Over the last six weeks I've been flying around the world in a PMDG 777-200 visiting places I don't get to very often. It's something I only do every now and then and always in winter when there's not much to do outside.

All flights were planned using PFPX and a BA livery flown throughout with a minimum of 200 pax and random cargo. I didn't call it a round a world tour as I avoided flying across the Pacific. But every continent was visited and seeing all the different airlines at each airport courtesy of AIG made it a very enjoyable experience. Radar Contact v4 was used for ATC and remains one of the best around despite being over 20 years old.

I know a lot of simmers have given up on P3D but with accurate coastlines, rivers and cities it was easy to recognise them using Little Navmap in v5.3HF2.

In all I flew 23 legs varying in distance from 756nm to 3,338nm. I calculated the cost of jet fuel at 0.62GBP per pound with the total cost close to three quarters of a million pounds! 😕

Distance flown of 38,843nm is one and a half times around the planet and it took just under 86 hours.

The climb to cruise and descent from cruise was flown in real time. The cruise segment was flown up to x4 using the acceleration feature in PMDG aircraft. How useful is that!

Not a single problem with the sim or computer in all these flights. Testament to the stability of an old but still very capable sim. Thank you Lockheed-Martin.

The most difficult aspect of recording the legs was trying to get Google Earth Pro to draw a straight line between two airports. It can't! 🙄  So I found an old freeware program that can take the data in Google Earth and create a map. My route is shown. I started and ended at London Heathrow EGLL.

All the flight data was captured by the excellent Aivlasoft EFB sadly no longer available to purchase.

So if you have a few weeks spare and have never flown around the world it's something worth considering. It gives you a purpose to your flights and is very satisfying as you get used to your aircraft in multiple legs flying into very different airports.

Very cool Ray.  Do you have payware for all of the airports that you visited?

What was your favorite flight leg of the tour? 

Yes, I only planned flights to airports I’ve bought. Quite an investment.

Favourite? Flying into Mexico City, altitude 7.500ft ASL is always interesting. Probably the Cape Town to Durban leg as Durban is an airport I’ve visited in real life. Brought back happy memories. The others are Dubai and Heathrow.

World tour without visiting Antarctica?🤪

what a great idea!

Last year i achieved doing my first transatlantic flight (EGKK to KBOS) a world tour is another on my simulator bucket list.

 

37 minutes ago, Dazkent said:

what a great idea!

Last year i achieved doing my first transatlantic flight (EGKK to KBOS) a world tour is another on my simulator bucket list.

 

I can recommend it. A new airport with every flight. Have you got plenty of third party airports around the world? What aircraft did you use for the pond hop?

Hi Ray

I was quite late to the party for P3D so i missed out on all of the PMDG aircraft apart from the 737. I used the QW 757 for my trip across the pond and really enjoyed the flight.

My payware airports are mainly in Europe and I have a couple in the states so will need to invest in some more but its definitely something i want to do this year 🙂

@Dazkent, the 787 is more than capable of carrying you around the world. What flight planner do you use? Does it have a profile for the Dreamliner?

I been thinking about getting the QW 787 to add to my 757 as i really enjoy flying that aircraft. I use Simbrief for my flight planning and am pretty sure there are profiles for both aircraft :).

 

 

 

 

Edited March 17Mar 17 by Dazkent

Nice one Ray !!! love the fuel cost tally too, nice idea

A little disappointed though that you didn't visit us in New Zealand 

12 minutes ago, deeknow said:

Nice one Ray !!! love the fuel cost tally too, nice idea

A little disappointed though that you didn't visit us in New Zealand 

Especially when I have Flightbeam Auckland and Christchurch. It will be on my itinerary in the autumn. 😉

Would enjoy seeing some snapshots if you took any.

Hi Ray

I still have AiviaSoft Efb Client 2.1.117. Does it still work in P3D V5.4?

Jim

I'm gonna do your world tour.

 

8 hours ago, Ray Proudfoot said:

Especially when I have Flightbeam Auckland and Christchurch. It will be on my itinerary in the autumn. 😉

I was too late to buy the PMDG777 so I use the good old 747 in the Standard or ER version, or the -8 for very long flights. I regularly fly the JHB to Perth/Sydney routes and then hop over to Christchurch. The return is usually via Hong Kong and then depending on how I feel, to London/Manchester via Vancouver/New York, or the other way via Dubai. Then back to Jhb to start again.

8 hours ago, Patco Lch said:

Would enjoy seeing some snapshots if you took any.

I didn’t, sorry.

5 hours ago, jfmitch said:

Hi Ray

I still have AiviaSoft Efb Client 2.1.117. Does it still work in P3D V5.4?

Jim

I'm gonna do your world tour.

 

Yes, works with all versions of P3D. 👍 Have fun!