Just finisihed my "virtual round the world" trip :)

[ahaka 0]

Hi all!For the past three months, I'vee been flying my NG around the world, and now I'm finally back at home! It took me three months to complete since my work and other things don't leave me too much time for flying.Here's the whole route:Helsinki - LondonLondon - New YorkNew York - AtlantaAtlanta - DallasDallas - DenverDenver - Las VegasLas Vegas - Los AngelesLos Angeles - HonoluluHonolulu - HiloHilo - Johnston IslandJohnston Island - BrisbaneBrisbane - SingaporeSingapore - BangkokBangkok - DubaiDubai - AmsterdamAmsterdam - HelsinkiAfter all this flying all I can say is that I love this plane and PMDG, you've done a great job!P.S I also made my personal speed record en-route Amsterdam - Helsinki, where my GS went up to 520kts! There was a 90kt tailwind. What a jetstream!

[Guest Ian_Riddell]

Darn! Beat me, Antti :-)I still have a long way to go, but I'm taking time out to "smell the roses"... making about 3 times as many stops.Perhaps I'll be the first to make a round the world trip in an easterly direction???Anyway, well done! (I know how difficult it can get at times).Cheers.Ian.P.S. So far...Seattle, San Francisco, Los Angeles, Las Vegas, Denver, Chicago, Toronto, Goose Bay, Narsarsuak(Greenland), Keflavik? (Iceland), EKVG(Faroe Islands), Edinburgh, Dishforth(An RAF Base in Yorkshire), Leeds, Birmingham, London (City), Paris (Orly), Amsterdam, Frankfurt, Innsbruck, Milan, Venice, Athens, Akrotiri(Cyprus), Tel Aviv, Baghdad (via waypoint OSAMA!), Tehran, Quetta (Pakistan), Pesharwar(Pakistan), Skardu* (Pakistan), Kathmandu (Nepal)... Dhaka, Bangkok, Phuket, Singapore, Denpassar (Bali), Darwin, Townsville...Pesharwar to Skardu was by far the most difficult leg... If you do try it, make sure the weather is fine or you probably won't be able to find your destination airport (Even though you can see it on your ND). And make sure you fly above 29,000' ;-)

[ahaka 0]

Good luck for the rest of your journey Ian!How are you planning to cross the Pacific? I think there's at least one long leg that lies ahead of you. Perhaps from Hawaii back to US? Make sure you've got lot's of entertainment with you during that flight. ;)

[Guest Shaun48113]

Where are you guys finding flight plans for all of the non-US portions of these flights? Also, do you have enroute charts/sids/stars for these airports and if so where could I find them? :) Thanks for the info.-Shaun

[ahaka 0]

Shaun,I've been using www.pmfp.com, it's an excellent freeware flightplanner, featuring lot's of coroutes and a good flight planner with the latest navdata. You can plan your route using real airways and then print out the ATS route which is very handy when programming the FMC.As for SIDs/STARs, I use them when they are available. If not, I just vector myself or let the ATC do it.Hope this helps!

[Guest Ian_Riddell]

"Where are you guys finding flight plans for all of the non-US portions of these flights? "In most cases, Shaun, I'm simply using the Flight Planner within 2002. Sometimes the planner is unable to find a route, so I just zoom in on the FS2002 Map and look for little blue dots between my Departure and Destination (and mouseclick on them to find their names. In most cases, the original FS database matches the PDGM Nav Database, so the waypoint names go into the FMC Route pages without any difficulty). I'm keeping my weight low and my legs short, so I just gas her up with a reasonable amount of fuel (pure guesswork, but it hasn't failed me yet). I've used some real routes from our airline's FMC database, but the path I'm taking at the moment is off the beaten track.Antti.... I'm currently in Na(n)di, Fiji and looking for a way to get to Hawaii and the US Mainland. I might try the reverse of your route. It's good to know that the 737 will make it from Hawaii to the US Mainland (although I don't know if my aircraft is authorized for ETOPS). Knowing how much I enjoy Hawaii, I might not get there for a few weeks though ;-) Bill Melichar makes some great freeware Hawaiian scenery.I'll probably try flying the world in reverse when SU-2 is released (or even a North to South Pole flight).Cheers.Ian.

[ahaka 0]

Ian, I've actually heard it is impossible to cross the poles in FS. Can anyone confirm this as I'm not 100% sure, just heard it somewhere.Send us a postcard from Hawaii when you get there! :-lol

[Guest Ian_Riddell]

"Send us a postcard from Hawaii when you get there!"Not quite the real thing, Antti, but....http://members.ozemail.com.au/~b744er/737/Postcard.jpgCheers.Ian.P.S. Not far to go now ;-)

[Guest thscholz]

Ian,I just saw that you made a stop in Innsbruck. Did you have some time to take a walk in the city? It's worth a sightseeing...:-wave GreetingsThomas

[Guest Ian_Riddell]

"Did you have some time to take a walk in the city? It's worth a sightseeing..."Maybe next time, Thomas... it was raining and very windy that day, so I decided to stay on board ;-) It was a hair-raising approach, by the way. I didn't have any approach charts, and the cloudbase was rather low, so I was skimming the tops of the mountains trying to find my way down... and getting some amazing windshear effects :(All in all, quite an adventure.I may have trouble finding my way from Hawaii to Los Angeles (my final leg)... This is what my ND looks like....http://members.ozemail.com.au/~b744er/737/RouteError.jpgCan anyone see what I'm doing wrong?Thanks.Cheers.Ian.

[crvm 0]

The ND drawing has and is still be fine tuned for SU2 Ian, so I would not place any importance on the one you are flying, very aware of the serious drawing issues in there ;)[h4]Best Wishes,Randy J. Smithhttp://img.villagephotos.com/p/2003-5/196432/winglets_lg.jpg

[Guest thscholz]

>It was a hair-raising approach, by the way. I didn't have any>approach charts, and the cloudbase was rather low, so I was>skimming the tops of the mountains trying to find my way>down... and getting some amazing windshear effects :(>Ian,for the next time you could find some charts her:http://www.firwien.at/GreetingsThomas

[Guest Ian_Riddell]

"for the next time you could find some charts her:http://www.firwien.at/"Excellent... Thanks Thomas!Cheers.Ian.

[Guest Ian_Riddell]

"The ND drawing has and is still be fine tuned for SU2"I'm not so sure it's a drawing problem, Randy. I think something has been corrupted on my system recently... causing PMDG to not paint the airports in the right spot. Up until my last leg, everything was working normally. I reloaded FS2002 and PMDG without any luck however. I might try downloading a new APT file to see if that helps.Cheers.Ian.

[Guest Ian_Riddell]

Any more PMDG round-the-world clubmembers? :-)Never a dull moment... except, perhaps, during the many, many hours on that last Hawaii-Los Angeles leg :(Back to "getting a life" ;-)Cheers.Ian.