Sometimes I don't feel like the usual planning and perfect execution of an airline flight.

I have:

• made a daring C-46 Air America rescue in central America winding through the hills to avoid detection
• landed a helicopter in Piazza della Signoria in Florence
• seen if I could land a commercial jet at St. Bart's (I forget the AVSIM member who inspired me to do that with a 757)
• flown a MiG-21 through downtown Chicago (avoiding buildings) -- we're probably all guilty of buzzing... that's why they called 'em "buzz numbers"
• pull a Tex Johnston and barrel roll anything and see what happens
• have a beverage or two and do a circuit with every airplane type in my hanger at Edwards AFB in one session (very long runways help after a few)
• flown through the St. Louis Arch (probably not the only one here) or under the Golden Gate Bridge.
• sightseeing tours are fun, especially if you thrill all concerned
• attempted to land in Red Square (see Drzewiecki Design, who like to add unusual things to their products: I've flown past burning airliner wreckage at one of their airports and choppered in relief for a major traffic accident in Washington D.C.)
• maybe not really that silly, but recreate episodes of Ice Pilots NWT

I have NOT been able to:

• do a carrier landing in P3D despite having Simwork's U.S. Navy group and their Phantom--maybe if they HAD A MANUAL FOR THEIR PHANTOM it would be easier
• successfully landed on a helo deck (my chopper skills are rusty)

Not silly, but personal rules (not saying they're the way others should do anything, just my own quirks)

• depart from Airbuses only in Europe and try to keep them there except for long hauls in the A330
• try to keep glass out of South America--that means DC-8s, classic DC-9s, and 737-200s; sometimes I break that rule, but I find it helps to be able to narrow choices to avoid paralysis
• keep Airbuses out of North America (again, not 100% or realistic)
• never use time compression
• never depart from or arrive at a default airport
• log all flights on Google using the line function and including relevant details plus a screenie--I love to see all my routes; yellow for old jets without glass; red for classics with some glass; green for Airbus; and blue for props)

So what other ideas or personal rules do people have? I'm running out of silly ideas.

These were from my FSX days:

Landing an A-380 at London City airport, taxiing down and turning around and taking off again from the other end of the runway.

Doing the same thing with a 747 at Sitka airport in Alaska.

Flying under the Golden Gate Bridge and then down to Mountain View, Calif and flying through the blimp hangar at NAS Moffett Field. I was flying the F-4 Phantom II with crash detection off.  

 

I played a couple of softball games in that hangar back in the late 1950's. Did you know it was so big it could actually rain in there? One of my very dear friends was an A-4 Skyhawk pilot on the Kitty Hawk in the late 1960's. The ship was stationed in Alameda for a while back then and he decided to fly under the Golden Gate Bridge...inverted. The squadron commander was not pleased. End of promising career. In spite of the fact that his daddy was an Admiral.

Try this. In the sim of your choice fly under the Golden Gate Bridge inverted in a 747. It took me a lot of tries to do it but it was worth the effort.

And, speaking of the Golden Gate bridge. We were at a dinner at a friends apartment up on Knob Hill some years ago. He was a really wealthy guy who was born in San Francisco to an old S.F. family. After dinner a few of us were standing at the 12-foot tall living room windows looking out at the Golden Gate bridge, the marina, Tibouron, Angel Island and all the other fantastic scenery. Our host, Henry, walked up and asked us how we liked the view. Of course we replied it was awesome. To which he only said, "I liked it a lot better before they built that WNA bridge".

Doug

1 hour ago, Tim_Capps said:

So what other ideas or personal rules do people have?

It's probably easy for you but it was difficult for me because I have no piloting skill, but I used to put my B747 on the piano keys then set a 180 knot headwind and try to take off vertically to 1000ft and land back on the piano keys.

Edited December 14, 20214 yr by dmwalker

Back in the FSX days (or was it FS2004?) when they had the carrier out at sea off the Golden Gate Bridge.  Get in the glider (sailplane) 2000ft over the bridge.  Go feet wet and try to land on the carrier.

Or 2,000 feet over Palm Springs IAP and soar through Banning pass and land at Flabob in Riverside.

Noel

2 hours ago, W2DR said:

Did you know it was so big it could actually rain in there?

My mom was in the WAVES in WWII when blimps were based out of there. She said the same thing. They also had to keep the deck swept, of course.

3 hours ago, charliearon said:

Landing an A-380 at London City airport,

Pretty sure that's the wrong Airbus for that approach 😁 Do they still do the A318 to New York thing?

2 hours ago, dmwalker said:

put my B747 on the piano keys then set a 180 knot headwind and try to take off vertically to 1000ft and land back on the piano keys

That's some creativity.

 

Tried a couple of flights to Antarctica in the PMDG 747-400, not successful at finding the runway, crash landing....But cool (really cool) loading the sim down there, opening all the doors and playing with the cabin temperature APU vs. ground power/ AC unit.

20 hours ago, Tim_Capps said:

My mom was in the WAVES in WWII when blimps were based out of there. She said the same thing. They also had to keep the deck swept, of course.

I was a boy growing up in San Francisco during WWII and we would frequently see those Navy blimps.  They were stationed at Moffett Field.

Noel