Caribbean Amphibian - Turks and Caicos Edition

Time for some flying in a warm climate while exercising our floatplane skills with some amphibian aircraft.  Staring from Jags Mccartney Intl (MBGT) on Grand Turk Island we will zig-zag west and north through the Turks and Caicos making our way to Exuma Intl (MYEF) in the Bahamas.  The route contains hard surface airports but we are free to land anywhere that looks inviting.

Flight Plan HERE

 

I plan to fly the Dornier Seawings SeaStar amphibian.  MSFS2424 amphibian variant options include the following aircraft:

•        Cessna 208 Caravan
•        Dornier Seawings SeaStar
•        Grumman G-21A Goose
•        Grumman HU-16 Albatross
•        De Havilland DHC-6 Twin Otter

If you prefer you can fly the route with a conventional aircraft.  There are no required water landings.

Optional Freeware Airports (these were designed for MSFS2020 but most should work with MSFS2024.  You may have already downloaded these for a previous multiplayer flight but some do have updates which you may want to refresh)

•        MBGT-JAGS McCartney International Airport | MSFS
•        Privat Island Ambergris-Cay- MBAC | MSFS
•        MBMC - Middle Caicos Airport | MSFS
•        MBNC - North Caicos Airport for | MSFS
•        MBPI Pine Cay Airport - Turks and Caicos Islands | MSFS
•        MBPV-Providenciales International Airport | MSFS
•        MBNC - North Caicos Airport | MSFS

Recommend Departure time of 2:00 PM

Particulars:

•        Date and time: Saturday Feb 1, 19:00 UTC    
•         RTWR Multiplayer Discord Channel
•         MFS Multiplayer: US Eastcoast Server

If you want to help others enjoy the multiplayer experience, don't forget to enter your aircraft details on the multiplayer spreadsheet (linked here). Your courtesy will save others a lot of time and effort. Thanks!

 

 

Kodiak amphib..

Albatross. I’ll give Mike Johnson’s Albatross a try. (Mike Johnson made the legendary Aero L-39 Albatros for FSX. The Grumman Albatross is included in MSFS2024 Deluxe & Premium Deluxe.) The civilian ship requires an Hawaiian shirt, a fishing cap, salt-and-pepper beard and a cigar. Maybe bottles of post-flight refreshments in the back. Gotta see if I can qualify.

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Scenery. For flying into airports in the Bahamas, you might consider Art Poole’s Bahamas package. (FS.to has only v1.1.) A slight upgrade to v1.3 is temporarily available, along with a more elaborate Nassau MYNN and associated fix files, in a “Bahamas Pack” here.

This package includes renditions of something like 22 airports (mostly small) in the Bahamas made by Art Poole in 2016 for FSX and converted to MSFS2020 formats. These are fairly simple (as are the real airports) and bring some life to the islands. [A caution. These are FSX conversions that we have used before in MSFS2020. They do work properly in MSFS2024, but in testing I did experience a modest-tolerable FPS cost. You might test to be sure that they are ok for you.]

(And a little dark humor. Apologies.)

Catch a falling Starship. Probably unexpected, but Saturday’s flight is just on the path of SpaceX Starship launches. Given the recent history (January 16, 2025), we might be in a position to “catch” parts of a Starship in its RUD phase. (RUD is “Rapid Unscheduled Disassembly.”) As it happens, the FAA has now banned further launches pending the company’s internal investigation and recommended actions.