Yes Sir…! Over Great Smoky Mountains National Park right now…!
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Arrived safely…! Report later…a gorgeous trip across the mountains for sure. Now I gotta pick a route across the Midwest that isn’t too boring (sorry…but it is sorta flat-ish)…
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Started to do the Christmas flight last night only to discover that my Carenado PC-12 doesn’t work for X-Plane 11 and that I have to buy a new version at the same price as the last. Not sure I want to spend another $35 US on it, though considering the SAAB 340A and Dash-8 Q400 are the same price and have been, I think, supported ‘better’ with the jump from X-Plane 10 to 11.
And it seems that most of the default aircraft for X-Plane 11 are either big (jetliners) or small (with the exception of the King Air)? Does anyone have any suggestions? I don’t fly X-Plane a lot so I am hesitant to spend a lot on something that is going to expire.
I know that the 3rd Party developers need to make their money to stay afloat.
Seeing as I am not a X-Plane regular, I do not have a ton of high quality terrain downloaded. So keep that in mind as I travel my first leg from CYFC (home town of Fredericton, NB) to CYBG (CFB Bagotville).
This was probably not a wise flight, as flying into CYBG unannounced would lead to the pointing of guns and some tense, rapid and anxiety filled explaining to the military that occupy the base. But, my other options were to travel to Ottawa or Montreal and I decided, on a whim, to just go where my heart lead me - to the home of one of our CF-188 squadrons 
I am trying to stick with the real-world weather as a challenge. I am not up to speed on all the things that I would need to know for this but I figured that ATC and the GPS would get me there. Taking off I had a cloud layer down to 800 or so feet, but taking off is easy, right?
I also wanted to go VR all the way but it was just too challenging to deal with the instruments. I was unfarmilliar with using the Oculus touch controllers to adjust everything so I ended up abanding that approach until I was more farmilliar with my Baron-58.
Enroute was pretty uneventful. I see that X-Plane still has that ATC bug where it keeps asking AI aircraft to descent to FL 360 … over and over and over and over.
Got everything going where I wanted to and realized that there is no ILS into CYBG. Showing why I am not a real pilot, my ADHD and I assumed that a military base would have the tools, right? Nope. And the cloud layer wasn’t much better over Bagotville.
ATC was on the ball though and following those instructions, backed up by my GPS view and approach to runway 11 I was only slightly worried about how low I needed to be . I mean I can almost see the ground even though I am only a thousand feet above it. And it looks hilly? Better not focus on that too much.
ATC asks me to report runway in sight. I think I see it?
Not too bad. I am obviously low, and keeping one eye out the left window for anything that jumps up at me.
Piece of cake. And of course, the default scenery out here is … light.
I won’t show any more of the CFB Bagotville infrastructure less I get the usual comments about how under funded the Canadian Military is. Luckily, they are so underfunded that there is no one to make me feel bad about not getting military clearance first on the first leg of my journey.
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I ran into that same problem. My XP10 version worked sorta when XP11 came out, but it seemed to get progressively worse with each update of the core XP11 engine. I would definitely wait on a sale for any of the planes you are considering. The Q400 I’d say pass on that unless you are looking for a very simple plane (it has no real FMC and has very light systems). The Saab 340A is fantastic, but a pretty complicated beast.
I don’t know the current state of the Carenado PC-12 for XP-11 (@chipwich might!) but do you get an upgrade coupon that would reduce the price? I really like VSkyLabs aircraft lineup too…although you probably won’t find something with a deep FMS (although the G-1000 planes they have are pretty deep).
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LEG 2 - 2NC0 (Mountain Air, NC) to KRHP (Andrews-Murphy, NC)
My real logbook shows that I started flight training in a Cessna 152 in January of 1992. Three months later, with about 40 hours in my logbook, and just prior to my Private Pilot checkride, my logbook shows the first flight in my next model of aircraft. On April 10, 1992 my CFI took me along on a maintenance repositioning flight from Quantico MCAS to Haggerstown, Maryland in Cessna 172 N7377G.
We have a short hop today from scenic Mountain Air, NC to another mountain airport in Andrews-Murphy, NC (KRHP). I’ve flown into RHP many times to pull patients out of the small hospital there and bring them back to Charlotte. A tricky airport when the weather closes in since it is surrounded on nearly all sides by very high terrain. Years ago it used to have a VOR/DME approach into it, but now there is an RNAV. You have to be careful though, since you can legally get in on the RNAV approach only to find you don’t have the takeoff minimums to depart…!
I’m using the X-Plane default Cessna 172 modified with a slightly older school radio stack (no GPS) to make it a slant Alpha model. If I were really reaching for authenticity, I’d probably use the Carenado Cessna 172N that has the really old school radios and navigation equipment.
Since we don’t have a GPS, we willl be relying on VOR radials to find our way to RHP - and it will have to be VMC since we can’t shoot an approach there with no GPS.
Even though the normal departure runway is downhill at Mountain Air, with winds gusting up to 25 knots, we will use the uphill runway 32…
Maintaining the runway centerline after liftoff is of paramount importance at Mountain Air with trees tightly hemming in the airfield…
What a beautiful (and improbable) setting for an airport…
Climbing out the views are spectacular and the weather is near perfect…
Crossing over the French Broad river…
A thin broken layer is in the area, something to keep an eye on, but the forecast is good…
Coming up on Great Smoky Mountains National Park, an enormous (well, for the Southeast anyway) wilderness areas that has a super high density of black bears. We’ve camped their many, many times.
6,643’ Clingmans Dome, on the NC/TN border slides down the right side…
Over the deep woods of the park…
On the south side of the Smoky Mountains watershed is the stunning Fontana Lake. Created by an enormous dam on the west end of the park, the lake has filled in the valleys and made for spectacular kayaking, fishing, and camping on the lake shores.
It is pretty awesome the way the orthos and autogen work well together in X-Plane. It is amazing that all of this was free…
The dam at the west end of the lake is also where the Appalachian Trail enters Great Smoky Mountains National Park…
Turning more southwest to head to Andrews-Murphy. That arm of the lake is Eagle Creek and we kayaked up there to camp years ago…
RHP is just on the other side of the near ridge…
The bowl of mountains and ridges that surround the east end of the valley that airport sits in…
I cross over the field, enter a right downwind to ruway 26…
My RHP airport scenery is older, and doesn’t have the airport boundary exclusion zone set very well to work with ortho…but I don’t know how to fix that…
Down safely and thankful the weather held up so well…!
Another few miles down. Over the rest of my career, I’d rack up a couple thousand or so hours in the Cessna 172 doing beach rides, instructing, and just tooling around with friends. A great and timeless aircraft…
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Hmmmm…you all are already flying and I’m still trying to pick an aircraft…the longer it takes me to make my choice, the more limited my options are getting…I may end up on Christmas Eve having to fly my SR-71…
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We are all going to be twiddling our thumbs in Pago Pago come Thanksgiving. I sure hope the pre-rally beverage barge arrives before we do.
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There are three ways I can do this:
1 - An old airliner: CS 707, JF L1011, SimCheck A300
Pros - Old style, non-FMS navigation; L1011 & A300 use Carousel INS!
Cons - Long flights at altitude…“…and here is a other screenshot of the vapor trails…” although if I pick some interesting stops, there might be something for the AARs
2 - Business Jet: Caranedo’s Hawker 850XP or S550 CITATION II
Pros - Fast (850XP), cool displays, more “exotic” airfield choices
Cons - Same as for old COMAIR
3 - Twin/Turboprops: Carenado’s Pa46 Malibu or C340, Digital Aviation’s Cheyenne II
Pros - Shorter hops, more airfield selection (better screen shots / AARs)
Cons - A lot slower, shorter range
Planes that didn’t make the cut: All my MILVIZ military jets (DCS has ruined me for life), anything that starts with B737 (too familiar), single engine props (already covered by others), JF DC-8 (a close call but if I go old school 4 engine, the CS 707 wins out), Aerosoft’s Airbuses (they fly themselves…all AARs would be “I taxied to the runway, preset TOGO, rotated, gear up, autopilot on…and then fell asleep”) and, alas, Aerosoft’s PBY (a really great plane with a great GPS system in the modified modern versions but tops out around 120 KIAS)
Decisions…decisions…
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@Hangar200 I would just choose your aircraft per leg, just do whatever you feel like. If you have some way to string the story together, all the better, if not, no worries. This is supposed to be fun, remember?
I could not refrain myself from making a preliminary plan in Skyvector. I am not sure yet how I am going to cross the long legs, but I will probably “cheat” (your description of an Airbus flight).
I certainly look forward to flying along the Caribbean islands, across the Andes and then hop the Pacific Islands.
Most of this will be done using my trusty Do 228 (though I would like a different paint scheme than last year), but I will probably use some different aircraft on some legs, depending on performance requirements and how the story evolves of course.
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As always, Great Advice!
Funny, my wife said the same thing to me a little while ago…I was a bit frustrated…I explained that I had finally picked an aircraft…then put it into the dirt before I had even cleared the runway…funny how upset we can sometimes get with our fun hobby!
I Think I am going with a 707.
I’ve plotted a route to Gander from Hampton VA, I just cracked open the manual (it is amazing what you can get won eBay) and my copilot is getting ready…OK he’s not that interested now but will be when it is time to go.
The CS 707 uses a Doppler Nav system…can only program 2 legs at a time…that should keep us busy.
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Well…Fuel is something like 6.7 lbs/gal…FSX or P3D? If you take your DO228 (Carenado’s? - I love that aircraft) and then just work with passenger placements / weights to simulate 55 Gal fuel drums (or fuel bladders, etc.) so that you keep a good CG and don’t go over max weight…then every so often just pop the Fuel/Payload screen up and “transfer” fuel from the passenger cabin to the fuel tanks.
I seem to recall you can do something similar in X-Plane.
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Yes I can and I might for some of the flights. But the Atlantic crossing is a long one and I may opt for an easier way across there.
Nice copilot by the way! I have a similar one, although being in VR I don’t usually see him in the cockpit, but I do hear him!
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I’m thinking of going west as well so also have to hop over the pond, current thinking from the UK is Faroe Islands, Iceland, Greenland, Canada…
Still to decide on aircraft/s. 
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Do like the Vikings did.
Hop up to Iceland, (Faroes, etc) then to Greenland, around Greenland to its west coast, Across the Baffin Sea (or strait or whatever) there are a bench of Canadian airfields (dirt or gravel). Remember that Canadian airfields in this area all use T north for runway headings. Then it’s down the coast to the Caribbean.
There are a couple of longish stretches but nothing like getting to the Azores.
EDIT: Oops. Didn’t see @keets post…so…what he said.
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Question on the rules:
Take off from the airport closest to your home location
The closest airport is Newport News Williamsburg Int’l (KPHF)
It boasts an 8000 ft runway which should be enough for my 707-300 with a light fuel load (40k lbs).
However, the closest airfield is Langley AFB (KLFI) with a 10,001 ft runway, which will let me take off with a max TO weight fuel load…but the rules say “airport”.
Can I get an official ruling from the distinguished and august Mudspike Christmas Flight Rules, Protocol and Decorum Committee? KPHF or KLFI?
(BTW it is KPHF because it used to be Patrick Henery Regional. So PH for the “Give me Liberty or Give me Death” guy. I think too many passengers were demanding “Give me a free upgrade to first class…” and it just got old after a while.)
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You’ll need a PPR to operate from Langley…but being former military maybe that will work out well for you. Maybe just take enough gas from KPHF to hop up to Dulles and fill up…
But I’d think 8,000 you could put quite a bit of fuel on. I don’t know numbers for that type though. Maybe you can call Travolta!
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@Hangar200, I’m pretty sure that the rules of the annual Christmas trek are that there really are no rules. ;).
If it makes you feel better, I departed out of Austin Bergstrom Intl because that is the airport I fly out of for work. There are a couple of smaller airports that are closer to my house though.
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Great! I’m definitely heading east…trying to decide if I want to cross the pond in one hop (KLFI) or play it safe and use a few hops (KPHF)
The 707s Doppler nav system seems somewhat similar to the DCS Viggen andbor the DCS Mi-8’s nav system…meaning, after a couple thousand miles over the ocean there could be some errors…may make the trip interesting. 
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