Hi, in remembrance of my recent holiday to "Incredible India", I continue with my series of FSX flights to mimic as close as possible my trips within the country.   My base was in Bangalore, the IT capital of India, but I also visited two other cities for some brief visits, Kolkata and Mumbai.   I had the pleasure of sitting in window seats, with a full view of the wings, on 737NGs for all 4 legs in the domestic flights via Jet Airways.  

 

As you may remember from my previous post for the Bangalore to Kolkata leg, I was on a Jet Airways 737-800W.   For the return trip, I was put on a 737-700 operated by Jet Airways low cost carrier, Jet Konnect.   Unfortunately, there was no repaint for this division, so I used the mainline carrier's livery.   Also, equipment used in real flight was a NON-winglet -700, but I only found a -700W livery.   Looking back, I could have applied the winglet livery to the non winglet -700 NGX, I suppose, but I will be sure to do that for the next 2 flights, as they were all conducted on 700's sans winglets.

 

Flight was JAI7019, from Netaji Subhas Chandra Bose Intl Airport (what a mouthful!) to Bengaluru Intl Airport .  I think VECC to VOBL will suffice!   Flight time IRL was 1 hour 58 minutes, but was advertised as 2 hours 30 minutes.   Looks like favorable tailwinds and other variables worked in our favor!   I made the FSX flight in exactly 2 hours.   As per usual for this time of year, it was mostly cloudy for most of the flight, with high clouds interspersed throughout the flight, as monsoon season was in full effect in India. 

 

I used the KESAR SID from VECC runway 19L.  STAR was PUTOT5 to runway 27.   One more note, I did not particularly like the VECC airport scenery I used for the previous inbound leg from VOBL, as there were terminal buildings where they should not have been.   I opted for an older scenery from a noted FS9 freeware designer, FRFStudio.net.   Sure, it doesn't model the brand new domestic terminal, but overall other details like ground vehicles and nicer terminal building graphics trump the age of the scenery. 

 

At the gate loading passengers. 

 

Time to close the jetway is fast approaching.

 

Pushback tugs disconnect and I prepare to run the pre taxi checklist.

 

Just like in real life, there was moderate precipitation, as reflected in this shot as I taxi out.  The Airbus A320 behind me is operated by Indigo, and is the fastest growing airline in India.   I happened to see a lot of their cockpit crew at the hotel I stayed at in Kolkata, the Oberoi Grand.   Also of note, I saw my first A320 with sharklets, as Indigo is one of the first operators of the modified Airbuses.

 

Here's a better shot of the Indigo A320.  Also seen here are plenty of Air India Airbuses acquired with their merger with Indian Airlines.  Before the deregulation of Indian airlines in 1994, air service was provided by only two government owned entities, Indian Airlines for domestic service and Air India for International travel.  From what I hear, Air India service is terrible and delays are frequent, as can be expected by a government run carrier.  It's a surprise they have even survived due to the intense competition from the various new low cost and full service carriers like Jet Airways!

 

Taking to the active runway.

 

Takeoff commenced.  Time is 10:44AM local time. 

 

Climbout with a view of the domestic terminal I was just at 15 minutes prior.

 

Weather was just as bad as I remembered, with clouds just 3000 ft AGL. 

 

A few patches of ground were able to be seen, as there was some break in the rain clouds to the south of the airport.  I'm at about 8000 feet here.

 

Almost at Top of Climb. 

 

Cruise at FL400. 

 

Here are some of the high clouds I mentioned earlier.  I remember some light turbulence on the actual flight at this time.

 

Pitching down slightly as I am at the TOD.  I start the descent gently with the V/S knob set to 500fpm for the first minute, slowly progressing to 1000fpm until the VNAV glidepath is captured a few thousand feet later.

 

At about 6000ft and on the intercept path to the ILS localizer.  Flaps 1 is set.

 

On short finals.  Range ring drawn on the ND is to denote a 12nm from runway end speed restriction  that mandates traffic to fly at 160kts until 5 DME from the runway threshold.  Weather was worse than at Kolkata, with low visibility that required a CAT I ILS approach to runway 27. 

 

A bouncy landing ensued!   I was caught by surprise by the low hanging clouds, a glitch in Active Sky Evolution that depicted the reported 2000ft scattered clouds at ground level because Bangalore itself is situated at 3000ft agl!  When I was expecting to see the runway at the 200ft AGL decision height I found myself just faintly making out the approach lights and having to nervously guide the 737 for the final seconds of the landing using just the runway lights for guidance.  Not one of my better landings.

 

At the runway turnoff I see a competitor's 737-800, operated by Spicejet.   Spicejet had only operated NGs, but recently branched out and added the Bombardier Dash 8-400 to its fleet.  I saw a few of those in my travels at VOBL.

 

VOBL was pretty busy at this time, as we see an Air India A319 touchdown just a minute after me.

 

I arrive at Gate 15 at about 5:50pm. 

 

Apart from the challenging landing in what seemed like CATIII conditions, this FSX flight brought back fond memories of the real thing.  Strangely enough, I recall in the real flight that the crew applied some thrust in the flare just a second or so before touchdown, as if they were considering going around.  And when I ran the replay of the flight I did, I had, unintentionally, applied thrust in the flare as I encountered the low visibility and errant clouds on the runway.   I swear I was not trying to mimic the real crew's throttle adjustments, but it does seem like a subliminal move on my part.  My visit to Kolkata concluded, I will spend a few days visiting family in Bangalore and then depart for a 3 day stay in Mumbai, the financial capital of India. 

 

At this point in time, with the PMDG 777 due to arrive either this weekend or soon thereafter, I may be approaching the end of my sessions in the fabled PMDG NGX.   I can't retire her until I complete my VOBL-VABB-VOBL legs, so I hope PMDG doesn't release this weekend so I can concentrate on reliving my 2 last NG flights in India, LOL!  

 

Till then, take care!

Awesome!! Keep it up! I like this kind of run through using pictures!

I sure will.   I find these diaries keep my writing skills sharp, and I'm having as much fun sharing these stories as I do flying! 

If you are really bored, try finding the real life photos from my India trip in my flickr link below!

I also enjoy these epic stories and excellent screen shots.  Keep 'em coming.

Great pics! Very informative description about the flight to go with it too. Thank you for sharing.