Gaiiden's Scroll

It's been quite a while since I've logged any time flying. Mainly because I've been playing other games, also because after upgrading from XP to W7 late last year I never got around to fully getting FSX set back up and running. But now everything is back in working order again, finally - so I decided to hop in the Cessna for an early-morning flight.
 

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Since the last time I've flown, I've upgraded my graphics card to a Radeon HD5870 and installed several commercial add-ons to boost the experience. They are:

Real Environment Xtreme
• Ultimate Terrain X
• Ground Environment X
• Ultimate Traffic 2
• Manhattan X

As with last time, I'm still using MegaScenery Earth for my ground textures, except that I now have the entire New York/New Jersey/Long Island area around me. Also, I realized just the other day that since I now have two audio outputs thanks to the HDMI in the HD5800, I can set the ATC voice traffic to come through the HDMI into a set of headphones, while keeping all the environment sounds like the plane's engine coming out of my PC speakers. Even more realistic!

Today was my first flight with all these products installed and running together, and things worked very well. Since I'm still at KBLM from my last flight, I started off at one of the parking areas and taxied out to the nearest runway, 21. I took off straight out and then lazily banked eastwards towards the shore and the sun just starting to peek over the horizon. I followed the shoreline northwards out past Sandy Hook and then continued on straight towards Manhattan, which popped up in all its glory... and slowed my machine down to 5FPS! But it was tolerable for simply flying over the city, which I did over the East River. I will be exploring Manhattan more in a helicopter at some later date.

After cruising over Manhattan with no problems, I decided to bank east over Long Island just as I was passing the George Washington Bridge. By now the sun was almost all the way over the horizon and I continued eastwards until New York Approach handed me off to the general frequency, at which point I decided to head back in towards KBLM. So, heading southwest over Long Island I did a pass straight over KJFK to check out the early morning air traffic at the terminals. There were several planes still boarding (it was only 6:30am) but the NY Approach channel was a lot busier now as I flew back over the bay towards Sandy Hook.

At this point my computer decided to go into heat lock It seems that I have it working a bit too hard and it doesn't seem to be doing a good job cooling itself. I probably have some pretty clogged fans and maybe even a few that just aren't working anymore. I will need to disassemble the rig and make sure I have proper airflow so I can actually finish a flight that lasts longer than 1-2 hours :/

So, a bittersweet return to flying. Everything seems to be operating just fine - so as soon as I fix this heat issue I'll be able to resume my flights around my local area. I still plan to slowly work my way outwards as I earn more flight time and get bored with the immediate area, but I do have several thousand square miles to play around in, so I should be happy for a while!

Today's flight was completing the loop I started two weeks ago when I took off from KBLM and traveled south down the New Jersey coast to Cape May for an arrival at KWWD. Now that I'm way up in north Jersey right by the New York border, I needed to get back to KBLM but had to make full use of my available VFR scenery, which extended out east onto Long Island.
 

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So the plan called for a departure from 4N1 on Runway 6, turning SSE to intercept the Hudson River, following that south until I hit the tip of Manhattan. From there I would catch the 270° radial inbound to the Deer Park VOR, which would take me straight between KLGA and KJFK and out to KFRG, which is at the far east of my current VFR scenery. After a touch and go at KFRG, I would turn south to the Long Island coast and then track that back east until I picked up the 30° radial inbound to the Colts Neck VOR. After crossing over Colts Neck I would track outbound on the 190° radial to set me up for a direct approach to Runway 14 at KBLM.

I was back in the Cessna 172 for this flight. The Mooney Bravo was fun but had too much speed for VFR flight - I just wanted to cruise nice and slow this time out. I'm also way more comfortable in the Cessna having logged the most hours in it. Once I start taking on farther flights, the Mooney and other aircraft will become more suitable.

The flight was largely uneventful. I hit a couple of bumps transitioning from land to water in several areas, but I was able to stay within +/- 200 feet of my cruise altitude of 2500 feet despite some nasty updrafts. Approaching KFRG for my touch and go, the controller cleared me for a right traffic entry to the pattern for Runway 1 - but I had already unconsciously set myself up for left traffic since that's all I've flown so far. Checking the airport information on my laptop I saw that Runway 1 is indeed a right traffic runway, so I had to circle out of the left pattern I was in to re-enter in a right pattern and then land and go.

For both airports this time I checked the traffic pattern altitude and descended to that prior to entering the pattern as well.

The next flight won't happen for a while as I return to the classroom to work on my Instrument Rating. After that I'll most likely chart a long flight up north to one of my favorite places - Martha's Vineyard.

This time out I hopped into a Mooney Bravo because I had a lot of ground to cover, and the Mooney cruises at 160 kts while the Cessna 172 cruises at only 100 kts. The flight plan called for a departure from KPHL (where I arrived yesterday), then I would follow the Delaware River Northeast until I intercepted the 115° radial inbound to the Robbinsville VOR, which would let me skirt around the restricted airspace surrounding McGuire AFB. This would put me in line with KBLM, where I would enter the pattern, do a touch and go, then depart Northeast to fly over my house and out to the tip of Sandy Hook. Turning East at Sandy Hook, I would track the 110° radial inbound to the Solberg VOR, then track out on the 30° radial which points me straight at VOR Sparta. Upon hitting Sparta, I track the 90° radial outbound until I establish visual on Runway 6 at 4N1, then take it straight in for a landing.

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Starting off at KPHL, my first impression of the Bravo was that I couldn't see over my nose very well, and this bothered me a lot initially. I jacked up the seat, which made things better, but damn that thing has a snout. The views out the side and rear quarter windows though are fantastic. Remembering how I was unable to comply with taxi instructions upon landing yesterday because I hadn't pulled up an APD beforehand, I had it all set to go this time, with a notepad and pen ready to jot down instructions. After checking out the layout of the instrument panel, setting up my NAV radios, and performing the pre-flight checklist, I contacted Ground and requested taxi for takeoff. Ironically, they tell me to taxi to Runway 8 via Delta... and that's it. It's the small runway right next to the GA parking, so I didn't even need the damn APD!

So I taxied up to Runway 8 and held short as per my instructions from Ground. Tuning to the tower and requesting clearance, I was told to continue to hold as a C172 completed its final approach and landed. Once it was clear of the runway and got its taxi directions the tower gave me clearance for my takeoff and departure. After leaving the ground and turning upriver, my climb kept my speed below 105 ktas, which was good because I totally forgot until like 17oo feet that I needed to retract my gear! I leveled off at 2500 (for reals this time) and trimmed for level flight, setting the throttle to cruise at 160 ktas. The Bravo is definitely more responsive than the Skyhawk, which is both good and bad of course, but I like how she handles.

I got handed off to Philly Departure who tracked me out of the airspace and then handed me back over to the general frequency. I passed Trenton and then turned to intercept my 115° radial towards KBLM. Zooming across the state I spotted the airport in the distance and, after announcing my position, started my descent and entry into the pattern, which I did somewhere between the Upwind and Crosswind legs. I meant to do a 45° entry into the Upwind but ended up a little too far up. Turning Downwind and turning Base, I announced my touch and go intentions and started to take her in. This is where the nose came back as an issue, although it was also partly because I was way below glide slope. Regardless, I couldn't see the damn runway during the last few seconds of my approach, which was scary. Even worse, I was so low I had to pull up, announce a go around and climb back out to fly the pattern again. But, it was my first attempt at landing this bird, so it wasn't too bad. My second time around was better, I was at least able to touch and go as planned.

Heading back Northeast I circled around my home town a few times, looking for my house which I eventually spotted, then flew up the coast to the tip of Sandy Hook, where I picked up the 110° radial that would lead me to Solberg. I also contacted New York Approach for Class B airspace transition. I picked up a few bumps clearing Sandy Hook, but things smoothed out quickly and stayed calm until I hit the mountains around Sparta. At 10nm out from Sparta I slowed to 110kts and descended towards 1500 ft, though I had to level off a bit higher because of the terrain. Updrafts gave me a good buffeting here and there. I switched from NY Approach to 4N1's traffic frequency and announced my position as I set up for a straight-in approach. A minute later a Piper announced herself three miles behind me on approach, so I didn't dilly-dally and brought the bird down as quick as I could. The landing went off slightly better, but I'm still too used to seeing over my nose, and to do so in the Mooney means I'll always set myself way low on the glide path. Just need more practice - I hit the middle of the runway (not center, middle) so I was lucky it was long enough.

Again, a few minor mistakes on this flight. Although I set my NAV radios to frequency prior to taxi, I forgot to set my OBS, so I did that prior to takeoff but after I had received clearance (when I thought about it) so that wasn't such a great idea. In addition to forgetting to put my gear up I forgot to put them down for my approach to KBLM. Luckily the plane beeps at you if you descend too low without them - but at first I misinterpreted it as the stall warning. Then I forgot and left them down when I flew the pattern the second time I also mixed up my degree settings a bit once again on the compass.

Next flight is most likely going to take me East to Long Island to KFRG, which is the farthest East my VFR scenery goes. I'll touch and go there, fly West to Manhattan for a buzz of the city, then head back to home base - KBLM. After that it's back to the classroom for my IFR rating.

Another great flight this morning. The actual weather was, once again, not very preferable so although I used the real-world time for my flight, I simply set the weather to Fair just like last time so that I could enjoy the focus of this flight, which was the VFR scenery. Someday I’ll want to battle my way from one airport to another through a raging snowstorm or torrential thunder shower, but for now I would like to cruise easy and enjoy the scenery. All you hyper realism junkies take a hike.

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So you may notice that I started this flight off at the airport I landed at in my last flight. I'm going to continue to do this. Despite having the power to pop up at any airport in the world and take off from there, I've decided to make things more interesting - if I want to go someplace, I have to get there by actually flying there. This serves two purposes. First, it means that I can't go very far right now, since I don't have much radio navigation experience and I'm stuck in a rather slow aircraft. But this is good, because I still have lots of scenery to explore right here in the tri-state area. Second, it helps motivate me to learn more in order to reach places I can't get to at this time. I'll need to get my Instrument Rating so I can handle longer flights in varying conditions, I'll have to get comfortable flying faster planes so I can travel farther quicker, and I'll have to gain more flying hours overall to achieve this.

So, for today's flight I checked out the Southeastern-most limits of my current VFR scenery library in this region, which is the bottom of New Jersey and Northeastern segment of Delaware. Since I'm from Middletown, I decided it would be cool to fly over Middletown, DE. To get there, since I don't know the land anywhere well enough to fly there by sight, I had to set myself up to bounce from VOR to VOR. The flight plan to get there called for takeoff from KWWD, intercepting the 330° radial outbound from Sea Isle VOR, tracking that to KMIV, turning due West to intercept the 330º radial outbound from the Smyrna VOR, and track that until I intercepted the 30° radial inbound to the Dupont VOR. At the intersection of these last two radials is Middletown, DE.

Once I flew over Middletown, I continued to track the Dupont VOR which brought me to KILG, where I contacted the tower and got clearance to do a touch and go on Runway 1. After the T&G I flew the pattern (thanks, Colin, for the suggestion!) and did another Runway 1 T&G before vectoring out along the Delaware River to head towards KPHL. I contacted Philly Approach to be mindful of traffic until I was closer to the airport then contacted the tower for landing instructions. They slotted me in behind a Learjet 45 and I made a direct approach to Runway 9R. Upon landing and clearing the runway, I switched over to Ground and of course received taxi instructions I couldn't even begin to remember. Thankfully FSX has a progressive taxi feature which gives me arrows to follow. On VATSIM I would have had Ground do the progressive for me, though they probably wouldn't have been happy I didn't do my homework and had an APD of the airport ready.

Couple of minor mistakes on this flight. First, I seem to not know how to read an altimeter, and I belatedly realize (looking at the screenshots) that I was cruising at 1500 feet instead of the 2500 feet I filed in my flight plan. I did ascend to proper altitude after my final departure from KILG though. Second, I set my OBS incorrectly for the Dupont VOR and barely fixed it in time. I was supposed to track in the 30º radial, so I of course set the OBS to "30" on my NAV2 gauge. Ooops. "30" is actually 300º! I should have set it to "3", which I did just as I was intercepting the radial. Third, on my traffic pattern around KILG, I executed the base turn to final too late and rolled out to the right of the runway and was too high and had to cut throttle to idle in order to descend in time. Oh and I still taxi like a drunk driver.

I will, however, pat myself on the back for making three successful visual approaches without the help of any glide slope indicators. Both runways I landed on (landed on one twice) didn't sport any fancy VASI or PAPI indicators, which was a first for me. I almost, almost came down short of the runway at KPHL and I'm pretty sure I was below the slope on all three approaches, but I didn't crash. I'll give myself another pat for successful use of Navaids on this flight to get me where I wanted to go.

Next flight will be back up into Central Jersey. I'll touch and go at Trenton and then fly back out to KBLM. I might be in a different plane as well.

It was cloudy, dreary and rainy outside today, but the best thing about a flight simulator is that you can choose to ignore the real weather if you want to. Certainly you can set FSX to pull down and then update current meteorological conditions, but then who wants to fly in rainy weather when they don’t have to? So after setting up a trusty Cessna 172 trainer (in yellow!) with my tail number N727DS, I changed the weather to fair conditions – no wind, partly cloudy skies, >20mi visibility. Well, where’s the fun in that?? But this trip I’m not out to battle against the forces of nature, but to take a nice leisurely VFR cruise down the Jersey Shore.

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So I filed the flight plan in FSX, allowing it to chart me out VOR waypoints that would vector me from Monmouth Executive airport (KBLM) down to Cape May County Airport (KWWD). But I don’t have my instrument rating yet and even if I do have rudimentary knowledge of VOR navigation from previous FSX flight lessons and experience, this isn’t an instrument flight. But it at least let me get an idea of how long the trip would take and how much fuel I would burn. I effectively doubled both figures since I knew I was taking a roundabout course down the shoreline.

After going through the pre-flight checklist and doing an exterior check of control surfaces I turned over the engine and taxiied off the apron, radioing to local traffic my intent to take off from Runway 14 departing to the South. Airspace was clear in the area, so I was able to taxi straight on to the runway and take off immediately. After climbing to my cruise altitude of 2,500ft, I contacted McGuire to get on their radar and find out if there was any traffic in my area. I freaked the controller out because I hadn’t finished trimming for cruise and ended up ascending to 2,800ft without realizing it, and a Mooney Bravo buzzed by me relatively close, so she was screaming at me to eyeball the traffic that was right on top of me. That’s what I get for spending too much time looking out the windows.

The rest of the flight was uneventful. I stuck to the coast and flew over Atlantic City, Ocean City and Wildwood before finally circling around the very tip of New Jersey at Cape May. The sun was just kissing the horizon and I had to make it to ground before it got too dark and I broke VFR rules. Tuning into Cape May traffic, I announce position and intent to land on Runway 1. Getting no response and checking around to make sure there was no traffic, I took her straight in, picking up the PAPI glidepath and touching down just left of the centerline. Taxiing off and announcing clear of runway, I pulled onto the nearest apron and parked, shutting down.

Great cruise, and gave me a chance to check out some more of the MegaEarth scenery I bought for the NJ region. Excellent VFR quality (as you will see in the gallery), I look forward to continuing my tour – I think my next hop will be across the Delaware Bay to the Middletown area over there.