Xplane11, Around the Superstition Mountains and from Payson Arizona to Falcon Field Arizona

[Guest John_Cillis]

A couple of different flights here.  The one with the traditional Cessna 172 livery is over the Superstition Mountains and the site of the big Renaissance Pleasure Fair, which although seasonal is what I call Arizona's Disneyland while it runs, it is just east of Apache Junction, on the way out of the Phoenix Metro area.  The second flight is from Payson to Falcon Field, a great, scenic route for VFR flight or for even a nice drive from Arizona's mountain country down into the desert, I've driven it a couple of times and it is hard to drive, the scenic beauty is so distracting!  The approach into Falcon Field is the one I've flown the most in real life as a Light Sport Student, in an Allegro 2000, a two seater with the same performance soecs as a 172.  Due to the difficulty of renting the only light sport trainer in the valley at the time, I gave up my fixed wing lessons just shy of solo for trike lessons instead.  But I will finish my light sport ticket someday.

John

[scottb613]

Hi...

Nice set - if you fly there at night - please make sure you have terrain avoidance on your GPS...

Regards,

Scott

[Guest John_Cillis]

6 minutes ago, scottb613 said:

Hi...

Nice set - if you fly there at night - please make sure you have terrain avoidance on your GPS...

Regards,

Scott

LOL, I know what you mean!.  When I took my lessons out of Falcon Field, the practice area was to the north near Paradise Valley.  Between the field and the practice area there was a peak of significant height, and because of the weird thermal activity we have in Arizona, I had to give the peak wide berth as it was on the approach to the field.  You can see it in pic #11.  There was not one lesson I took where I did not have to have a deft foot on the rudder pedals to deal with the tricky chop around Falcon Field, especially in the spring when the temps break the 80's.  One reason I like trike flying so much is the feet are along just for the ride, and trike pilots restrict themselves to low wind conditions.  I'd love to find a trike for XPlane11.

 

John

[scottb613]

Hi John,

I haven’t flown out there but I read alot about it and the design of the airspace after that Rockwell 690 flew into the side of Superstition Mountain a few years back - seems like the design of the airspace and ATC were listed as contributing factors to the crash as they’re not very friendly to night VFR flights - obviously - the pilot carries the lions share of the blame... It’s hard to fathom an accident like this with almost every GPS having some type of terrain avoidance today...

Regards,

Scott

[HLJames]

Great looking shots in Arizona mountain country!

HLJAMES

[Guest John_Cillis]

1 hour ago, scottb613 said:

Hi John,

I haven’t flown out there but I read alot about it and the design of the airspace after that Rockwell 690 flew into the side of Superstition Mountain a few years back - seems like the design of the airspace and ATC were listed as contributing factors to the crash as they’re not very friendly to night VFR flights - obviously - the pilot carries the lions share of the blame... It’s hard to fathom an accident like this with almost every GPS having some type of terrain avoidance today...

Regards,

Scott

Controlled flight into terrain is always one of the most terrible types of accidents, and can happen for many reasons.  The biggest risk pilots face in Arizona is in the summer, the ha boob, which can come out of no where and turn VFR into IFR in an instant.  I almost got caught in one flying a trike with an instructor in New Mexico.  The instructor was in a state of panic and kept asking me if I was OK, I said I was fine.  I took a course on meteorology in College and I could read how our flying conditions were going to pan out.  We made a beeline for Double Eagle Field in Albuquerque, and I had to help the instructor control the trike given the sudden high crosswinds.  Just at touchdown, the haboob started to sweep across the field.  Another trike pilot was flying to our northwest, and he had to wait it out before he could land his single place trike.  Haboobs (or Dust Storms) can be generated from a thunderstorm cell 40-50 miles away, as the thunderstorm collapses a mass of air goes out in all directions and generates new thunderstorms if the conditions and humidity are right.  When I worked at Doubletree Hotels' HQ when it was based in Phoenix (it's based in Memphis now), my desk overlooked Sky Harbor airport (my boss made a big mistake putting an aviation enthusiast in such a juicy spot, talk about a distracted worker!).  I saw many dust storms get generated and sweep in over the airport, and you could see how ATC would change the traffic pattern trying to keep pace, or sometimes just divert the flights to Tuscon or Vegas.  Obviously a GPS is a must today for pilot awareness, they are easy to obtain and can help pilots navigate around terrain--provided there is juice to power the gps.  My former boss, who was a pilot, had a total electrical failure flying a piston single towards the Chicago Metro area, fortunately it is flat terrain and he was able to land safely.  But imagine such an issue around Falcon Field, during a Ha Boob!  I shudder to think of what I'd do.

John

 

[hs118]

That's the XPlane I know and love. Nicely done realistic lighting and colors! Beautiful country too!