Moments earlier I had shut down the 600 at NZQN. I left NZWB on a flight test and was expecting to monitor systems, observe aerodynamic performance behaviors, verify procedural flow integrity and make notes. What I did not expect was to have my breath taken away. This little Boeing is opening doors that have been tightly closed to me whilst motoring above the earth at M.76 , FL330 and 345T.For those unfamiliar (I'm guessing there's more than just me) the Queenstown VOR DME approach is hugely entertaining. It begins by overflying the SH VOR at 10000. There's an outbound leg on the 232 Radial to 15 DME, for a left turn to AFTON all the while descending to 8200 feet. Then another left to intercept the 032 Radial inbound, descending in VS until visually intercepting the extended centerline of Rwy 5L no later than 3 DME at 3800 feet. I had the FO's ND in VOR mode to monitor the raw data, while I flew in MAP mode for SA. Sounds simple enough.The fun part was watching the mountains looming in the windshield, looking at the ND TERR display turning red everywhere but this slender finger I happened to be flying down. I wasn't at LOWI this time, but the rate I was sucking seat-cushion was acutely familiar. There were mountains all around, water below and no airport in sight. I flew inbound crosschecking my altitude crossings-12 DME @ 7000, 10 DME @ 5700, 6.5 DME @ 4700......fiddling with the yoke to gently change VS by a few feet per minute to nail each crossing exactly. I remember this same taut alertness in Hong-Kong and in Quito.Turning to intercept the extended centerline I was blown away. While mountains filled each side, in front of me was a stretch of water, with pretty speed boats making way. High-Tension Power Lines made their way down the mountain side to my left. Had I not needed to snap back to reality and actually land the aeroplane it would have been a lovely spot to muse upon the meaning and purpose of life. The runway was ahead............but was I a bit high? A quick scan said no.......what was different? Oh, the runway happened to be as wide as an Alpine goat trail. She bleeds speed well if (dare I say it) you get her just a tiny bit sideways. A couple of quick corrections and we were tracking the centerline markings that flashed under her nose.I'm positive there are many such approaches this itty bitty aeroplane will allow me to fly. I can promise, I will spend a fair bit of time doing exactly that. She's so different than my fat girl, but splendid just the same. Should you have a particularly enchanting destination that this heavy iron driver has managed to miss in the past decade, I'd love a pointer.........Ta!

Great post Carl. the 600 is well suited for that tricky approach into Quenstown. Have done many RW flights into that pictureesque airport. Not for the faint hearted, when weather is marginal.Pity the 600 series is not found in this part of the world, that I know of. Seems your approach was along the wonderful Dunstan Mountains, and also a great view of the Remarkable mountains (which run true north to south like the Rokies) as you did your orbit.Be even better when Orbx release the SI NZ scenery later this year, you will have to re visit that flight again.

What was the route you used?

I love flying into Queenstown. Clouds with rocks in them.Is there some way to fly the RNP approaches? VATNZ had a mod for FS9, but I don't see any easy way to add the waypoints.

Ryan said that Rnp will be added at some future date. Not certain if it will be included in SP1

Ta! The route I flew was NZWB WB DCT MESIX H159 CH H291 SH NZQN. Quite nice because it puts you in position for a slight course adjustment when overflying the VOR. While I enjoy learning all the systems, and really do believe in Mike Ray's assertion that for the first 100 hours you're lost, from 100-300 you're a button pusher, and only around the 300 hour mark do you actually understand what's going on behind the button pushing- I have to admit, I LOVE flying raw data. While I built the outbound segment and RTE to the RWY in the FMC so I had a pretty magenta line to follow, I went HDG SEL over SH and LVL CHG to 15 DME. Then everything went off, and I hand flew the arc intercept to establish inbound. Tweaking the descent rate to hit all my crossing altitudes, establishing and calling stable at 1000 and then turning right to intercept the extended Rwy centerline, while marveling at the motor boats making wakes below was one of those perfect moments in FSX. My (albeit willing) complete suspension of disbelief was in toto the highlight of my day. That's perhaps the best thing about this hobby. After hours of eking out a living, I can "leave behind the surly bonds of earth, to reach out and touch the face of God".

Are you using any add-ons for NZ, or are you flying stock?I would love to do that approach but only have third party mesh and the Wellington add-on scenery. Any NZ add-ons you can recommend would be appreciated.

Mariano- unfortunately all I use is FSGlobal world mesh and stock scenery- that's it. Still, beautiful terrain, impressively displayed, both visually and on the ND :)

MarianoI can highly recommend the Vector Land Class (VLC) scenery available via www.windowlight.co.nzI've spent quite a lot of time flying around this beautiful country in real life and the VLC scenery absolutely nails it. One of the best landclass/mesh packages around.I don't have any screen captures at work but I'll take a few shots around Queenstown tonight to show you all.(RSR/Ryan, sorry for the cross-promotional content of my post!)

Ta! The route I flew was NZWB WB DCT MESIX H159 CH H291 SH NZQN. Quite nice because it puts you in position for a slight course adjustment when overflying the VOR. While I enjoy learning all the systems, and really do believe in Mike Ray's assertion that for the first 100 hours you're lost, from 100-300 you're a button pusher, and only around the 300 hour mark do you actually understand what's going on behind the button pushing- I have to admit, I LOVE flying raw data. While I built the outbound segment and RTE to the RWY in the FMC so I had a pretty magenta line to follow, I went HDG SEL over SH and LVL CHG to 15 DME. Then everything went off, and I hand flew the arc intercept to establish inbound. Tweaking the descent rate to hit all my crossing altitudes, establishing and calling stable at 1000 and then turning right to intercept the extended Rwy centerline, while marveling at the motor boats making wakes below was one of those perfect moments in FSX. My (albeit willing) complete suspension of disbelief was in toto the highlight of my day. That's perhaps the best thing about this hobby. After hours of eking out a living, I can "leave behind the surly bonds of earth, to reach out and touch the face of God".

Thanks

Carl, thanks for this. Did the flight tonight in the 800WL and it was really enjoyable. I unloaded most of the cargo and had only a small number of pax to get the weight down for that t/o at Woodbourne, and it was still scary. :)Stunning scenery all the way, and a thrilling approach into Queenstown with mountains all around. Great flight to give the Terrain feature a go.Appreciate you sharing this with us.

Thanks Mark, I'll take a look at that vector land class product. I think I've seen it on SimMarket.

Ryan said that Rnp will be added at some future date. Not certain if it will be included in SP1

Nit-picking here, but RNP is already there (press PROG and hit NEXT PAGE until you get to RNP PROGRESS - also, you will get alerts if ANP exceeds RNP.What is coming out in the future is the ability for the database to contain the curved legs that allow you to clear mountains in IMC :(

Thanks David.