Whenever I visit a new airport where I've never been before, I typically do (at least) two B2B flights into it to get a feel for the vicinity and also the local geography. So, here, before I bid farewell to Santarém, Brazil (see my previous post if you wish), a town where the two big rivers meet (one of which is Amazon); I wished to test-fly the RNAV Runway 28 Approach into SBSN Airport.

In my previous post, I'd flown the iniBuilds A321 into SBSN's Runway 10. And, today, I actually wished to fly the iniBuilds A330 into the opposite Runway 28, for which there is a published RNAV Approach. However, unfortunately, when I attempted to load the iniBuilds A330 into my Xbox/MSFS2024, I was stuck with the ever-spinning white circle at the bottom of my Xbox/TV desktop. I don't know what the issue was (streaming related maybe, not sure...), because I'd indeed flown the iniBuilds A330 once before in MSFS2024. So, instead, I chose to go for the less complex (LVFR) A330-200PW for my flight, in the nostalgic colors of Northwest Airlines (abbreviated as NWA) which was a major airline in the United States that operated from 1926 until it merged with Delta Air Lines in 2010.

Santarém (SBSN) is a hand-crafted MSFS World Update XIX Airport. The scenery includes minimal renditions of the Airport Building and Tower, and some surrounding features of this (riverbank) town (see images below). BTW, there are payware add-on sceneries also available for this airport, if you wish to explore it further. The town is situated on the (picturesque) shorelines of (and surrounded by) the two gigantic rivers, with the unmistakably chocolate-brown waters of the Amazon River and the deep-blue waters of the Tapajós River most prominently visible (see e.g., my shots just after takeoff and just before landing which are over the (blue) Tapajós River; vs. shots of (brown) Amazon River farther off).

The (SBSN) RNAV Runway 28 Approach has Fixes/Altitudes, as follows, that I tracked for my short test-flight today:

1. SN369 (4,000')
2. SN371 (3,000')
3. SN372 (1,830') and so on...with the Airport elevation being 200' (see close-up Cockpit ND shots and MSFS EFB Maps)

For this flight, I've enabled only lateral (navigational) guidance on the FMS, but, for a bit of extra challenge, have chosen to manually control the descent per the (published) altitude restrictions for the Fixes of this RNAV 28 approach.

The (LVFR) A330 (heavy jet) flew well today and co-operated with me, though a bit unwieldy for this aviator...on this tight loop of a circuit...🙂..., to enable a reasonable touchdown into Santarem Airport's westward Runway 28.

Hope you enjoy this collection of pictures from my short flight today, with the Airbus A330-200 (a familiar RW travel companion of mine and a good old friend...🙂...) as I finally say Good-bye, here, at least for now, to Brazil, and especially the amazing Amazon, a river which has kind of grown on me a bit...

Thanks for viewing...!

 

Edited April 3, 20251 yr by P_7878

Great set of shots, well done and seems looking you had a fine Trip !

What would boder me is that unreliable MSFS2024 and that's exactly why I'm not using this flight simulator, hopefully it will get better so that it works more stably at some time in the near future..

cheers 😉

18 hours ago, pmplayer said:

Great set of shots, well done and seems looking you had a fine Trip !

What would boder me is that unreliable MSFS2024 and that's exactly why I'm not using this flight simulator, hopefully it will get better so that it works more stably at some time in the near future..

cheers 😉

Appreciated the comment, pmplayer. My touchdown of this heavy-liner jet...at the end of this RNAV approach...was surely not perfect...🙂...but I managed it down onto the runway...🙂...

Regarding, MSFS2024, there is no denying that things are not totally predictable for one or more reasons (streaming and user side factors included). I fail to understand why an aircraft that worked for me before would not work this week. I really like the iniBuilds A330...an airplane, as you know, I have flown umpteen times on with Lufthansa...

Yes, with successive Updates, hopefully things will get better and more stable with MSFS2024, though enough things are there now to keep me busy...🙂...

Cheers...!

Fine shots! 😉 

Great shots of the NWA 330! Fond memories!

On 4/4/2025 at 12:42 PM, Alaska738 said:

Fine shots! 😉 

Thanks much, Will...!

 

23 hours ago, rmeier said:

Great shots of the NWA 330! Fond memories!

Glad you liked this NWA livery, rmeier.

Which NWA airplanes you flew on... (I recall their B727s) ...

All looking good P_7878!🙂

1 hour ago, P_7878 said:

Thanks much, Will...!

 

Glad you liked this NWA livery, rmeier.

Which NWA airplanes you flew on... (I recall their B727s) ...

Your post reminded me of when I was living in Scotland...I routinely flew the NWA DC-10-40 between Amsterdam and Memphis...in the mid-2000's, NWA then retired the trijet and replaced that route with the A330.

Flew several other NWA aircraft out of Detroit, Cincinnati and Memphis (as well as Seattle); the B727, the DC-9 and the A320, as well as their regionals (Airlink); the Saab 340, CRJ200 and the BAe 146.

I particularly enjoyed their last livery...the one you have captured in these photos. Although, I also liked the red Saab 340 as well!   🙂