1st flight of the new year!

[Steve Dra 7,574]

Happy New Year all my fellow simmers!

2016 is behind us now, let's all celebrate the beginning of 2017 with shots of our 1st flights.

 

For me, it's taking my Cathay 744 pseudo freighter from Anchorage to Taiwan.  I got both airports at the holiday sales.  :smile:

Here she is on a chilly and busy PANC ramp...UPS and FedEx getting their flocks ready for flight as well.

 

Doing the walk around....It's going to be a beautiful dawn departure.

 

More pics when I get her buttoned up and on her way.

Here is my route:

TURNA7 TED NODLE R220 NANZA R220 NAYLD R220 NOGAL R220 NANNO ALICE Y111 MQE Y124 GTC Y45 KMC Y382 WAKIT Y282 ASANO Y282 POPPY Y34 SUKMO Y50 IGMON A1 BULAN A1 DRAKE DR1A

[JYW 2,977]

Nice job Steve, lovely pics!

[HLJames 2,568]

Beautiful loading shots and lighting!

 

HLJAMES

[Metal_Sky 14]

That the iFly?

[Steve Dra 7,574]

Thanks guys.

 

Ricky, yes, this is the iFly 747.

 

Here we are, hooking up for push back.  UPS MD-11 holding short of runway 15 while an Alaska 737 taxis to line up behind her.

 

Starting the push....

 

Push complete, starting engines, We'll be sequencing behind that mighty FedEx 777F.

 

Waiting our turn..com'on 777..we're burning fuel here! Hehe.

 

More pics to follow when we get on our way.

 

[Navigator43 25]

Very nice happy new year

[HighBypass 2,339]

A most excellent repaint and great shots!

[Steve Dra 7,574]

Thanks Aushie and Mark!

Here are the departure shots:

 

Even though we're going a long way...we did not have a full load and those Rolls Royce's lifted her off with authority.

Look at all the pretty FedEx birds lined up in the background.  Which reminds me I still have to paint a FedEx 747...If I can find some good pics.

 

Here is a fantastic shot a local spotter took:  One of my favorite shots in a while.  great angle.  I can only imagine the spotter got snow-blasted from the left a few moments after he took this shot. 

 

Bye Bye Anchorage...We'll see ya on the return trip (with a different carrier, I'm flying all my cargo liveries this time....sadly I never flew some of the 777F's I painted.)

 

I'll post a few en route shots soon.   I'm really loving the Queen, such a beautiful bird to fly! 

 

Hey Mark,

If you have the iFly 747 for FSX or P3d I could let you have an early set of these textures if you wanted to fly her around while we're waiting for a freighter model.

[JAT 185]

Nice shots.

 

nebojsa

[ctiger 49]

Really some nice pics and repaints. Looking forward to your arrival at Taiwan. I also picked up Pacsim Taiwan, what an excellent airport and great fps.

[HighBypass 2,339]

Thanks you very much for the kind offer, Steve. Sadly I don't have the iFLY bird. Appreciated though!

 

That last shot, of her climbing out.... outstandingly realistic!

[Steve Dra 7,574]

Thanks guys!  She's been a blast to fly and paint...IMO this is a quality addon that no 747 fan should pass up if you can swing $60 from the budget!

 

Hey Mark, I like that shot too!

 

Hey Carl....I am thoroughly impressed with the PacSim scenery!  A steal at $21 IMO...speaking of the arrival in RCTP....first the en-route shots high in the clear blue atmosphere.... 

I must say this lady looks stunning in her birthday suit with no haze and a blazing sun reflecting off her skin.  :smile:

 

You see a lot of puffy clouds over the middle of the Pacific.

 

Here we are drifting down into the approach...it was foggy at the airport and surrounding area.  The very distinctive green EVA buildings leave no doubt you're landing at RCTP!

 

As I was prepping for the approach, ATC changed the runway on me!   Ugh....Hit heading select, told them just give me vectors 'cause I aint reprogramming the approach, hehe.

The giant smokestack materialized through the haze....that is one obstacle that makes you focus on your alignment runways 23, 24!

 

Over the refinery...almost to the runway.

 

Just before we kiss the runway....another angle that is very cool in my opinion. 

 

One of my riders grabbed this wing shot as we're decelerating, boards up, reversers doing their thing.  Nice shot of the excellent building textures at PacSim's scenery too.

 

Turning into spot 15, goofy marshaller hiding behind that light pole!

 

All shut down, freight coming off...time to grab a shuttle to the hotel!   Maybe I'll run into that UPS crew there....I'll be flying their 747 on another flight soon.

 

It's been a while since I've done a long haul, and it was great to do it in a new bird (new to me, LOL), and new scenery I picked up.  The Intelligent Cruise feature is very nice if you're a simmer who doesn't want to use valuable potential simming time watching the plane drone on for hours over an empty ocean, but I also enjoy VATSIM events too where I do everything real-time, so I'm a hybrid simmer as it were )  

 

Deciding on where to go next....maybe a short hop over to VHHH or Singapore...hmmm.

[Metal_Sky 14]

Wow, nice shots again. WIll have to break out the c/c at that price.

[Richard Sennett 2,499]

Great stuff Steve - Happy New Year 

[Steve Dra 7,574]

Thanks guys!

Ricky I'm getting much enjoyment from this purchase.

 

I've decided to fly my freighter paints on the pax model as I enjoy the city pairs you can fly freight to.

I'll also do more pax flights with Air Pacific, Lufthansa and KLM as I think for now the 747 is all I'll be flying (I really love everything about the aircraft itself, the history, the prestige, the unique view from the flightdeck and the altered sensation of speed on the takeoff roll, etc). 

 

Need to do a KLAX to EDDF Lufthansa flight, then maybe an EHAM to KJFK to work out the KLM textures.  :smile: