That is a recent Asobo/Carenado airplane. It’s a steal at $15 from the marketplace.
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I redid my pix. Scroll up to check 'em out.
Should I buy a viper to do the leg from Leeuwarden in style, or shall I take the default Super Hornet? The superbug doesn’t seem to be able to make it to Iceland in one hop. Perhaps I should have a stopover in Norway somewhere… Them old propjobs look tasty as all getout too tho. But I wonder how controllable they are with my paltry xbox controller.
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Cough, “Corsair or F-104” cough.
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Ha, well I gave my destination to a late joiner.
But, as I was looking at all the participants (both Secret and other) on the map, I realized that there was a clump in North America and a clump in Europe.So visiting them all seemed pretty doable.
With one exception. 
Additionally, I figured that this way, everyone gets a visit from someone…even if that someone is just me! 
Hopefully, that doesn’t rob any of the fun out of the experience for others!
Yes, I have enjoyed the heady pleasures of Blue Bell. It just doesn’t travel that well in the back of a hot helicopter!
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I’m stoked to see @schurem, our dogfighter extraordinaire, coming along for the trek this year
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Thanks Paul. That panel looks like they gave it a nice refresh since the P3D version that I flew last.
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The Beech is really beautiful inside and out. A couple of guys over at the Outhouse have done a number of very cool paints for it as well.
Including the one from, It’s a Mad Mad Mad Mad World
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Also, if you use the PMS GTN750, I’m pretty sure I saw a mod for it on Flightsim.to. I must get that.
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I would say its good price but wont be that courageous to call it steal 
what I would call a steal is that Boeing 247 for 20 ! that thing has a quality and what is important also character, where the Asobo/Carenado offerings are really nice but soulless modules imo.
now we talking 
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I don’t know…I have paid a good bit more for airplanes that don’t come up to the standard.
I completely agree with regard to the Boeing 247. It is worth a lot more than the asking price.
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Hmmm… Interesting… It is fast. Short legs perhaps, but I bet you can put four bags on it for long hauls, right? Let’s see if it’s in the XboX marketplace…
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This seems like a good way to get motorsports into the flight.
Out of PATK at 41 headed east at 095.
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Let me preface this with a dig at Microsoft for the incredibly clunky way the XboxX shares screenshots to a PC: One can not view them in the windows 11 xbox app for some reason, but one can in the mobile app. So I paste all the links from that into this thread, then open all of the shots in browser tabs on PC, copypaste the image itself into this thread again. Clunky. But I’m an old PC gamer, I seen worse.
I was on the fence getting a plane for this, as well, I don’t fly this sim that much at all. Some people upthread suggested some very cool planes, but alas, I am confined to what’s available (and usable!) on the XboxX. Early this morning I clicked buy on it. It said ‘payment refused’. So I went allright, no impulse buy money for you then and flew the flight in an F/A-18E.
Then just after landing the sim crashed (!!) and upon reloading, the buy button did work (guess I wanted that viper a little more than I thought) and I got to redo the flight in a proper jet:
Blasting off to some very clear skies. I have Live Weather turned on, and I do not believe that’s quite right.
Up, up and awaaaaay! (holy duck does the short little stick on an xbox controller make for hamfised flying!)
Climbing out over the Waddenzee. The North Sea coast is lined with little islands called the waddeneilanden (Texel, Vlieland, Terschelling, Ameland, Schiermonnikoog). They are a popular holiday destination for the Dutch and German alike.
Looking out over the Waddenzee. It’s very shallow, large parts of it turn into mud flats at low tide. The Waddenzee is a cherished nature sanctuary with an ecosystem that includes seals as apex predators.
Goodbye Friesland. The viper climbs like a motherlovin’ rocket, as it should. The view from the office is amazeballs as well. Notice the clean wings. There should be a couple of sticks on the tips and bags under the wings. I chose a three bag, two stick loadout in the preflight screen.
I left the thing on autopilot altitude and heading hold (I thought) as I went off to pick the kids up from school. When I came back the thing was almost done crossing the North sea but had climbed to about angels 45!
Happily contrailing over the southern end of Norway. That looks like fun and interesting country to fly low! Fuel state did not permit coming down just yet…
Is that a glacier over there in the northeast? I believe it is! Coming down to do the last twenty miles at low level, can’t fly Norway and stay at angels 40 all the way can you? No that’d be barbaric!
That’s the ticket! Tearing up a valley with my hair on fire while belting out “hiighway too the dangerzone! 
”
Popping up to have a look-see for the airfield. Oh there it is! Neat, the nav system works as advertised. No nav info on the hud however… Boo! hiss!
Lining it up for a bit of a circuit before landing.
Kicking the gear out. The turn to finals and landing itself turned out quite hectic. Not only was I trying to control a high strung fighter jet with the hamfisted little xbox controller, I was also having to field a stream of questions from my son and daughter who wanted to know how fast, and why grey, and why is it beeping and what is that button for? So no screens from that phase of the flight.
Neatly parked at Bergen Norway. Somehow the thing refused the input that was supposed to shut it down. I’ll just hop down from the pit and leave it to the boys on the ground to properly shut down and service. Iceland is the next destination!
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Great report!
But no danger zone for you.
You get this…
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Leg 5: Austin Exec Airport, Austin, TX (KEDC) TO Los Cabos International Airport, Baja California Sur, Mexico (MMSD)
After a night down on 6th street that I’ll never remember, it was time to move along.
For this next leg I chose the Redwing Constellation in the livery of American Overseas Airlines, courtesy of paulteisco. I had long thought that AOA had simply been a subsidiary of American Airlines. In actuality however, it bounced around quite a lot before eventually closing its doors.
Crazy industry! 
The route was pretty straightforward, with only a few minor diversions to include a few NAVAIDs along the way. I’ve flown over this area in passenger jets, and I was curious to see how the Connie was going to handle it.
Interestingly, the highest grid MORA along the entire route was over the border where there doesn’t seem to be any terrain to speak of. I was puzzling over this for quite a while until I spotted this restricted area, R-6316, situated over the border.
Balloon maybe?
Off we go! I’ve been having some real weird issues with live weather, so I frequently need to draw it in manually based on the METAR. Can’t break the code on this one.
Climbing out over the city of Austin, TX. I’m still very much learning the ropes on the Connie. But the sim is very well structured to allow you to take the reins as you feel comfortable. Right now, I’m running with AI FO and FE. I admit, it feels a bit like cheating. But even in my own earlier flying days, the Pilot Monitoring (PM, PNF…pick your acronym) always had the job of fine tuning the aircraft’s power settings.
The fact that I don’t know literally any of the limitations, is largely beside the point.
Redwing also has a very robust system management interface that allows you to select your options and monitor the health of the aircraft. It’s a great way to get started flying the Connie while you get accustomed to reading the dials yourself.
Having said that, I’m not certain everything works as advertised just yet (the Connie is still an early release AFAIK).
Here the oil system shows an “abnormal” condition.
Well, this shouldn’t be too difficult to figure out.
The only abnormal indication that I could see with the oil was that the inlet temp was below the green band.
And I sure do like a green band.
But, with the FE controlled by the AI, I couldn’t adjust most of the engine controls. Clicking the switch to close the oil cooler shutters worked until I let it go. Then the FE opened them back up again.
In the end, I decided to trust the AI FE and let him control his panel. Guess we’ll just see if the engine cooks off!
Passing south over Piedras Negras and the Rio Grande about 45 minutes later. The engine instruments haven’t changed, but the engine seems to be holding together just fine.
Maybe the FE knows what he’s doing after all!
I leave the plains behind and reach the first mountain ranges in Mexico. Beautifully rendered in MSFS.
As I head further west using cross radials to pinpoint my position (I hadn’t yet noticed the DME readout tucked under the marker lights 
) I also fail to notice that, while the CDI needle is centered, the TO/FROM flag has since disappeared. The Connie, interestingly, doesn’t drop back to Heading mode, there aren’t any flags, and the CDI remains centered.
I’ve seen this in other MSFS aircraft of varying vintages, and wonder how accurate this is and when “modern” CDIs came into use. It seems like the kind of thing that could really bite you in the tail if you’re not careful.
Eventually, I come to the last ranges before the coast. The peaks are steep with deep, narrow passes between them. Very dramatic.
Now, for the moment of truth.
As with many of these old 3, 4 (or more) crew aircraft, the Connie runs a lot of plumbing in its fuel system. And little of it is automatic.
Redwing has obligingly reproduced the system with a fairly high degree of accuracy. As I have said already, I was running the AI FE. He is supposed to be running that plumbing.
Whether he will or not remains to be seen. The Center tank, tank 5, is about to run out. In a few minutes, he is either going to switch tanks and boost pumps…
…or it’s going to get very quiet.
The status screen showing 45 gals or about 5%.
And the fuel panel over on the FE’s side. The low one smack in the middle is the gauge of interest.
This is a little anticlimactic as the little book in the middle of the FE’s desk in the picture below is usually tucked away. I was sitting at the panel, prepared to start madly throwing switches when I noticed it.
What it is, is a little fuel book for the FE. Right now it is showing the planned fuel burn progression on the left side, including a dynamic indication of where you currently sit according to the plan. On the right side is a fuel system diagram that either lets you click the desired configuration or serves as a guide showing you which switches/levers you need to flip.
In the event, as the needle hit zero on tank 5, the AI FE automatically reconfigured the fuel system appropriately anyway.
Really nicely done, Redwing!
Culiacan, on the coastal plain of the Gulf of California. Quite a sight.
As I go feet wet, I need to manually enter my weather for Los Cabos. 2000 Overcast.
Somehow, it’s worse when you do it to yourself.
I edge down to the tops of the undercast.
The trick here is that I have no plates to Los Cabos and there is some high terrain to the east and much higher terrain to the west. The airport lays in the valley between the two.
I choose an intersection on the Victor route coming in from the north, figuring it would keep me away from the terrain. I’m going to need to DR myself to the intersection a bit. Cut too wide and I run into the mountains on the west side. Cut it short and the eastern hills still could be a problem.
I poke my nose down into the goo.
Luckily, I can make out the ground below and the coastline ahead.
When I can’t stand it anymore, I slime on over to the VOR course. Those hills are pretty close! 
OK, the field should be hard to miss in this valley. Had planned to land in the picturesque dusk. But feeling pretty grateful for the sunshine right about now!
There she is.
Damn newfangled Airbuses!
Not sure if I accidentally greased it on or the sim just doesn’t rattle very much, but I just thought I couldn’t get it to settle! Going to need some more landing practice on this one.
OK, here we are on the ramp. One step closer!
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Nice AAR! That Connie looks really nice. I might have to make a purchase.
I’m still undecided what to take. I’d thought about the DC-6, but may go for something a bit newer.
Decisions decisions.
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Oh my that is one glorious bit of aviation history you’re driving there mate! Buy the engineer bot a cold one tho, for flipping the swithces correctly and on time
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It’s really a beautiful airplane, and Redwing has been steadily improving it.
I think the PMDG DC-6 is more mature, and a little better looking in the details, but the Connie is definitely worth a look.
Sitting in that cockpit alone is an experience!
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oh, Connie, sweet Connie … uh, FE panel … hm, I guess we wont understand each other 
now, this is going to be fun ! was unable to start her even up, then checked yt and found that pesky primer switch
Punta Arenas SCCI → Julio Gallardo SCNT
they simulated even the ‘passenger comfort’, lol, but I was nice, found that cabin heather switch before my mate freezed to ice cube and greased that landing
after first hop I really like this 310.
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I am off on a work trip until mid next week, then I am picking this up. I still have not decided where to fly from, or what to fly in. I am considering helicopters ('cause I have a Virpil collective). May need to spend some time thinking about this.
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