What an exciting week huh people?  What with the release of PFPX and the PMDG 777, it took all my willpower not to forget to finish off my replication of my vacation flights on Jet Airways' 737 NGs.  Can you believe I actually chose to fly this flight on the Tuesday the 777 went on sale?   If you ask me, it may have been a blessing as the initial release was fraught with server issues and what not, just as I expected.  I thought it may be a good idea to just relax, and say my goodbyes to the NGX in the best way I can imagine, imitating the last of 4 legs on NGs during my August vacation in India.

 

After spending 3 days in Mumbai visiting relatives, I embark on a Jet Airways 737-700, flight JAI2105, back to Bengaluru Intl (or Bangalore as most folks know it).   It's a quick 1 hour 19 minute hop, in the sim, I managed 1 hour 21 minutes.  SID from VABB runway 27 is VEVAK1A, and arrival to VOBL was via the LUMPU5 STAR to runway 27.  Weather was the usual overcast and rainy in Mumbai, and the weather was similar in Bangalore.  Departure time was scheduled for 4:15pm, but we had a slight delay and pushed back at 4:28pm.  Arrival was basically on time at 6:09pm.

 

At the gate boarding passengers. 

 

Pushback with the aircraft facing the east.   Black patch on the ground is the remnant of incompatible graphics in FSX as this was a converted FS9 freeware airport.

 

Taxing past the remote stands at the old VABB domestic terminal.  When I was much younger, I used to board Indian Airlines Airbus A300s at this area for the same route to Bangalore.   It was fun walking across the tarmac to board the waiting aircraft as a child!  

 

Here is the international terminal.  If you visit my Flickr page in my signature, you may see a similar shot of the real deal which also had an Air India 777 and Jet Airways 777 at the remote parking stands.   Alas, the flightplan in my AI used a Jet Airways A330, but hey, close enough.

 

Behind company traffic waiting at the runway hold for runway 27, with an Emirates 777 on short finals.  IRL, there are a bunch of slum dwellings just to my left very close to the airport periphery, behind a fence of course.   One thing you see a lot of on approach into VABB are slums.

 

The time is 4:48pm, 20 minutes after chocks off and it is finally time for takeoff.  Real life flight entered the runway right after a 11 minute taxi, but I had to contend with multiple AI landing before I was given permission to leave.  Time to increase the separation between AI with AI Separation the next time I use an airport with arrivals and departures sharing the same runway!

 

Blast off!   Air India operates a big maintenance base here in Mumbai.

 

Right wing view of the domestic terminal with various domestic carriers represented.  Followers of my earlier diaries in India should now be able to spot the different carriers.

 

As representative of Mumbai, if not for the inclement weather, heavy pollution would have been obscuring the city on an otherwise clear day.   Bejiing I hear is very similar.  I have turned south to intercept a waypoint to guide me to the southeast on my way to Bangalore.  Here, you can barely make out the city of Mumbai.

 

At cruise at FL390.

 

On the descent STAR, about to enter the downwind.   Those familiar range rings used to remind me to slow down to comply with strict speed limits are on display.   Remember, airport elevation is 3000ft, so I'm really at about 10,000ft here.

 

Heavy cloud cover as there are rain showers over the vicinity of Bangalore.

 

I turn to downwind.  

 

At the localizer intercept heading, I add flaps 5 and slow to 160kts, which I must maintain up to 5 DME from the runway threshold. 

 

On the localizer and descending into the pea soup engulfing VOBL.

 

Main gear contact and we have arrived at Bangalore.

 

Given instructions to taxi to the remote parking area, I follow the marshaller's guidance.

 

Engine shutdown, and a sea of ground support vehicles closes in.  

 

There is the bus that will take us to the terminal, just like IRL!!

 

I sneak out my camera for one last shot of the Jet Airways 737-700 from the terminal bus. 

 

Well there you have it folks, I have completed all my trips abroad in the NG.  This is a sad occasion on two levels.  First, I have just 2 more days left on my vacation here in Bangalore.  Second, this is probably my last flight in the NGX, at least for the near future, as the brand spanking new PMDG 777 awaits my inspection.   But as the saying goes, never say never.  I don't imagine I will give up the NGX entirely, as I may want to fit in some short hauls here and there.   But I am going to be very busy completing transition training on the 777 and boy are the routes long on that bird!!    As it turns out, my return flight to the United States will be half flown by a British Airways 777-200ER, so I have that trip to look forward to sharing with you folks.

 

The NGX has given me immense pleasure these past 2 years.  I feel like I know her like the back of my hand.   I believe it's the one type I have the most flight sim experience with, going back to my X-plane days in the mid 2000s with the EADT 737NG by Benedikt Stratmann.  This was followed by the PMDG FS9 737, the Wilco 737 Classic for FSX, and the IFLY NG for FSX.   The IFLY was basically a simulator of sorts, allowing me to put what I learned in the PMDG printed manuals to practice in the months leading to the official NGX release in August 2011.   But boy, is she a handful, with all the switches to keep track of on takeoff, thank goodness I have FS2crew to provide a realistic helping hand.   I doubt any real life pilot could imagine flying the NG without a copilot, and I'm sure neither would you.  If you haven't gotten it yet, check it out!  

 

Anyhow, it has been a pleasure sharing my stories of my sim adventures in the NGX with all of you, I only wish I had done this sooner.  I have amassed quite a collection of anecdotes so far, but it is not going to end anytime soon!   It's time for a promotion of sorts, and I have a new toy that will be a source of new adventures to new and faraway lands.   In fact, I have already completed an "initiation" flight on the T7, as Delta Airlines flight 110 from KATL to KLAX!

 

Give me some time to sort though the photos, and I will hopefully have the first of my "777diaries" posted sometime tomorrow! 

 

As always, thanks for your views.

bump

nice photos, could you please email me a link to that vabb airport scenery that you mention you got working in fsx?

Enjoyed reading this, thanks for posting

 

Nice looking sim too!

Lovely Photos once again AJ. Why dont you buy the Thai Creations VABB scenery for FSX, if you intend to do any more flying in and out od Mumbai. It is very nice, except that it has some issues with terrain if you are using FSGlobal. But there is a workaround. Available at Simmarket

 

Dinshaw.

Nice.

 

nebojsa

Lovely Photos once again AJ. Why dont you buy the Thai Creations VABB scenery for FSX, if you intend to do any more flying in and out od Mumbai. It is very nice, except that it has some issues with terrain if you are using FSGlobal. But there is a workaround. Available at Simmarket

 

Dinshaw.

Hi Dinshaw, hope you were able to get the -700 paint for the NGX, she's a beauty.

I would get the Mumbai payware, as it looks incredible.  But I seldom fly in India, I only flew flights from my vacation.  Sorry to say, I spend most of my FSX in the U.S.   That is changing now with the release of the PMDG 777 of course, as I'm on a flight to Dubai at the moment, but I don't really have any desire at the moment to fly to Mumbai in the T7.

I can't justify buying payware airports I won't be using much, no matter how awesome they look.  

 

It's a shame, but I have noticed that apart from VABB and VIDP, interest in India in the flight sim community is very scarce.  But I was enlightened to see some interest here in the forums when I asked about Jet Airways operations.   I would have loved to see a payware VOBL, that I would probably buy as I will be taking the 777 there to imitate my EGLL to VOBL flights as BA118/119!