Bush Pilot Brushup Plan

[svenks 4]

I can't wait to try this; I used to work in the Frank Church. Best job I ever had. I need to brush up on my skills, since I've been flying a MD-11 for the past 6-8 months. This really looks fun.CK

Hi,Well, in order to get the most out of this route, you should consider getting the ORBX CRM scenery.It may not be free, but it is beautiful and it does contain all the hazardous airstrips, with hills and bumps and everything you need to wreck your aircraft!BRGDSSven

[Eamonn Watson 32]

Hi,Well, in order to get the most out of this route, you should consider getting the ORBX CRM scenery.It may not be free, but it is beautiful and it does contain all the hazardous airstrips, with hills and bumps and everything you need to wreck your aircraft!BRGDSSven

I have the PNW scenery and its awesome.. I want to get the other scenery from orbx.. Might put it on my xmas list for "Santa".. :)

[Great Ozzie 101]

(Early November...)Bry, Harvey and I spent quite a bit of time in the Orbx PNW when it was first released... loads of fun but no airport there that was "excessively" challenging... right guys? So with those memories fresh at hand, and a dash of arrogance, I set off to tackle "Jeff's" Wilderness in the PC-12 (whilst Bry would wrestle those landings as he said, in the Porter).Krassel and Big Creek were nary a problem for the PC-12. "Aha... not so bad..." said with a wry smile and smirk... but wait, we are just getting started... I get to Dewey Moore and that turned out to be a 'whole nuther story'. I saw Bry start a descent low into the valley as I overflew the airport unseen around 8000 msl... nearer the peaks. My smirk is now upside down (a frown)."Where is it?""Down here... look for the smoke."*rolling eyes*... "What smoke???" Hoping I'd catch glimpse of some bonfire."Smoke down here..."So I do a 180 back and flew much lower toward Dewey (about 1000' above airport elevation)... "a river runs through it"... more precisely, next to it. As soon as I saw the campfire, I recognized the strip... and a "no way" slipped past my lips as I thought about what to do next. "I'll just head back and put down at Big Creek then swap into a Beaver." Dewey requires a follow-the-river slalom approach into 28 or (my preferred) a just over the river approach from the East (imagining a Rwy 06).Well... my Beaver skills are truly lacking at the moment. That last notch of flaps (which then act as the proverbial barn doors) really requires quite a bit-o-power and I was wee lacking in confidence hanging off the prop like that... and especially seeing the airspeed needle below the bottom of the white arc. Some slow flight and power-on/off stalls are in order.Coming into Dewey, I pulled power out too soon and bang! splayed the gear and got a prop strike with the ground.Ok... reset and on to Vines... not a problem really for the Beaver (read "me"). Then up to Mile Hi and wow I have only heard of strips like this. Remember when (in Air America) Mel Gibson lands on that tiny strip uphill (Laos?) and Robert Downey Jr. just about believes his first "check-out" flight is going to be his last flight ever? Mile Hi seems to me not too far off from this. My first approach way too high and steep for a full-flap landing the in Beaver... instead of a nice roundout, I got a nice ka-boom complete with mushroom fireball.Second attempt was much better, but, having not flown the Beaver in some time and not fully confident hanging off the prop, once again, I pulled the power out too soon with the resulting pancaking of the gear and a prop ground strike. Sun Tzu's "know yourself... know your enemy" comes to mind...Ok enough of this. Bry was having great success with... what was it that 'connoisseur of FSX aircraft' was using? Aha... time to buy the Porter PC-6.This time much better getting into both Dewey Moore and Mile Hi. The PC-6 and I hit it off right away becoming fast friends. With full flaps and a bit of thrust, one can maintain a reasonable 45kts to negotiate the serpentine valley. Is the Porter more responsive than the Beaver to the somewhat wild maneuvering Dewey can require to get into 28? The roundout to a three point is "kinder and gentler" for me to obtain at this point.Pulling the power out in the Porter, before the flare, allows remaining engine thrust to bleed off smoothly thruout the roundout allowing the PC-6 to settle in nicely. What? Used up most runway due to that bizarre approach? No problem... pulling the power lever back into Reverse makes short work of getting stopped with what little strip that is left.===================================(Dec 13th)DHC-2 Beaver - RELOADED"I have flown in the Idaho Wilderness and I am reborn... ready for any challenge that awaits..." Ok... after a bit of work... some Slow Flight @ MCA and some stalls, a kinship is rekindled... my confidence with the Beaver has returned.And well it should, as the Beaver is the perennial Bush Plane. Took off today into a cloudless sky from McCall Municipal and was able to complete Jeff's Round Robin thru the Idaho Wilderness. Maintaining airspeed control and being able to land (fairly close) to the point of intended landing are the keys needed for getting into these small strips... like Dewey Moore.Wheel landings with full flaps and a "smidge of power" carried to just above touchdown worked out well. The airspeed is so slow that once the power is removed, the tail settles in and the Beaver rolls to a stop shortly thereafter.It is a superb Bush Plane... if the pilot is willing do his/her job, then the Beaver will take you in and out of anything called an airstrip.Here are some pics of various aircraft Bry and I flew.And here is

with the Aerosoft Beaver using the Orbx Central Rocky Mountains. It was to be just a test clip using FRAPs, but I thought it was decent enough to upload the .avi direct to youtube. If you would like to set the flight to music, I highly recommend using

. Both clips run approximately four minutes.Again, Thank you Jeff for taking the time to put together and share this excellent Wilderness Run... also your Teamspeak. Thanks too to Buzz for the BuzzServer and his Teamspeak.-Rob

[svenks 4]

Argh, you guys beat me to it!I too had plans to try out the Harrier on these strips.Good job, you two!BRGDSSven

[MM 426]

Great film, Rob.