A (Sunday) fly-out over (old) Ohio neighborhood...

[P_7878 6,649]

Ohio...I know (or more correctly, used to know) well...Now, with my penchant and passion for mountains, that was kindled (once) at the sight of the majestic and incomparable Himalayas, MSFS has offered a wonderful way to explore these places on Earth...right off the base implementation without the need for any payware, and I've already explored many such places...🙂...So, I must say, here, right away that Ohio has no (major) mountains, it's mountain-free. 

I was looking back today a bit more carefully at the Map/Terrain display of the Garmin MFD, of my (KORD->KMSY) 1000 miles trip (if you wish, please see my earlier post and examine shot #6) and I noticed, how my FlightPlan kept me safely within the confines of the flatlands of the Midwest and South e.g., the orange/brown colors of the great Appalachian Range (John F, please note, these are in your vicinity...🙂...) are to my left i.e. East, and the brown/dark-brown colors of the fearsome Rockies to my right i.e. West. With KORD/Chicago airport elevation at ~700 ft (and my destination KMSY at ~0 ft), I could have flown the entire 1,000 miles at 1,000 ft or less (I think), though I actually flew at 2,500 ft (sometimes even lower).

Once a colleague of mine from Colorado was visiting me in Ohio, and I told him the State's slogan, "Ohio: The Heart of it All". [Side note, for friends outside of U.S.: Ohio is called so, because it is not only "heart-shaped" but also because of its geographical location on the MAP of the country]. Colorado Rockies, of course, boasts (officially) of over 58 Mountain peaks higher than 14,000 ft, so, my colleague responded, maybe, something like "Ohio: Not Bad After All" would be more suitable...🙂...Then I did remind him about the Wright brothers, Neil Armstrong and John Glenn...Oh well. Ohio does have some hills and elevated places in its central and eastern parts, which I often used to visit and drive to (subject of my images below). In my pictures, you will miss these hills unless you see carefully (see below e.g., my 3rd shot screenshot from the last).

Even though no mountains, in Ohio, I would enjoy these Sunday morning drives, in the countryside...so to speak, eventually looking for a Bob Evans Restaurant for some early breakfast... (some folks here will recall this name...🙂...I believe it's now gone or acquired by some other chain...). So, such trips were not of the "$100 hamburger" type, we often mention in (RW) aviation, but more like a $10 one...

The Columbus airport was always called "Port Columbus International Airport", as I recall, but later renamed after Ohio Native John Glenn. Please find 14 pics of my short flight in the (MSFS/Asobo) Cirrus SR22 (my first flight with this a/c), from KCMH/Columbus, westward 50 miles or so...across the pretty Ohio countryside (hope you'll agree, thanks to MSFS). I've reached the beautiful town of Bellefontaine, and another 30 mins westward, would be the town of Wapakonet, which is the birthplace of Neil Armstrong (there is a museum there I used to visit) ...finally, I've turned back homeward (see my last 2 a/c shots) ...

Thanks for viewing...! Good rest of Sunday...!

Edited December 3, 2023 by P_7878

[John F 2,428]

A nice swath of Ohio explored here, for sure. I always find it relaxing to fly over flat(tish) farm country in the sim, checking out the varied homesteads as they come by under my wing, free to explore in any direction I choose, just on a whim.

[mwilk 1,106]

Very nice shots. I didn't know Hawaiian Airlines had a Cirrus 22! I moved from Ohio to Texas 20 years ago. Compared to this place Ohio looks like the Rocky Mountains. BTW, when you were flying around Bellefontaine did you happen to see anything that looked like an oval racetrack? The Ohio Department of Transportation used to have a test track down there. I took a defensive driving course there in the 80's when I was teaching driver's ed.

 

[pmplayer 9,498]

Seems a nice sunday flight, fine shots !

cheers 😉

[Alaska738 8,420]

Nice shots! 😉 

[Ed_S_Pilot 227]

Nice shots! Beautiful part of the country.

[P_7878 6,649]

Folks: Thanks for viewing the images and these comments...!

 

4 hours ago, mwilk said:

Very nice shots. I didn't know Hawaiian Airlines had a Cirrus 22! I moved from Ohio to Texas 20 years ago. Compared to this place Ohio looks like the Rocky Mountains. BTW, when you were flying around Bellefontaine did you happen to see anything that looked like an oval racetrack? The Ohio Department of Transportation used to have a test track down there. I took a defensive driving course there in the 80's when I was teaching driver's ed.

 

Yes, Michael, Hawaiian is flying in Ohio back country...🙂...I do like this livery....

And you're right about the Oval Racetrack...I had missed (and bypassed) it on my (direct) GPS tracking to Bellefontaine ...

It's called TRC Inc. (Transportation Research Center Inc.), located ~10 miles southeast of Bellefontaine, in East Liberty, OH, and now seems to be a major research, evaluation, and testing facility. It has the 7.5-mile High-speed Oval Test Track (please see 2 images below, of what I found) ...hard to miss it from the sky, if one is looking for it...so, that's where you had taken your defensive driving course...

[andy1252 3,898]

Lovely set of shots, and my sort of flight. I really enjoy those meandering low level flights around the inner and often neglected areas. Interesting to note "xbox" as well - how are you finding that? I have occasionally considered getting one to hook up to the TV and just have a vanilla sim without all the addons and management to play with on occasion.

(and on a separate issue, I tried to "like" this post but it wouldn't let me. Never had that before, any ideas?)

[mwilk 1,106]

18 hours ago, P_7878 said:

Folks: Thanks for viewing the images and these comments...!

 

Yes, Michael, Hawaiian is flying in Ohio back country...🙂...I do like this livery....

And you're right about the Oval Racetrack...I had missed (and bypassed) it on my (direct) GPS tracking to Bellefontaine ...

It's called TRC Inc. (Transportation Research Center Inc.), located ~10 miles southeast of Bellefontaine, in East Liberty, OH, and now seems to be a major research, evaluation, and testing facility. It has the 7.5-mile High-speed Oval Test Track (please see 2 images below, of what I found) ...hard to miss it from the sky, if one is looking for it...so, that's where you had taken your defensive driving course...

Yep, that's it. We did about 110 mph in a van on that oval. It's a very beautiful part of the state. I miss it.

[shermank 173]

very handsome pix....I am from Cincinnati, left in 1964 and have worked and lived in suburban Chicago since 1969, after moving around the midwest for a few years before that.

Anyway....I worked in Columbus in the early 60s and had a friend who was active in the Ohio State University Marching Band. He told me about a song with a lyric that included this line...

It's Round on the edges and High in the middle...it's OHIO....

Sherm

[P_7878 6,649]

On 12/3/2023 at 3:35 PM, andy1252 said:

Lovely set of shots, and my sort of flight. I really enjoy those meandering low level flights around the inner and often neglected areas. Interesting to note "xbox" as well - how are you finding that? I have occasionally considered getting one to hook up to the TV and just have a vanilla sim without all the addons and management to play with on occasion.

(and on a separate issue, I tried to "like" this post but it wouldn't let me. Never had that before, any ideas?)

Thanks, Andy.

Regarding "Xbox", you might have missed that my entirely unexpected (and unintentional) exposure to MSFS2020 via Xbox was due to my teen having installed the MSFS2020 Premium Deluxe, without my knowledge, knowing my penchant for such things...🙂...but I'm glad for it. Combined with an HDR/4K TV, the experience has far exceeded my expectations compared to my prior SIMs ...

I had every conceivable aircraft/airliner in my FSX world. MSFS (PC-based) is surely catching up in that regard, but in Xbox, the 3rd-party add-ons are now extremely limited (PMDG is an exception), Xbox being a somewhat closed system. I am aware you like to try different payware scenery and aircraft etc. In that case, Xbox may not do for you, I think...However, if it comes (free) with your PC-Package, you might just like to try it for yourself on an HDR TV...Xbox seems to be well-optimized (especially) for imagery on such TVs.

Cheers and have fun...!

 

On 12/4/2023 at 9:42 AM, mwilk said:

Yep, that's it. We did about 110 mph in a van on that oval. It's a very beautiful part of the state. I miss it.

That's great, Michael. I was hoping to catch sight of you zipping around that Oval Test Track at 100+ mph...🙂...but as you can see the MSFS rendition of the site is rather dull and lifeless, surely not representative of the (RW) activity and excitement in that facility...

 

On 12/4/2023 at 2:06 PM, shermank said:

very handsome pix....I am from Cincinnati, left in 1964 and have worked and lived in suburban Chicago since 1969, after moving around the midwest for a few years before that.

Anyway....I worked in Columbus in the early 60s and had a friend who was active in the Ohio State University Marching Band. He told me about a song with a lyric that included this line...

It's Round on the edges and High in the middle...it's OHIO....

Sherm

Appreciated the comments, Sherm...

Yes, I'm familiar with the Buckeye Marching Band...probably it has not changed much since the old times...nice OHIO riddle btw...

Cincinnati is a nice city...the Cincinnati Bengals were contenders for the Super Bowl, during the years I lived in Ohio...the Boomer Esiason days, as I recall...🙂.... Cheers...!

[disinfected 22]

On 12/3/2023 at 1:54 PM, P_7878 said:

Folks: Thanks for viewing the images and these comments...!

 

Yes, Michael, Hawaiian is flying in Ohio back country...🙂...I do like this livery....

And you're right about the Oval Racetrack...I had missed (and bypassed) it on my (direct) GPS tracking to Bellefontaine ...

It's called TRC Inc. (Transportation Research Center Inc.), located ~10 miles southeast of Bellefontaine, in East Liberty, OH, and now seems to be a major research, evaluation, and testing facility. It has the 7.5-mile High-speed Oval Test Track (please see 2 images below, of what I found) ...hard to miss it from the sky, if one is looking for it...so, that's where you had taken your defensive driving course...

It's essentially the proving grounds for Honda of America. The East Liberty Plant and the Marysville Plant are both attached to the opposite ends of the track facilities as well as the Honda R&D Center.