December 24, 20205 yr This is bit of an ambitious exercise/post, I've been thinking about, for a while, and planning to do it during these holidays. As you will see, I've got started, here, in this post, but, much is still left, so, later, I will share a few more images, in Part II (if my SIM survives the ordeal). Below are the drivers that led me to this post. First, we know, during the Pandemic, passenger transport by planes have slackened considerably, but, the freighter aircraft have been surely playing a busy role, carrying vital (life-sustaining) supplies across the domestic and international skies. In fact, cargo shipments have often replaced passengers for many financially challenged airlines. For example, I read, today, a statement by Emirates, on whose 777, I'd travelled once, "“We’ve converted ourselves to a mini UPS,”...with 85 of Emirates’ Boeing 777-300ERs operating as stand-in freighters, in addition to its 11 777Fs." But, here, close to home, it was heartening to catch images, last week, of the FedEx Freighters, on the ramp, being loaded with the very first shipments of the Covid-19 Vaccine. That explains the choice of my livery, for this post, as a tribute to this shipping giant, whose color, is well-known (and well-respected) among us simmers, too. And, as part of my posts, I have explored a bit into the history of Boeing and Douglas, and, I've (always) wished to do the same for Airbus, just a bit, at least, to learn a bit more, but never got to it. The Airbus aircraft, that had launched Airbus, as we know today, was the A300, Airbus Consortium's first aircraft (first to carry the name, too) and was also its greatest challenge (it had to be good enough to stand against the revered names of Boeing and Douglas, and, indeed, it was...!). May we say it was as significant as the 737-Classic was for Boeing, however, in appearance, the A300 looks like a "stocky" 767...🙂....For comparison, I invite you to enjoy a B767 FedEx takeoff video clip, search e.g. for this 2min:22sec clip with Title, "Extreme short take off on wet runway of FedEx B767 freighter N158FE @ KPAE". The last 30 seconds look impressive. Anyway, back to A300: In my early FSX, I recall I'd acquired the SimCheck A300 (via Aerosoft Shop) as soon it was available. The SIM was quite a novel one, speaking, as a non-Pilot, in terms of Desktop Simulation. Its manual had the disclaimer, "The SimCheck A300 is a complicated simulation and FSX doesn’t always like complicated add-ons....". Well, isn't that still true for any SIM platform...🙂...? Anyway, I have selected here that SimCheck A300, having not-flown it, for more than year, as the subject aircraft of my post here. BTW, we have so many Boeing/Douglas Classics in our SIM, and this might be an interesting (and significant) aircraft, from Airbus, for (SIM) recreation...as something different, from the usual, for our SIMs... Finally, thanks to a (recent) tip by a member, here, about an easier (and automatic) way to upload (INS) waypoints into the (SimuFly CIVA) INS CDUs, I wanted to try it for a long-haul route. For this post, I was tempted to test this (customized) INS data-entry method on a (rather curious) Route, that was suggested to me by the A300 Wiki. As I've indicated above, A300 was trying to establish a market-share for Airbus, first, among the established (airline) operators. But more so, it (successfully) adopted a so-called 'Silk Road' strategy, targeting airlines in the Far East. As a result, this aircraft found particular favor with many Asian airlines. Now, the legends of the "Silk Road" are well-chronicled. The art of turning the cocoons of the silkworm moth, into the soft, but strong, and shimmering "silk", led to one of the greatest transcontinental links, that integrated East and West. So, here, we go, my (approximate) version of the legendary Silk Route (see MAP screenshot), with the historic (en-route) cities, it passed through, as waypoints, captured, as (13) INS data-points, in two INS/ADEU Reader Cards (see below), (ready) for upload into my Civa INS. Please note that this SimCheck A300, itself, has a perfectly capable (in-built) INS, but, for my experiment here, and applicable to other (appropriate) planes, I've custom-installed 3 each INS (CDUs/MSUs), and 2 ADEUs, (see screenshots). However, for simplicity, I've utilized only the first INS unit (CDU1) for my navigation here (see 2D screenshots). My ambitious (~5500 nm) route, has barely begun, here, in this post. The flightplan ORIG city is (LIRF) Rome (Rome–Fiumicino International Airport "Leonardo da Vinci") and the DEST city is (ZBAA) (Beijing Capital International Airport) - the two ancient cites serving as the extreme edges of the historic Silk Road. Below, in the final few screenshots, shown, I've just lifted off Rwy 16C (LIRF) with this A300B4, cleaned up the gears and flaps, enabled CDU1-based (custom) INS navigation, and, thereby, making the first left turn (heading east) towards the first en-route City (Istanbul / VOR Waypoint=IST), distance to the WPT#1, please see CDU1, is 744 nm. Next INS waypoint (#2) is Ankara (Turkey), then will be Baghdad (Iraq) and so on - See Data Cards, below, for more details. Please also note, on my 2nd Data Card, the (pre-set) INS WPT #3 (a 20nm Fix), at which I hope to (directly) switch to the Localizer/ILS for ZBAA (Rwy 18R)...(to be seen)... In Rome, on the ramp, I've done a Cold & Dark engine-start-up of the A300, as best as I could, per procedure, was a bit tricky...being a bit unlike other planes/SIMs, but, it proceeded without any "show-stopper" issues, here. I've provided several interior shots, if you're curious, of the avionics and cockpit, to illustrate (from our virtual world) the feel for how it had started and looked for Airbus, at the outset, and for its (illustrious) lineage that followed...So, hope you enjoy this account or/and the (sample) screenshots of this Classic Airbus. Now, I'm off with my FedEx Shipment of the much-needed "Vaccines",...🙂..,on this long voyage, for the far East, on a humanitarian cause,...Well...No harm "imagining" a bit...🙂...in our hobby....we often do. And, please note, purely, by chance, A300's (much younger and much more advanced) descendant, the (FBW) A321, seems to be giving it company after lift-off... Thanks for your interest and comments are welcome. [Merry Christmas and Happy New Year...!!] [SimCheck(A300B4-200), SimuFly(CIVA-INS), Excellent (and freeware) "Conv2ADEU" Tool] INS waypoints (auto-created from the standard FS FlightPlan) for (LIRF->ZBAA): ADEU Card #1 #1 N 40*57.8 E 028*48.6 ; IST / Istanbul (Turkey) #2 N 40*14.5 E 033*06.3 ; BUK / Ankara (Turkey) #3 N 33*14.1 E 044*02.8 ; AD / Baghdad (Iraq) #4 N 40*28.3 E 050*03.1 ; GYD / Baku (Azerbaijan) #5 N 37*59.1 E 058*21.1 ; ASB / Ashgabat (Turkmenistan) #6 N 37*17.1 E 067*18.4 ; TRZ / Termez (Uzbekistan) #7 N 39*32.8 E 076*01.4 ; KHG / Kashgar (China) #8 N 38*09.1 E 085*32.2 ; QIM / Qiemo (China) #9 N 39*51.0 E 098*21.0 ; CHW / Jiayuguan (China) ADEU Card #2 #1 N 36*30.8 E 103*37.4 ; ZGC / Lanzhou (China) #2 N 34*26.8 E 108*45.0 ; SIA / Xianyang (China) #3 N 40*25.4 E 116*30.3 ; WP3 / 20 nm FIX #4 N 40*04.4 E 116*35.7 ; ZBAA / Beijing (China)
December 25, 20205 yr Fantastic story and Information! Great shots as well Always enjoy your posts Regards, Steve DraGet my paints for MSFS planes at flightsim.to here, and iFly 737s hereDownload my FSX, P3D paints at Avsim by clicking here
December 26, 20205 yr Author Thank you, Steve, for the kind words...! Just FYI, I posted the 2nd and final part of my Silk Route Adventure...hope you read, and enjoy it, as I myself did during the flight.... [Best wishes to you for the holidays and beyond...!!]
December 26, 20205 yr Superb story and pics, P_7878. This goes also for the second part! 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
December 26, 20205 yr Great storyline and passion! You will learn a lot of geography through this venture! Latest video at The Flight Level Flight Over Frozen Lake Erie - Between Ice and Clouds - Ultimate Solitude - The Perfect Memory
December 27, 20205 yr Author Bernd, Doering: Many thanks..!! 22 hours ago, Doering said: ...You will learn a lot of geography through this venture! Yes, quite true. Aviation and Aircraft, anyway, do offer a uniquely multifaceted "discipline" of study with endless fascinations, as I see it: Geography, History, Art/Scenery, Physics, Chemistry, Mathematics, and Human Factors (Physiology, Psychology)...etc. We will be hard-pressed to come up with another endeavor of human study....like this...Now, only if we can get the youngsters to not focus on only taking/crashing our (SIM) planes either over (or under..) the Tower Bridge...🙂...(Oh well, I do recall doing something like that, myself, years ago)... And, I've now completed the (aerial) Silk Route in my Part II of the venture, but, as I've indicated, there, in FSX/SE one doesn't see anything off the ground scenery, along this track,...Maybe, MSFS will fix it, (though, the exercise does encourage one to explore the geographic and historic details)... Here, e.g. the Tibetan Plateau, so-called "roof of the world", an important part of the Silk Route, that I must have overflown, in the night, in my Part II, actually lies just north of the highest of the Himalayan Ranges and Mount Everest...(my cruise altitude was steady 25,000/27,000 feet, with the 29,000 feet Mt. Everest, always in the back of my mind, in this segment of the flight...)...
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