Mexico, segunda parte

[CavalierDuck 106]

The second part of our tour through Mexico and Central America.

We start at Mexico City (MMMX) where we finished two weeks ago.  We'll fly southeast towards the two volcanos Iztaccihuatl (first waypoint) and Popocatepetl (second).  Your altitude is up to you but the summit of Popocatepetl is 17,802ft.  Past the volcano, make a fast descent to Puebla (MMPB), our first landing.  Next stop will be Tehuacan (MMHC), from where we will head across the mountains to Cordoba where we will fly over the local airport (MM20) then head south and back across the mountains to Oaxaca (MMOX).  After Oaxaca we go for a glimpse of the Pacific at Ixtepec (MMIT). Now we fly back inland towards Tuxtla, overflying the old airport (MMTG in FSX/P3D) and the military airbase before landing at the new airport (MMTG in RL but MMT2 in the sim). Our last leg takes us to the finish at San Cristobal de Las Casas (MMSC, now closed in RL).

Flightplans

The flightplans are a bit of a mare this week due to airports towards the end of the route opening and closing and changing ICAO codes, but I think I've got something that makes sense.  The PLN is quite straightforward, with the exception that MMTG refers to the old Tuxtla airport (overflight), the new one being MMT2 (landing). For F1 GTN users I have had to use user waypoints for many of the airports, and as the GTN won't allow a flight plan to finish at a user waypoint I had to add a final leg  (which you can just ignore) back to an airport that was in both databases correctly.

Download the flightplans here.

Aircraft

Same as two weeks ago, we're looking for something quite fast to cover the distances.  300kts cruise ideal, 250kts minimum is my suggestion.  Private jets, fast turboprops, subsonic military jets, warbirds, all good choices.  Fly whatever you like but I recommend it's not a Piper Cub.  I expect I'll be sticking with my Lear 35.

Scenery

Orbx FTX Global textures + FTX NA landclass are a good combination, especially with an addon mesh for the mountains.  I switched Vector on for test flights and didn't get pauses, but YMMV.  The volcanoes are depicted in photoreal in one of the Orbx pacakges, NA landclass I believe (please someone correct me if I'm wrong)

We should be grateful to Fernando Angel Gonzalez who has made freeware addon packages for many of the stops on our route.  The links might even work this time:

Puebla MMPB

Tehuacan MMHC

Oaxaca MMOX

Tuxtla (new) MMTG/MMT2 (note: not in FSX/P3D, you might want to get this one at least)

San Cristobal MMSC

Particulars

Date and time: Saturday, 23rd March, 2019. 1900 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!

 

[MM 422]

Great route Nick. You provide a wonderful view of some dramatic mountainous country – as well as a couple of airmanship challenges should the weather be imperfect. Fernando Angel Gonzalez's scenery packages add to the experience and are a snap to install.

Two minor things. First, those who install the scenery should be sure that they disable Vector's AEC for MMHC and MMSC. (Diligent pilots will already have done so by running Vector's internal updater. The rest of us should check.)

Second, GTN 750 users might consider tweaking the flight plan as follows. (a) Insert the airport MMIT after MMOX, and optionally remove the waypoint now immediately following MMOX. (b) Insert the airport MMTG after MMTB, and optionally remove the waypoint now immediately following MMTB. Store the new flight plan, probably with a new name.

Explanations: (a) MMIT is a military field which has only recently opened up to civilian traffic. MMIT is in the Garmin GTN 750 database although with a military name that does not match the civilian airport name "Ixtapec". (b) And as Nick explained the current MMTG, inaugurated in 2006, is not in FSX/P3D. It is designated MMT2 by Fernando Angel Gonzalez in order to distinguish it from the old and closed MMTG which persists in the FSX/P3D database. Happily, the current MMTG is in the current Garmin GTN 750 database while the old one is not. So GTN users can properly designate MMTG in the GPS and take advantage of any GPS-related information to land at the current airport. (We merely overfly the old MMTG and do not use it.)

[Viking01 181]

Thanks Mike!

[CavalierDuck 106]

On 3/19/2019 at 2:06 AM, MM said:

Second, GTN 750 users might consider tweaking the flight plan as follows. (a) Insert the airport MMIT after MMOX, and optionally remove the waypoint now immediately following MMOX. (b) Insert the airport MMTG after MMTB, and optionally remove the waypoint now immediately following MMTB. Store the new flight plan, probably with a new name.

Explanations: (a) MMIT is a military field which has only recently opened up to civilian traffic. MMIT is in the Garmin GTN 750 database although with a military name that does not match the civilian airport name "Ixtapec". (b) And as Nick explained the current MMTG, inaugurated in 2006, is not in FSX/P3D. It is designated MMT2 by Fernando Angel Gonzalez in order to distinguish it from the old and closed MMTG which persists in the FSX/P3D database. Happily, the current MMTG is in the current Garmin GTN 750 database while the old one is not. So GTN users can properly designate MMTG in the GPS and take advantage of any GPS-related information to land at the current airport. (We merely overfly the old MMTG and do not use it.)

I said the flight plan was a mare!  Thanks Mike.

[spokes2112 179]

Nick & Gunter -
Great flights this weekend - thanks to both of you!
Photos just came back from the developer, you may find them here -
Saturday - https://www.dropbox.com/sh/e1xr70p1s8idpey/AAA6JAf_i0coZIPrG92v2wRKa?dl=0
Sunday - https://www.dropbox.com/sh/fqvs789p0xr9djm/AAA0GQvE1pFglaq0qtoCu2j5a?dl=0
Y'all have a great week!

 

[Viking01 181]

Thanks Roman, as always very nice shots!