On Top of the World. Nepal and the Himalayas

We shall fly "on top of the world" along the Nepalese Himalayas. We depart from Jumla (VNJL) in the west, and make a couple of stops at Dolpa (VNDP) and Jomsom (VNJS) while exploring the remote mountains and valleys of Upper Dolpo and the forbidden Kingdom of Lo in Mustang. Then down to the larger cities of Pokhara (VNPK) and the capital Kathmandu (VNKT). And finally, we climb again high into the Himalayas to circle Mount Everest before descending to the safety of Lukla (VNLK).

The flightplan and a Pilot's Guide are available here.

Aircraft:

A number of airlines serve the remote areas in such aircraft as the Pilatus PC-6 Porter, Cessna 208B Caravan, the DHC-6 Twin Otter, and the Dornier Do 228. You can add the Quest Kodiak as a newer and more powerful member of this class. (When you select your aircraft, be mindful of the altitude requirement. Here you will need to attain at least 25,000 and probably 27,000 feet. The PC-6, DHC-6, Do 228 and Kodiak do the job. The C208B just barely does.) This adventure is designed for the aircraft that routinely fly these airways. If you prefer, the Pilatus PC-12 and Beech Duke Turbine can handle these short fields and their added power and speed will make the high altitude flights more comfortable. In any case, please disable your aircraft damage models. We shall abuse our engines. The VNKT maintenance staff have their ways. (See the Pilot's Guide.)

Scenery:

The only necessary scenery upgrade: To land at Lukla, we shall use Guy Nemoz's freeware FSX scenery. In P3Dv4, the buildings do not carry over. But the sloped runway, apron, elevation and location of the airstrip are very nearly correct. (The default is not close at all.) This Lukla scenery should work in FSX and P3Dv4 – adequately with the default mesh and very well with the Sandmann & de Ferranti mesh (see below) or with FreeMeshX.  (For P3Dv4, we do not recommend the payware Lukla.)

You can download the Guy Nemoz scenery here. Scroll down to "M)NEPAL"
http://www.vf-air.com/FSX2.htm
Click both the first and last lines to get the scenery and the fix.

Additional scenery: You probably want to install these 4 additional sceneries. The FTX Global textures mixed with the P3D default landclass are not good enough. These are easy installations.

1. Himalayan Peaks LOD10 Mesh Vol 1 Mt Everest & Kula Kangri. Holger Sandmann & Jonathan de Ferranti.

At Avsim: Look for fs_him_01.zip (53MB)
Here: https://library.avsim.net/download.php?DLID=81078

2. Himalayan Peaks LOD10 Mesh Vol 4 Annapurna. Holger Sandmann & Jonathan de Ferranti.

At Avsim: Look for fs_him_04.zip (15MB)
Here: https://library.avsim.net/download.php?DLID=148882

3. Himalayan Peaks vol 2 Mt Everest Photoreal Textures. Holger Sandmann.

At Avsim. Look for fs_him_02.zip (77MB)
Here: https://library.avsim.net/download.php?DLID=145310

4. Everest 2008 High Resolution. Frank Dainese.

Here: https://www.flightsim.com/vbfs/fslib.php?do=copyright&fid=122730 and
https://www.flightsim.com/vbfs/fslib.php?do=copyright&fid=122731

And possibly ...

5. Himalayas LOD9 Mesh Vols 1-2. Holger Sandmann & Jonathan de Ferranti.

If you have no advanced mesh at all, then you might well consider installing this more basic mesh for the fuller region. (The LOD10 mesh covers only the peaks.)
Sandmann and De Ferranti have 5 volumes but you need only 2 for this week's flight.
At AVSIM look for fs_him_b1.zip and fs­_him_b2.zip.

If you have an advanced mesh for Nepal, then you certainly want to activate Orbx Vector's AEC capabilities. If you have the default mesh, then the default airports are fine in their natural state. If you have advanced mesh but no Vector AEC, then please look carefully at how your airports are situated.

For more details on the scenery and the flight plan, please see the Pilot's Guide.

Particulars:

Date and time: Saturday March 31, 2018. 18:00 UTC. (NOTE TIME CHANGE.)

Where: AVSIM RTWR Teamspeak - Casual Flights Channel
Teamspeak Server Address: ts.teamavsim.com
Cross-Platform Multiplayer: JoinFS. (FSX, FSX-SE, and P3D).

If you want to help others enjoy the multiplayer experience, don't forget to enter your aircraft details on the multiplayer spreadsheet (linked here). Your courtesy will save others a lot of time and effort. Thanks!

Recommend that you set your departure clock to 08:00 hours in local time. Himalaya flights are morning flights to avoid the rising winds and turbulent weather that typically arise later in the day.

Small point. The Premier Aircraft Design (PAD) "FSX" renditions of the DHC-6 and Do 228 are FS9 models – they are not native FSX models. They are incompatible with P3Dv4 and are thus not useful as proxies.

Thanks Mike!

As a little teaser, I like to share some pictures I took in 1977 when we first flew from New Delhi to Kathmandu and then drove back to New Dehli with a VW 141. About 1130 km (702 miles) on roads or what was meant to be a road.

Unfortunately, Kathmandu looks quite different today after the city was hit by at least one devastating earthquake and a revolution.

Royal Nepal Airlines took us to Kathmandu along the Himalaya:

Kathmandu in 1977:

Stupa Swayambhunath, in a temple for Buddhists and Hindus:

Enroute with the VW 141:

Near Pokhara:

Great photos, Gunter. Look forward to a few stories on Saturday.
--M

I see that Mike has gone deep down the Himalaya YouTube rabbit hole, and I have followed you.   Great video selection Mike.   Really, really good stuff. 

Yeah, great stuff. That reminded me to search for the photos above...

I'm delighted that you like the videos. It's always fun to learn about unusual places when we do these flights. And Nepal has always been a remote and exotic destination. I'm especially eager to hear from Gunter (and anyone else who has visited) about what the place feels like when you are there.

Looking forward this weekend's flights.. It's been a while.  First have to get the co-pilot's hair out of the sim computer..



HA !!!
 

What's it like on frames?

On the Everest Massif

Some details of our route over the Mount Everest massif. A quick warning: when we reach the high mountains we shall want to continue climbing...because eventually we shall need about 27,000 feet in hard-to-earn altitude.

The first peak we see as we rise over the final ridge 60nm from Kathmandu is the dramatic Gaurishankar, a relatively low-lying 7134m. (This is a very technical climb.) Then as we approach waypoint [KL3] we pass over Lunag Glacier and then turn left over Sumna Glacier toward [KL4]. We see Cho Oyu about 2nm to the north. Cho Oyu is the world's sixth highest peak at 8201m. It is considered the most accessible of the eight-thousanders. It was well-known early as it sits on the glaciated pass that for centuries was the trading route between Tibet and the Sherpas of the Khumbu. We fly that pass.

We then pass over the Chinese-Tibetan side of the ridge turning at [KL5] from which we see the northern face of Everest. This is the side preferred by professionals. It is a more technical climb than the more common southern route, but it is more dependable because the challenge lies in the climb rather than in the unpredictable changing ice conditions. The 1953 British expedition turned to the southern route because the northern one was then closed by the newly conquering Chinese troops. [The Northern route is now open for Westerner climbers.]

We turn over [ICE] which marks the Khumbu Icefall and the Khumbu Glacier. The Icefall is one of the more treacherous portions of the climb with the fast-shifting ice moving down the mountain at about 4-5 feet a day, opening and closing crevasses without warning and sending house-sized ice boulders tumbling down the fall. Still climbing, we turn up the Western Cwm and approach the Lhotse face. Lhotse (8515m) is the world's fourth highest peak. Finally achieving over 26,500 feet, we can just nip up to and crest the South Col. (The South Col is the last camping spot for expeditions to the peak. Merely reaching this spot requires considerable courage, stamina, and climbing skill. You can look up to the left to admire Mount Everest rising 3,000 feet above at 8848m.

BTW. Climbing Everest, while now a popular enterprise, remains a very deadly proposition.

Cresting the South Col gives just a spectacular view. And then, when turning back to the south and starting our descent, we see magnificent Makalu (8485m and fifth highest) less than five miles ahead.  We continue the steep descent turning at Namche Bazaar [NAMCH], the commercial gateway to the Himalayas where aspiring climbers spend some time acclimatizing themselves to extreme altitudes. (This is home of many of the professional Sherpa mountaineers.)

Then down to Lukla. Note that the flightplan takes us down the valley past Luklu whose runway is slanted away from the downward path. Turning in the next valley, we approach from the south and make a flawless landing on the sloped runway of Lukla. Be sure to note that the Guy Nemoz airport's lower threshold is marked [LUKA] in the flightplan and the upper tarmac is marked [LUKB]. The actual FSX/P3D airport (VNLK) has been eliminated – although we keep the designation for flightplanners that require a FSX/P3D default airport as the final destination.

Just a reminder that you will want to install the Guy Nemoz Lukla Airport (freeware) as described at the top of the thread.

Thanks Mike!

I'm glad we are just flying there, not climbing or hiking!!!

Sightseeing Weather in Nepal

If we're going this far around the world, we certainly want to see the grand Himalayan vistas. You might consider starting from Jumla (VNLJ) with the FSX/P3D default "Fair Weather" theme and then, at Kathmandu (VNKT) switching to "Clear Weather."

Alternatively, if you want "real weather" you might consider setting Active Sky to Historical Weather. When you start at Jumla, set the starting time as Thursday, March 29, 2018 at 23:00 UTC. You may find light snow flurries that will disappear soon to give you high puffy clouds that will only occasionally obscure your vision. There will be thunderstorms in the Kathmandu valley, but the timing should allow you to miss their heaviest portions. And the skies will clear on the way to Everest and Lukla. In any case, if the weather does start cloud up, you can quickly disable Active Sky and switch to the P3D "Clear Skies" weather theme.

Hope this helps make the trip more enjoyable.

This has got FUN written all over it!

Just arrived at Kathmandu

http://fs-duenna.com/flights/ShowFlight.php?flight=vgYyk3qz7L6txcVyKXCJsNhvMw

On my way to Jumla

Holy "___" Jeff!!  Outstanding!!

Some fold'n papers for y'all - Mike was right, there's currently a SIGMET for T-Storms CatII on the north side of the range.