RAF 100 Tour, Part 2

[CavalierDuck 106]

This week we continue our tour of RAF bases, while also visiting the "Three Peaks" - Snowdon, Scafell Pike and Ben Nevis, the highest points in Wales, England and Scotland respectively.

We leave from RAF Valley (EGOV) on Angelsey and pass over nearby Snowdon (waypoint SNDN). Continuing east we call at Doncaster Sheffield Airport (EGCN), formerly RAF Finningley, on our way to RAF Coningsby (EGXC), the current home of the Battle of Britain Memorial Flight (BBMF) and the UK's Typhoon force. It's then a short hop to RAF Scampton (EGXP), home of the Red Arrows.  North Yorkshire next and RAF Leeming (EGXE), before going back to the western side of the country for Scafell Pike (SCFL), the highest point in England. Now we head north into Scotland, stopping at RAF Leuchars (EGQL) followed by a visit to Ben Nevis (BNVS), the higest point in Scotland and the UK, before concluding the tour at RAF Lossiemouth (EGQS).

Aircraft: last week's choices would all be perfectly good, although you might want to be aware that there are some longer legs so it may be worth choosing an aircraft in which you'll be comfortable for longer flights.

 

Flight plans

PLN

GFP

 

Scenery

All the airports should be in the default simulators, and have Orbx upgrades if you have the regional sceneries.  We have freeware sceneries for Valley (used last week), Doncaster and Coningsby that work in P3D4. As we're going through the mountains, an enhanced mesh would be an advantage.

Doncaster EGCN: UK2000 Free version (note there is both a free and a demo version, you probably want the free one which is a cut-down version of the full payware product).

Coningsby: ACG version on AVSIM

 

Where & When

Date and time: Saturday 19th May, 2018, 1800 UTC. 

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!

Setting your clocks for 1600 local time at the start  should give us a nice late afternoon/early evening flight. Let's hope the weather cooperates so we can fly through the mountains...

 

[CavalierDuck 106]

I may have spoken too soon about the Doncaster EGCN UK2000 Free scenery above being OK in P3D4. It worked on first test but since then I've been getting CTDs every time I go near it.  I might have isolated the culprit to a single file in the \scenery folder for the airport though:

EGCN_FS9code.BGL

I have switched this file off and I've had three successful tests now. I haven't worked out what this file contributes but the most important bits (runway, ground textures, main buildings) are certainly still there.

Just to make clear, this applies to the free version only, which is not claimed to be P3D4 compatible. The full payware UK2000 sceneries are fully P3D4 compatible (I can confirm, I've got enough of them....)

Coningsby is fine, but if you have Orbx England and go looking you will find some duplicate hangars. To get rid of these go to your Orbx folder, search "EGCN" "EGXC"and rename to .OFF all the files returned.

Edit: you all knew I meant EGXC, didn't you? 🙄

[MM 424]

Nick. Thanks for the help on EGCN and EGXC. Both seem to work well in P3Dv4.

I am sure that you will remind us that the Lake District is a special Low Flying Area, a Tactical Training Area, in which military aircraft may fly down to 1000ft AGL (or sometimes lower). [For non-locals, the waypoint for Scafell Pike (SCFL) marks the Lake District.]

[yidahoo 365]

2 hours ago, MM said:

military aircraft may fly down to 1000ft AGL

Actually its 100ft for fixed wing and ground level for helicopters in the Tactical Training Areas during operation hours. Any other UK non-controlled airspace is 250ft for fixed wing and ground level helicopters.