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Aspirelot

Pleasurable MSFS Flights (over Tibet in my case)

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Hi, while waiting for France and Benelux, I thought perhaps we could exchange some interesting flying experiences. My flight yesterday from Qamdo (ZUBD) via Nyingchi (ZUNZ) to Lhasa (Gonggar ZULS) may qualify as one.  I hasten to add, I've only been a GA flight sim pilot since FSX, with no special flight or computer knowledge.  But here goes:


Powering up the default TBM 930 at Qamdo, the oxygen mask warning come on immediately! Qamdo is 14,000 ft up versus highest cabin pressure of 10,000 ft.  So, thought if bleed is on, then some time after engine start, the cabin should pressurise and the warning should go away.  And interestingly it did, but only after lift off (from memory).


The Qamdo runway is 13,000 ft long but there's a slightly narrower but also paved extension of some significant length added to the end of it.  I decided to taxi right to the end of that extension for additional runway and also preset a much lower vertical climb rate like 800 ft/min to the auto pilot.  As it turned out, and as experienced pilots will know, neither measures were really necessary.  The TBM 930 has so much power.


The "direct to" westward course to Nyingchi at 30,000 ft was spectacular, over a high region cut up by deep valleys, as Tibet is famous for. These are the wilderness regions, with little signs of settlement.


It's at Nyingchi that extensive settlement is visible.  Exploring the area with the drone, it's clear why this confluence of three major valleys with water courses is settled and why the airport is where it is, at the bottom of one particular valley.  The geography is breathtakingly clear.


On a "direct to" to Lhasa (Gonggar Airport), the TBM 930 was flown instead with the heading bug from external view (using the heading knob on an old Saitek Multi Panel), following a deep well settled valley, that ran all the way to Lhasa. The alignment of a roadway that was present in this valley happened to be visible on map view on the MPD display in the TBM and this provided confirmatory navigational guidance on occasion.

Much of the valley floor was in shadows, so got out of the sim and advanced time of the day to noon, for a much better view. But also noted, that life on the valley floor would be in shadows for good portions of days and seasons.


Lhasa is in a large opening in the mountains with waterways.  This religious Shangrila, centered around the familiar Patola Palace (a POI), is a view to behold in its isolation.  It'll be worth a revisit with more time on the drone.  MSFS has made this worthwhile.  Sorry over this plug for the sim.


There were two approaches on the G3000 to Gonggar airport, but I couldn't activate either, perhaps not without cancelling the original "direct to" setting.  But I was loath to attempt any changes on the G3000 that close to airport, just in case something unexpected happens.  So with terrain display on the MFD, known East West runway/valley alignment and 11,000 ft airport elevation, navigated with heading bug, vertical speed, and closing distance for a smooth windless landing at Gonggar (chose clear weather for the flight).


Hope there's been something of interest in the above if you've read up to this point.  And I sincerely hope I haven't ruffled any feathers in introducing the topic.

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A refreshing post 😀.

I’ve yet to fly in Tibet. I did recently one in Jammu & Kashmir which was quite nice too. Some other in Upper Assam.  I will try  yours with my present ride, the Spitfire..


Dominique

Simming since 1981 -  4770k@3.7 GHz with 16 GB of RAM and a 1080 with 8 GB VRAM running a 27" @ 2560*1440 - Windows 10 - Warthog HOTAS - MFG pedals - MSFS Standard version with Steam

 

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1 hour ago, Aspirelot said:

Sorry over this plug for the sim.

No, thank you.

This kind of stuff is why we love the sim and it makes me wanna fly that area as soon as I can 🙂


7800X3D | 32 GB DDR5-6000 | RTX 3090 | Acer Predator X34P GSync | Tobii Eye Tracker 5

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I have just completed a flight from ZUBD - ZUNZ in NextGen's Bandeirante with live weather, started off well with clear sky's  but about 80miles out flew into a thunderstorm at 21000ft, that is the ceiling height of the Bandeirante, with virtually no visibility and with mountains higher than 21000 in front of me the instruments decided to stop working! Not sure if it was a glitch or icing, "I had all the deicers on! Anyway I was about 45miles from ZUNZ so decided to hand fly  the aircraft following the contours of the VFR map with no idea of the speed I was flying at and no artificial horizon, losing height I flew down a valley following a river that I knew would take me to my destination, the instruments suddenly came to life and I found I was flying at 120knts, then I flew into heavy fog and the instruments packed up again! I eventually found the runway which had no lights and made a safe landing. A very enjoyable flight that could easily have ended in disaster. That challenging flight is the reason why I love flight simming. 😎

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Asus Maximus Hero X11, Intel i9 10850k, 32gb Corsair Dominator ram, 2tb Corsair mp510 ssd  m2, Gigybyte turbo RTX 3090

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There seems to be a glitch with the sim at the moment and I'd like first to acknowledge and thank all the contributors who've alerted us to it.  I'll just hold off using the sim for the time being.

That was some good flying Scimiter (in the context of this sim of course, I hasten to add).  I can imagine some white knuckle rides and heart thumping moments.  Good on you over the persistence and congratulations over finding the airport.

Might just mention that sometimes, current world events provide leads to interesting flights for me.  The recent serious social unrests in Myanmar led to a recent flight from Yangon to Mandalay just for an idea as what the country is like.

It turned out that Myanmar borders China and a flight from Mandalay to Kunming provided a good idea of what the border terrain is like between the two countries.

It then turns out that the next contiguous region is Tibet - that almost mythical place that I've always wanted to fly over for a look since FSX days.  And I found airports!  Not just in Lhasa, but also others, which I could use for shorter flights.

And not to forget, there's incredible terrain now in the sim, not just in Tibet, but all along the route from Myanmar.

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