Jump to content
Sign in to follow this  
MM

The Canadian Rockies

Recommended Posts

The Canadian Rockies

We shall fly through a part of the Canadian Rockies along the Alberta-British Columbia border. We start at Blue River [CYCP] to land at Valemount [CAH4]. Then we pick up Yellowhead Pass [YHEAD] which is the main northern pass through the Rocky Mountains. If the visibility is right we shall see the magnificent Mount Robson as we turn at waypoint [ROBSN]. Then we fly through the pass along Route 16 toward Jasper [JASPR] and its small grass field northeast of town at [CYJA]. (The field is normally closed to outsiders, but an exception has been made.)

We go south for a long leg. Flying high in the Rockies, we follow the Athabasca River and the scenic Icefields Parkway for about 60nm to turn west at the popular Athabasca Glacier [ATHAG]. If you look closely, you can see the specially-equipped tourist busses that go up the glacier. Climb to over 10,000 and observe the dramatic Columbia Icefields, with the Snow Dome and imposing Mount Columbia [COLUM] on the right. Then descend into the Columbia River valley and proceed to the recreation-oriented town Golden [CYGE].

In the final phase, we fly through Kicking Horse Pass [KHORW and KHORE] which is the main southern pass through the mountains. With an elevation of 5,338 ft and dangerous winters, the Canadian Pacific Railroad had to do some work to develop the route for what was then the primary connection between eastern Canada and British Columbia. (At the waypoint [SPIRI] you can see the impressive engineering feat employed by the CPR to permit trains to ascend/descend the steep pass more safely. The engineers tunneled two spirals into the mountainsides north and south of the pass to "flatten out" the grade.) The pass now incorporates the Trans Canada Highway, Highway 1. We pass the Fairmont Lodge at Lake Louise (LAKLU) and turn at Banff (the grand old Fairmont hotel at Banff Springs is marked as [GRAND]) to land at the grass strip [CYBA].

Finally, we descend to the Albertan plains to land at Calgary Springbank (CYBW). This is the main General Aviation field for Calgary. With its many based-aircraft, helicopters, maintenance facilities, flight schools and other aviation businesses, Springbank is one of Canada's busiest airports. (In 2016, it ranked 6th overall with 432 aircraft movements per day).

Flight Plan
The flight plan, in two formats, is available here.

N17WF%20Canadian%20Rockies.jpg?dl=1

Aircraft
The route is 318nm as the crow flies but about 360nm with all the twists and turns through the passes, valleys, and between mountain peaks. You probably want something that fast-cruises at 160-170kts (or more) so that we can complete our journey in the allotted time. Good choices might include faster singles like the Comanche, Bonanza, Lancair Legacy or Vans. Or you might prefer a light twin such as the C310, Baron, DA62, or possibly the C421 or Duke. Many other options will work just as well. Please fly what you like.

Scenery
This route is handsomely depicted by the Orbx Northern Rockies regional package. It should be fine with the Orbx basic packages: FTX Global, North America Landclass, and Vector. (If you are using Vector, you might disable the Airport Elevation Correction, AEC, for Jasper CYJA.)

Weather
When we fly through the mountains, the weather will matter. The first choice will be live weather. And the forecast for Saturday, October 6, 2018, is for sunny skies! But if we have clouds that prevent mountain flying (as has been the case for several months in the Canadian Rockies), then we might consider switching to historical weather. It appears that most of the route is partly cloudy but flyable if you use Active Sky starting at 1600 UTC on October 3, 2018. Alternatively, sunny skies predominate if you use Active Sky at 1600 UTC on May 15, 2018. Or, if that does not work, you might select "Fair Weather" or some alternative that will allow you to fly safely in the mountains.

Where & When
Date and time: Saturday October 6, 2018. 18:00 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!

Recommend that you set your departure clock to 1230 hours (12:30pm) in local time at Blue River. (The flight plan crosses time zones.) We shall appreciate good visibility as we wend our way between rocky mountainsides.


--Mike MacKuen
MikeM_AVSIM.png?dl=1

 

Share this post


Link to post
Share on other sites

Another possible mod? (if not done already, maybe I missed it? 😖 ) For those with Global w/ freeware airports along side with Northern Rocky Mountains. CYBW-Springbank is included with both and don't mesh up particularly well.
1 of 2 ways to make it all good..

1) Super easy - Temporarily disable (just for this flight) FTX_AA_GLOBAL_AIRPORTS in your favorite scenery config editor.
       -or-
2) Somewhat easy - Rename the following .bgls to ".OFF" in the ORBX\FTX_NA\FTX_NA_NRM05_SCENERY\Scenery folder.  
       a) FTX_NRM_objects_CYBW_PLC.bgl.OFF
       b) ADE_FTX_NRM_CYBW_Springbank_CVX.bgl.OFF
       c) ADE_FTX_NRM_CYBW_Springbank.BGL.OFF

The later becomes a permanent solution. It results in the global freeware airport to be active and seems to be a newer, better scenery set. (more populated)


20AUG21_Avsim_Sig.png?dl=1  FS RTWR   SHRS F-111   JoinFS   Little Navmap 
 

 

Share this post


Link to post
Share on other sites
On 10/4/2018 at 7:59 AM, spokes2112 said:

Another possible mod? (if not done already, maybe I missed it? 😖 ) For those with Global w/ freeware airports along side with Northern Rocky Mountains. CYBW-Springbank is included with both and don't mesh up particularly well.
1 of 2 ways to make it all good..

1) Super easy - Temporarily disable (just for this flight) FTX_AA_GLOBAL_AIRPORTS in your favorite scenery config editor.
       -or-
2) Somewhat easy - Rename the following .bgls to ".OFF" in the ORBX\FTX_NA\FTX_NA_NRM05_SCENERY\Scenery folder.  
       a) FTX_NRM_objects_CYBW_PLC.bgl.OFF
       b) ADE_FTX_NRM_CYBW_Springbank_CVX.bgl.OFF
       c) ADE_FTX_NRM_CYBW_Springbank.BGL.OFF

The later becomes a permanent solution. It results in the global freeware airport to be active and seems to be a newer, better scenery set. (more populated)

And.. having tried it both ways.. I actually prefer the NRM version (2014) on my system over the Global Airports version (2013)..

Go figure..  :wink:

 


Bert

Share this post


Link to post
Share on other sites

Wx report from Blue River: 'orrible.  

Unless you fancy testing your terrain warning system in fog, you might want to set up one of Mike's historical weather suggestions.

Share this post


Link to post
Share on other sites

The weather today looks like fog and clouds with clearing much later. Let's treat ourselves to good weather. I suggest that we initiate our weather engines for May 15, 2018 at 1600 UTC. (Or go to "Fair Weather" or its equivalent.) And, as indicated before, set our departure time from CYCP at 1230 hours (12:30pm) local time.


--Mike MacKuen
MikeM_AVSIM.png?dl=1

 

Share this post


Link to post
Share on other sites

Great flight Mike and nice shots Roman!


Gunter.png?dl=1

Regards

Gunter Schneider

Share this post


Link to post
Share on other sites

Wonderful flight Mike, and some very nice pictures, Roman!


Steven_Miller.png?dl=1

i7-6700k Gigabyte GA-Z170X-UD5 32GB DDR4 2666 EVGA FTW ULTRA RTX3080 12GB

Share this post


Link to post
Share on other sites

Create an account or sign in to comment

You need to be a member in order to leave a comment

Create an account

Sign up for a new account in our community. It's easy!

Register a new account

Sign in

Already have an account? Sign in here.

Sign In Now
Sign in to follow this  

  • Tom Allensworth,
    Founder of AVSIM Online


  • Flight Simulation's Premier Resource!

    AVSIM is a free service to the flight simulation community. AVSIM is staffed completely by volunteers and all funds donated to AVSIM go directly back to supporting the community. Your donation here helps to pay our bandwidth costs, emergency funding, and other general costs that crop up from time to time. Thank you for your support!

    Click here for more information and to see all donations year to date.
×
×
  • Create New...