FSX-SE Aerosoft DC-8 as Iceland Air

[P_7878 6,696]

I had purchased Aerosoft's (wonderful) DC-8, but not flown it...so here is my 1st flight with it. And, to recall the memory of this iconic aircraft from Douglas, I've chosen Icelandair for livery. Icelandair has a very interesting history. The airline is naturally blessed with a (strategic) geographic location (being headquartered near Iceland's Capital City of Reykjavik) - convenient for transatlantic flights. It originated in 1937, when a new fledgling airline named Flugfélag Akureyrar was founded in Iceland's north coast. So, this was the beginning of Icelandair. Then, in 1944, came, Loftleidir (founded by 3 young pilots fresh from their flight-training in Canada), later to be known as Icelandair. In 1973, forced by worsening economic conditions, these two finally merged to become Flugleidir (using the 1st four letters of Flugfélag and the last six letters of Loftleidir). This combined Flugleidir's international operations will be eventually recognized as what we, now, know as Icelandair. In 2017, the airline celebrated 80 years of operations with the number of (annual) transported PAX, reaching 4 million!

During its long history, the Airline has operated a wide range of aircraft, including many from Douglas (DC-3, DC-4, DC-6, DC-8, DC-10). The DC-8, of interest, here, served the airline between (1970-1990).

Now, a bit about the DC-8: launched a year after B707, but staying toe-to-toe with the legend, in terms of marketability, it was a worthy challenger (Long Beach (CA) vs. Seattle (WA) - both on the west coast). Notice below the (extremely) closely matched "Tale of the Tapes" of DC8-60 and B707-300 (with B707 numbers in parenthesis):

Length: 157ft, 5in (152ft, 11in)
Wingspan: 142ft, 5in (145ft, 9 in)
MTOW: 325,000lb (336,000lb)
Cruise: 578mph (607 mph) [Slight edge to B707 in speed]
Range: 5,991 miles (6,160 miles)
Engines: 4X P&W JT3D, 19,000lbs/each (4X P&W JT3D, 18,000lbs/each)
Passengers: 144 in mixed class layout (144 in a mixed class layout)

In 1955, Pan Am was the first to place orders for 25 DC-8s (btw, Pan Am simultaneously ordered 20 B707s), and many other Airlines quickly followed suit. Also, of distinction, to note is the fact that, on August 21, 1961, the (humble) DC-8 became the first civilian (commercial) jet aircraft to go supersonic (briefly - for 16 seconds) in a deep dive from 52000 feet (although it was not designed for it). The idea was to "...get it out there, show the airplane can survive this and not fall apart..." It did survive! The famous Concorde would have to wait till October 1 1969 test flight to break the sound barrier, and, the Soviet-built Tupolev Tu-144, went supersonic on June 5 1969.

Nonetheless, DC-8 would be eventually superseded by (newer) wide-body designs such as: B747, DC-10, L-1011. Surprisingly, however, it still continues to fly, even now, in Freighter service with several operators, a testament to its enduring design.

So, please find below, sample (SIM) images of a test-flight with the ICELANDAIR DC-8, from Kangerlussuaq (BGSF), in Greenland, to Reykjavik (BIRK), in Iceland. Aerosoft note says, "...it’s time to forget about MCDU, FMS and FADEC and go back to real flying...". The navigation, for this flight, is via the original (Aerosoft supplied) Dual INS units fitted into the Virtual Cockpit. BTW, this SIM comes with excellent documentation, with much to explore and learn. The INS (optionally) also allows (easy) auto-load of flightplan waypoints (<9) into the unit, but, here, I've, manually input 5-6 LAT/LONG waypoints into the INS for navigation between these 2 cities (across, what seemed like, a stretch of rather desolate part of the earth's landscape!). The Reykjavik Airport (and approach) scenery is thanks to Orbx's Freeware (Iceland) Demo. Hope you enjoy these pictures (and this account) of this iconic jet, sometimes called the "Magnificent Eight", that set the stage for modern long-range (commercial) air-travel, as much as the other one did! Thanks for reading and viewing. Comments (and memories) are welcome. [AS(DC8-50)/Orbx(Iceland-Demo)/REX]

Edited August 9, 2019 by P_7878

[Phantom88 3,287]

Brilliant Shots!! Love the night lighting!

[John F 2,443]

I always learn something new from your write-ups. Thanks.

John

Edited August 9, 2019 by John F

[JRMurray 214]

Great post and pictures! Thank you for the history of Icelandair ... very informative.

[P_7878 6,696]

Patrick, John, Joel: Thanks for the kind words!

John: I myself learn something new from my own post (and the comments) too. To me, there is no other branch of human knowledge/science that encompassed the interaction of so many disciplines as Aviation does, so there is always scope to learn more...

Here, e.g. a (fresh) review of the (supplied) 56 page INS manual...made me realize that, previously, I was merely mechanically plugging numbers into it...

How INS uses "dead-reckoning" to track the position relative to a known starting point without the need for external references...still boggles my mind, but, it obviously works...as it so reliably did for the so many heavy-liners that used to cross the distant oceans in the early era of aviation....!

[crosswind 825]

Nice shots....love the angle of no.4

[HaraldG 559]

On 8/9/2019 at 4:00 AM, John F said:

I always learn something new from your write-ups. Thanks.

I couldn't have said it better. Thank you!

Unfortunately, I've forgotten INS navigation since I only fly Tupolev. My beloved Dreamfleet 727 stopped to work when I changed to a 64 bit OS. Cool to see the INS panels here again.

[P_7878 6,696]

Thanks, Simeon and Harald!

Harald:

You mean you've just forgotten INS (since your Dreamfleet 727 days), or you have found that your (favorite) Tupolev cannot be now fitted with CIVA INS? If there is no intrinsic reason (e.g. for some (PW) FSX aircraft, custom-added INS does not work) that you cannot add an INS unit to its panel, then we can give it a shot.

Please feel free to PM me a copy of your Panel.cfg (after, of course, backing up the golden (working) version...🙂..), and I can adjust it for you to try. Not sure it will work in your case, but no harm trying...I guess...

[NWATech 96]

Good stuff sir!