If you’re heading to Eareckson, definitely grab the scenery below. The default field, from what I remember, is literally just a runway with nothing else there. I think the terrain imagery is extremely low-res as well.
(Assuming you’re using MSFS, of course).
https://flightsim.to/file/3318/pasy-eareckson-air-station-and-shemya-island-satellite-imagery
Been out for a while for work so no AARs.
But now
so let’s catch up!
As planned, for this flight I swapped to Il-2 GB Ju-52. I have not flown it for probably few years 
but YT got me running in no time as always 
This was a short, low and slow flight from Kerch in Ukraine to Gelendzhik in Russia.
Firing up Tante Ju in Il-2 GB is a fairly simple affair - press E and go make a cuppa because these three old radials take time to come into business.
Lined up and ready to go. Taxiing is quite fun and accomplishment in the end. The key is to go slow.
Not much to say about the flight itself except for that there was some weather but nothing serious. The plan was to follow the coast south-east until reaching the destination.
Anapa. If I am not mistaken, the Museum Relics campaign in DCS starts there?
Destination coming up
Hans is chilling out. He actually moves a bit and when the time is accelerated, he appears sort of dancing 
Unlike today (or in DCS for that matter), Gelendzhik in Il-2 GB sports three airfields.
As I got a little low on the approach, Hans looked a bit concerned… but not terrified. He probably has seen worse…
Did I mention that taxiing was a challenge? Case in point:
I decided to shut the engines down nonetheless (accidently opened a window too) and pretend I got nothing to do with the runway incursion.
I will stay with Il-2 GB for the next leg too as I want to check out their C-47. Just sat in the cockpit shortly yesterday evening and it looks like a very nice depiction of this iconic workhorse.
Stay tuned.
Good looking out, thank you!
The second leg in Il-2 GB brought me from Gelendzhik to Sochi Adler. Initially I wanted to land at Tuapse and switch to DCS to continue with something little faster towards Tbilisi, only to find that Tuapse does not exist in DCS
No complaints as it meant more time spent in the Il-2 C-47.
The C-47…
I was looking forward to this aircraft in this sim for a long time and think I must have been among the first ones to pre-order. Now I got it and it looks fabulous. The cockpit, the vintage feel to it… I can swear I almost smell oil… hey yeah! Though my enthusiasm towards this sim took a serious hit lately. But that is a different discussion.
Cargo loaded. Now… how to close the door? I was looking everywhere in the key bindings but to no avail 
I could probably fly with the doors opened but it would not look right on the screens. A simple workaround: exit the flight and start on the runway instead!
I liked the engine start effects. Really nice. MSFS could learn from this.
Airborne and turning south-east.
The avatars in the cockpit of Tante Ju and C-47 are nicely done. They do not talk too much and look serious. Regular tough guys.
Enroute. Just enjoying the feeling of sitting in this beautiful C-47. I can’t tell how many times I wanted to click on something in the cockpit. Though, as you probably know, Il-2 GB does without clickable cockpits. Pity.
I believe this is Tuapse.
Some serious weather in the distance. It looks like they improved weather depiction quite a bit since I flew it last time (years ago…).
Sochi.
Descending towards Adler and joining left downwind.
Here I am on long finals and if you look closely you will see that the flaps are not deployed. I had the buttons mapped but for the life of me was not able to drop them. Then, on a VERY short final I pushed and hold the flap down button and - voilà - the flaps went down.
Landed safely and taxied clear of runway. If I had issues to steer the Ju-52 on the ground, I was absolutely unable to handle the C-47 when taxiing. So I stopped where I saw fit and proceeded to shut down the engines - via a key press. Only somehow I managed to loose the cargo door in the process
OK, enough of Il-2 GB. It was nice to revisit this sim after some long period of not firing it up. It has changed a bit. Though I am probably done with supporting its development financially in the future.
Now off to DCS and re-learn the MiG-19 as I want to take it from Sochi to Tbilisi via some NDBs. I think I will have to go through a number of training lessons to refresh my memory.
I may be absent for a while for this reason.
But…
By the time I departed PAPH, the weather had improved significantly and was a nice VFR day. My destination, however, was rapidly deteriorating.
My approach would be right at mins.
Looks like the live weather is working correctly!
With .1NM to spare, I could just make out the REILs and continued the approach.
I don’t think I even touched the brakes with all that headwind to help slow down. After shutting down, I hooked up the GPU and departed shortly after for my final Alaska stop, PADK.
Leg 1 and leg 2 in the books.
Leg one I used the TPM 960 to go from KTBR(Statesboro GA) to KSAV(Savannah GA)
Leg 2 put me in an Alaskan Airlines 739 going from KSAV(Savanah GA) to KJFK(New York NY)
Leg 3 is up next and its the longest of my trip. KJFK-EGLL in a A310 or 787.
on the 8th I ended up at Newark Heath. and with the 9th in full swing already I realized there is not enough time to go home first and then start from there 
so decided to fire it up from here. first I wanted to fly NW …
[Belle Isle]
… , then NE, then W …
[Silver Lake]
… and in the end decided to go just simply N. lets see how far I will get.
[North Fox Island and South Fox Island]
this TBM is popular, looks like they have updated it a little also. nice.
[Beaver Island]
Earlier this week, I also departed Newark Heath (KVTA). However, I fell for the real weather challenge and turned back after about 15m when I became an, unqualified, IFR pilot. Today, the weather was much more accommodating.
Not really sure how to best “head to China” I thought I’d at least go to Detroit. Heck, if it’s good enough for Northwest Orient it’s good enough for me. Until:
Here we go again, just halfway across Lake Erie. The I saw the rainbow and I knew I’d be okay:
After a questionable landing at KDTW I found a nice parking spot:
Feeling slightly inadequate but at least I’m safely back on the ground 
A little late with AARs so let’s catch up.
A DCS flight with a MiG-19 from Sochi Adler to Vaziani, near Tbilisi.
This was a last flight with my G2 which got replaced by a shiny new Varjo Aero. Thank you G2, you served me well!
It took me a while to get acquainted with the MiG-19 (again). I flew it quite a bit some time ago and knew every bit of it. Few training lessons later, I was ready to make a pleasure flight for the logbook of this Christmas flight and made a little mission for it with other MiG-19s on the apron just for little more extra immersion…
However by the time I fired the MiG up they were all gone so sorry for no screenshot. Here I am already in the air with a NDB tuned in and tracking towards the station.
That much for the carbon footprint
Deliberately I set up the time of the day to sunrise so that I could enjoy the rather beautiful lighting engine of DCS. Pretty indeed!
At some point I decided to dive below the cloud deck… just because
Following the valley towards Tbilisi.
Tbilisi reservoir and… yes, Tbilisi.
Approach and landing. I think I blew a tire in the process
Well… back to MSFS for the next leg to Baku in Azerbaijan. Flying in Il-2 and DCS for the last three legs was a nice distraction from the MSFS routine
Okay, Lansing to Chicago is next. Rather than O’Hare, I chose the old Meigs Field that MSFS so generously returned to us.
Nice view of Chicago as I came across the lake.
You can see Meigs to the left before I circled to land and, as I turned, the Aon building is the tall one on Randolph to the right.
Downwind leg.
Safely on the ground with Chicago calling from the background. Time to head to Al’s for an Italian Beef sandwich.
as the country is more rough up here N I decided to add one more engine to the mix
plus the weather decided to run some show too. only on occasions we were able to see the vast forests with countless lakes
didnt have the nerves for that so switched the weather to manual full overcast, same oat, plus some air moisture. we are not traveling the world to see only fog and clouds.
downwind to Moosonee, over Moose Factory
My first Christmas flight leg vith Varjo Aero in MSFS!
Taking off from Vaziani in Georgia and flying to Zabrat airport near Baku in Azerbaijan, the only possible option when looking into my hangar was the An-2, of course
Uh oh… I can see the dials clearly just moving my eyes
The An-2 really is a tractor of the skies
These mountains ahead raise up to some 4.5 km. I hope the An-2 can make it.
It could.
Dagestan.
Derbent, the second most important town in Dagestan.
The reason I did this little de-tour was this (on the beach near the left wing tip) 
Any idea what I am talking about?
The Caspian Sea Monster
There is plenty of resources on internet, so feel free to google. This one here shows also some pics from its interior.
Following the coast of Caspian Sea towards Azerbaijan.
Turning right for long finals.
On the ramp in Zabrat airport and thinking about the next leg.
It looks like I will dust off the CJ4 to:
visiting the ole’ Caspian Sea Monster. Good choice!
So this leg was a reminder for me that planning and aeronautic decision making is important even in simulation. The original plan was to fly SEA to PANC, then do another hop out to Shemya and Attu (My dad was stationed both places during his career). The problem was, I was in a 3 bag experimental fighter/attack jet. Leaving Seattle was actually really nice.
Here’s where I got stupid. I thought to myself if I climbed to FL410 and pulled back to max conserve, I could probably just go straight to Shemya and just in-flight refuel forgetting that I’m in XP12, not DCS or P3D- no tankers. I couldn’t get that high because of weight, so I settled for 31,500. I really compounded the issue when I was about half way there and realized I probably don’t have the gas, but decided to try it anyway instead of diverting like I should.
I ended up staying at altitude and did a circling idle descent, direct to final (more like base to final), at 30 miles with about 600 pounds of gas on board.
I got the master caution light and the “low fuel” aural warning on the way down… and then completely botched my approach. So around I went. Engine quit turning final, But I made it to Shemya.
So, I think my next one will be a 707 or 720 to Japan, and then another into China. I’ll evaluate from there. And I’m going to pay attention to my fuel planning and decision making.
My personal goal this year is to only fly one aircraft.
My initial thought was, ‘flying a V Bomber into the PRC has a certain appeal to it 
’ and I even had this ready to go on the apron at RAAF Fairbairn (YSCB):
Letting my head rule for a moment, I’m also trying to keep this years journey somewhat grounded in reality, I thought about giving one of these a go and departing from my ‘local’ airfield (YCOM):
It has the legs to be able to hop through Indonesia, Malaysia or the Philippines, so gave me options to get to mainland China in case of adverse weather. But… It has an absolute ceiling of 17,000ft and I haven’t been able to find the service ceiling anywhere. With the destination at 14,000ft - discretion is the better half of valour and I finally decided on this:
It’s easy to fly, navigation is a breeze, autopilot basically does everything for you and most importantly it will get me to my destination no problem. Added bonus is that it will get me into some out of the way places for sightseeing, time permitting, that I couldn’t have done in the Vulcan.
Besides I didn’t want Chairman “Pooh Bear” getting twitchy and thinking I might be carrying a couple of canisters of instant sunshine 
That is my new favorite phrase about that topic. Epic! 
What an AAR
