P_7878

Thanks, PM and Will, for appreciating these images of this (lovable) "Baby Boeing"...🙂...

Will, Andreas: Thank you for the additional comments...Cheers...!

The saying goes, "There's a first time for everything". Here, I mean in the SIM...e.g., surely, we recall well the first time we'd pushed the Throttles of the PMDG Base (600/700) NG for FS9, with unprecedented anticipation and excitement...🙂...back in 2003, more than 2 decades ago, heralding the age of high-fidelity 737 simulation on the desktop. And soon, there will be another first...the coveted long-hauler 777 in the world of MSFS...🙂...yes, that will be a first no matter how many times you've flown it before in the virtual world, or how many times you've crossed the Oceans in the Real World 777... Likewise, in the previous SIMs, I do not recall any flying in the Far East countries, China/Japan/Korea being the prime examples of it. Of course, there were airports in our SIMs for Beijing, Tokyo, and Seoul respectively, and the diehards among us, yours truly included, might have (occasionally) flown extra-long-hauls from Kennedy or Heathrow to such destinations...in spite of the awareness that there were really no topographical features to discern within those countries...as one could e.g., in the PNW... Anyway, in MSFS, I've now tested Japan (with the World Update), Korea (without any Update), and here, in this post, I take a trip in China (also without any Update). I fly the China Southern Airline's C208 Caravan, exploring the region north of China Southern's Hub, the city of Guangzhou, the capital of Guangdong province. A World Update certainly does wonders for any region, whether e.g., it's the Caribbean or Japan. So, despite no such Update, for this part of China, my excursion still proved fruitful, in my opinion. It gave me a good feel of the geographical features of the region (which was not possible in the previous SIMS, hence a first...). I learned about the scattered mountains (small and big; see my images) as one traverses, across the plains, northward from Guangzhou into the heartland of China, and the famous Pearl River (2nd only to the iconic Yangtze River) that flows right through Guangzhou City (see images of it in my landing shots). I have lifted off Rwy 02L (ZGGG) of Guangzhou Airport and returned (home) to land also on the same 02L (ILS) Rwy of Guangzhou. The Caravan (Reg. B-3610), below, is indeed a RW aircraft that belongs to China Southern Airlines. Hope you enjoy this collection of 20 images. Thanks for viewing.

Thank you, John. Algerie ATR sounds good...🙂...I see they have 15 of those in their current fleet.... Appreciated the comments, Andreas. Interior Algeria scenery frankly did not seem too appealing (yes, no incremental updates as far as I can tell), but after all, I touched down in Algiers, as soon as I caught sight of the African landmass... 🙂....so not sure ... The 736 Boeing has been my favorite since PMDG published it first time for FS9, 20 years ago...agree, the price here is right of course...🙂...

Lovely set...from wintry Denver to calm Las Vegas....sounds good to me... [BTW, Darryl, just a few days ago, one morning, there was snow flurry around here, because the temperatures had dipped low enough...And today it doesn't feel like Winter is over yet ...]

Fantastic and meticulous work...and a lovely paint scheme...! Frankly, I know the "Bandit" too well...🙂, but this (nice) livery escapes my memory from previous SIMs... Nice interior decorator job, here...I do recall perusing e.g., the Lufthansa Magazine and other such publications in the backseat pocket during my LH flights, until one day they all disappeared around/after the Covid. The glossy pages were apparently magnets for the virus... Glad to see them back here...🙂...even if in the virtual world...Enjoyed the brief life-story of this airframe...To me these are like humans...🙂.... with a story to tell...with unique ups and downs of life...

Very nice pics, of an airport I've had chance to transit through > 12 times... I recall only 2 occasions, when I had a chance to get outside the (Intl) airport terminal. One of those, was due to snow and bad weather in Frankfurt, so LH arranged for overnight hotel stay and a day's worth of German (visitor) Visa for all pax. I did some pleasant sightseeing around the places you've shown here... I recall that occasion because when we were to depart KORD, at 2am in the night, the LH 744 got de-iced once (as I watched from inside the cabin, the de-icing crew working on the 747, in bitter windchill). Then we could not depart due to traffic congestion, so the captain ordered another de-icing...! Apparently, there is a time-limit in bitter cold temperatures, when a 2nd de-icing could be ordered at the discretion of the captain. Folks on board were grumbling...but I was frankly thankful, and patiently waited for it to finish after which we lifted off... Thanks for this set of images of EDDF and vicinity...from the vantage viewpoint of a helicopter...!

Lovely set of images, pmplayer...plane and place ...! I feel like now getting one of those Jetline Systems PC...🙂....the pictures are that good...

Very nice set...like the "gentle" Olive Green color....

Thanks, John, and apologize for the late response...Looks like you've been globe-trotting a lot more in MSFS than me...🙂...I would not have gone there except for this striking livery. This is all default South Korea scenery...frankly just about OK. Yes, I do recall seeing some (payware) Korea sceneries in my Xbox Marketplace, but I think they were for "Far East Birds"...🙂...While I like birds, I would have considered some actual topographical scenery of Korea...there is of course a nice (payware) Seoul airport scenery also in the Marketplace. Anyway, we really need here an Update like the (nice) Japan Update with a few (key) airport upgrades. And, yes, as Andreas had answered, this Hi Air repaint belongs to a Marketplace livery pack that I'd got a while ago when I had got the ATR, the pack been possibly updated, as Andrea says. Appreciated the comemnt, pmplayer. Yes, "fancy" is the word to describe it...🙂... Thanks, Andreas. Japan got a very nice facelift, and we need one like that for Korea too.... this default scenery is passable, but still something we never had in our earlier SIMs for these parts of the world...Cheers...!

A long while ago, I had a colleague (and officemate) who, around each end of year, would invariably make his holiday trip from Chicago to Algiers, visiting his family. The reason I recall this well because I would sometimes give him a ride to O'Hare, directly from work, at the end of workday, which was convenient for him (and I didn't mind a visit to the big airport...the aviation fan that I am/was...🙂...). Anyway, my (driving) conversation with him would go somewhat as follows: Me: "So, is it a direct flight from Chicago to Algiers or with a stop in Europe?" He: "From here, I always go to Paris (Orly) first in a "big" plane, and then I go to Algiers in a "small" plane." Me: "The "big" plane...is it a Boeing or an Airbus?" [Note: You've to realize, having been flying the (stock FS9/FSX) 737, 747, 777, 321 for a while, I already felt like an authority on all kinds of commercial airplanes..."small" and "big"...🙂...] He: "I don't know." Me: "OK, do you know how many engines does this "big" plane have...2, 3 or 4?" He: "Two". [Note: It turned out that his "big" plane was an Air Algerie B767 and his "small" plane was an Air Algerie B737.] Anyway, in my MSFS, I've no 767, one of my favorite twins in the SIM (since the LVLD's SIM 767 glory days), but I wished to replicate the smaller 2nd-segment of my colleague's flight from Paris (Orly) to Algiers. So, please find below 20 images of my flight today as I fly from Paris Orly (LFPO) to the Algerian capital city airport of Algiers (DAAG). Geographically, there are two (significant) features on my (southward) route I was a-priori aware of. I would cross the Pyrenees range of mountains at the border of France and Spain (see shot #s 6/7), and I would have to overfly the Alboran Sea (which is actually the westernmost part of the Mediterranean Sea) lying between southern Spain and northern Africa (see shot #s 8/9/10). The seaport city of Algiers resides on the northernmost edge of Africa. In fact, no sooner had my 737 made landfall into the African continent (see my ending images) than the (final approach) ILS guidance of my a/c kicked in, sharply (but reassuringly) banking my plane eastward towards the ILS Rwy 09 of Algiers airport. As I visited Algeria today, I was (fondly) reminded of my recent (virtual) trips to the adjoining lands of Morocco and Tunisia...🙂... Thanks for viewing this collection of images. Hope you enjoy...!

A tad bit faster than the Dove...🙂....but will do.... lovely lengthwise shot...!

The DC-3 has made it across the 3,000 miles from its home...🙂... Seriously, this is a beautiful series of pictures...! Thanks for sharing.

Thanks, pmplayer...and true about the DC-3...It makes my post look better...🙂... Thank you for the comments, bernd. Appreciated the feedback, rmeier. Agree DC-3 is next best thing to my (RW) automobile trips....🙂...unless I get to borrow that Zeppelin from Bernd...."Zeppelin above the Appalachians..."...🙂...Oh well... Appreciated the note, Will. Thanks, Jan, for chiming in. Glad you liked the images, Andreas. My Xbox DC-3 does not have the benefits of PC-based Mods that folks use here...so, I've to pretty much hand-fly by the needles ...🙂...still fun to fly this one...Cheers...!

It's well-known that the Airlines are tough business to survive. Fierce competition, high and volatile cost of (and critical dependency on) fossil fuel, and other capital-intensive investments in aircraft, maintenance, and infrastructure etc. make it one of the most challenging sectors of the economy. This is especially true if the airline is a new entrant into the market. On top of all these, the COVID Pandemic years put significant stress on the airline industry, by reduction of domestic and international travel demand. Seasoned and established airlines coped with the Covid challenges by converting e.g., their business model from pax-based to cargo-based operations (freight and cargo operators actually benefited from a rise in demand for air cargo during the Pandemic). I was reading a bit today. Have you heard of the term "Preighters"? I had not...and not in the Dictionary...🙂...Well...It is the term actually used by the Chief Lufthansa Executive to describe aircraft that are converted from passenger purposes to freighter purposes. It was a phenomenon (and a strategy for survival) that had uniquely arisen due to the (prolonged) global pandemic. Airlines are now slowly returning to profitability, but numerous airlines (unfortunately) failed to survive the pandemic. Here is one example. Hi Air of South Korea was a regional airline that started operations in 2019, purchased 2 ATR 72s in 2020 to (ambitiously) expand further its network, in spite of the imminent (but not fully visualized) global slump in air travel. 2020 was indeed an unfortunate choice. So, last year, in 2023, just 3 years after inception, the airline folded and was forced to cease all operations. Though the airline survived and operated for such a short period, a repainter has chosen to keep it alive in our virtual world by recreating its attractive livery and logo (see below) that caught my attention today. The airline's first route was between the city of Ulsan (RKPU) in the southeast corner of the country to the Capital of Seoul (RKSI) in the northwest corner of the country, which is the route I've replicated for this post. The country is fairly mountainous, though the highest summit is just over 6,000 ft. Here, I've overflown the T'aebaek Mountains, stretched along the east coast, with the Sea of Japan seen on my starboard side...on my way to Seoul's Incheon International airport. The (default) MSFS rendition offered me a fairly good idea about the country's topography (I'm thankful for it), but it clearly lacked details in terms of airport and cityscape features. Nonetheless, this trip, was an opportunity, for the first time ever, in the SIM, to explore and glimpse the geographical features of this country and these places, far-far-away from mine... Please find below 20 pictures from my flight today. Hope you enjoy. Thanks for viewing...!

NZ looks good in P3D, Andreas. Lovely shots...of one of my favorite NZ airport sceneries... Also, liked the Olive Green backplane of the cockpit...

Beautiful set...wonderful to hear the names of these Australian towns...that I've never heard before.... Thanks for getting off-road from the big cities of Australia....🙂...

You're absolutely correct, John. I believe I did come across those names too while looking around bits and pieces about this fascinating development of U.S. roadway system. I will check it out for myself. I think PA turnpike served as a model for other roadway systems across the country...And to be honest, as I saw from above, in the SIM, the Highway winding along these mountains, valleys, and towns, it looked exactly like what I would recall from my RW travels. I've travelled the PA Turnpike in all seasons, including winter...a long while ago, though... Cheers...!

Marvelously nostalgic set of images, bernd...! The Redwing folks are onto something quite impressive here, that has eluded our previous SIMS, though been often talked about ...

Piett: I know you've been diligently working on trial and error of this mechanism...and it clearly and convincingly shows in your pictures above...Very nice examples here...!

Agree, the MSFS DC3s in Bare Metal repaints are really outstanding... Lovely shots, from around your backyard....🙂...

Thanks for the comment, Andreas. Yes, you're correct. Please note that I am also partial to the older Lufthansa livery, with the blue cheatline and the blue crane in a yellow circle...since I flew on the 747 Jumbo for the first time with that livery of LH...Oh well...who is listening to us...🙂... And your (other) observations about scenery degradation in dense metropolitan areas and cityscapes are spot-on...a bit unfortunate, since MSFS is otherwise so effective for visual flights .... Cheers...!

Thanks for the information. BTW, John, I gather that there is construction on-going at the Route 22 Bridge over Lehigh River currently, which means, the (MSFS) shot above of this bridge (1st of my 2nd group of 3) may have some truth to it...🙂 ...On-line images do show an auxiliary road dipping down for construction traffic I guess ... Nonetheless, the issue with cityscape "meltdown" is present, more so, recently for me, which issue is apparently not confined to Xbox but to PC users also. I hear if one turns off PG, situation improves, but I do not normally wish to leave PG off...let's see if a future update fixes it. For now, e.g., my (familiar) KORD downtown does not look like it actually is, and neither e.g., EGLL/EGLC...I'm afraid to visit there...🙂...

A long while ago, lasting for a decade and half, I would (invariably) make my once-a-year road trip from Ohio to destinations on the east coast of U.S. mostly to Maryland and Washington, D.C., and occasionally to New Jersey, visiting friends and relatives. The distance was not too much...e.g., about 400 miles from Columbus (OH) to Washington (DC). I could do this in one driving stint of about 6-7 hours, with one break for stretching of legs and for restroom, though, if I were to do this now, I might need more than one health break...🙂...Anyway, I always thought, and still think so, there is no better way to familiarize yourself with the heartlands of Midwest, than driving this directly eastward route that traverses basically 3 states, Ohio, West Virginia, and Pennsylvania, before diving south towards Maryland and Washington, DC. The West Virgina segment of the Highway almost does not count...a thin strip of < 15 miles, across the state's peculiarly shaped (narrow) panhandle; so, you see the sign of West Virginia welcoming you, and just 10 mins later, you see West Virginia bidding you farewell. Always felt a bit strange... On this route, you cross over many significant rivers and bridges (I love bridges), and then you enter the famous Appalachian Mountains of eastern U.S. A major portion of my route would traverse the state of Pennsylvania, along the so-called Pennsylvania Turnpike of Tollway system. The Appalachians are no Rockies (nor Alps) for sure, with highest elevation of only about 6,000 ft, but they have posed significant (and daunting) obstacles to eastward travel across U.S., through the century. They stop your eastward journey on its track and dare you to cross them. Though hardly (2,000-3,000) ft high on average, they span north-south extensively, and there is simply no way around them except boring holes through them thanks to Alfred Nobel's invention of "Dynamite"...🙂...man against the mountains. This is how the Pennsylvania Turnpike was built...with 7 Tunnels through 7 mountains of the Appalachian range. Out of the 7-tunnels, actually 4 Tunnels are in active use today, though which I would make my way on my trip. I'm more familiar with cities and towns around these mountains than the Rockies, and these mountains, though troublesome for highway system, are beautiful, with a perpetually bluish, picturesque and dreamy look about them. When I would (suddenly) enter one of these Tunnels of darkness, after hours of (non-stop) driving in bright sunlight, with my sunglasses on, I would often forget to take my sunglasses off, until my wife would remind me, "Why don't you take your sunglasses off?" I would then feel my face to see that I've indeed my glasses on, and would say, "How about you? You are not taking your sunglasses off...", and then the inevitable reply, "But...I'm not driving...", so, it was clearly a losing argument on my part...🙂...The active tunnels of today along the Pennsylvania Turnpike, were (originally) built more than 140 years ago, in 1881, under the auspices of South Pennsylvania Railroad, when automobile travel was not yet popular. Four of those Tunnels were later adapted (with (extra) parallel bores built for multi-lane traffic) for roadway travel in the 1940s (considered "engineering marvels" of the time). So, there are now left behind a few (abandoned) "Ghost" Tunnels in Pennsylvania, nearly forgotten, under the Appalachian Mountains...with their own stories to tell...🙂...if anyone would listen... In my pictures below, I've focused on 2 of the 4 Tunnels I would cross in my (past) trips: (1) Allegheny Tunnel under the Allegheny Mountain (2) Tuscarora Tunnel under the Tuscarora Mountain (LAT/LONG co-ordinates of both derived from Google-Earth and inserted into the MSFS FlightPlan). As I lift off, below, from Pittsburgh (KPIT), these are the first 2 Tunnels (each more than a mile long) that would have to be reckoned with on my (roadway) journey to Washington, DC., but so nice, here, that I don't need to worry about these in my aerial flight....🙂... (See e.g., my shot #11 for the Highway I must have travelled on). In my pictures (shot #s 14-17) of the 2 Tunnel entrances, observe how the I-76 Highway disappears into the mountains. I've also included one image (shot #18) where from my vantage (aerial) viewpoint, you could spot the Highway re-emerging on the other side of the mountain... Please enjoy this collection of images, below, of a classic U.S. airline, Eastern, and its DC-3, tracking the Tunnels of Pennsylvania Turnpike. Eastern operated 76 DC-3s, with flights in the same region (similar to Allegheny Airlines of my previous post), over and across the Appalachian Mountains that bring one of the most unpredictable and turbulent weather patterns in the U.S., naturally associated with such mountains (they are magnets for cloud and rain). In fact, on almost every occasion I've travelled through these mountains and the valleys, I vividly recall instances of gathering clouds and rain, except during the Fall season...with bright sun and stunningly beautiful colors of foliage, on the wayside, on the forests, hills, and mountains of Pennsylvania Turnpike...there is nothing better to soothe your mind during long driving...as I would be glad to be finally on the plains, free of Tunnels, towards my destination on the east-coast (see my last shot)... Thanks for viewing and your interest...!

Futuristic and mysterious....🙂...Very intriguing set of images... Thanks for sharing...!