Forty miles of Bliss in a SAS DC-3... (20 Pics) ...

[P_7878 6,626]

[First of all, I'd always thought that being on the Xbox, on a close (and quarantined) system, I could not self-inflict any pains on myself...🙂...even if inadvertently...plus my limited inventory of aircraft and scenery (i.e., no freeware) has (generally) kept me out of trouble too. However, today was different...the (blue) progress bar, at the bottom of my screen, was stuck for ever and simply didn't budge, its leading edge stopped, aligned with the tail-tip of the Cessna Longitude (above the progress bar) proudly flying high, on the Splash Screen...🙂...that's how I could tell, the bar was not advancing...! Only repeated attempts of not-so-graceful procedures such as (Sign-out-of-Xbox, Turn-Xbox-console-off-on, Quit-MSFS-altogether etc.) finally brought me back to the World Map Window...Phew...This was worse than the haunting memory of the (blue) "spinning-circle-of-death" CTD on my FSX system...🙂...Oh well...Eventually I got back to some flying...I'm thankful...]

I've heard there is a silver lining even to the darkest clouds, so, one thing in the SIM made my day today. On the Xbox, I do not have access to the (nice) DC-3 Mods (notably Duckworks) along with its associated Autopilot enhancements. Therefore, so far, I've been flying the (stock/Asobo) DC-3 manually, by the seat-of-my-pants, so to speak...banking, climbing, descending, and landing while watching the gauge needles...it's fun but not convenient. For my flight today, I wished to fly the DC-3 in an interesting livery, and I chose SAS. When I got into the cockpit...lo and behold...I found a couple of GPS units and a basic Autopilot Panel (see my cockpit shots) ...smiling back at me...🙂...It appears, for one of the several DC-3 livery Packs I'd picked up (from the Marketplace) a while ago, the repainter had (thoughtfully) chipped in a cockpit enhancement (of a GPS and Autopilot combo) to go with the liveries, SAS airline included. So, for today's DC-3 flight of mine...it felt like having the most advanced avionics at my fingertip...who needs EFB/CDU and such...🙂...All I had to do, was to enable the ILS approach on the GPS, click [ALT-HOLD] and [NAV] for my (cumbersome) DC-3 to (meekly) follow the magenta line all the way to the ILS RWY [FAF] of my destination airport. Once there, for GS guidance and landing, the [APR] button too worked well with this (stock) DC-3.

The SAS DC-3 (Reg. SE-CFP) that I'm flying, here, across only 40 miles, from Stockholm Arlanda (ESSA) westward to Stockholm Västerås (ESOW), is a special a/c. Built in 1943, in the thick of WW II and christened "Daisy", this DC-3 has the rare distinction of having taken part in the 1944 D-Day operations. Post War, "Daisy" was renamed" "Fridtjof Viking" (see nose of the DC3 images below) to become one of the first aircraft in SAS fleet. After more than 80 years, owned by no less than 8 different owners, and been obviously (lifelong) well-taken-care-of, it's still (pleasure) flying today as a privately owned a/c of the "Flying Veterans" Association (this marking also seen on the rear fuselage). Though this DC-3 is no longer sponsored by SAS, SAS has allowed its colors to continue on the a/c, out of affection and deference for its legacy, I guess...

Please find this collection of 20 images of my blissful flight from the capital city Stockholm to Västerås over the gentle hills, prairies, lakes, and streams of Sweden, with DC-3 "Daisy" (aka: Fridtjof Viking) ...equipped with GPS and Autopilot...which made a world of difference to me today...🙂...

Thanks for viewing...!

Edited March 23 by P_7878

[John F 2,425]

Hard to top that first shot, but they are all very nice. A lovely, low-key jaunt.

I don't have Xbox, but I can empathize with your temporary tribulation. I cross my fingers every time MSFS launches, hoping there'll be no nasty surprises. 🙂

[P_7878 6,626]

14 minutes ago, John F said:

Hard to top that first shot, but they are all very nice. A lovely, low-key jaunt.

I don't have Xbox, but I can empathize with your temporary tribulation. I cross my fingers every time MSFS launches, hoping there'll be no nasty surprises. 🙂

Thanks, John.

I've heard of such idiosyncrasies of MSFS on the PC too...but this is still ahead by leaps and bounds from my FSX days of OOM and other handicaps ...🙂...

[rmeier 473]

Nice series of photos, P_7878! Of course, I never get tired of the DC-3! 🙂

Bonus that you were able to get an early GPS add-on advantage! (Truthfully, I still prefer manually flying the DC-3 myself.)

[pmplayer 9,478]

Beautiful set, always will be a friend of the DC-3 !

cheers 😉

[andiflyit 445]

Wonderful set P_7878, I really like it! 🙂 Never operated anything on XBox or similar, I simply don't know anything about it. But the visual quality is good as well.

These days my pc and sims run well including msfs but there can be a lot of horrible bad stuff going on, I can tell you.

The old SAS designs are wonderful, there are also nice paints available at Cal Classic for FSX, I love it. Interesting to hear that this aircraft is still flying.

I've said before that the stock DC-3 in msfs can not compete with the Aeroworx for XP which is a rework of the Manfred Jahn and Jan Visser C-47 for the old sims

and for me is state of the art in terms of flying model of a DC-3 in the sims. But meanwhile I've installed the Duckworks-mod as well and this can do a lot, I can confirm it.

Have installed some paints from the marketplace a while ago which really look great and some use the old Sperry autopilot and some have that GPS you show us here.

It's both nice to fly, depends.

 

[bernd1151 5,857]

Great shots, P_7878, as always! I haven't flown the DC-3 in awhile, but if I'm not mistaken, you have both versions by default in your hangar and you can switch between the one with Sperry AP and the one with more modern avionics.

[shermank 170]

Please consider this an open invitation to join the pilot roster for DC3 lovers using all sim platforms

www.dc3airways.net

Sherm

 

[P_7878 6,626]

Thank you, friends, for the comments.... Appreciated.

 

12 hours ago, bernd1151 said:

Great shots, P_7878, as always! I haven't flown the DC-3 in awhile, but if I'm not mistaken, you have both versions by default in your hangar and you can switch between the one with Sperry AP and the one with more modern avionics.

Thanks, bernd. Yes, that's true, however, it seems that the option is tied to the specific livery, instead of being an option for each livery (which would have been nice) ...

The liveries I've liked and been flying from the add-on packs did not allow the Retrofit/GPS option ...Either way this DC-3 looks good and is a pleasure to fly...

 

2 hours ago, shermank said:

Please consider this an open invitation to join the pilot roster for DC3 lovers using all sim platforms

www.dc3airways.net

Sherm

 

Thank you Sherm, for the invitation to the DC-3 fans and enthusiasts, here...hopefully, you'll have a few new recruits to the pilot roster...Cheers ...!

 

[darrenvox 135]

wow that is one heck of a set of screens there @P_7878

enjoy your day

[P_7878 6,626]

3 hours ago, darrenvox said:

wow that is one heck of a set of screens there @P_7878

enjoy your day

Thank you for the kind words…🙂…Glad you liked these pictures. Cheers…!

[darrenvox 135]

always...

[andy1252 3,876]

Great set of pictures and fascinating background, as ever! And doesn't Daisy look good in her outfit?

[Alaska738 8,412]

Very nice set of shots! 😉 

[SP2472 2,303]

Nice DC-3 pictorial P_7878.

Darryl