Mountain flying.

[birdguy 3,963]

I'm an advocate of general aviation flying in my sim and I was glad to add the Orbx Big Bear City airport to my collection recently.

I also like mountain flying.  And in that vein let me introduce you to some of the most spectacular mountain scenery the Orbx developers have created.  I am familiar with the Sierra Nevada range or the High Sierras as we call them.  I've backpacked in some of the areas that are protected by Sequoia, Kings Canton and Yosemite National Parks.

Yesterday I started my flight at Big Bear City airport because I wanted to visit that new Orbx addition.  It's a 2 hour flight in my Quest Kodiak.

Create a VFR GPS flight plane from Big Bear to Lake Tahoe (KTVL).

Take off from Big Bear and when you have enough altitude turn southeast to intercept the GPS course.  When you are established on it set your AP altitude to 14,500 feet.  Be sure you have your portable oxygen tanks with you.

The first half hour of your flight will take you over the Mojave Desert,  When you get to Ridgecrest you will be entering the southern part of the range.

Flying over the granite shield you will eventually be in the high country.  Peaks here range from12,000 feet to Mt Whitney, the highest peak in the lower 48 at 14,495ft.

Enjoy the scenery.  The 'U' shaped valleys were gouged out by glaciers.  Snow and small glaciers cover many of the peaks all year round.  The high country is dotted with small lakes.  I've caught golden trout in some of them.  At one point you can see Mono Lake down in the Owens Valley to the east.

I'm flying on autopilot looking at the valleys and benches and peaks and am in awe of the Orbx handiwork.  They got it right.

When Lake Tahoe is in sight start reducing your altitude to 9000ft.  I like to fly my approach across Fallen Leaf Lake just to the southwest of Lake Tahoe.  Then continue flying to Emerald Bay, a small finger of Lake Tahoe that extends to the west.  Now Turn east.  You should be at about 9,000 feet.  You can see the runway on your GPS to familiarize yourself where it's supposed to be.  The runway will be visible out your right window.  Then turn south and line up with it.

This is one of my favorite flights when I have a couple hours to kill.

Noel

Edited September 1, 2018 by birdguy

[Penzoil3 481]

Sounds good. But ya'know, I've never been able to get a mountain to fly. I can fly over the mountains in a plane though...

 LOL

 Sue

Edited September 1, 2018 by Penzoil3

[fghdgdfdfgfgf 111]

3 hours ago, birdguy said:

This is one of my favorite flights when I have a couple hours to kill.

Noel

I don't know what your puter specs are but, if for absolutely no other reason than to run [TERRAIN] TEXTURE_SIZE_EXP=10 get a 1080Ti. That Orbx Nor -Cal scenery is a flipping master piece .....and with the 1080ti and the mentioned terrain tweak you get to see it in all its glory from horizon to horizon. I do Reno to Sfo at least twice a day (usually once in the morning and one around sunset).

edit: I wish the artist had done Mono .....and maybe another region that extended a out to Colorado (KDEN) for that matter. It's hard for me to do a flight that leaves or begins outside the Pacific coast regions.

Edited September 1, 2018 by FunknNasty

[John_Cillis 2,406]

I love mountain flying and I agree about the U shaped, glacially carved valleys like Owens Valley below Mt. Whitney to be very impressive, or out of Innsbruck in the Austrian Alps.  I have driven Owens Valley, used to live in the beautiful U shaped valley in Minden Nevada, below Lake Tahoe.  I would climb 4000 vertical feet in my car commuting to my job at Harrah's Tahoe every day, then down again for the beautiful aircraft like views into Carson Valley.  I love MSE's California, Utah and Nevada scenery, as well as their New Mexico and Arizona scenery.  I've made Colorado scenery for FSX and P3D found here in Avsim's library, my first photoreal MSFS/P3D project.  I also generated Wyoming photo scenery using FSEarthtiles so I could enjoy the Teton's, Yellowstone, and the mountains in the rest of our nation's highest state.

 I also love Xplane11's excellent mesh, which even models the odd looking mountain scenery around Angel Falls near Canaima Venezuela, where i visited on a Cessna 402 back in 1990.  I just posted some nice Colorado pics out of Ft. Collins and over the eastern Rockies using Xplane11's excellent default mesh, autogen and landclass which can be seen in the screenshots forum.  ORBX has been a class act for the hobby since their inception, I find MSE the same way, both adding the realism users enjoy in the hobby.  And nothing is better than a mountain flight in a Cessna 310 out of Bishop California, headed up the Owens Valley to Reno.

Better yet, the Cessna 337 with its excellent forward of the wing views from the driver's seat.

John

[birdguy 3,963]

Sue, it's difficult to fly mountains unless you find the right one.  They are rare.  Sometimes the cockpits are hidden and hard to find.  But once you find one and get it to take off they are pretty easy to fly except for the landing.  You normally crash.  Usually after a pilot lands a mountain he/she just leaves it there to blend in with the scenery because they are unsalvageable.

I know of only one pilot skilled enough to successfully take of and land a mountain.  Snoopy.  But of course he trained on dog houses.   If you are ever in California you can see it.  Just over the hills from Santa Rosa right on the shore of Clear Lake is Snoopy's plane.  Today it's called Mount Konocti. 

Noel

 

Edited September 2, 2018 by birdguy

[Howellerman 104]

I agree: Orbx smacked it out of the park with NA California. I like to construct "medical supply delivery" flights, both around the Lake Tahoe and Shasta Lake areas. Lots of up and down, and you need to know the topography to make non-eventful landings. My favorite aircraft for these trips is the Carenado C337 with Hank's turbo modifications. It sure is nice to have turbo power above 10,000 feet. 

An example flight will take off from Minden (a great NA freeware airport courtesy of Orbx), stop at Carson City to pick up the medical supplies, and then stops at Truckee, KBLU, Grass Valley, KCPU for delivery and then back to Minden. If I get really committed I will reduce the payload at each stop.  :)  Lots of fun!