Okie dokie, time for leg 9 to Christmas Island! The final one!
Departure: Changdi Airport, Singapore (WSSS)
Arrival: Christmas Island Airport (YPXM)
This time, I take one of my favourite rides: the A320 equipped with the CFM engines. I do a bit of research beforehand on Christmas Island. Since I first learned to fly it, I’ve become quite fond of the capabilities of this plane. I intend to fly the last 700 or so nautical miles with it.
The island seems fairly small and there is no ILS system to assist me in landing. I’ll have to eyeball it.
Boy, that runway looks short. The topography makes it look like the runway is on top of a plateau, which means I’ll have to come a bit high if I don’t want to risk smashing my gear on the rocky hill. I have a feeling the approach is gonna have to be very precise.
The sun rises in Singapore.
There isn’t much activity at Changdi Airport. As the passengers and the cargo is loaded up, I start my refueling procedure. A quick planning estimates it to 15000 lbs of fuel with an additional 5000 lbs of reserve in case something goes wrong.
I do the whole poutine again. External power on, program the FMGC, start the APU, start the engines, and taxi to runway 20L.
I contact the tower and the controller tells me to make a detour and take runway 20C instead. Will do!
As I do my last checks and press the “TO CONFIG” button to verify everything is in order, I take a deep breath. Let’s do this thing. I spool up the engines to 40 % N1, wait for them to stabilize, then I push them forward to TOGA.
The engines scream past the airport as I start climbing the SID towards waypoint ANITO.
I engage the autopilot and set up my climb to 35000 ft.
I overfly a couple of islands like Pulau Lingga. The weather is clear, wind is almost nil. It’s a nice change of pace in comparison to my legs in Canada and Alaska.
As I cruise over the Pacific Ocean, I can’t help but notice how peaceful and calm this whole area looks. Maybe, one day, I’ll get to visit for real.
Bangka Belitung Islands. I’m just about to turn south towards South Sumatra.
Time to turn South towards Sumatra, and then to Jakarta.
As I’m about to track Jakarta, I marvel at that beautiful Air Canada skin. I really like what Flight Sim Labs have been able to achieve.
Finally, I start tracking the LADIR waypoint, leading straight south towards Christmas Island.
Land ahoy!
I start my descent 85 nm from the XMX VOR, just to make sure I can reach the recommended 2300 ft in due time. Apparently, the airport elevation is about 916 ft. Better make sure my QNH is set properly, eh?
40 miles from Christmas Island, gear down, flaps 1, speed brake armed.
Rate of descent seems acceptable
20 miles from the island, full flaps.
The descent goes smoothly, visibility is great for a visual landing.
At last, I see the PAPI lights.
Oh boy… that airport really IS 900-ish feet above mean sea level!
I do disengage the autopilot and perform a wide right hand turn in order to line up properly.
As I’m about to hit the runway threshold, a draft of wind sucks me up and rattles my stall warning. I push the nose down and throttle up to gain back speed and kick my rudder to keep my nose lined up with the runway.
The landing is super smooth. Apart from that last minute surprise, I barely felt a thing. I come up on the runway a bit fast, but I slam the brakes and activate my thrust reversers.
Ugh, that runway certainly “feels” shorter than I expected!
I go a bit long but I can eventually stop before the end of the runway. Phew!
The runway is wide enough for me to use my nosewheel steering to do a 180 and taxi back to the airport building.
I finally made it to Christmas Island, everyone, after more than 10000 nm!
I stop in front of a gas station.
Time to hop off and chug some beer.
Finally! What an adventure! Flying and learning the FS Labs A320, IXEG 737-300, PMDG 747, Rotate MD80, Aerosoft CRJ 900 and Majestic Q400 was quite an experience. It’s an amazing feeling.
