out of the hangar as well.
11 Likes
Time to discover Brazil. This leg is about 640nm long (short?) and takes me from Fernando de Noronha (SBFN) to Salvador International (SBSV).
I am looking forward to seeing some green colours below me for a change
As mentioned in the last AAR, I am staying with the WT CJ4. I am liking this bizjet more with every nm flown. For this trip, I am checking out a black panel and upholstery (not sure I like it though…).
Taxi to the active and take off.
In cruise at FL440. The WT FMS is able to import SimBrief flight plans as well as the MSFS flight plans prepared on the World map. That is quite nice. I have imported the MSFS one and it works flawlessly. The ATC is also respecting my preferred cruise FL.
Brazil mainland!
At this point I realized I set the take off time a bit randomly and I would be landing after sunset. That’s OK. Even though I wanted to do some sight seeing, the setting sun will offer romantic colours.
City of Aracaju
Beginning the RNAV approach to Salvador
The airport is in the middle of the lights. You can perhaps make out the blue taxiway lights.
Final Rwy10. I was handed the aircraft from the autopilot nicely established and trimmed so that I had a perfect starting point to mess up the landing
Safely down and looking forward to the next leg to Rio de Janeiro
Did I say I liked the WT CJ4?
8 Likes
looks good, that CJ4 is on my ‘next planes list’
for now, discovering nice small strips along the track - La Tovière - in the DA62. sometimes it is convenient that I can push the throttles all the way forward and dont care that much about the airplane. its nice that max speed is actually cruise speed then
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what a funny looking airplane, to me its like classic GA plane… but with jet engine
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Now that is a beautiful old school panel there! I remember that Collins radio stack from a few airplanes in my past (Bonanzas and Cessnas). Gorgeous!
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It is a bit of an hidden gem that didn’t really get the attention it deserves. For $10 it is a steal.
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dont do it, dont do it!.. OK, here we go, direct comparison 
La Tovière in XP (default scenery) …but you can see why we are doing it, that small fly there called Schweizer S300 makes it worth. especially at this elevation of 7500ft, worth a try
climbing at this altitude was really challenge but over climbed the next small strip anyway, almost missed it - Vers le col du Palet - on a top of a ski slope at 8000ft. this one is also visible on my above pic from MSFS, where I approach La Tovière and this strip is behind the ridge to the right over the lake
made it! - Courchevel at 7600ft - this tiny details like stopping rotor by interacting with the tail rotor drive shaft makes all the difference sometimes
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I wasn’t going to spend any money on my amended Xmas flight plan, but that looks like something right up my alley. I love that panel and $10 is pretty affordable…
You’re maintaining your rights to your “bad influencer” badge!
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once out of the Alps the miles started to cumulate made it to Spain - Palafolls LEPF
short glance on my last interesting Alpine approach - L’Alpe-d’Huez LFHU
and here I ran out of fuel just over the airport as I wasnt able to pick it up at first. my emergency landing was perfect as I actually, by pure coincidence, landed on the runway 
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For the next two legs I will be flying Just Flight’s superb Hawk T1/A. Looking at the Sky Vector chart I noticed a river valley that runs over 200nm which should be a lot of fun in the Hawk. The entrance to the valley is about 220nm South of Guayaquil and so a fuel stop seemed like a good idea somewhere close to the start point. Fortunately there are a couple of suitable airports nearby. I chose the Jaen-Shumba Airport (SPJE), Jaén which across the border in Peru.
The Just Flight Hawk…one of those guys is going to have to get out and remove all the covers and pins!
With that taken care of, we are off!
Climbing steeply away from SEGU. I have been to Guayaquil a couple of times. It is the only place I have been to where upon checking in at the hotel, I was given a sheet of paper listing everything you shouldn’t do due to problems with crime and in particular the risk of kidnapping… so leaving Guayaquil in the rearview mirror isn’t a bad thing (it’s probably not that bad but it left a lasting impression on me).
Soon we are over the mountains again…
Descending at a good rate towards SPJE…
I was a little to fast to land straight in, so a run in and break into the downwind seemed to be appropriate.
Downwind and configured…
In the flare, and it looks like there is another Hawk, and a Spitfire on the ramp.
The next leg should be fun, and I hope to end up at Lima, Peru.
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The seventh leg brought me from Salvador (SBSV) to Rio de Janeiro (SBRJ), both in Brazil. I took this as an opportunity to fly the circle-to-land approach to Santos Dumont Rwy02R. Should be fun with real weather which was not exactly great.
I forgot to get rid of the black interior. Nah. Next time. I will put up with it for now. I am becoming a friend with the FMC finally (meaning I did not spent an eternity setting it up).
Departing towards Copacabana!
Clouds
Clouds
Clouds. It became apparent that the approach will not be under VFR. Nevermind, this aircraft if an all-weather one and its RNAV guides work like a charm.
In the clouds. At this point I decided to give the autopilot a break and fly the rest of the approach and landing by hand. It was a handful in the end also because I was taking screenshots in VR at the same time 
Finally visual with the terrain. A little too close for comfort.
Rio de Janiero downtown.
The RNAV approach for Rwy02R is a curved one while gradually descending. Needless to say, if the MSFS autogen buildings had modelled interiors, I could see what people watch on their TVs.
It is a bit like the ILS Rwy 13 approach to Kai Tak. Only Kai Tak was closed in 1998.
I overshot in the end but with the approach speed of some 100kts it was not a big deal to reposition.
On the apron. Not sure about hitting Copacabana though. (hmm… I need to get rid of those casual blokes in the cockpit next time!)
…and the last obligatory picture from Rio!
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Nice report in the Hawk - that thing looks like a rocket ship on departures. Superb screens!
Great report…! My company is not authorized to do RNP approaches…the ones with the sexy curves. Cool approach and great visuals…moody!
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Today I flew from Tenerife (GCTS) to GVNP on the Capo Verde islands.
I had nice weather for all the flight except a few clouds and even lightning near the destination airport.
Let’s go!
I just had to fly the little detour over the currently active volcano on Las Palmas.
After that I left the Canary islands and went on a long boring flight over water.
I was just close enough to spot the coast of Africa (Mauretania and Senegal to be precise) as I turned toward my next waypoint.
Flying over Sal, the next one is called Boa Vista.
Descending. A bit too fast but that’s what speedbrakes are for, right?
I had some ATC weirdness over Santiago but I managed to fly a somewhat decent approach onto runway 03
On final. A bit gusty, which made it harder than I thought.
My landing was a bit rough, but no damage.
Next up: Fly to Fernando de Noronha (SBFN)
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