Good choice! I’m looking forward to see how you treat this machine! Just needed to perform my 2nd repair in my 3rd flight…
2 Likes
Leg 2 – Innsbruck to Skopje
Thankfully I had my bad landing in Innsbruck and fixing my PT-6 was done pretty quickly. Later on my way down, it may become more difficult to do heavy maintenance and repair work.
After heavy maintenance on the aircraft I learned that a pilot should consider himself a test pilot, doing a very through walk-around, checking properly all controls, connections and moving parts, making sure there is no screw driver left in the inertial separator. etc. It also is a safe practice to expect things to brake during the first flight…
So I’m careful and check amongst many other things if battery is fine and if it reacts properly on some test load.
All set, ready for my 600nm flight from Innsbruck (Austria) to Skopje (Macedonia).
I climb out the narrow valley from Innsbruck mostly through the clouds towards RTT and then continue east direct OBEDI after which I turn south-west, almost direct my destination.
At cruise level the weather is nice and the flight uneventful.
In the landing configuration one can see the impressive fowler flaps that span almost the whole wing. Now ladies and gentlemen comes the part where I screwed up in my previous flight…
I feel like I’m under pressure, not willing to mess up again.
My control inputs are a bit too nervous and the airplane seems to respond to everything I do very quickly. However all in all the landing goes well and the touchdown is pretty smooth.
My landing is rated as good with 121 ft/min. I’m nicely centred on the runway and happy with that landing. Without having any real-life aviation experience the flight controls during landing (and takeoff by the way) feel very touchy. Not sure if this is due to my flight controls (Saitek X52 pro) or if this is really the behaviour of the aircraft.
8 Likes
Hampton to Pago Pago Leg 2 - Gander to Trondheim, Vaernes (almost): I had planned on hopping across the Atlantic in a few 3-4 hour flights…then I got real. The number of airfields that can take a 707 (long enough runway to take off with a decent fuel load) are few and far between when you start getting that far north. So I decided to make one big hop all the way to Norway (and get some use out of my EVNA scenery).
Still, not wanting to just see water all the way, I decided to take the scenic tour, going by Greenland and Iceland before crossing the Norwegian Sea to Trondheim. A kind of reverse Lief Erikson.
Fuel…Unfortunately my authentic AA 707 Pilot’s Manual (eBay) doesn’t include fuel calculation tables. I put what I though would be a conservative burn rate into SkyVector, but it seemed a little light. I tried FuelPlanner.com and it gave me some better numbers with an hour plus reserve so I went with that.
Take off was nominal…
OK a bit of an over rotation when I got airborne, but that was mostly for the screen shot.
I had practiced a bit with the CVIA so navigation-wise I was pretty good. I had a couple long stretches over water (one 500+ Nm) so I was only planning on using the Doppler on the shorter legs/over land.
Hit the souther tip of Greenland right on track. Things were looking good.
It wasn’t long until I saw Iceland in the distance…
…then it all went to heck.
While turning knobs with the CVIA to get GS for the end of a leg, I accidentally hit “Align”…you are not supposed to do that. Now I know why some of the older jets have two or even three CVIAs. My alignment was gone and while I could certainly get across Iceland, that 500+ Nm leg over water was right after I left Iceland airspace.
Plus I was starting to worry about fuel. About an hour into the flight I did some usage calculations that showed I had more that 5 hours fuel at my current usage…
…plus as the plane got lighter, I went a bit higher and my PPH dropped a bit. Good News.
Approaching Iceland it looked like I could make it but would be cutting items reserve. And now, without an INS…I was 29 Nm from the only runway that can take a 707 in well over a thousand miles…discretion being the better part of valor (or so they say) I decided to divert to Keflavik (BIKF).
I used a published approach ILS / DME RWY 29… downwind leg (109ºM/3000 Ft) north of the airfield, with BIKF off my right wing…(looking down RWY 20)…
…on final and all dirtied up…
…decelerating to Vref, on course, on GS…why does there always seem to be a cloud in the way?
…touchdown, thrust reverse, spoilers and gentle brakes.
Taxied to the stand and shut down. The ORBX Europe scenery combined with UT2 make for a fairly immersive experience.
What’s next? This was my second flight where I experience an issue with “old time” navigation systems. OK, both were operator error but still, dual INS systems would have saved the day. I need to go through my virtual hangar to see if there is another aircraft that has dual CIVAs before I “finish” this flight. Until then, TWA Flight 701 will be at the gate.
11 Likes
Super…nailed the landing when the pressure was on…!
LOL…“You are not supposed to do that” should be an aural warning in real life planes…
3 Likes
Whoever can figure out how to add that feature to real life in general, they will be a rich person.
2 Likes
I would break my pre order rule for that one lol
2 Likes
Leg 3 – Skopje (Macedonia) to Istanbul (Turkey)
Picking up my TBM900 in the GA sector after having done by flight briefing. The weather will be nice throughout the flight and I will have some north-eastern wind with around 35-50 knots. I fuel the aircraft with the required 1400 lbs of fuel. But wait the TBM fuelling system goes with gallons so I need to convert the units first and then get these 100 gallons, 50 in each tank.
During engine startup it turned out that I destroyed the turbine blade due to overheat. I started the engines while having the ignition turned off. Around 15% NG I advanced the throttle to low idle and then noticed my mistake, switched on the ignition immediately and then got an ITT of over 1300 degrees if I remember correctly. Of course I immediately move the throttle to cut-off but I was too late. While real pilots like BeachAV8R in their whole career never destroyed an engine on their own in his long lasting career (well done!), I do major ones in every couple of flight. I guess I know why I’m an armchair pilot!
After getting this fixed (USD 350’000 only this time) I get the start up right and taxi to runway 16. In order to save some time I do an intersection take-off. While I still have more than 2000m of runway in front of me, it never feels good to leave runway behind me which I can not use. How does it go? The three most useless things to a pilot are the fuel left on the ground, the altitude above you and the runway behind you?
After a nice climb out I break through the clouds and head south-east.
Reaching the Aegean Sea, I head east in order to fly parallel to the cost.
As it gets darker down there on earth, the lights of the buildings and streets start to build these nice patterns of illumination at places where civilisation is. This is a view is one of the many things I really love when then doing real flights and this view is why I ALWAYS book early in order to secure a window seat, either before or after the wing. I’m surprised how nicely this looks in X-Plane 11…
Enjoying the nice atmosphere, I suddenly get interrupted by a low fuel warning!
No clue why I’m running out of fuel. Yes, here I am… the useless fuel left on the ground…I quickly check for my options.
I have just started my descent am still on FL260 and therefore I have plenty of altitude below me (this at least I got right!). I have 28 miles air distance to my destination (I planned for a pretty long approach procedure, this is why I’m still that high so close to the destination) and two other airfields in my proximity. Lets try my original destination then, with the altitude left I should be able to fly down to the runway, with almost idle power…
I try to catch the localizer short as I don’t want to go too far over the sea for reaching the initial approach fix and I also want to prevent being low so I’m also staying bit high.
I finally get down to the runway and am again distracted by the nice light of the scenery.
With only 9 gallons of fuel left, I head straight to the next apron, turn off the engine and am happy I just made it another time.
Yes, I ended up just parking next to this big bird 
Some of you may have immediately spotted my mistake. I somehow failed to calculate from lbs to gal properly. I should have fueled twice the amount I actually did…
Quite a lot of adventures I already went though, even-though I just finished my 3rd flight! I am probably a bit rusty on my instrument scanning and on my regular cruise flight checks. I should definitely have spotted the fuel shortage issue much earlier…
12 Likes
Even the Pros have made that conversion mistake.
Wheels
1 Like
Leg 3 - EKVG (Vágar Airport, Faroe Islands) to BIKF (Keflavik Airport, Iceland)
A combination of RL being busy and very poor unfavorable weather has meant a prolonged stopover in the Faroe Islands. Coupled with the the fact that there’s only so much Puffin a man can eat 
it was time to brave the conditions and get the next leg underway.
Since landing, I’d downloaded the alpilotx HD Mesh scenery for the Faroe islands and for Iceland. The transformation is remarkable and shows why getting in to Vagor is difficult.
Taxiing down the runway with the smell of roast Puffin wafting across the airfield.
Runway 30 threshold. You can just see the tower.
Things get off to a bad start soon after rolling. The runway isn’t the flattest and the suspension in the gear is bouncing around on the uneven surface. I then discover that trying to hit the screenshot key, flying left handed whilst trying to make your eyes see the screen, is the simming equivalent of patting your head and rubbing your belly.
Keep her straight you numpty.
Climbing out
The previous nights flight plan would have seen Flight MUD1234 spread across the hillside.
The last view of Vagor, I’ll be back.
I was using the FD to follow the SID as I was a little nervous of how accurate the mountain terrain was. Eventually reaching a comfortable height I enabled the autopilot. Just as you leave the Faroe islands, there is an island which has a fair bit of height that the SID routes you over. Having just gone into cloud I had an “oh shoot” moment as the GPWS kicked in “Terrain, Terrain”… There was easily enough room, but still got the heart going.
En route. Next stop Iceland.
The pervading smell of puffin and whale meat explained, the co-pilot’s stash. I wonder how that will go down in Pago Pago.
Iceland and some ice.
Keflavik - all lined up and a straight in approach.
Just as I was lining up, the tower asked me to go around due to an emergency priority landing. Apparently a 707 was on fumes and needed to get down fast
Overflying the airfield, I could see the 707 had got in safely, I set up for another approach.
On finals, finally.
Rolling out. Note to self: download destination airport scenery prior to departure.
Shutting down.
Another leg done. I’m really enjoying flying the Saab. Its slow, but has just enough stuff to learn, without seeming to be overwhelming. Its interesting that @Hangar200 and I are at the same airport, but going the other way round.
Next up is Greenland, which has no scenery in X-plane. Ortho4XP learning coming up…
8 Likes
Leg 03 KICT-KFNL Wichita to Fort Collins
As much as I fell in love with the DA62, due to pressing RL holiday obligations, I thought it best to jump into something a little swifter. As in twice as fast. We might take a side trip along the way in a Cub, but for now, we need to get some miles behind us.
Fortunately, Lear had just wrapped a competitive market analysis on the Embraer Phenom 100, and offered it in exchange for a couple of cases of Face Down in the Mud. That was fitting because the little jet came painted in beautiful porter/stout brown.
With weather brief completed and flight plan filed, we didn’t waste any time launching…
…and launch she did, at the rate of 5000 feet a minute. Wowah mule!
Rather quickly, we reached our conservative cruising altitude of FL30 and sat back to watch the gloriously accurate ortho photo scenery drift by as the air speed crept upward. Had we been in a hurry, the Phenom would easily cruise at over 400 kts TAS.
As it did last year, the severe clear finally gave up. Approaching Colorado, a layer between 12 and 16 made an appearance. It looked higher.
About 20 miles into our descent, I decided that ice protection would be not so optional. Unfortunately, VNAV and PROC do not work on this Carenado bird. More on that later. There is plenty of magic to make this an easy trip though.
I was a little too aggressive on the the descent. In retrospect, any simpleton could look at the descent profile that SkyVector kicked out and determine that it was based on around -1000 ft / min. So we unnecessarily used a bit more kerosine, but the view was nice.
About that fuel…
The further I get out West, the harder it is not to quote Slim Pickens, “That’s when we go a-ridin’ into town, a whampin’ and whompin’ every livin’ thing that moves within an inch of its life…”
We finally get our first view of the Rockies!
Eighty-five hundred feet of Colorado goodness. This is much appreciated in a new airplane at this altitude.
The LSO is not going to like this one…
“Chipwich, Phenom ball, point two-two”
The little Embraer flies beautifully and will be a great aircraft for the legs ahead.
Time to see what New Belgium has been brewing up.
As is widely known, owning a Carenado aircraft is largely paradoxical. While they tend to look, sound, and fly splendidly, systems integration is usually partial at best. They’ve said that they intend to use the Laminar Research G1000 for future X-Plane aircraft and ditch their home grown version. That seems to be a smart move. Aerobask has done likewise with their DA62.
But the Phenom 100 is stuck for the time being with the Carenado version, and much of it is a mess. VNAV, SIDS/STARS/approaches are a no-go, and at times the display and click spots just fight you. What does work is the ability to follow a manually entered flight plan, and FLC mode and VS mode are functioning. Using the (A) 2D pop-up sub panel to speed that manual flight plan entry. Some times it is hard to determine some of the panel switch positions. Be careful with the generator switch positions in flight, and your aural annunciator will badger you every few minute that battery voltage is high. You learn to ignore it.
That’s right, you are in a very high maintenance relationship. So worth your while.
15 Likes
speaking of which… Sitting in the living room I just heard this bird again flying above my head at 23’000 ft. Look at this cool livery!
2 Likes
yes and don’t forget to test the airport, you may have missed one of these many libraries needed!
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I think that I read in the quick start guide that if you get a hot start to cut the ignition before fuel shutoff, or there would be hell to pay. 
No, I stand corrected. I probably confused it with moving the starter to Abort. That should not be done, but fuel to cutoff and keep the starter running for a full 60 seconds.
2 Likes
Yes. I understood that this is what is called dry motoring, correct?
Pretty much. From the PIM…
MOTORING
MAN OVRD: Backward
Fuel Tank Selector: L or R
AUX BP Switch: ON
IGNITION Switch: OFF
STARTER Switch: ON, motor for max 15 seconds
STARTER Switch : ABORT
To cool engine following shut-down in high temperature environment:
STARTER Switch: ON, motor for max 30 seconds
STARTER Switch: ABORT
AUX BP: OFF
2 Likes
Great Livery! 
Yes…well…um…when this whole thing startedI somehow got it into my head that it would be shorter that way…if I had used a little thing called “math” I probably would have discovered that heading west would be shorter…but by that time I had this whole “High Road to China” vibe going so…Lets just call it a “Reverse Columbus”. 
3 Likes
Maintenance report
I just received an e-mail from the maintenance crew from Skopje, those guys who replaced my turbine blade. They extracted some engine data and provided me with an analysis which shows that I did few strange things. Thanks god nobody though about doing an alcohol test…I would be out of the Christmas flight challenge now waiting to get sober…This is how I must have looked like then the maintenance crew found me…
Lets see what we have…
The chart shows fuel flow and pressure, NG, NP, Torque and NP for the primary axis and ITT (red) for the secondary axis. No clue why NP is below zero.
I interpret the chart as follows:
- Turned on the fuel pump at 21:22:40
- Fuel flow started to rise at before 21:22:55, looks like moved the throttle into low-idle?!?
- Selected the starter switch 21:22:55
- NG stabilized at 21:23:19 at about 19%
- Turned on the ignition at 21:23:43
- And then ITT almost exploded to 2800 degrees
- In contrast to my initial claim, I most probably did not move the throttle into cut-off…
Cool stuff, at least the TBM900 allows me to learn and study…
5 Likes
Second entry for the Christmas Challenge.
Click to reveal AAR
Since I’ll be using the old Delco Carousel IV-A of the Boeing 727-100, I scribbled my waypoint coordinates on a sheet of paper, so I just need to plug in my coordinates in the CIVA while it’s aligning.
I start prepping the aircraft around 4:30 AM. It’s pitch black in Atlanta.
As I plug in external ground power, the cockpit comes alive.
Adjusting lighting knobs
I finish aligning the CIVA and promptly fire up the APU, the engines and off I go.
Finding Runway 9 Left is a bit difficult at night.
Looking for indications towards 9L
Ready for takeoff. Setting flaps to 20 degrees, throttling up to 1.9 EPR. Liftoff is easy and the good old 727 skyrockets to 32,000 ft.
Climbing into the night.
Takeoff and climb are relatively uneventful.
Over Corinth, Mississipi
Rear view of the tri-jet
Changing lighting to something more feng shui.
The CIVA brings me to Wichita without any major issue. However, as I start my approach and deploy my flaps at the recommended speed, I notice a sudden induced roll I need to correct. I immediately disconnect the autopilot and grab the yoke, trying to stabilize the aircraft. As I catch the yoke before the aircraft veers into the ground, I start wondering where this sudden roll is coming from.
Strange… The ATIS announced little to no wind; what could it be? What the hell is going on?
Did you see it? Now THAT is a catastrophic flaps failure. It seems like I unknowingly lost part of my right flaps during the flight. That explains the difficult approach. I yank the aircraft as best I can, using both the yoke and rudder to keep an adequate attitude to get on the runway in one piece.
Clenching my buttocks during touchdown. I come in with a pretty high alpha while flaring, but the landing gears hold.
(Heavy Breathing)
Time to send that 727 back to the maintenance hangar.
Good morning Wichita
Arriving at the gate
Everyone out… I need a word with the mechanic.
10 Likes