P_7878

Historically speaking, the (Consolidated) Catalina (airmen called them "Cat") has made glorious contributions to both military and civil aviation. With 1st flight in 1935 (ahead of the legendary Douglas DC-3's first flight also in 1935), the Catalinas were reliably completing non-stop long-range flights in excess of 3000 miles, setting unheard-of milestones for propliners of the era (for comparison, the DC-3 had a typical range of 1500 miles). The Catalinas were used during WWII on top secret "Double Sunrise" flights from Perth to Ceylon (now Sri Lanka). The Qantas pilots were flying them for something like 33 hours of continuous flight in extremely dangerous missions (aided solely by Celestial navigation to avoid radio-signal detection by enemy aircraft): "...splendid boats which for years saw us through our most hazardous operations ever without accident or mishap of any kind." After more than 80 years after its first flight, these aircraft continue to fly now as water bomber (or air tanker) in aerial firefighting operations all over the world. One such Tanker, #703 from Buffalo Air, is the specimen I've used in this sample flight. I've taken this aircraft on a sight-seeing tour in the vicinity of Mount Cook (NZSI), then tracking westward the northern coastline of the island, and finally calling it a night (after a water touchdown) just off-shore on this beautiful part of the world. [AS(Catalina)/Orbx(NZSI)/REX]

Great, Nils, you're also getting to enjoy the AFS2 - in a Heli! Excellent shots here, and the scenery is as good as (or better than) any other Orbx platform!

The dreary desert is turning more and more interesting, John, thanks to your explorations and backstories....very nice shots of this unique topography!

Lovely photoscenery of the Alps...the intertwined mist adds to the charm!

Just Lovely!! You seem to have covered (I mean: mastered) time/season/weather so effectively here. Great job!

Always good to have returning simmers here, myself being one......you mention you gave up aircraft, but you may re-think because of the the continuing advances in the GA/airliner simulations...🙂... Nonetheless, your post is very interesting. Having been twice to the "Touristy" Mackinac Island, I would love to visit these obscure (aka: odd) islands you're referring to here as the "Great Lakes Island Airports". In fact, en-route to the Mackinaw City, as I was tracking the scenic roadway (along the coastline) , I must have passed the Fox Islands off-shore (was not aware of these islands at that time). I was reading a bit about South Fox: "There is no ferry service to South Fox, and it has no docks, fuel or sheltered harbor. However, a private airport with a 5,500-foot (1,700 m) private runway can accommodate jet aircraft". [So, we can even fly our virtual personal Jets there, just need some good scenery. BTW, I do see the nice RWY in your shot!] "South Fox Island boasts some of the most spectacular freshwater maritime scenery in the world, including towering dunes, virgin cedars, and untouched beaches". [However, Mr. David Johnson seems to (privately) own about two-thirds of South Fox, the other third being owned by the state. Lighthouses always fascinate me, and there are two at the southern tip of this island, owned by the state.] Thanks for posting.

You're right about Autobahn, Harald, you would know for sure...🙂...but, such clearly visible lane-partitions on the HWY, I'm yet to see in my scenery....it looks neat....

Ambitious project, Jon, but it should be lot of fun! Keep us posted! I like a few of your relaxed-rule requirements, such as: -You may return to your original starting point, or to a destination that you have previously visited as many times as you wish. [This is good if you especially like a Capital City on/after your touch-down (in the SIM), and so wish to re-visit/re-try.] -You may fly to cities which are not capitals of a specific country. [This also good because there are interesting cities in countries, which are not necessarily their Capitals.] -Delays are allowed, cancellations may also occur. [This is much-needed, due to higher priority of family/personal matters (e.g. call-for-dinner...🙂...may override the aircraft-configuraions for a timely departure or even cancel the flight altogether...] Good-luck, and do let us know about any scenery add-ons that you use on your trip.

Good to hear from the Captain, John! California is such a scenic state. I need to explore it further in the SIM. I think I've Orbx's NCA, but I would like to get some Photoscenery for CA. And, the Cessna Skymaster is such a nice aircraft even though, it may not win a beauty contest. I have the Carenado C337, and do fly it occasionally.

Kiwi: Phenomenal capture! I do think, your 20 best, could be aviation-art museum-worthy. BTW, although, P3D's forte is in the complexity of advanced airliner simulations, even with (pleasingly) simple aircraft, you seem have maximized P3D's potential in your scenery shots.

Great pointer, Alan, sounds better than a James Bond. Must see this one!

Video Games? That's for kids! Seriously, this is real good stuff! All the shots look fantastic!

The Regional Jets are always fascinating, fulfilling the critical needs in the Hub-and-Spoke Model of air-travel used by many airlines, and the CRJs from Bombardier have been rather successful. Bombardier, in the past, had considered but shelved an (entirely) new Expansion Model of the CRJ in favor of stretching the CRJ line (e.g. to the 1000 variant). However, after much deliberations, in 2009, Bombardier officially launched the CSeries Jets (with fuel-efficient Pratt & Whitney Engines, high-proportion composite materials, and Rockwell Collins Pro-Line Avionics etc.) - with seating (108-160), compared to (97-104) for the CRJ-1000. In 2017, Airbus and Bombardier announced a partnership in the CSeries (Embraer and Boeing must be surely watching this development with keen interest!). On 10 July 2018, just hours after the CSeries was rebranded (A220-100/300) by Airbus, JetBlue ordered 60 A220-300s to replace its 60 Embraer 190s from 2020 (JetBlue A220 is the livery I've chosen for this sample flight). The A220, although in early deployment, has been well-received by customers, and shows promise of increasing market-share in a highly competitive (niche) market. Below are images from a short flight with the A220-300 variant from Aspen (CO) [KASE] to Denver (CO) [KDEN] over MSE Photoscenery. The model is FW (thanks to H. Zheng), and I've used/merged my Wilco CRJ-1000 [VC]/[FMS] to fly this model here. I've also included in the post (last 5 shots) liveries of this aircraft from a few other prominent operators. If you wish, for additional information including some (impressive) actual cockpit shots of this aircraft, please refer to the Aviation websites. For this flight, for fun in the SIM, I've set the visibility to "Zero" making it a blind-flight in the Rockies - reproducing a flight I'd posted earlier with the AS CRJ-700. Thanks for viewing these pictures of this new (but bold) entrant aircraft (a very nice one too). [FW(CSeries 300), MSE(CO), REX]

Nice shots! I've the Orbx PW(PAJN)/FW(KHQM) that I use often. Good choice of airports here for a flight with the Falcon!

Reliving the great memories, sure, across the varied but familiar landscape...BTW, this Aerobask Eclipse seems like such a winner!