So my doomed plan progress so far. Take the Wright Flyer to the North Pole from the nearest inhabited airfield. I have some problems to overcome, namely:
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I need to go over 500 nm, and the Flyer is good for about 120 feet.
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There is no way to navigate other than the sun, and my sextant is going to get caught on my cashmere jacket.
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I have fuel for about 35 minutes, and I’ll need about 67 hours worth.
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It’s pitch black outside and I have no lights.
So, first off for (1) I use some Elf Pixie dust to hit my seasonal target diet weight of 0kg. That should make me look good in a sweater.
For (2) and the navigation, I’ll use a ‘top down’ view in FSX that at least orientates to true north (in theory). For (3) I can either cheat or get a higher start, I’m not sure yet. For the dark, I’ve got a pass from @BeachAV8R to change it to summer.
Let’s have a look at that top-down view:
Sort of works. Let’s see if she can take off:
Ah, going down again…
You can do it 12hp engine! (Plus this thing is keeping me warm)
Using my weight-loss regime I’m up!
Ok, head North then, by going up on the top-down view. There are no fancy luxuries like ailerons on the ol Flyer, so I ‘twist’ the box frame to turn. And yes, that’s the elevators at the front.
After about an hour I start to fall out of the sky once more…
I’m never going to get to Santa at this rate. Time for a uplift boost with a Plan B.
I set a tail wind of 80 knots from the South, and up my altitude a little (squint and imagine Reindeer pulling me up here, with a ho ho ho in the background)
Ok, I can’t breath here at 40,000 ft. Plus I don’t think the engines like it. (Engineering qualified readers may now notice the lack of propellers spinning, which I’m assuming is sub-optimal)
FSX comes up with a handy flying tip ‘To start engines press CTRL+E’. Thanks man…
Ok, hurtling back to Earth now. Things breaking up.
I’m falling at 800 ft/s surrounding by canvas, wood and sharp wire…
Everything is freezing - going solid ice. Can’t be good.
Hmm, I think I may have broke FSX rather than that being an ice effect:
‘FSX has stoppped working’.
Oh well, I think I need a plan C. Here’s my progress so far:
