I was about to go to bed (around midnite) when a Clandestine mission poped up on the job board. So what the heck, who needs sleep anyway. Very interesting, about 60 miles over open water at around 400 feet.

I got trimed up and the power settings pretty good but had to keep a sharp watch on it. Ony had one warning of another aircraft near by but held course with no further problems. Landed at a tiney dirt strip in the middle of nowhere and unloaded the "cargo" . Fun, will have to look for more.

 

Steve A

400 feet! :Hypnotized: Just wait until you are busted! Either for what you are carrying or for flying too low! :LMAO:

 

Best regards.

Luis

Clandestine missions are more fun than the average cargo mission. Lots more points too, especially if you fly them at night. (Although I usually stay closer to 600 feet myself.)

Skim the treetops & wavetops for the ultimate thrill! A real test of your concentration and reflexes.

Hold the phone....I've been collecting aerocaches, Exploring in free flight....but haven't done alot of actual jobs via job boards.

Now, I am becoming aware that there are such things as Clandestine missions?!?!?!? That's the coolest thing ever, and I can't wait to fly one.

Plus....there is AI present that must be avoided! Oh my lord, I gotta get out of work ASAP and head home and look into this.

Is it just clandestine missions that "pop-up" on job boards, or does the Flight team update normal cargo missions as well?

Smuggling mystery cargo is my favorite job. Check the uncontrolled airports (magenta colored on the Map.) They are fairly uncommon to find, so keep looking.

 

And try to keep your distance, but don't look like you're keeping your distance. Fly casual.

 

Is it just clandestine missions that "pop-up" on job boards, or does the Flight team update normal cargo missions as well?

 

They pop up on job boards but rather seldom... You have to look at all the airports without towers (the purple ones) and if you are lucky (very lucky) you may see one. (I stopped looking for them because it takes way too much clicking to find one... If I ever do. Apart from that: I fly without the destination marker and clandestine jobs are the ONLY jobs I like to have that marker on for...)

Oh, come on... not ALL of them require finding a tiny little barely visible strip hacked out of the jungle!

 

I mainly fly the ones to larger uncontrolled airports like Dillingham, or the few tiny ones I know I can easily find.

 

It took me a while to figure out that Clandestine Cargo missions were jobs and not a mission. For far the few that I have done haven't required any change of course on my part when I see another aircraft. I just fly straight on and he goes away lol.

This is one of the issues on the big list that I hope gets looked at. Just throwing a 'jobs' option under free flight with some kind of filtering options would really improve the experience.

 

But even how it is now, I really like the clandestine cargo jobs. It's fun to plan a flight that takes you on an out-of-the-way path, or that takes you through some low valley or mountain passes to stay as low as possible.

Just got above 500000XP and Level 20 flying one of those too :-)

 

I still couldn't get the "Round Earth Aerocache" though... :-(

Book'em Dano !! lol

Well, after over 7 tons of Clandestine flights, I finally got nabbed today on a flight from Panda to Kapaula along the Southern coast of Molokai. It was the shortest clandestine flight I'd seen since starting them when I was @ level 9. Just under 40 nm. Didn't know what to expect when it happened. I was expecting a suspension of my pilots license or having my Maule impounded for a week. Turned out, you just get a message saying "Mission Failed".

Not to be deterred though, I quickly found another load from Lanai to Kaupulehu on the Big Island @ just under 80 nm. Flew this one at night (extra $$). The night flights are a bit of a hair-raiser landing on fields I can barely find during the day. Great fun though.

 

Regards, Jerry

I just did one from Pepeekeo to Upolu, 41nm. Did it at midnight, following the coast around the big island about a mile out, 400 feet over the water, no exterior lights after takeoff until about 2 miles out from Upolu. Half a moon just above the horizon off the end of the runway, clouds "low and threatening", awesome.

Set the clock for just before dawn (6:20AM, or so) and you will get the night points but arrive at the destination in the gathering dawn. The light helps for those back-woods strips.

 

I have had good luck flying at any altitude I choose (Usually 3,000 - 5,000 feet.) When the co-pilot sees an aircraft, I immeditally turn 90 degrees away from the other aircraft, fly the new heading for a few minutes, then turn back on course. Haven't been caught once since I started using this technique.

OK.

So I found a clandestine mission. And I failed it, a few times.

First, my cargo was quite heavy, and I couldn't clear the dirt runway (forget which one) without dropping all but about 15% of my fuel.

I don't know...I was in the Maule, had my flaps up to 100% (which provides greater lift at low speeds with the compromise of enormous drag, is that correct?)

and still only barely cleared. Nail biter.

Then I didn't realize you could choose weather and time for these missions, so I was stuck in my last free flight choices. about 8pm and heavy fog. Yay.

I made it most of the way, skimming treetops that I could barely see because of the fog. John Q Law was hot on my tail for most of the 35km.

Then, only about 6km from my destination, I got busted. Straight to pilot prison for me. I wanted to alter course, but I had dumped most of my fuel prior to taking off, to be lighter.

One question....if I can choose time and conditions for clandestine missions, (that rhymed) is there a functional advantage in the sim for choosing night, or heavy fog? Does it actually make it harder to see you, and less likely to fail the mission via getting caught? Do you get more points? (these are all the same question, BTW)

Also, is there any other part of my post that raises any warning flag that I'm doing something wrong?