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dkohl

First real flight from Jefferson County Airport

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Today (in about nine hours), I plan to take my first GA (real) flight. I have signed up with the local flight school for a one-hour Introductory Flight in a Cessna 150. I am out here west of Seattle, WA on a short vacation for a few days and with the beautiful weather and wonderful scenery, decided its time to get myself out of the PC cockpit and into a real one.I will try to take a picture or two, which I'll post at the end of the week when I return home to New York. But I don't presume I'll be photographing much given that the instructor told me I'll be flying the plane - he'll just be helping.I don't have Jefferson County International Airport (0S9) in my library. I just searched the file library for "Jefferson County" and didn't notice it either. If anyone has some time and skills to create the TerraModels for the airport, along with taxiways, I'd appreciate it. I'd love to "Fly!2" my real flight when I get home. Here's a photo of the tarmac from the Port Townsend website... http://www.portofpt.com/flyin.htmWish me luck....-DK----David KohlFly! II v2.5.240Dell 8200 P4/1.8G, 1024MB RAM, Nvidia GF4 Ti4600 v44.03, WinXP Home Edition SP1.CH Pro Pedals and Yoke USB.

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Guest Eagle

Happy flying, David. I know you will enjoy it. My first experience with a plane was in Rhinelander, Wisconsin and I can remember it to this day, and that was many years ago. I completed my flying at Rhinelander, that was before it became a controlled field.Can't locate your aiport in FlyII. If I had it I would do the airport for you.

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Guest GOODY

Wayne:I have checked my Flyii and do find this airpot listed.Try zero S9GoodyGoody@cableone.net

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Guest Eagle

David, your airport is in the library.Bob, thanks for finding the airport.

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First and foremost, thank you Wayne for the Airport scenery. I am looking forward to my Fly!2 flight when I get back to New York.----My first flight was just great. My flight instructor, retired United pilot Fred Harris, brought me through a battery of pre-flight checks on a rented Cessna 150. He then gave me the keys, we got strapped in, and he talked me through startup procedures. After verifying that everything seemed to be in working condition, and briefing me on some basics, I pushed in the throttle and taxied to Rwy 27 as the sun began to set over the Olympic Mountains. We did a "CIGAR" check and run-up prior to advancing to the runway threshold, and with a call to Unicom, I advanced the power and started a very exciting forward roll. Fred told me to rotate at about 70, and we climbed for a few minutes to 2500 feet. My first flight took me over the water with Fairchild Int'l in front of me, Canada to my right (North), and Port Townsend below and behind me. The weather was clear with virtually no wind. And I was flying - really flying. I cannot tell you how much Fly!2 played a role here. I felt very comfortable with all aspects of flight. Fred explained rudder use, I felt I already understood it. We practiced a few stalls, I had no problem and recovered very quickly. As we did some FAA turns, I was able to stay within 100 feet +/0 2500' MSL with little difficulty. Power adjustments came naturally, and Fred was impressed that I trimmed the aircraft without him explaining this very important feature of flight.I was surprised about a few things. First, it takes considerable forward pressure to hold the plane down when attempting to accelerate after a 70 kts climb to 110 kts cruising speed. I constantly wanted to lower power, but Fred impressed upon me that I shouldn't do so until I reached my desired speed. I also didn't expect it would be so difficult to create a stall with level wings. Fred asked me to reduce power and raise the nose, and I almost couldn't hold the plane's nose high enough to result in the stall warning for more than a second. I guess that's good news for ease-of-flight and safety.And one more thing that was perhaps the most different than Fly!2. We entered the pattern at 1,000' MSL and stayed level through the downwind and base legs. I couldn't believe how high we were and close to the runway threshold on our base leg. He told me to kill the engines just before the turn to reduce speed to 70, and timed to perfection, as we slowed to 75, he asked me to turn final and let the nose dip. We began to descend at a 500' per minute glide to the threshold.But still, we seemed very high. But sure enough, as smooth a silk, Fred placed us a few hundred feet from the edge of the runway and then instructed me to push in the throttle for a touch-and-go and quick ascent. I did the next approach - not nearly as smooth as Fred. He helped a bit, particularly on power control through our final descent. Another touch-and-go got me into the patterns, but this time, Fred told me I'm on my own. I made the turn to final with power at idle. I had a bit of difficulty with some slippage from side to side --- the wind had picked up just a bit so I had some bounce and movement. But rudders did the trick, and some added power helped me keep the descent to 500' as expected. I came in a bit low, and Fred, knowing that trees below the blinding but setting sun were higher than he would have liked, added some power and pulled up the yoke, but other than this small adjustment, I placed the plane on the ground for our final rollout and stop without incident, and with smoothness that Fred told me was well beyond his expectations.We taxied to the hanger and shut down the engines, and Fred told me he never gave those simulators any credit, but that I fully changed his mind. As for me, I sat in the cockpit for a few minutes as he wrote some comments into the log (and reminded me that I owe him $90 for the rental and lesson), and confirmed that this is something that I will definately do some day.I certainly hope that day is soon......I took three photos -- nothing significant, just me in front of the plane, my instructor and I after our flight, and one picture of the cockpit interior. I'll post them next week when I get them off my digital camera (I don't have the software on my office laptop PC). But to all in our simming community, do yourself a favor and get off the ground for real. Its a trip!-DK

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Guest Eagle

Great write up, David. I know exactly how you felt.

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Guest DSandberg

Thanks for the detailed report from your flight! For those of us who won't get the chance to do this ourselves, it's almost like being there ourselves (at least vicariously).[table cellspacing=0 cellpadding=0][tr][td width=320]http://www.usinternet.com/users/mystic/infomsig.gif[/td][td width=170 align=center]KFCM 140353Z 17003KT 10SM FEW055 23/18 A3031 RMK AO2 SLP258 T02330178[/td][/tr][/table]

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Guest Colins2

DavidThanks for the write-up.Be warned, tough, it'a addictive :-)Colin

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I downloaded and installed Wayne's 0S9 today. I took off to the West and mimicked my real flight - truly amazing. I have created TerraScenery already, so as I looked around from the cockpit, I was just amazed at how close Fly!2 comes to the real thing. Elevations look about right, water is all in the right place. As I look ahead, I can see Port Angeles. Looking to the right, I can see Vancouver Island (Canada). Port Townsend (the downtown area) was off my right shoulder.... all exactly as it was last Tuesday evening!Truly amazing.Wayne - Thank you for the aiport. But I noticed a few things that need adjusting and I'm hoping you'll have some time to make the corrections.First - the airport in Fly!2 is opposite the real airport. In real life, Jefferson County's tarmac and buildings are to the NORTH of the runway. Taxiways extend north, so that if approaching on Rwy 27, all airport structures would be on the right. So the first order of business is to mirror-image the entire airport. This would make it accurate. See this photographic image from the Jefferson County Airport page (includes my annotations)....http://forums.avsim.net/user_files/31132.jpgI also noticed the runway itself overhangs the road to Port Townsend. From the sky, it became clear that the airport is actually misplaced in Fly!2 by a few hundred yards. I have attached an image from Fly!2 with arrows and circles that indicates where the airport should actually be. I don't know if you know how to move runways, but if you do, the runway should be moved north and a bit west along with the aiport. Again, see the attached JPG.Finally, as I was taxiing in to the terminal, I noticed a few floating trees. I have TerraScened the area, so my elevations are not default Fly!2 elevations. Perhaps a "snap to ground" flag is needed on those trees to accomodate the changed TerraScenery elevations.All-and-all, it was truly amazing to Fly!2 today. I used the Cessna 172 - a bit heavier I'm sure than the 150, but it handled more or less as did the real plane. I followed precisely the procedures I followed last week, including air speeds and altitude in the pattern, how I killed the engines on final (something I've not done in Fly!2 before), etc. Everything worked just as it did when I was in the aircraft in "real" life.I reiterate one comment from my write-up above. In real life, altitude looks higher. The approach last week began at 1,000' MSL, but was much close to the runway threshold than what was needed in Fly!2. Today, in the simulator, I had to fly further east before making my turn to base and then to final, or I would have been far above the glide scope even at 1,000'. But other than this visual difference, all was pretty much equal. Truly amazing.Best regards to all. And if you want to send money to the David Kohl wants to fly but can't yet afford it fund, I'd be more than happy to accept!-DK----David KohlFly! II v2.5.240Dell 8200 P4/1.8G, 1024MB RAM, Nvidia GF4 Ti4600 v44.03, WinXP Home Edition SP1.CH Pro Pedals and Yoke USB.

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Yes, Jefferson County airport is present in Flight Unlimited 3's scenery area, and the runway is correctly positioned to the south of the taxiway and parking areas.Chris Low,ENGLAND.


Christopher Low

UK2000 Beta Tester

FSBetaTesters3.png

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Just so you know who I am, here are two shots - first just before my first flight, second after landing with my instructor, Fred Harris (retired United Airlines captain, now CFI).-DKhttp://forums.avsim.net/user_files/34635.jpghttp://forums.avsim.net/user_files/34636.jpg----David KohlFly! II v2.5.240Dell 8200 P4/1.8G, 1024MB RAM, Nvidia GF4 Ti4600 v44.03, WinXP Home Edition SP1.CH Pro Pedals and Yoke USB.

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