A Flight Across the Gobi and Taklamakan Deserts

[Stavros 295]

Okay, the title is a little bit clickbait-y.

This is Air China 1215, daily service from Beijing to Kashgar, an ancient silk road city. This flight will take us across China and the deserts of Inner Mongolia, Gansu, and Xinjiang.

Join as at Beijing Capital Airport, where we begin boarding at gate C33 ahead of our 7:05am departure:

We've got a good passenger and cargo load, and fueled up for this 5-hour flight we are bumping right up against our MTOW of 79,300kg as we enter 18L for Departure:

Takeoff and Climbout from Beijing Capital:

Over the Yan Mountains, the landscape becomes much more arid:

Crossing into Inner Mongolia, it's cloudy and the mountains are creating some moderate turbulence. We are now over the Gobi Desert.

Now over Gansu Province, the terrain is harsh, dry, and mountainous. Whispy desert clouds pass below.

About 3 hours into our 5 hour flight, we cross into Xinjiang over Lop Nur, the site of the first Chinese Nuclear Test in 1964.

As the Gobi Desert turns into the Taklamakan desert, we see a vast expanse of sand dunes, with the Tian mountains far in the distance.

We are truly alone up here, and despite being over land, this is Class II airspace.

As we approach the western edge of the Taklan Desert, we pass over Aksu and the Kunlun Mountains.

As we begin our descent into Kashgar the clouds thicken.

Kashgar feels like an Oasis after hours over the northern deserts of China. Lush, and rainy.

We touch down in Kashgar just after 12:30pm, 5:05 minutes after wheels up out of Beijing.

And we're at the gate after a quick taxi in.

No doubt my favorite part of MSFS has been the ability to fly and explore parts of the world neglected in P3D and FSX. What a treat this flight was!

Edited August 29, 2022 by StAgre

[John F 2,425]

Very informative and a great eye-opener regarding out-of-the-way places.

John

[fscabral 120]

Nice shots and im with John F, very informative.

[pmplayer 9,477]

Very nice shots and informations 👍

Landscape are looking awesome !

cheers 😉

[johnbow72 2,722]

Fascinating post with excellent shots Sir . 

[Cpt_Piett 4,687]

Great shots! I love going to these remote places. So much to discover 🙂

[andy1252 3,876]

Excellent and informative stuff, great shots.

[P_7878 6,625]

Wonderful series...! I can feel the Pilot's loneliness over that vast Taklamakan Desert...🙂...thanks for sharing...!

[bernd1151 5,857]

Fantastic!! I just try to imagine doing a flight like this in FSX...

Naaaaah 😃