Arrows Across America: Flying the Air Mail

[robcap 80]

They had a list of beacon numbers, and the direction of flight between the beacons.

(A list for CAM5 is included in the download)

The arrow points are pointing to the next beacon, and most of the time you can see the next beacon flashing, before you pass the one you are flying toward at that time.

And mr. Jeppesen started his flying maps business by noting down information regarding the air mail routes,  about landmarks, obstructions, and aproaches into landing fields.

I hope you enjoy it.

[robcap 80]

Hi, so who is enjoying our little scenery enhancement?

Edited May 10, 2022 by robcap

[RaptyrOne 1,398]

Well I am the word not allowed here it seems 🤣🤣. I got airborne out of Salt Lake, circled the airport and try as I might, I could not locate the first beacon. Went in search of the second across the pond and thought I saw a flashing light but as I approached, it stopped and I could not find it either. Sadly, returned to Salt Lake, mailbag still full. I will try again tomorrow.😉

Edited May 10, 2022 by RaptyrOne

[Waldo Pepper 1,952]

Raptor,  try this screenshot I took of LittleNavMap.   

Also,  if you look in the mod folder you'll see an "info" folder.  Within it you'll find an MSFS flight.pln  file,  and a LittleNavMap plan as well.   

 

 

Edited May 10, 2022 by Waldo Pepper

[RaptyrOne 1,398]

Thanks Waldo. I took a close look at the map here on page 1 of this thread. Seems the first beacon is to the south side of the field. I was looking for it to the north side. It is 0.1 NM from the airport so has to be close by.

I want to try this without the use of a flight plan, just following heading and distance (and the arrows of course), do it the way it would have been done back in day, no GPS cheating.🙂 once I find the first one and know what I am looking for, should be good.

[robcap 80]

Hey, thanks for your remark. Indeed, beacon SL-P1 is in the LNM waypoints, but I didn't place it. I is in the middle of the modern field, which has changed a lot since the 20-ies.

It looks a bit strange in the middle of the apron...

The first placed beacon,SL-P 2, is on Antelope island, to the north of the airport. Visible on the north-east point of the island. After flying north a few minutes, you will start to see the flashing beacon, and you can fly toward it.

Don't fly too high, max 300 to 500ft AGL.

Best, Rob

[RaptyrOne 1,398]

Made my way across to KBYI from KSLC and parked up right alongside beacon #15 for the first leg. Nice addon, thanks @robcap 🙂 Next leg tomorrow to KBOT, time permitting.

Doing this in the steam gauge C172.

[robcap 80]

Thanks for your interest. We are nearing 200 downloads, and that is nice.
Indeed, flying the old routes is very chalenging, even in the best of circumstances.
We are looking to add some Intermediate Landing Fields in the near future, on spots where the old runway outlines are still visible in the sim/Bing maps, but which haven't evolved in modern fields.
So you have a safe haven to land, when the weather gets too bad.

Edited May 13, 2022 by robcap

[Waldo Pepper 1,952]

That is super cool.  😎 

[Waldo Pepper 1,952]

That is super cool.  😎 

[RaptyrOne 1,398]

I made my second stop over at KBKE - parked up there now. I think around SL-P-41. Next leg will go thru to the end of the route at KPSC. Sometimes you really need to search out the next beacon and other times you can see the next two flashing up in the distance. Enjoyable scenic flight - I had no idea on the size of Boise - did a Wikipedia read up of it as I flew over. Looks scenic but apparently it can smell really bad! 🙂 

[pbearsailor 7]

I flew KSLC to KPSC yesterday in the Boeing 247D. It came along after the beacon system I think, but the speed was nice. I failed to see a few beacons but the course changes between them are small on this route so it all works out. Fun to see the route planning over the flatest terrain and safest route. 
 

Hope you do more routes. I really like this!

Edited May 13, 2022 by pbearsailor

[Richard100 23]

Hi all, thanks for your support with this project  

As we close in on 200 downloads, work on our first Intermediate Landing Field is underway.

I have been working on Strevell ILF using three sources:

1. the visible remains of the north-south runway
2. the description from the 1929 Airway Bulletin which has the orientation and measurements for the two runways
3. the description of the lighting system for ILFs from the same bulletin

There is some fine tuning of the positions to do but the overall layout looks like this:

Strevell corrected1574×905 344 KB

Green lights were used to mark the runway centrelines, two at each end of the principal runway (assumed to be N-S given that it was the longer of the two and still visible) and one for the secondary runway. White boundary lights then marked the remainder of the perimeter.

The triangular section was designed to assist with cross wind landings.

Red warning lights were used to mark hazards and I have assumed a line along the highway to the west of the field.

The intersection of the runways was marked with a chrome yellow circle with projecting bars indicating the two runway headings.

At Strevell, the airway arrow and beacon was in the SW corner of the field. Although fuel was stored there, as this was an emergency field there were no hangers.

Now it is over to robcap to work his magic on modelling the lights and runway marker and dropping them into the sim.

[Stoopy 1,571]

Man, finally got a chance to try this out and it is really, really fantastic!  I've been digging flying the Boeing 247 using the radio beacons and dead reckoning, and found I love planes that challenge you to get back to the basics of airmanship and navigation.   

I did a quick hop with the Carenado Waco YMF-5 which was cool and promptly got lost on my first attempt after crossing the Great Salt Lake.  Taking a fresh stab at it this morning and sticking with the idea of using a more-or-less generally period-correct plane I used the GeeBee Model Z figuring this for an "Express" route.   Had better luck after taking a look at the map before takeoff and seeing the beacons that didn't have arrows were marked as "Aux". so I just stayed on current heading and it worked out.  Flying toward a beacon while trying to guess/spot the next one after that, and that sinking feeling when it doesn't come into view as soon as you'd hoped, was incredibly immersive!

It was particularly nice to take off at dawn which helped with spotting the beacons, landed for a quick pit stop at KJER then after a slight brush with a rain squall I made it to Boise, scored a parking spot next to another fast bird.  Great stuff!!!!!!

(Screenshots were taken in HDR mode which makes them appear washed out in normal mode, I tried to do some color correction but trust me it looked nicer than this!)

[Richard100 23]

Great shots and glad you are enjoying it.  The Aux beacons were used on the section where the route surveyors thought it was easier to follow the route.  Given they were only half the height of the main beacon masts, we are not so sure.  It is very disconcerting to lose the beacon when you know it is out there somewhere.  Flying the route at night - or rather, trying to -  is even worse!