So, my little adventure is complete.  My goal was to fly to every towered airport in California (and a few more). 
Along the way my flying changed.  When I started I was flying most of the enroute parts of flights and down to near the approach on autopilot.  As I progressed, I flew more and more by hand until turning on the autopilot was a very rare event...I turned it on twice during the last half of the airports and only for a brief moment while I checked out something I couldn't easily see.  In the end, my skills are nicely improved. 

 

Here's the only screen cap I have of the whole journey.  As luck would have it, KSBA, where it started and ended, was socked in this morning...not a perfect ILS but it did the job...

 

 

Along the way, I found a whole lot of great airports and learned some things about areas I'd flown over many times.  Here's a map (messy) that shows the route...every flight interesting. 

 

http://skyvector.com/?ll=34.42624442630951,-119.84143066626542&chart=301&zoom=3&plan=A.K2.KSBA:A.K2.KFAT:A.K2.KMOD:A.K2.KCCR:A.K2.KRNO:A.K2.KSAC:A.K2.KCIC:A.K2.KRDD:A.K2.KACV:A.K2.KSTS:A.K2.KSMF:A.K2.KAPC:A.K2.KSCK:A.K2.KOAK:A.K2.KSNS:A.K2.KSFO:A.K2.KLVK:A.K2.KSCK:A.K2.KSQL:A.K2.KMOD:A.K2.KMER:A.K2.KPAO:A.K2.KHAF:A.K2.KSJC:A.K2.KMRY:A.K2.KSBP:A.K2.KHWD:A.K2.KPRB:A.K2.KBFL:A.K2.KTOA:A.K2.KRNM:A.K2.KSBD:A.K2.KOXR:A.K2.KSDM:A.K2.KTRM:A.K2.KSEE:A.K2.KPMD:A.K2.KSMO:A.K2.KMHV:A.K2.KRAL:A.K2.KIPL:A.K2.KSMX:A.K2.KCNO:A.K2.KWHP:A.K2.KHHR:A.K2.KCRQ:A.K2.KFUL:A.K2.KPOC:A.K2.KPSP:A.K2.KLAX:A.K2.KSAN:A.K2.KVNY:A.K2.KVCV:A.K2.KSNA:A.K2.KMYF:A.K2.KEMT:A.K2.KLGB:A.K2.KWJF:A.K2.KONT:A.K2.KBUR:A.K2.KCMA:A.K2.KSBA

 

I'm curious what adventures others have created for themselves that might also be interesting. 

 

Gregg

Nice adventure! To bad you only had 1 screenshot..I usually take a dozen every flight

 

 

 

My adventure is my Europe tour on the IVAO network.  From scandinavia,mostly from Arlanda if possible I am flying to every country in Europe.direct if possible.  But flying to gibraltar would mean a stopover at Luton or Heathrow

After that it would probably be long hauls to all continents from Europe

Nice adventure! To bad you only had 1 screenshot..I usually take a dozen every flight

 

 

 

My adventure is my Europe tour on the IVAO network.  From scandinavia,mostly from Arlanda if possible I am flying to every country in Europe.direct if possible.  But flying to gibraltar would mean a stopover at Luton or Heathrow

After that it would probably be long hauls to all continents from Europe

 

 

Yeah, I had to do a replay to get it.  The ceiling was supposed to be 300 AGL but I broke out into that picture closer to 200. 

 

I think I'm going to start doing some Europe flying.  No scenery yet but it'll have to do for now.

I wish I had the time to do something like this.  Between the wife and work I dont get much sim time.  

Gregg,

 

After such a journey, any airport that sticks out such as interesting, challenging, or just plane beautiful to fly into?   I think your next goal is to fly to all non-towered airstrips in Cali!  That will keep ya busy! :lol:

Gregg,

 

After such a journey, any airport that sticks out such as interesting, challenging, or just plane beautiful to fly into?   I think your next goal is to fly to all non-towered airstrips in Cali!  That will keep ya busy! :lol:

 

Well, I need more work on shorter runways so any of the airports that had ~3000 ft runways were the more challenging....KSQL, KPAO were both tougher.  Also, there were two airports that had serious updrafts on final...KRAL, KMOD (I think)...which made them tougher...especially KRAL.  KSEE is down in a circle of mountains, tight in the KSAN airpace and has a short runway.    KHHR is so close to KLAX you could walk over and has short runway.  I enjoyed flying KFAT, KHWD, KCCR. KMHV, KSNS, and KSAC.  There were some others but I don't remember which ones.  I have Megascenery SoCal down south but the rest were all default scenery with UTX which, actually, looked pretty good.

Wow!  Nice job, Gregg.  Seriously cool little project.

 

I'm afraid that I don't have your discipline, as my adventures seem more oriented towards recreating flights I've either done, or would have liked to have done, rather than anything as encompassing as yours. 

 

The one grand tour that I'd like to do would be to recreate the 2 week flying trip I did to Alaska in 1997.  The biggest problem is that I'd like to do it in RW weather and in a plane like the 337, 210 or B55 - IFR capable, but no known ice cert.  In these kinds of planes, most of the legs become VFR only due to icing and MEAs, and that means it's pretty tough to recreate.  IRL, we had remarkably good wx, only getting delayed for 1 day due to wx, but that was beyond lucky.

 

Good job on the hand flying as well, BTW.

 

Scott

 

 

Good job on the hand flying as well, BTW.

 

Thanks Scott,

 

The hand flying made it a lot more fun and it was great to see my skill getting better and better as the project progressed.  I can now hold to within 50 ft of altitude and less then 5 degrees heading.  For the most part, it's a lot better (30-40 ft. 1-2 degrees) but when I'm turning dials and looking at maps I slip a bit.  I guess that's the challenge.  Always something to work on. 

 

Well, the trees are turning so maybe I'll take a flight up across the north.

Hi Gregg the Duke is a great plane to fly isn't it? Shes very hard to fly by hand.I fly it 95% of the time for months now. Your adventure sounds exciting I may try it. Thanks for sharing it.

 

What weather program are you using?

 

 

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Reece

 

 

i Gregg the Duke is a great plane to fly isn't it? Shes very hard to fly by hand.I fly it 95% of the time for months now. Your adventure sounds exciting I may try it. Thanks for sharing it.

What weather program are you using?

 

I use Active Sky...very happy with it.  Flying the Duke...and getting to know it inside and out...was my big goal when I decided to do this.  I was looking for something interesting to do to get there and that's where the idea came from. 

Really cool ! I've wanted to do something like this

I use Active Sky...very happy with it. Flying the Duke...and getting to know it inside and out...was my big goal when I decided to do this. I was looking for something interesting to do to get there and that's where the idea came from.

Yep getting to know your plane inside and out is challenge and fun. I would jump from plane to plane but it always seemed like I was playing a video game. I have a program call Ideal Flight and it will randomly pick airports base on if there is a ILS,parking,tower or other features. Well off to fly.

 

 

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Reece

A very cool adventure indeed and a great choice on the plane, Gregg. :-) The task of flying all legs by hand :-D also comes in like a lot fun. I might be inspired to do the same thing in lets say the upcoming piston Duke update.

 

/ sent from a mobile thingy /

 

 

A very cool adventure indeed and a great choice on the plane, Gregg. :-) The task of flying all legs by hand :-D also comes in like a lot fun. I might be inspired to do the same thing in lets say the upcoming piston Duke update.

 

/ sent from a mobile thingy /

Truly, I don't know that I could've done it unless I'd have flown by hand.  Autopilot makes it pretty boring...and flying by hand with all of the other stuff you have to do makes it not only more interesting, it makes it feel more real.  I'm looking forward to the Duke updates as well!

 

Gregg

Greg,

If you do something like this again you should go to blogspot.com or an equivalent site and create a blog with an entry for each flight.  You could post a screenshot or two and write up a brief narative for each segment, and post progressive images of the map showing your progress.  I did this on a real world road trip when my wife and I retired and moved from So Cal to Eastern Maryland, visiting all the places we had lived on the way (over 40 years).  If you like I can send you a PM with the link to that blog so you see better what I mean.  Would add even more value to your trek and would certainly be followed by a number of us here.