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Posted

This is my first flight of 2025...🙂...So, to start off MSFS2024 in the New Year, I wished to fly today an a/c that I used to sometimes fly in MSFS2020 but never got to fly it in MSFS2024. This is the Asobo/iniBuilds Mitsubishi MU-2 twin turboprop. I'm also using this flight to reminisce a bit about a (tourist) bus trip I'd taken, decades ago, from Las Vegas to Grand Canyon (during one of my 2 visits to the Sin City...🙂...). 

I do not know exactly why I did not (locally) rent a car for this trip, as I normally would do, but instead (probably) took advantage of some kind of (sponsored) promotion flyers I picked up at the lobby of the Hotel. And I recall clearly that I'd stayed in the Paris Las Vegas (Hotel) during that visit. I also distinctly recall visiting the nice on-site restaurant in the Hotel, daily for dinner, and especially enjoying the delicious Crème Brûlée for dessert... 🙂... (...my younger "Cholesterol-free" days of culinary freedom and delights...). The restaurant was under a fake (aka man-made) night sky...🙂...Paris Las Vegas is/was one of the few hotels that used to have imitation skies in their shopping/restaurant areas...rather realistically blue colored with stars and such, while also regularly changing colors and brightness to suggest different times of day and night. Let me just say it was "interesting"...unlike any I'd experienced before, except for maybe in the (local) Planetarium/Museum on Lake Michigan...🙂... 

Anyway, the (roadway) distance between (KLAS) Las Vegas Harry Reid Intl. (KLAS) to Grand Canyon Airport (KGCN) is about 280 miles, and it takes about 4 hours of driving, whereas the flight distance, as the crow flies, is about 180 miles, and might take about an hour of flight. That road trip in the luxury coach had worked out well for me...since I could leave the (somewhat challenging) driving to the professionals...🙂...as I got to focus on enjoying the everchanging vistas during the journey (see below a few images of it). 

Today, while checking a bit the route that the bus must have taken, I learned that the roadway between Las Vegas and Grand Canyon briefly coincides with the famous (old) U.S. Route 66 (of Jack Kerouac fame...🙂...), which is/was known as the “Mother Road” and the “Main Street of America,” been a major highway in the U.S. for almost 50 years. The route was originally designated in 1926 and ran (for ~2,500 miles) originating from my hometown Chicago (in the Chicago downtown) all the way to Los Angeles, through 8 states including Arizona, passing ~50 miles south of Grand Canyon. In fact, coincidentally, just yesterday, I'd to visit someone in a northern (historic) Suburb of Chicago and travelled on a section of road with prominent signs proclaiming it to be part of the (historic) Route 66. So, I was struck by the coincidence that my (virtual) flight today brought back memories of a road trip that must have also travelled over the same Route 66, but 1,800 miles away...in Arizona near Grand Canyon...🙂...

Grand Canyon is an amazing place on Earth. At some locations, it exhibits precipitously deep canyons that reach down more than 6,000 ft from ground level (that is more than a mile of depth, just to get a perspective), and at other locations, it has summits that rise above sea level to heights of nearly 10,000 ft. The road from Las Vegas to the Grand Canyon climbs mountains and passes through deserts (Mojave Desert). The drive includes a section that rises into the high mountain vistas, reaching up to 10,000 ft elevation. A typical en-route (sightseeing) stop is the Hoover Dam, which was also one of the stops of the bus tour I'd taken. Below, I've included below 2 pictures of the Hoover Dam and the Bridge, from my virtual trip today... (real and virtual feel so different...worlds apart actually...🙂...) ...

For my flight today, instead of heading directly east from KLAS airport to KGCN, I've opted, at the pilot's discretion...🙂...to first do a westward detour, in the opposite direction, to the Spring Mountains of Nevada, located 25 miles west of Las Vegas. These are the highest mountains around Las Vegas, containing the highest peak in Las Vegas vicinity, Mount Charleston. So, after lift-off (see my EFB inset MAP display), I've pointed the nose of my MU-2 straight for Mount Charleston (waypoint USR01/CUST0), indeed, a most imposing and stunning peak, rivaling the best of the Rockies and the Sierra Nevada mountains. From a sequence of 3-4 pictures below, as I overfly this summit, hopefully, you'll get a good idea of this majestic (snow-capped) mountain peak (it's as close to this summit as most of us would ever get...🙂...) ...

Just past the summit, and as the sun begins to set behind Mount Charleston (and the Spring Mountains), I've activated a Dir-To (on the GPS) toward ILS Rwy 03 approach fixes of Grand Canyon airport, forcing the airplane to make a rapid turn back towards the easterly direction, headed straight for KGCN. It's always a pleasure, when a (SIM) a/c like this one, with the most rudimentary autopilot (see close-up shot of the (stone-age) ...🙂...Bendix Autopilot panel on the pedestal, shot #2), follows this virtual pilot's directive, so promptly and so precisely. Pressing the Track button, immediately took control of the (lateral) navigation, automatically directing me (and my MU-2) towards Grand Canyon Airport's ILS Rwy 03 Approach Fix (CARMS). Likewise, for landing and touchdown, the LOC and GS buttons, also performed their functions admirably, guiding me down towards the runway threshold, safely and effortlessly (see images), just as darkness fell around me and, on the canyons, not too far...🙂.... From start to finish, the MU-2 did well, it was more than what I could expect from an airplane with such simple avionics' suite.... good fun indeed...

Hope you enjoy this collection of pictures of this a/c and this trip...as much as I did flying it...as I've travelled from the high mountains of Las Vegas to the site of deep canyons at Grand Canyon. (BTW, I suggest, you also re-visit a recent post here about Grand Canyon, by another member, with an impressive set of images (as captured from MSFS2024) that would convince you why this is truly an amazing place on Earth...). My own memories of one RW visit would stay with me forever too...until I get another chance someday...

Thanks for viewing...!

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  • Like 4
Posted

Fine shots !

cheers 😉

  • Like 2

08.2024 new PC is online :  ASUS ROG STRIX X670E-F GAMING WIFI Mainboard,  AMD Ryzen™ 9 7950X3D Prozessor, G.Skill DIMM 64 GB DDR5-6000 (2x 32 GB) Dual-Kit, MSI GeForce RTX 4090 VENTUS 3X E 24G OC Grafikkarte, 2x WD Black SN850X NVMe SSD 4 TB - Drive C+D, WD Gold Enterprise Class 12 TB for storage  HDD, Thermaltake Toughpower GF3 1000W PC - Power supply, Thermalright Phantom Spirit 120 EVO CPU Aircooler with 7 Heatpipes, Design Meshify 2 White TG Clear Tint Tower-Case, 3x 4K monitors 2x32 Samsung 1x27 LG  3840x2160, Windows11 Prof. 23H2

Flightsimulator Hardware: Honeycomb Throttle Bravo, Logitech Extreme 3D Pro, Logitech Flight Joke System, XBox Controller, some Thrustmaster stuff.

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Posted

Brought back RL memories of some fake sky ceilings I've been under...at the Mohegan Sun Casino in Connecticut and a hotel restaurant in Stavanger, Norway. 🙂

  • Like 1
Posted

Nice shots P_7878, have to look in the sim which addons from 2020 I now have available.

  • Like 1

PC: Ryzen 7 3700x AM4, 16 GB RAM, GTX 1060 6GB, Storage SSD 3TB, HDD 8TB, USB 8TB, 2 Screens, Win10-64

SIMs: FSX SE, P3d 3.4/4.5/6.1, Xplane11/12, MSFS, Aerofly 4

Posted

Folks:

Appreciated the comments, thoughts...and recollections...fake sky and all...🙂...

Glad you liked these pictures...

Cheers...!

  • Upvote 1

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