Some impressions from my ferry flight

[TheFinn88 13]

Hi guys!

I wanted to share some impressions from my ferry flight, which started in Fairbanks Alaska and ended in my home-town at Bern Switzerland. Thanks again to Jan for his great Kar Air liveries, which he created on my request! All flights, a total of 15, were flown on IVAO in real-time and with real weather (Active Sky). I had great fun in the six, and learned alot while flying her across several countries and the atlantic ocean. Total time in the air was 37.6 hours, and total distance flown was 8'742 nautical miles. The engines now have 40+ hours, and they're still all green without having them serviced! I'm handling them all by myself, as I'm not using the AFE.

The route was as followed:

Fairbanks (PAFA) - Anchorage (PANC) - Juneau (PAJN) - Ketchikan (PAKT) - Everett (KPAE) - Jackson Hole (KJAC) - Sioux (KSUX) - Chicago (KMDW) - Pittsburgh (KPIT) - Nantucket (KACK) - St. Johns (CYYT) - Narsarsuaq (BGBW) - Reykjavik (BIRK) - Prestwick (EGPK) - Southampton (EGHI) - Bern (LSZB)

This is where all started, on the Everts tarmac in Fairbanks:

A shot out of the cockpit where I was in cruise from Anchorage to Juneau:

The next shot was taken in cruise over the pacific while flying from Ketchikan to Everett:

And here I was taxing to the runway for departure at Everett, with brandnew Boeings in the background awaiting their new owner:

Approaching Jackson Hole with a nice view out of the cockpit:

This one was taken over Chicago while approaching Midway airport:

On short-final into Chicago Midway:

Nice view on those mighty Pratt&Whitney R-2800 engines after landing on Nantucket island:

In flight above the eastern coast, on the way to St. Johns:

Aprroaching Narsarsuaq Greenland:

On the way from Greenland to Iceland at dusk:

Descending towards Iceland while it's getting darker, I just love this panel-lighting:

Flying through typical english weather right after departing Prestwick:

Close-up view with nice engine details on the last leg from Southampton to Bern:

 

And the final shot after landing in Bern while backtracking to the apron with engines 1 and 4 already turned off:

Now I'm going to fly to several destinations all around europe out of Bern, Zurich or Geneva. So if somebody else is flying (or controlling) on IVAO too, you might come across OHKDA.

[Patco Lch 1,465]

That's really neat Matthias. Thanks for sharing.

[downscc 1,327]

Matthias outstanding!  The first thing I did after the B748 was released and first updated out was get back into the DC-6 and took her in AAL livery from Miami to the updated TNCM St Maarten.  It was a nice 4.5 hr trip crossing the Caribbean using nothing but VOR and NDB and pilotage for navigation.  She really is a joy to fly.

Sorry you won't find me on IVAO but we will still share the joy of flying a classic.

[gazpatt 12]

Really enjoyed reading this, what a great trip!

[scandinavian13 5,192]

15 hours ago, TheFinn88 said:

Fairbanks (PAFA) - Anchorage (PANC) - Juneau (PAJN) - Ketchikan (PAKT) - Everett (KPAE) - Jackson Hole (KJAC) - Sioux (KSUX) - Chicago (KMDW) - Pittsburgh (KPIT) - Nantucket (KACK) - St. Johns (CYYT) - Narsarsuaq (BGBW) - Reykjavik (BIRK) - Prestwick (EGPK) - Southampton (EGHI) - Bern (LSZB)

Great route, and flights.

Out of curiosity, what HS or uni are you in?

[MarkW 1,491]

Great trip. Is there any chance you would write a short post outline of your engine management technique. I have never really come to grips with flying her fully manually and inevitably end up killing an engine or two. Thanks

[Pat Mussotte 92]

Beautiful shots of, IMO, an underrated beauty!

Cheers

[TheFinn88 13]

Thanks for all of your kind words!

15 hours ago, downscc said:

Matthias outstanding!  The first thing I did after the B748 was released and first updated out was get back into the DC-6 and took her in AAL livery from Miami to the updated TNCM St Maarten.  It was a nice 4.5 hr trip crossing the Caribbean using nothing but VOR and NDB and pilotage for navigation.  She really is a joy to fly.

I also did some flights on other planes on some occasions (mainly the outstanding Leonardo MD-82), but I ended up in the cockpit of the DC-6 again. It's just my very favorite aircraft! Because I'm flying online, and a lot of airways and airports just have RNAV waypoints and routes, I'm using the GTN GPS from Flight1 for navigation.  But when there is a departure or arrival route, which can be flown with  VORs or NDBs only, I use them instead. Makes much more fun indeed than just using the GPS!

 

6 hours ago, scandinavian13 said:

Out of curiosity, what HS or uni are you in? 

Sorry, but I don't understand what you mean by "HS" or "uni"?

 

6 hours ago, MarkW said:

Great trip. Is there any chance you would write a short post outline of your engine management technique. I have never really come to grips with flying her fully manually and inevitably end up killing an engine or two. Thanks

Sure, here you go:

1. Always smooth and really slow movements on the throttle-levers and master RPM lever, for me it takes about 10 seconds to reach takeoff-power from idle.
2. Only use full takeoff-power (with ADI) if really needed, e.g. due to short runways, obstacles/terrain around the airport or of course due to a heavy load (I always have a look at the required runway-length charts in the manual). For example; when I take off in the Netherlands on a 8'000ft runway, I would push my engines to just about 50" MAP for takeoff as this will be enough to get airborne there. Our DC-6 has red markers on its BMEP and MAP gauges, use them. The first and lower red marker is max power without ADI, the second and higher marker is max power with ADI, and depending on air pressure an temperature you will hit either the max BMEP or the max MAP first, so keep an eye on both gauges when setting takeoff-power.
3. After takeoff, reduce power to METO (196BMEP/2600RPM) as soon as possible (when clear of obstacles near the runway). And as soon as you're cleaned-up (gear/flaps up) and you reach 140 KIAS, reduce to climb power (I mostly use 165BMEP/2400RPM).
4. Always check your CHT and set cowl-flaps accordingly. For takoff and whole climb I mostly stick to a 3° setting which keep the CHT just below 200°C. In cruise, after setting cruise power, I set them to 0° or -2° depending on OAT at cruise-altitude, so that the CHT stays between 180°C and 200°C. After reducing to descent-power (I always use cruise RPM @ 25" MAP), Close them completly (-4°). But don't forget to open them when you reach your initial approach altitude and add power again! For the final approach I set them to 3°.
5. Never go above cruise-power on auto-lean mixture. For blower-shifts during cruise (which have to be done every 2 hours) I always use auto-rich mixture, just to be sure.
6. For the descent and approach, never go below square (e.g. keep MAP above 22" when your RPM is set to 2200). You can also use your BMEP gauges for this, one of them (#3) has a red marker at 70, so always keep enough power so that the engines run above 70 BMEP. If you can't make the approach/landing with positive power because your'e either too high or too fast, go around and try again with a lower altitude/airspeed. Don't try to force her down.
7. To slow her down for the final approach, I always calculate in a 10nm segment of straight level flight into my descent-planning so that I'm able to slow down from about 200 to 170 KIAS before reaching the IAF. As soon as I hit 170 KIAS, I drop flaps to 20° which helps me to keep the speed slow enough. If she doesn't want to slow down to 170 KIAS (happens to me on some occasions), I set RPM to 2400 early and go for minimum BMEP (70). Because a high RPM setting on low altitudes will actually slow you down. If flaps are not enough to keep the airspeed low , drop your gear for additional drag. The DC-7 had a "speed-brake", which when activated dropped the main landing gear (nose gear was kept retracted).
8. When outside air-temperatures are below 15°C and I fly through some kind of moisture (e.g. rain, fog, clouds) I add some carb-heat to prevent carb-icing. The Levers set at 1/4 to 1/3 is enough to keep the carb-air temperatures above 20°C. Never let the carb-air temperatures go above 40°C while heating. If carb-air temperatures drop below -10°C, you won't run into icing problems anymore. There's a yellow arc on the gauge, which shows the "problem-zone" where you can run into carb-icing. For the final approach, set carb-heat to cold.
9. RPM setting for the final approach: 2400
10. When using reverse-thrust, I never go above 30" MAP, this is enough power to slow her down.

And by the way, I also killed some engines in the beginning after starting to fly all manual.

[pedrotrindade 335]

Beautiful shots Matthias, looks like you had a lot of fun. BTW thank you for your hints.

[MarkW 1,491]

Thanks for the detailed engine management instructions.  Looking forward to trying it out.

[scandinavian13 5,192]

5 hours ago, TheFinn88 said:

Sorry, but I don't understand what you mean by "HS" or "uni"?

Just noticed the watermark at the top right of your screenshots...

[cavaricooper 2,615]

Lovely Matthias, thanks for sharing!  

One of my favorite airframes, and one I keep hoping we will soon revisit.  She is very good, and with a few things worked on would be superlative... I remain optimistic.  Always good to see there are a few of us who don't mind oil on our jeans 🙂

C