April 14, 20206 yr Not quite pushing the envelope, but still an interesting experiment for me anyway. Distance from Walvis Bay, Namibia to St. Helena according to google is 1216 nautical miles. Walvis Bay is a stop off point used by SAA Airlink when flying to St. Helena with their Embraer 195. St. Helena is one of those islands near that well known navigational waypoint MMFW (miles & miles of F@@@ water..). You may get to go around at the airport but it's doubtful you get to go back to the origin of your flight! Range of a Piaggio P180 Avanti is 1510 NM. Ok let's go then. I've not flown Hammer 66 for some time!! Dawn over FYWB. Goodbye Namibia. No land in view out of the windshield for some time. Up to FL410, playing with the big boys (not that there are many destined for St. Helena!) Time to empty at current fuel flow = 4 hours 25 minutes. Distance to St. Helena is 1033nmi, groundspeed is 387kt - we'll do it no worries! Beginning the descent for a visual approach to RWY20 - we are going to have a bit of weather! It's a bumpy ride lower down. The island's somewhere off to port. LAND HO! The proximity of the terrain certainly concentrates the mind. Phew! I know, I know, can't even hit the centreline in something far smaller than an MD-11 ! Right. Get the kettle on! Enjoy. Mark Robinson Part-time Ferroequinologist Author of FLIGHT: A near-future short story (ebook available on amazon) I made the baby cry - A2A Simulations L-049 Constellation Sky Simulations MD-11 V2.2 Pilot. The best "lite" MD-11 money can buy (well, it's not freeware!)
April 15, 20206 yr Yes, nudging the envelope, for sure, and, thanks for bringing up St. Helena...! [If I recall, Mark, you'd helped me find a (Freeware) Rwy scenery...so I could find a foot-hold for my BAe-146 there...] Talk about in the middle of nowhere, always, fascinated by that desolate piece of wind-swept land (with the historic Longwood House) etc... Tough place/runway to land in (RW)...per records...too much wind-shear for a "normal" landing...it's always an "emergency" landing there...! Yes, seems like (only) very limited ERJ service these days... Adventurous trip in this nice Turboprop, here,...must have surely felt good to say "Land Ho"...(especially with your dwindling Fuel reading...🙂....)...
April 15, 20206 yr Author True enough, but at least I knew I could do a few go arounds, given that there was a bout a third left in the tanks. No returning to the mainland however! Cheers. Mark Robinson Part-time Ferroequinologist Author of FLIGHT: A near-future short story (ebook available on amazon) I made the baby cry - A2A Simulations L-049 Constellation Sky Simulations MD-11 V2.2 Pilot. The best "lite" MD-11 money can buy (well, it's not freeware!)
April 15, 20206 yr Wow, very interesting flight, Mark. Especially as I had recently seen a documentary featuring the last years of Napoleon on St. Helena. What could a man of his stature do in such a place? You drink yourself to death. Apparently, Napoleon ordered, while there, every year around 1,000 liters of South African Konstantia wine through the British commander, who was in charge of him. And his very last words were: "can I have one last glass of Konstantia". Ok, just a bit of trivia. I hope that you allow me to share it with you. Cheers 🥂 Any attempt to stretch fuel is guaranteed to increase headwinds My specs: AMD Radeon RX6700XT, AMD Ryzen 9 5900X, 32GB RAM, 34" monitor, screen resolution: 2560x1080
April 17, 20206 yr Author Not at all! Share away, sir! Apparently, Napoleon took delight in playing hide and seek: No ships were allowed to leave St. Helena unless a British sentry had eyes on the former emperor! Mark Robinson Part-time Ferroequinologist Author of FLIGHT: A near-future short story (ebook available on amazon) I made the baby cry - A2A Simulations L-049 Constellation Sky Simulations MD-11 V2.2 Pilot. The best "lite" MD-11 money can buy (well, it's not freeware!)
April 17, 20206 yr Bernd, Mark: Thanks!! Classic, romantic, and haunting...whatever you say, it's history, at its best, the last years of the Emperor's exiled existence....(on this tiny and desolate piece of land)... BTW, I'd looked into much of this history, a short while ago, during my St. Helena post, here, but, this is bringing back a (pleasant) refresher for me. Below, I quote just a few items, and there is no shortage, of such, obviously. Enjoy. The Duke of Wellington, Napoleon’s nemesis at Waterloo, wrote to a friend after Napoleon’s arrival on St. Helena, “You may tell Bony, that I find his apartments at the Elisée Bourbon very convenient, and that I hope he likes mine at Mr. Balcombe’s,” on the island. Napoleon is reputed to have said regarding Champagne, “In victory you deserve it, in defeat you need it.” Napoleon's freedoms at the Longwood House, would be cut short drastically, once, the new Governor, Hudson Lowe, arrived there. Napoleon had told Lowe, “You are a bigger scourge for us than all the miseries of this frightful rock!” One of his British admirers, Lady Holland, had sent Napoleon some seedlings from his garden at Malmaison in Paris to cultivate at Longwood, but these hardy flowers (which never die) quickly spread beyond his control, carpeting the island in glorious yellow blossoms. The sight so outraged a later British governor that he launched an eradication campaign. It failed. The Daisies won...! Good stuff...(it will be 200 years next year (2021) of Napoleon's death on St Helena)...
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