Arrows Across America: Flying the Air Mail

[jimcarrel 688]

I'm going to have to dive in on this. Love historical stuff like this, appreciate all who have contributed to it's release!

[Richard100 23]

7 hours ago, jimcarrel said:

I'm going to have to dive in on this. Love historical stuff like this, appreciate all who have contributed to it's release!

Thanks, do let us know what you think!

[Richard100 23]

Strevell ILF update:
We now have a test version of our first CAM5 Intermediate Landing Field installed in the sim. @robcaphas modelled the lamps (they are only 30" high) and placed them on the field as per the layout above.

Improvements to the lighting effects are next…

Edited May 22, 2022 by Richard100

[Waldo Pepper 1,952]

(Not my shots)

 

[robcap 80]

Those screenshots reflect the scenery very well.

Get it here:

https://flightsim.to/file/32132/1926-airway-route-cam5

We are working on small improvements, and adding ILF Strevell. That does present some small issues (from the SDK) but will go into a first test phase testing shortly.

Cheers, Rob

[Richard100 23]

@robcap has been hard at work battling the lighting system for our Strevell Intermediate Landing Field and we think it is paying off - still very much work in progress but Varney Air Lines airmail pilots will soon have a new place to land.

Approaching Strevell from the south east

The field laid out 

White boundary lights, Green approach lights and Red obstruction warning lights

One of the white boundary lights

Night departure

[Waldo Pepper 1,952]

Those airmail pilots were a tough bunch.  It must have been such a relief to identify the lights on a dark night.   They were probably cold and tired.

[Richard100 23]

After a summer break we are working on a major update to the Arrows Across America airmail project.  The next release will include:
- improved models and lighting
- three Intermediate Landing Fields (ILFs) on the CAM5 route from Salt Lake City to Pasco
- the complete CAM32 route from Portland to Spokane, via Pasco, including three more iLFs

CAM32 runs through the Colombia River Gorge, east of Portland.  The lighting on that twenty-five mille stretch of the route was designed to enable the airmail pilots to fly under the fog that frequently blankets the top of the gorge, at an altitude of less than 250' AGL 

We hope that ongoing improvements to weather and turbulence will create additional challenges for you in flying that part of CAM32!

In the meantime, some work in progress images

CAM5 Locomotive Springs ILF, Utah

CAM5 Mary's Cafe, next to Strevell ILF, Idaho

CAM5 Windsock demo

CAM32 Colombia River Gorge beacon

CAM32 Beacon Rock, Colombia River Gorge

CAM32 route map

We currently expect our third release to include CAM18 from Portland to Seattle, completing Varney Airlines' airmail routes.  This will enable you to fly for over thousand miles from Salt Lake City through the Pacific North West, navigating solely by arrow and beacon.

[Stearmandriver 2,256]

Fantastic! I love the first route; looking forward to seeing all the new stuff!

[Waldo Pepper 1,952]

Love the Columbia Gorge shots! Really glad that you're routing through that area, it has fascinating geography.  I watched a few presentations on the area by Prof. Nick Zentner on Youtube.    I wasn't really interested in geography before I happened to watch it,   and now when I'm flying I'm always thinking about how the terrain below me was formed.

 

[Waldo Pepper 1,952]

Richard posted this story in MSFS forum.

http://1926flight-greenhat6.blogspot.com/

Quote

On April 6, 1926, pilot Leon Cuddleback of Varney Air Lines took off from Pasco, Wash. in a Swallow biplane to become the first man to carry U.S. Mail by air in the pacific northwest. Two newspapers in Boise, Idaho covered it. They were the Idaho Statesman and the Evening Capital News. It's interesting to see two different views of the same story.

He flew over the Blue mountains, stopping in Boise to pick up more mail, then went on to Elko, Nevada. He flew the last part of his journey in a heavy thunder storm. The route was soon extended to include Salt Lake City, Utah. The open-cockpit biplane carried 216 pounds of airmail on that first flight and traveled at between 85 and 90 miles an hour. Boise did not have an airport, just a rough landing strip located where Boise State University now stands.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Swallow_New_Swallow

 

Edited October 4, 2022 by Waldo Pepper

[Richard100 23]

Arrows Across America v2 update is now available

The update for our 1926 US Air Mail routes add-on is now out and includes:

• our original Contract Air Mail 5 (CAM5) route from Salt Lake City, UT to Pasco, WA but with new and improved models and lighting (59 beacons)
• the CAM32 route from Portland, OR to Spokane, WA using the new models and lighting (33 beacons)
• the additional lighting for CAM32’s 25 mile stretch through the Columbia River Gorge, east of Portland, with beacons positioned to allow air mail pilots to fly under the low cloud and fog that frequently blankets the gorge
• the northernmost section of CAM8 from Portland, OR to Seattle, WA , using the new models (17 beacons)
• eleven Intermediate Landing Fields (ILFs) along the airways; located, laid out and lit according to their descriptions in the official Airway Bulletins, making it possible to fly shorter sections of the CAMs (or land in an emergency)
• Hangars with internal parking spaces and animated, controllable doors on four of the ILFs
• terraforming and tree felling to ensure that arrows and beacons are visible in the modern landscape
• .pln files for use within MSFS and with Little Nav Map and other flight planning software
• a CSV file for building your own flight plans
• KMZ reference files for each of the routes
• a 32 page illustrated manual with information about the CAM system and the air mail pilots, the different elements of the addon, suggestions of what to fly, links to the original sectional and strip maps and the 1931 weather overviews for the states we cover

All three routes are provided as a single file so you can fly uninterrupted along the three airways airways between Salt Lake City, Portland, Seattle and Spokane.

You can download the update from our flightsim.to page - https://flightsim.to/file/32132/1926-airway-route-cam5 

We also have Arrows Across America liveries for the DC Designs Stearman available at https://flightsim.to/file/45156/stea...arney-air-mail 

We look forward to hearing what you think.

 

Edited December 10, 2022 by Richard100

[Richard100 23]

Following the update post above here are some shots from the new update...

1.  The three routes included in the update:

 

CAM5 (yellow) - Salt Lake City to Pasco

CAM32 (blue) - Portland to Spokane

CAM8 (green) - Portland to Seattle.

2. Idahome Intermediate Landing Field, CAM5 

 

3.  Varney Air Lines Stearman at KCZK Cascade Locks Intermediate Landing Field, CAM32

 

4. Contents page of the Arrows Across America manual

 

[robcap 80]

Ok, it seems there is an issue with our services files.
This is an Asobo MSFS issue.
It disables services on a global scale, including glider tows.
We are looking into it.
First tests are promising, and it works with one of our ILF airports now.
We will do some more testing, and recompiling.
Sorry for the inconvenience.

More info here:

 [WARNING] Faulty AirportServices configuration on Marketplace is breaking game features Scenery & Airports

[Waldo Pepper 1,952]

Being a 3rd party developer must be like a wild west show,   Asobo keeps moving the targets.