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MM

RTW Race Team
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About MM

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  • Birthday 08/25/1948

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  1. Daylight Savings reminder: Today 1900UTC is 3pm EDT, 2pm CDT & Noon PDT.
  2. Here is a tweak to the flightplan that we may use if we are running ahead of time. (It will add about three minutes or so.) When we leave Vieques [TJVQ], instead of flying direct to San Juan, we divert to see the Fajardo area (with its huge marinas) and cruise along the gorgeous north coast of Puerto Rico before we get to the sights of San Juan. Follow the prescribed flightplan out of Vieques until we hit the mainland of Puerto Rico. Then turn north along the coast and, just north of Fajardo harbor, turn to the west to follow the north coast beaches and resorts. When we get to San Juan, we join up with the tour of San Juan before landing at Isla Grande [TJIG]. If we choose this extra sight-seeing diversion, there is no need for an extra flightplan. We can fly VFR along the coast and all will be well. (If you want a quick look in Little NavMap, you can download the ALTERNATE flightplan here. But no need as we can do this visually.)
  3. Virgin Islands and Puerto Rico For Wednesday, March 6, 2024 We visit the last vestiges of British and American colonialism in the Caribbean. Starting at St. Croix, we visit the British Virgin Islands and the US Virgin Islands – and then the “Spanish” Virgin Islands. In the last part of the day, we come to the main island of Puerto Rico to take a look at San Juan and Ponce. We finish with a trip through the rugged interior to land at Arecibo. The clear waters off Caracas Beach, Vieques We start in St. Croix, the largest of the US Virgin Islands. The islands are a United States territory that was purchased in 1917 from the long-time colonial ruler Denmark. In a story common in the Caribbean, when landowners could use slave labor the sugar industry was profitable. But after emancipation (1848), the islands’ economies declined precipitously. The US acquired the economically unviable islands for strategic reasons during World War I. On St. Croix, in 1966 Hess Oil built one of the world’s largest refineries which became a mainstay of the island until it closed in 2012. (The old oil terminal remains a storage facility and there are hopes for reestablishing the refinery.) Nowadays, the US Virgin Islands’ primary economic engine is tourism. We depart from St. Croix Henry Rohlsen [TISX] and pass over the Oil Terminal and then over Christiansted, the former Danish capital and very quaint small colonial city. The harbor hosts many visiting boats as well as hourly Seaborne Air DHC-6 seaplane connections with St. Thomas to the north. Further along lies the easternmost facility of the Verly Large Baseline Array (VLBA) of radio telescopes and then Point Udall, a National Park Service “sundial” that marks the eastern landmark of the United States. (The westernmost point on Guam is also Point Udall, the locations separately named after brothers Stewart and Mo Udall whose careers were in public service. As said at the time, America’s day begins and ends at a Point Udall.) Next are the three major islands of the British Virgin Islands. A legacy of the colonial era, the BVI is a British Overseas Territory with a semi-autonomous local government overseen by Westminster and whose people are British citizens. Since the 1960s, the islands have shifted away from an agriculture-based economy toward tourism and, especially, financial services to become one of the wealthiest areas in the region. (“...Britain sits, spider-like, at the centre of a vast international web of tax havens, which hoover up trillions of dollars’ worth of business and capital from around the globe and funnel it up to the City of London. ... the British Virgin Islands ... are some of the biggest players in the offshore world.” Despite BVI having fewer than 25,000 inhabitants, it hosts over 800,000 companies. [wiki here]) The British and US Virgin Islands are closely connected. They share a currency (the US dollar) and both drive on the left side of the road (though both drive mostly American imports with left-hand-drive controls). And both were hit hard by the 2017 Category 5 Hurricanes Irma and Maria – with recovery not yet complete. After flying a few minutes, we land at the small airport of Virgin Gorda [TUPW] just on east side of Spanish Town. We continue on to one of the great harbors of the world, North Sound (historically “Gorda Sound”), surrounded by islands and connecting reef systems that keep the waters calm. At the eastern end is the Bitter End Yacht Club, which provides anchorage and superb amenities for mega yachts from around the globe. Saba Rock is a small island hosting a hotel-restaurant-bar – connected by shuttle to the yacht marina. It has developed into a famous stop for the celebrity yachting crowd...being consistently ranked as one of the most popular watering holes in the Caribbean. Then 10nm to Horseshoe Reef and the low flat coral island Anegada Auguste George [TUPA]. This sparsely-populated island attracts thousands of tourists, especially for the fly fishing and for the coral reef diving environment. Then back west to Tortola. Technically Tarrance B Lettisome [TUPJ] is on Beef Island and connected to the main island by bridge. The capital and main city is Road Town with its horseshoe-shaped Road Harbour, ferries, yacht charters, and cruise ships. (Cruise ship passengers are not as profitable as long-term visitors or yachtsmen, but have they their own very powerful constituency – the taxi drivers association.) We fly west into the US Virgin Islands, passing St. Johns and landing at St. Thomas Cyril E. King (TIST). We pass over the territory’s capital and largest city Charlotte Amalie. The beautiful deepwater harbor hosts hundreds of ferries and yachts each week and is now one of the Caribbean’s busiest cruise ship ports of call. (The seaplane wharf serves the hourly connections to St. Croix.) This was a Danish town and the place names and architectural style show the Danish heritage. (The rise of tourism has led to a massive effort to restore the old town to host restaurants and shops.) One tourist magnet is Blackbeard’s Castle (a National Historic Landmark) which was built high on Government Hill as a watchtower (Skytsborg) to protect the town against pirates. It is now part of a hotel and one of the most visited attractions in town. Next are the Spanish Virgin Islands. These were Spanish-ruled until they were ceded along with Puerto Rico to the United States after the Spanish American War. The first island Culebra will provide an interesting approach into Culebra Benjamin Rivera Noriega [TJCP] with a runway of 2,600 ft. The prevailing winds indicate Runway 13, a fact made more interesting by there being a mountain less than 1,000 feet from the threshold. The professional safe approach is to come from the northwest, alongside Flamenco Beach (perhaps the most beautiful beach in Puerto Rico), to fly over Flamenco Lake and simply follow the road between the hilltops for a curved final. A little finesse avoids drama. Alternatively, pilots sometimes select the Tamarindo Approach (over Tamarindo Beach) which comes from the southwest and dives over the ridge and down the mountainside for a more direct approach onto Runway 13. This technique can look a bit spicey. Or you can eschew finesse and go straight in. Culebra is thought be useful training for Saint Barts. Then to Vieques. In 1941 the US Navy acquired two-thirds of the land (by then the sugar industry had declined) as an extension of the Roosevelt Roads Naval Station on the Puerto Rican mainland. For six decades, the Navy used the eastern half of the island as a live munitions target range. After several years of protests, in 2003-2004 the Navy withdrew from Vieques and then closed the Roosevelt Roads station. After the Navy withdrawal, the small island’s economy has further weakened – having to depend on low-level agriculture and modest development as an “unspoiled” island of pristine deserted beaches. The best beaches, including Caracas and Sun Day, lie along the southern coast. Of moderate historic interest is the Puerto Ferro Light, now disabled, which remains an “example of official neo-classic minor lighthouse style.” After enjoying the beautiful coastline, we cross over to land at Vieques Antonio Rivera Rodriguez [TJVQ], a small regional field with light commercial traffic. We fly to mainland Puerto Rico, a United States territory whose residents are US citizens. The island was especially hard-hit by Hurricane Maria (2017) losing 3,000 lives and about $100 billion in damages. We pass over the now civilian Roosevelt Roads [TJRV] on the way to the territory’s capital and main city San Juan. The metro area is about 2.5 million – about 75 percent of Puerto Rico’s population. San Juan is the Caribbean’s largest port and its most powerful financial center. We ignore the airspace restrictions and fly over the city’s attractions and beaches along its north coast. These include Isla Verde Beach and Condado Beach, which host high rise hotels and resorts along with chic shops and high-end restaurants. Then the Fortin de San Geronimo and the nearby Caribe Hilton complex – birthplace of the Piña Colada. And then the Capitol of Puerto Rico, the Castillo San Cristóbal, and the Castillo San Felipe del Morro. We cross over the channel to El Canuelo. The massive Castillo del Morro was built to protect San Juan and its critical valuable harbor from piracy and from invasion by rival nations. The fortified city was successfully attacked twice, once by the British and once by the Dutch, but those incidents were short-lived. After the additional forts were built, San Juan stood strong and eventually defeated a massive late eighteenth century British attempt to capture the city. In a moment we encounter the Casa Bacardi “Cathedral of Rum” complex, a wildly popular tourist attraction that celebrates the famous company’s history – and offers free samples. We then circle back over San Juan Bay to land at San Juan Isla Grande [TJIG]. (renamed Fernando Luis Ribas Dominicci Airport but typically called Isla Grande.) This is San Juan’s very busy General Aviation airport which also hosts regular commercial domestic and international flights. It lies nestled in between San Juan Bay, the Cruise Ship Terminal and the Puerto Rico Convention Center. This jaunt around San Juan makes for a scenic approach and landing. After the hustle and bustle of San Juan we depart southwest over the rugged center of the island to Ponce Mercedita [TJPS] located on the city’s eastern side. Ponce is Puerto Rico’s second city, although far smaller than San Juan. Only a hamlet in 1800, the city grew to rival San Juan by the end of the century. However, when the conquering Americans concentrated resources in San Juan, the rest of the country, including the southern city of Ponce, began a long period of stagnation. It has made a comeback as the south’s main center and as an attractive option for those seeking a quieter traditional Puerto Rican lifestyle. And it has begun to attract some of the lucrative tourist trade. We depart to the west, flying over the old city center and can see two landmarks above. The most striking is Cruceta del Vigía (the Watchman’s Cross) which is a ten-story vertical tower and a horizontal sky bridge with panoramic views of the city and Caribbean Sea. Starting in 1801, settlers built a smaller cross to watch the sea and port below to notify authorities of incoming ships and possible threats. Just below lies the Museo Castillo Serrallés (here). The four-story house was built in the 1930s for the owner of one of Puerto Rico’s largest rum distilleries and stands as an example of the Spanish Colonial Revival style. (The museum showcases the history of sugar cane and the rum industry.) It receives something like 100,000 visitors per year. We proceed northwest into the mountains to the lovely town and airport Adjuntas [PR20]. The strip sits on the top of a nearby mountain and it provides an interesting airmanship experience. Sensible pilots may opt for a touch-and-go. Arecibo Observatory before the collapse Heading north, we find the Arecibo Observatory whose telescope Microsoft has been nicely reconstructed to its former glory. Started in 1963, it was the world’s largest radio telescope (until 2016) used for distant radio astronomy, the search for extraterrestrial intelligence, and for near-earth object detection. The telescope started to lose its NASA and NSF funding in the 2000s. Several hurricanes, especially Hurricane Maria (2017), caused damage and stressed the budget. And then in late 2020, the supporting cables and one tower failed which caused the instrument platform to crash down through the dish. (Find much more here.) There are no plans to resurrect the telescope (outside of Redmond and Bordeaux). For an action-packed view of the telescope in its earlier days, see the finale of Golden Eye. We complete our journey at Arecibo Antonio Nery Juarbe Pol [TJAB], three miles east of the city. This is a General Aviation facility and a center for Sport Aviation in Puerto Rico. It is home to a large number of light-sport and ultralight aircraft. Skydiving is popular here. Documentation The flightplan can be found here. Aircraft This flight is set for General Aviation fields in the Virgin Islands and Puerto Rico. The length suggests an aircraft that can fast cruise of over 150kts. That said, we shall want to fly relatively low and slow to appreciate the tropical colors. I shall take the A2A Comanche. You should, of course, fly what you like. Additional Scenery All the airports are included in the default but many lack features. I recommend that you install several addon airports to improve the airfields. St. Croix Henry E Rohlsen [TIST]. lexuz2020 Christiansted Harbor [VI32]. jsorochin Virgin Gorda [TUPW]. Totof33120 Anegada Auguste George [TUPA]. Totof33120 Totola Terrance B Lettisome [TUPJ]. lexuz2020 St. Thomas Cyril E King [TIST]. lexuz2020 Culebra Benjamin Rivera Noriega [TJCP]. wilfridlisandro Vieques Antonio Rivera Rodriguez [TJVQ]. Nelpilot San Juan Isla Grande [TJIG]. Nelpilot Adjuntas [PR20]. Beowulf99x Arecibo [TJAB]. Nelpilot In addition I recommend the following scenery enhancements that will enrich the renditions of San Juan and Ponce. These are fairly large for “extra eye candy” so caution about downloads. San Juan VFR. PuertoRico787 Port of San Juan, Puerto Rico. PuertoRico787 Ponce, Puerto Rico VFR. PuertoRico787 Cruzeta El Vigia, Ponce, Puerto Rico. pilotrank Temporarily, you can obtain the airport package here (207MB). In addition you can obtain a curated city package here (374MB). This second package includes the two San Juan sceneries with the photogrammetry for Old San Juan dropped (because it conflicts with the excellent Asobo Castillo del Morro). For Ponce it includes only a partial subset of the whole city’s scenery, with an emphasis on the buildings over which we fly. SLHSimDesigns has good payware renditions for Culebra [TJCP] and Tortola [TUPJ]. You may have these already if you purchased the “value pack” a few weeks ago. There are also two payware sceneries for St. Thomas [TIST]. (Please avoid duplicates in the freeware package.) Time and Weather For takeoff on Wednesday, set the simulator at 1:00 pm local for March 6, 2024. We typically prefer real weather and will follow form if the weather is good. If not, I recommend the ”Josh #1” preset with ground winds at 12kts from 80 degrees magnetic. The latter to mimic the prevailing winds. Multiplayer Particulars Date and time: Wednesday, March 6, 2024. 1900 UTC AVSIM Discord Server: https://discord.gg/K5Vy6UxWNm - AVSIM GROUP EVENTS-WED. COM1 Microsoft Flight Simulator Multiplayer: United States East 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). Please be kind enough to enter the title exactly as it stands in the title=”xxx” line of the aircraft.cfg file. Your courtesy will save others a lot of time and effort. Thanks!
  4. Agreed that these are both good freeware creators. Your choices will be a matter of taste, of course. For my own preferences, I’d strongly recommend the work of “Totof33120” wherever you find it. (Not sure whether Totof33120 is a team or an individual.) The several Caribbean pieces are first class. (And they are just now being updated to the Caribbean World Update.)
  5. The TDS GTN750 is not cross-linked with the Working Title (WT) GNS530. (Nor do they operate separately in parallel.) As far as I know, your experience is what you can expect with this combination.
  6. Windward Islands Shuttle For Saturday, February 17, 2024 We continue our return to the Caribbean with a sequence of island-hopping flights. We begin in Dominica and continue southward through Martinique, Saint Lucia, and the Grenadines to Grenada. Along the way, we pick up and let off passengers at the airports along the way. Finals, Union Island, The Grenadines We depart from Dominica’s international airport Douglas-Charles [TDPD] and cross over the island’s northern tip, circling over Portsmouth (now an “ecotourism” site) and Fort Shirley. The latter was built by the English and enhanced by the French when the island changed hands in the eighteenth century. (Once the Europeans brought enslaved Africans to work the sugar cane plantations, the islands became successful economic engines. England, France, Spain and the Netherlands contested these islands for 150 years, building forts and naval facilities, and fighting a number of battles.) Fort Shirley was home to soldiers of the West Indian Regiment who mutinied in 1802 over living conditions and the possibility of being re-enslaved and put into the cane fields. We continue down the west coast to land at Canefield [TDCF], a small airport slotted onto a narrow coastal shelf between the hills and sea. Most visitors land at Douglas-Charles and take an “entertaining” hour-long drive that twists over the central mountains. Our smaller aircraft provide direct access to the capital city Rosseau. We head southward for the French island Martinique. Like Guadeloupe, this is an overseas Department of France itself. Martinicians are French citizens and thus part of the EU. They are economically tied to France, with the local banana industry being a traditional exporter to metropolitan France. (To be sure, the French have provided considerable economic subsidies to the island.) First thing we encounter is the active volcano Mount Pelée [4800] which in 1902 erupted and emitted a pyroclastic flow that within minutes completed destroyed Saint-Pierre the “Paris of the Caribbean” and killed all 30,000 residents (save three). We descend around the central mountain range to see Martinique’s Sacré-Coeur de Balata, modeled after the iconic Basilica Montmartre in Paris. It stands on the hills overlooking Fort-de-France below. We pass over the capital city and its port to land at the island’s large international airport Martinique Aimé Césaire [TTTF]. With the normal winds, our departure will take us over Le Francois and its Eglise St. Michel (an open modern structure with a lively congregation). We turn and can see several of the white (and black) sand beaches along the southern coast – which are very popular with Métropole French vacationers. Next is Saint Lucia, the largest of the Windward Islands. We fly over Rodney Bay with its attractive beach, yacht harbor, shops, restaurants, clubs, hotels, and resort developments. Nearby, Gros Ilet hosts a Friday night street party which, later in the evening, gets loud, boisterous, and unsuitable for family visitors. A short bit further lies Castries (ke-STREEZE), the national capital. We land at George F.L. Charles Airport [TLPC], typically approaching on Rwy 09. This 1940s airport lies next to popular Vigie Beach and is locally known by its original name Vigie Field. It is a busy commercial airport now served by multiple turboprop airline and cargo flights to many regional Caribbean destinations. Castries itself is the national capital and hosts the institutions of the Organization of Eastern Caribbean States. In the last several years, it has become a major port of call for cruise ships. We fly along St. Lucia’s west coast, over the oil terminal, to the small town Soufriere and the famous "picture postcard" Petit Piton and Gros Piton. (“See the mountain, climb the mountain, drink the beer.”) And then east to Vieux Fort and Hewanorra [TLPL]. A much larger facility, this is the nation’s international airport that accommodates widebody intercontinental jets. (It is an hour’s drive from Castries.) Southwest lies Saint Vincent. Its northern volcano La Soufriere had a massive explosive eruption in April 2021 that caused large scale damage to the island due to the heavy ash deposits. Scientists had been watching the volcano and were able to give notice for evacuation. And the pyroclastic flows were in the sparsely-populated northern mountains. Happily the loss of life was minimal although island agriculture was devastated and tens of thousands had to be moved and faced dislocation in their lives. The financial cost to the island was substantial in terms of immediate aid, relocation, replanting, rebuilding, and redevelopment. We land at the new (2017) Argyle Airport [TVSA] which is the small nation’s only international airport. It was built on the coast east of Kingstown to replace the small city airport which could not be expanded to modern standards. We depart westward to take a quick look at the city, with its Romanesque Cathedral of the Assumption and then Fort Charlotte, perched on a ridge over the city and bay. The fort was built by the French and finished by the English. It was used as a base to defeat the fierce Carib islanders who successfully resisted colonial rule until the end of the eighteenth century. We head for the Grenadine Islands whose tourism potential seems promising. (Some individual stories.) We first visit Bequia (BEK-way), the largest of the chain and only 9 miles south of Kingstown. We land at JF Mitchell [TVSB]. The island, and especially Port Elizabeth and Admiralty Bay, have become popular among cruising yachts, divers, tourists, and expats. Admiralty Bay is one of the safest natural harbors in the Eastern Caribbean and was a favorite among pirates during their day (including Blackbeard Edward Tech and Henry Morgan as well as Sir Francis Drake). The recent film series Pirates of the Caribbean seems to have increased the popularity of the area. Next is Mustique [TVSM]. This small island was developed in the 1960s as an exclusive sanctuary for the very rich and famous. The leadership and 104 home owners have managed the island to maintain privacy and security – though nowadays vetted members of the public may temporarily rent some homes as vacation residences (for a price). The airport is plenty big enough for our aircraft but the over-a-ridge approach and landing will require a little attention. Then to Canouan Island that was isolated until the 1990s when Canouan Resorts began development, built roads and installed electricity and water desalination plants. It established two large hotels and resorts that included luxury villas and a private golf course. The airport Canouan [TVSC] has since been extended to become a “jetport” which now handles regular passenger airliners, charter flights, and corporate jets. Somewhat different is Union Island. This is more of a long-established working island with a laid-back culture. Nowadays, yacht services and day-chartering are the mainstays with hotels, bars, restaurants and the like catering to those who are visiting the tropical beauty of nearby Mayreau and the Tobago Cays. Union Island Airport [TVSU] has lengthened its runway to accommodate more passenger traffic. Nevertheless, the normal winds require a “blind approach” over a steep hill onto Rwy 08. This route is thought to be good training for the notoriously challenging landing at St. Barts. (The approach is routine for experienced pilots, less so for passengers.) We hop down to Lauriston [TGPZ] located on the Caribbean shore of Carriacou Island. This quiet island is a dependency of Grenada. It features some of the most unspoiled coral reefs in the region and hosts 33 dive sites on the calmer Caribbean side. Our final destination is Grenada (gre-NAY-de) – we join this month’s celebration of the nation’s fiftieth birthday. The island was first claimed by the French and then ceded to Britain in 1763 who ruled it until Grenada gained independence in 1974. The nation went through a rough patch when the initially elected government was overthrown by a coup and then the new leader (Maurice Bishop) was murdered by a hardline faction of his party. The US invaded (evidently to thwart the left-wing group’s allying with Cuba) and reinstalled a democratic government. This act was widely condemned in the international community. Grenada is best-known for its spices, especially nutmeg and mace. We fly over the island’s high rain forest admiring the Grand Etang crater lake and waterfalls. And circle the capital St. George’s – noting Fort Frederick and the visually striking Parliament House. We land at Maurice Bishop [TGPY], on Point Salines five miles south of the capital. (Do not wear camouflage.) Documentation The flightplan can be found here. (Caution. The *.gfp needs the final waypoint TGPY to be clarified by user intervention in the Garmin itself.) Aircraft This flight emphasizes air transport to the small islands in the Winward Islands. Some of the enroute airports handle jets and large turboprops. However, other airports require “STOL” transport aircraft or smaller GA aircraft. Good choices would include the DHC-6 Twin Otter and the Cessna 208B Caravan. (Another typical regional aircraft is the BN-2A Islander, but that is a bit slow for our purposes. The Daher Kodiak would be a good substitute.) Perhaps the Tecnam P2012 Traveller would suite these short legs. Or you might prefer to do “charter operations” in another airplane. You should, of course, fly what you like. Additional Scenery All the airports are included in the default but many lack features. I recommend that you install several addon airports to improve the airfields. Dominica Douglas Charles (Melville Hall) [TDPD]. wilfridlisandro (Bernardofly) Canefield [TDCF]. wilfridlisandro (Bernardofly) Martinique Aime Cesaire [TFFF]. timot75 Port of Martinique Layout. wilfridlisandro (Bernardofly) Castries George F.L. Charles [TLPC]. lexuz2020 Hewanorra International [TLPL]. lexuz2020 Rodney Bay. runwild SLU Oil Terminal. runwild {needs Totof33120 TNCE installed...from Wednesday} Saint Vincent Argyle [TVSA]. timot75 Bequia JF Mitchell [TVSB]. Totof33120 Mustique [TVSM]. Totof33120 Canouan [TVSC]. Totof33120 Union Island [TVSU]. Totof33120 Lauriston [TGPZ]. Totof33120 Grenada Maurice Bishop [TGPY]. timot75 Temporarily, you can obtain the package here (1.58GB). (Our recent experience indicates that you want to check for duplicates of already-existing sceneries.) There are good payware options for Douglas-Charles [TDPD], Aime Cesaire [TFFF], and Maurice Bishop [TGPY]. (There are also payware packages for the Grenadines but these freeware are really good.) In any case, please check for duplicates. Finally, a suggestion. If you have adjustable seasonal colors, consider setting the season to Summer North to avoid brown foliage in the tropics. A matter of taste and YMMV. Time and Weather For takeoff on Saturday, set the simulator at 1:00 pm local for February 17, 2024. We typically prefer real weather and will follow form if the weather is good. If not, I recommend the ”Josh #1” preset with ground winds at 10kts from 120 degrees magnetic. The latter to mimic the normal tradewinds. Multiplayer Particulars Date and time: Saturday, February 17, 2024. 1900 UTC AVSIM Discord Server: https://discord.gg/K5Vy6UxWNm - AVSIM GROUP EVENTS-SAT. COM1 Microsoft Flight Simulator Multiplayer: United States East 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). Please be kind enough to enter the title exactly as it stands in the title=”xxx” line of the aircraft.cfg file. Your courtesy will save others a lot of time and effort. Thanks!
  7. Just a quick reminder that the SLH Sim Designs has on sale a 10 Caribbean Airport Package for $20.00. This is for a limited time. Available at Flightsim.to (here) and at the SLH Sim Designs website (here). Again, these are good quality but not top-tier payware. But the quantity makes the package worth considering. We shall fly in this area during the coming week.
  8. This looks to be a wonderful excursion. Subscribers to the “Beautiful Models of the World” package will want to remember to activate Rome Uribe [LIRU] and Rimini [LIPR]. Others may like the freeware Rimini [LIPR] by Pille83.
  9. Papua. The Best Place to be a Sim Pilot For Saturday, February 3, 2024 Ten years ago we were treated to an engaging 4-part documentary Worst Place to Be a Pilot (2014). Those young Susi Air pilots braved the challenges of flying into high mountain villages with eye-popping terrain and changeable weather. They loved the experience but understood the danger. Nowadays, the hazards include being targets of the rising insurgency – pilots have been shot and kidnapped. Today we return to Papua, the Indonesian provinces on the western side of New Guinea. We capture some of the Susi Air pilots airmanship experiences when we fly from Nabire to a number of remote mountain village air strips through Centra Papua and then climb up to the top of Puncak Jaya for a look. We finish at Timika in the lowlands south of the mountain ranges. Bugalaga ... Runway clear for takeoff We depart from Nabire [WABI], using the “old” airport. The new one, with the same name and ICAO, opened in December 2023. It lies 6nm to the west in Wanggar, the recently-designated administrative capital of Central Papua province. Nabire is a good sized-town, with a district population of 98,000. It is an underdeveloped tourist center with the chief international attraction being the opportunity to swim with the whale sharks. These are the worlds largest fish, and third largest species, with an average length of about 30 feet and reports of 50-60 feet and a weight of 47,000 pounds ... bigger than a school bus. They consume vast quantities of small fish but seem uninterested in the human dining experience. We leave in early morning to reach Idedua (Bonomani) Airstrip [WACV], perched on a narrow ridgeline high above the valleys below. “It doesn’t get more dramatic than this ... Idedua doesn’t disappoint on crazy places to put a runway,” writes Matt Dearden – one of the Susi Air pilots featured in Worst Place. We proceed a few miles further to fly “possibly the shortest commercial flight in the world.” We land at Kegata [WZ38] ... and then fly about a minute and land at Apowo [WX15]. Locals save a day’s journey between villages and, more importantly, travel to and from Nabire city and the outside world. Frequently there are not enough seats to accommodate the demand. You might like Dearden’s Worlds Shortest Commercial Flight? We head east to Timepa [WACF]. Then north, over the high foothills of the Weyland mountain range to land at Dadou (Monemani) Airstrip – made interesting by its being tucked away in a corner of the ridgeline. Then a jaunt over the hills and a descent into the large densely-populated agricultural valley surrounding the Paniai (previously Wissel) Lakes. We land first at Obano (WAOA), a fair-sized village scattered along the lowlands near the lake’s southwestern shore. Then a short flight over Lake Paniai to the long paved runway at Enarotali [WABT/WABE]. The region was unknown by non-Papuans until a Dutch naval aviator "discovered" it in 1937. In 1938 the Dutch established the town, along with a Christian mission and a government radio post, to assert "control" over the area. This vanished with the Japanese invasion in 1942. The town was reestablished and has grown as the capital of the Paniai Regency. With a constant military presence, it is also a central Indonesian government outpost in the continuing conflict with the separatists. We depart to the north back into the rugged country to Bugalaga [WX53]. This is one of the region's more interesting mountainside airstrips. A number of pilots have featured it in their videos and Microsoft/Asobo have chosen it as a "featured airport." Getting to the top of the sharply inclined surface, and then stopping quickly, takes some attention to the management of speed and momentum ... and brakes and reverse thrust. To depart, one lines up on the right heading, locks the tailwheel, notes the lack of vision over the nose, anticipates a swing to the left, pushes forward, quells the heartbeat, and expects that a little adrenaline will handle any surprises. Then east to stop at Mbugulo (Bilogai) Airport [WACY], a sloped grass field for another hillside village. Our next landing is at more famous Pogapa [WW68], a substantially-sized village of the Moni people. (For a weekend visitor's view, you can read Kristi Rose's charming 2015 description of Pogapa Village. The first thing you see on final approach is an aircraft wreck. And another arriving plane, a Kodiak, crash-landed on site that weekend. A more recent (2019) visitor indicates that there is now solar-powered internet access!) Our final eastward village is Hitadipa [WABJ]. This strip requires a careful approach down into a steep valley, setting up for a controlled short finals ... and then suddenly spotting the field and landing in one motion. (Worth a look at Matt Dearden’s annotated approach. “It’s a hell of an approach, this one. You have to wonder sometimes, why did you build an airstrip in this position.”) Next, we head south climbing to [15500] where we turn onto a shoulder of the Sudirman Range marked by the highest peaks in Oceania. Reaching [16000], we circle back west to see the summit Puncak Jaya, or Carstensz Pyramid, [PJCP] at the highest point on the sharp ridge to our left. At 16,024 ft, this is the tallest mountain peak between the Himalayas and the Andes. Mountaineers still call this Carstensz Pyramid and include it as one of the Seven Summits. You can see the lakes below that mark the Carstensz Pyramid Base Camp from which they climb up the sheer north face of the peak. Circling over Puncak Jaya We may optionally stop at the (possibly fictional) Puncak Jaya Mining Airstrip [WXPJ]. This short field may take some care. Just over the edge lies the enormous Grasberg Mine – the largest gold mine in the world. The 19,000 person enterprise (with a very deep pit and underground mines and processing plants) is now jointly owned by Freeport and the Indonesian government. Quite a feat to engineer and build such a massive mine on the top of this very remote mountain. It has been a great success for both the mining company and for the Indonesian nation – at one time the mine provided half of the government’s annual budget. Worth a look. We descend over the mining operations and, for an interesting experience, stop at the beautifully situated Tsinga Mulu (Beoga) Airstrip [WACZ]. Some mountaineers fly up to this strip for its relatively easy access to the base camp and the technical climb to the summit. To cap off the trip, we fly down to our final destination Timika Mozes Kilangin Airport [WAYY]. Timika is the province’s largest and most prosperous city – thanks to the mining operation that uses the city as a port and as a support base. Documentation The flightplan can be found here. Included in the package is an updated Flying Operations in Papua. Videos v2.1 that adds coverage for this week’s flight. Aircraft This flight emphasizes air service to small remote mountain villages and requires an aircraft of STOL capabilities. At the end we climb up to the summit of Puncak Jaya, so a turboprop seems a good choice. The aircraft most often flown here are the Pilatus PC-6 Porter, Cessna 208B Caravan, PAC P-750 XTOL, and Daher Kodiak. For sentimental reasons, I’ll start with the Blackbird Pilatus P-6 Porter in the kcgb Susi Air livery. You should, of course, fly what you like. Additional Scenery All the airports are included in the default but many lack features. I recommend that you install several addon airports to improve the airfields. The packages will be used in later flights. You want the package from last week: Fixes for 95 western New Guinea airstrips. wantok Highlands Papua Airstrip Collection. Photosbykev HaveDoughnut’s PNG/WNG Airstrips and Flags. Bush_Drivers Ilaga [WAYL]. Beowulf99x Wamena [WAVV]. capungflightTV In addition you want a second package: Nabire [WABI]. LataVoadora Idedua (Pass Valley) [WA0B]. LataVoadora Apowo [WX15]. LataVoadora Kegata [WZ38]. LataVoadora Bilai Boruku [WABX]. LataVoadora Pogapa [WW68]. LataVoadora Puncak Jaya Mining Airstrip [WXPJ]. LataVoadora Timika Moses Kilangin [WAYY]. Vulfilla Temporarily, you can obtain the first package here. And the second package here. (Our recent experience indicates that you want to check for duplicates with already-existing sceneries.) Time and Weather For takeoff on Saturday, set the simulator at 7:00 am local for February 3, 2024. We typically prefer real weather and will follow form if the weather is good. If not, I recommend the "High Clouds" or "Few Clouds" preset. This is very much a high mountain flying operation that requires VFR conditions for safety. Multiplayer Particulars Date and time: Saturday, February 3, 2024. 1900 UTC AVSIM Discord Server: https://discord.gg/K5Vy6UxWNm - AVSIM GROUP EVENTS-SAT. COM1 Microsoft Flight Simulator Multiplayer: United States East 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). Please be kind enough to enter the title exactly as it stands in the title=”xxx” line of the aircraft.cfg file. Your courtesy will save others a lot of time and effort. Thanks!
  10. Flying Operations in Papua. Videos v2.0 Flying Operations in Papua. Videos v2.0 is a compendium of “operations videos” of pilots flying into and out of our Papuan airports. Included are those for The Highlands and The Freeway. Also included are videos for a second “small village strip” flight in Central Papua west of the current flight. This is a revised and augmented version of the compendium published alongside our 2021 flights.
  11. Flightplans. Primary and Secondary Options. If you install the addon scenery, then the posted primary flightplan should work as normal. (Download the flightplan again for both *.lnmpln and *.pln files.) This primary option starts at Bokondini [WAJB]. If you do not install the addon scenery, then use the secondary flightplan option designated above. (Here.) This second option starts at Jayawijaya [WAVB]. As described above, the two airports are almost identical. The names are different. And, I guess, the starting positions have different internal designations. However, they conflict with each other and it seems the addon supplants the default. If the addon is installed, it requires the addon starting positions. If only the default is installed, it needs the default starting positions. (I was originally puzzled by the practical consequences...but it makes sense at the end of the day.) The complication is that the “Photosbykev” addon has a model for the starting airport. It is (properly) designated as Bokondini [WAJB]. My experiments indicate that if the addon is installed, then you must start at WAJB. If you have installed the addon scenery, then you cannot truly start at WAVB. On the other hand, if you DO NOT install the addon, then WAVB will work and WAJB will not. Hence, my suggestion (if you DO NOT install the addon) is that you use the second flightplan which differs only in that it begins with the default starting airport.
  12. Papua. A Cargo Challenge for the Canadians For Saturday, January 27, 2024 Today we revisit Papua, the Indonesian provinces on the western side of New Guinea. Over the last few years, the central Indonesian government has committed itself to modernizing the infrastructure in Papua. They have developed the bigger towns’ aviation facilities transforming them from basic airstrips into small airports. And more powerfully, they have devised a plan for a roadway infrastructure so that these towns can be served by motor vehicles – especially commercial trucks. The government’s proclaimed goal is the integration of the countryside into the modern world which would provide ready access to education, healthcare, and commerce. This has genuine appeal to many Papuans who seek a better life. And yet, other Papuans see this as a plot to extract Papua’s natural resources in ways that will endanger traditional lifestyles. At the moment, the Trans-Papuan Highway is near completion. However, of the road’s 3,800km only about one-third has been paved. On a rainy mountainous island, where dirt quickly turns to mud, this means that much of the “highway” is impassable on many days of the year. And, given the terrain and the armed resistance in the highlands, the most difficult part of the roadway lies ahead. The leadership needs to find some way to bridge the gap between rising expectations for transportation infrastructure and the reality of roadbuilding in contested mountainous terrain. Caribou lifting off from Karubaga For our mission this week, we test the viability of air cargo operations on a scale not yet seen in the region. Viking Air (De Havilland Canada), who hold rights to the DHC-1 through DHC-7 aircraft, have agreed to supply a small fleet of DHC-4 Caribous and DHC-6 Twin Otters. The Canadians will prove crucial for our operation’s success. [Please note that this backstory is fiction.] We begin at Bokondini [WAJB], a small town with a fine airport. (The default designates this airfield, incorrectly, as Jayawijaya [WAVB]. If you did not install the addons, use the default airport flightplan below. These two “airports” are the exact same runway – but the starting positions are slightly different.) We leave Bokondini to fly southeast and then pivot to the southwest along the narrow Baliem River gorges before turning to land at Tiom [WAVT]. This is a larger town (20,000) whose airport has frequent commercial service to Wamena and Jayapura, two provincial capitals. On departure, we circle west to climb through high mountain valleys and over a ridge [11700] before descending into the Sinak Valley and landing on the relatively new runway at Sinak [WABS]. Again, this airport hosts frequent flights from local carriers such as Susi Air. We head west into the mountains where most of the population live a traditional lifestyle. After climbing around the higher ground, we cross through a high pass [12500] before descending into the Ilaga Valley and landing at the busy airport Ilaga [WAYL]. The town itself has a mix of “foreign” Indonesian officials and traders and the local Dani people. It is a district capital with its own police station. It has also been a stronghold of the Papuan independence movement OPM (who briefly captured the town in 2001). In the last two years, the group killed 8 telecom construction workers and later torched the Ilaga high school and executed a student. Not surprisingly, it is common to see armed soldiers supervise all local airport operations in the region. We depart and circle north and then west, through narrow valleys, to reach Beoga Airport [WABA]. The village and paved strip are nestled in a tight valley and require a nearly-blind left-hand turn on finals. On leaving, we turn west and work to climb over the Beoga Pass [9300). We land at Sugapa Bilogai Airport [WAYB] which lies along a high ridgetop with drops of 600 and 1600 feet on each side. This looks more dramatic than it really is. The airport serves the fairly large town of Sugapa and also provides a starting point for visitors who will trek south to climb Puncak Jaya (Carstensz Pyramid), the highest peak in Oceania and thus on the bucket list for many mountain climbers. (Getting to the mountain, 20 miles to the south, requires passing through the unfamiliar rainforest and sometimes unhelpful local villages. This journey can be a challenge on its own.) We shall want to be careful because just this week local rebels have been shooting at landing aircraft and attacked the local police office. Despite continuing gun battles, the government assures our sponsors that the airport will be open by the time we arrive. No worries, mate. What could go wrong? Assuming everything is fine, we turn back east along what local pilots call “The Freeway.” This is a series of east-west valleys along which lie many village strips that are served by local air companies. The larger airfields will accommodate bigger aircraft such as the Cessna 208 Caravan. The smaller ones require smaller STOL aircraft such as the Pilatus PC-6 Porter, the Kodiak, or the PAC P-750. We fly about 10 miles before turning to land at Nabia Airstrip [WADJ] (labeled in the sim as Beoga). This bowl-shaped dirt strip is long enough (1500 ft) but the sloping terrain and clifftop location may provide an interesting challenge for our larger aircraft. We proceed 40nm to Mulia [WAVA], a more modern and better developed field. Mulia is the capital of the Puncak Jaya Regency (equivalent to a "county"). Mulia has a reputation as having one of the coldest city temperatures in typically tropical Indonesia (as low as 9°C at night and, in some seasons, down to freezing). We continue along to Ilu [WAVC], an equally well-maintained airfield that might prove interesting as the approach requires a sharp right-hand turn into the airport. Our final stop along “The Freeway” is the larger modern Karubaga Airport [WAVG]. This large town is another government center as the capital of the Tolikara Regency. We head north for a quick stop at two airstrips which are more typical of daily operations in Papua. The strips are long enough for our larger aircraft – unlike many in the highlands – but will provide a last-minute bit of entertainment. The first, Mamit [WANX], has long been served by the MAF (Missionary Air Fellowship) team and consequently the village has developed a great deal over the years. (It was one of the first to have electric lightbulbs in every home.) The second stop, Babu [WAOG] (labeled Karubaga), is less well known. Then, we cross our last high altitude ridge [7100] before landing at our final destination Dabra [WAJC]. This is a government outpost on the shore of the Bailem River. We are now in the low-lying coastal Papua Province and the large provincial capital city Jayapura is 120nm away. Documentation The flightplan can be found here. (Only if you did not install the addon scenery, use the flightplan for default airport start.) Aircraft Our cargo airlift “demonstration project” emphasizes the DHC-4 Caribou and DHC-6 Twin Otter. In reality, almost all our designated airports are now routinely serviced by the C208 Caravan. So a C208 might provide a good comparison if you like. I'll take the Orbx Caribou in the Greatland Air Cargo livery. You should, of course, fly what you like. Additional Scenery All the airports are included in the default but many lack features. I recommend that you install several addon airports to improve the airfields. The packages will be used in later flights. You might want: Fixes for 95 western New Guinea airstrips. wantok Highlands Papua Airstrip Collection. Photosbykev HaveDoughnut’s PNG/WNG Airstrips and Flags. Bush_Drivers Ilaga [WAYL]. Beowulf99x Wamena [WAVV]. capungflightTV Temporarily, you can obtain a prepared package here. Time and Weather For takeoff on Saturday, set the simulator at 8:00 am local for January 27, 2024. We typically prefer real weather and will follow form if the weather is good. If not, I recommend the "High Clouds" or "Few Clouds" preset. This is very much a high mountain flying operation that requires VFR conditions for safety. Multiplayer Particulars Date and time: Saturday, January 27, 2024. 1900 UTC AVSIM Discord Server: https://discord.gg/K5Vy6UxWNm - AVSIM GROUP EVENTS-SAT. COM1 Microsoft Flight Simulator Multiplayer: United States East 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). Please be kind enough to enter the title exactly as it stands in the title=”xxx” line of the aircraft.cfg file. Your courtesy will save others a lot of time and effort. Thanks!
  13. This is really excellent. Lots of variation in scenery and a few tough airports. Great stuff. Here is a very tiny addition. From RoloBach we have an interesting package of smaller airports for the Southern part of South America. These are modest (and sometimes better) improvements for many medium and small airports as well as dirt strips. At FlightSim.to: FSonFS (Flight Simulator on Far South). RoloBach. The whole package is worth having for future use. For Jeff’s Chubut Patagonia run, you can get a very small subset of four entries here. PS. Do not install the full RoloBach package without reading the instructions. (The author’s SAUT entry will disable the default SAUT airstrip which is on our itinerary Saturday. Not sure about the reason.) The subset pack is ok. PPS. There does seem to be a current sale on for Simulacion Extrema airports in the MSFS Marketplace ... as of Thursday, January 18, 2024. Simulacion Extrema do many airports for Argentina and Chile (and some elsewhere). Jeff...any recommendations?
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