After downloading the entirety of BlueSky photoscenery, it's time to start exploring! Based on the recommendation of another user, I started by flying from KCNY to KBCE. I loaded the Cherokee, this time equipped with all of the Knots2U speed mods, with a full load of 4 people and half a tank of 100LL.

 

After takeoff, we track the Hanksville VOR to the southwest.

 

 

 

There were some truly amazing sites to be seen here. The following is definitely one of my favorites:

 

 

 

 

The speeds mods took some getting used to, as the power settings that I was used to could easily place the airspeed into the yellow band. Additionally, thanks to ASN, there was a great deal of turbulence coming off the ridges. It was a very bumpy flight.

 

 

I soon found myself face to face with a mountain ridge and was forced to fly south to avoid it. This airplane is not equipped with supplemental oxygen, so there was no way to fly above it safely.

 

 

 

 

 

About an hour and a half later, it was time to land. The high altitude of Utah makes flying here very interesting. The field altitude here is 7500 ft.

 

 

 

 

 

And there you have it! After this flight, I cannot recommend the free BlueSky photoscenery enough. It can take a while to download (the entire package is about 225gb!), but a smaller region such as southern Utah as shown here is quite reasonable. The A2A Cherokee and ASN were also used in these screen shots.

Cool shots, makes me want to fire up the 172.

Thanks for the info about Blue Sky. I just checked the website, and saw some amazing video. Really liked the new one from the Page, Arizona and Lake Powell area.  These are the scenic places where I flew many years of real life flights.  Would often head down to Bryce Canyon, on Monument Valley, then to Page, Arizona at the southern end of Lake Powell.  For the return trip to KSLC, I'd head back up the lake channel to the confluence of the Green and Colorado rivers, then past Dead Horse Point, and on to Canyonlands airport by Moab for refueling.  When I get back to my flight computing rig, I'll be downloading it all too!  

Captured the texture and color of the real world!

 

HLJAMES

Nice shots!