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If we're requesting flyovers, I'm going to be sad I didn't suggest the Okavango delta while you were near Botswana, a river stuck in an endorheic basin that evaporates into thin air and rains down again to refuel itself, without ever reaching a standing water body.
SIGSEGV fucked around with this message at 06:52 on Nov 28, 2022 |
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Nov 28, 2022 03:57
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Oh man, night-time approaches! Is it harder in this aircraft as compared to contemporary planes? Is the flight time in real-time, or do you (or FS2020) compress it?
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Nov 28, 2022 06:48
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KYOON GRIFFEY JR posted:I've been to that airport and it stands out at night like crazy. There's not much until you get to Arusha to the west. Moshi to the east is a pretty small place with limited lighting. Am I understanding you correctly in that the Kili International airport *is* lighted? For the record, I'm happy to take overflight requests. If there's something out there that you all think is cool enough to check out, odds are good I'd want to see it myself. I probably won't backtrack to see something I've already passed though. Also, don't expect miracles from FS2020s terrain engine. As awesome as it is, it misses the mark in places that it probably shouldn't. You'll see in the next update that Kilimanjaro looks like a lump of moldy mashed potatoes. It was super disappointing. Places like Victoria Falls are rendered poorly as well. That said, I'll consider any recommendations.  @painedforever - I mean, it's a bit more challenging because a lot of the automation tools found in new aircraft are simply not present. New aircraft have extremely powerful autopilots to include navigation and approach coupling along with auto throttles. The Beech, as modeled in game, has a decent AP that will hold headings, altitudes, and follow courses from the GPS. It does have an AP mode that will follow an approach glide slope, but it's buggy and tends to drift well below the slope path. Sub-optimal to say the least. All flights are conducted in real time. I do not use time compression or slewing tools present in the game during these flights.
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Nov 28, 2022 17:07
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Gewehr 43 posted:Am I understanding you correctly in that the Kili International airport *is* lighted? It's lighted in game except for that runway. Much more likely to be a bug or oversight on Asobo's part than for a major international airport to have lights everywhere on the field except the runway. On the subject of lighting, I strongly recommend this mod: https://flightsim.to/file/8614/airports-lights Wouldn't have helped you in this case because it doesn't add runway lights but it does add ramp lighting to thousands of airports that would have it in real life but don't in the sim.
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Nov 28, 2022 19:01
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Good point. I guess I just didn't want to assume. That said, I'll DL the mod you linked for sure. Any other must have mods you'd recommend?
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Nov 28, 2022 19:35
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I do like Shift-Z, but only for showing simrate and you just said you aren't using compression. You might try searching for free scenery mods for any airports along your route. There's lots out there where people have made minor fixes to the default scenery, like this one for HTKJ.
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Nov 28, 2022 20:02
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Gewehr 43 posted:Am I understanding you correctly in that the Kili International airport *is* lighted? Yes, it is lighted. Sorry that post is a bit unclear. Supposedly ngorongoro crater got rendered in detail, in one of the updates.
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Nov 28, 2022 23:25
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Well crap. I just completed the flight from Kili to Entebbe yesterday morning, so I missed it.
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Nov 29, 2022 01:05
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I won't say anything if your plane accidentally teleports if you don't I am impressed that the game actually renders hippos. That's an impressive little touch!
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Nov 29, 2022 04:18
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Psion posted:I am impressed that the game actually renders hippos. That's an impressive little touch! Yeah, that was actually rather unexpected. Does it do that a lot? How long will it take to get to Hawaii at our current speed? 80 days? I wonder if this thing renders volcanic eruptions.
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Nov 29, 2022 04:45
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There's various fauna scattered throughout the world. Giraffes, rhinos, bears, etc. They're actually marked on the planning map. This was the first time I was close enough to a herd to seek it out. I don't think it renders a volcanic eruption proper, but I think the ash plume would render as a heavy cloud bank. I think I flew past one in South America.
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Nov 29, 2022 11:51
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Just caught up on this thread! Fun idea! I just started playing again and have been messing around with the career mode mods to add a little more motivation to my flights. It could be fun to use that and this idea to travel the world. I'm still learning though so a lot of my landings end poorly (see: death). Looking forward to the rest of the journey.
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Nov 29, 2022 22:39
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The Good Queen Clitoris posted:Just caught up on this thread! Fun idea! I just started playing again and have been messing around with the career mode mods to add a little more motivation to my flights. It could be fun to use that and this idea to travel the world. I'm still learning though so a lot of my landings end poorly (see: death). What career mod are you playing with? I've got a little time with neofly, but it just doesn't click all that well with me.
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Nov 30, 2022 00:01
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Gewehr 43 posted:What career mod are you playing with? I've got a little time with neofly, but it just doesn't click all that well with me. I'm playing on NeoFly right now because its free. There are a couple of paid ones that seem a little more full featured, I did the free trial for "OnAir" which seems to have more features but essentially the same as NeoFly. I've had my eye on Skypark for a bit https://parallel42.com/sim/skypark but I haven't convinced myself to shell out $30 for it yet. Its the most fleshed out and designed of the career mods I have seen.
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Nov 30, 2022 00:26
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This is really cool and I'm looking forward to seeing you fly over/to some places I recognise. There's a European airport I hope you hit that is pretty much never used anymore.
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Nov 30, 2022 00:35
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The Good Queen Clitoris posted:I'm playing on NeoFly right now because its free. There are a couple of paid ones that seem a little more full featured, I did the free trial for "OnAir" which seems to have more features but essentially the same as NeoFly. I've had my eye on Skypark for a bit https://parallel42.com/sim/skypark but I haven't convinced myself to shell out $30 for it yet. Its the most fleshed out and designed of the career mods I have seen. That was my take on it too. Neofly is cool and a great product for the price. The others seem cool, but I learned of them right around the time I started my round the world flight, so maybe I'll try them someday. ilmucche posted:This is really cool and I'm looking forward to seeing you fly over/to some places I recognise. There's a European airport I hope you hit that is pretty much never used anymore. Go on.
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Nov 30, 2022 01:15
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Welcome back and thanks for joining me. After the harrowing, zero-dark-thirty landing into the Kilimanjaro International airport (which, I'm told, is well-lit in reality...), it was time to get up and see Mt. Kilimanjaro (https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mount_Kilimanjaro) in all its glory. I was pretty excited about this leg, as I sort of assumed that a site like Kili would be well rendered in the game. Turns out, for as pretty as this game is, it's impossible to have all areas of the world rendered with loving care, and consequently, Kili fell a bit short of hopes. At least the flight would take terminus at Entebbe International (https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Entebbe_International_Airport), which is a unique airfield in the game. The plan was to depart eastbound, loop around the eastern side of Kilimanjaro, then turn northwest, crossing the Serengeti and Lake Victoria before making landfall at Entebbe, Uganda.  All told, this would be relatively short hop over the Serengeti plains of northern Tanzania and would mark our fourth crossing of the equator. Kilimanjaro itself is clearly visible from the ramp, as it towers over a largely flat plain.  Though the peaks were shrouded by clouds, it was still a very imposing sight.  Thundering down the runway, we lifted off and began our loop around the behemoth.    Climbing to our cruise altitude of 11,500, the mountain still towered over us. At 19,341 feet, it would be difficult to fly over it in the Beech. I've had it up to 20,000' before, but it's a stretch for the old girl. A friend of mine has summited Kili and while I appreciated the accomplishment in an academic sense, this helped give some perspective to the true effort that went into his feat.   I was hoping that the terrain in the area would be well-rendered, but as you can see, it was pretty generic and blotchy. Unfortunately, much of the African continent seems to be hit or miss when it comes to terrain rendering.  Looping around the mountain, we turned northwest...  ...and headed out over the Serengeti plain...      ... to Lake Victoria.   Entebbe approach began vectoring us for a visual approach into runway 17. With steady winds out of the south, 17 was the best choice.  Entebbe proper is to the northeast of the international airport which is situated on a small peninsula jutting into Lake Victoria. Here, Entebbe is to our left, while the airport is out of frame at our 9 o'clock.  The airport is located on that spot of land poking into the lake just above and forward of the left wingtip.  Entebbe is a surprisingly large metropolis with lots of suburban areas.  Turning to intercept the final approach course, the weather was pristine.   Okay, let's do this. GUMPS! Aviation is absolutely rife with acronyms for *everything* and the pre-landing mnemonic for making sure you don't end up skidding down the runway on your belly is one of millions. Gas, Undercarriage, Mixture, Props, Seatbelts.   I had loaded the RNAV approach into the GPS just to have a point of reference, but the approach was flown visually.  On speed, on slope, on course, winds cooperating.   Flaps down.    Short final, here we go!  A gentle flare, and Sweetpea II's tires kissed the asphalt with a cheerful chirp.  With the tailwheel slowly settling, we were officially on the ground for one of my better landings. That's not to bragging, but celebrating my good luck.  As I mentioned before, Entebbe is a hand-crafted airport in the game, so I tried to capture a number of photos as we taxied to parking.    (in case you forgot where you were)  Parking on the bizjet ramp, we shut down and called it a day after just 2.7hrs in the cockpit.    All in all, it was a pretty uneventful flight with clear skies and relatively calm winds. Kili was a bit of a letdown, but Entebbe turned out to be a pretty neat airport. Thanks for following along. Next up - a jaunt northeast to scare some more wildlife.
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Dec 3, 2022 13:22
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This LP really kicked my sense of adventure into high gear. I've never piloted an aircraft, haven't even played any MSFS, but I started mapping my own imaginary twin-prop RTW routes. Great presentation, love the chilled vibe, and the visuals.
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Dec 3, 2022 21:21
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That's wonderful to hear and probably some the highest praise I could receive on this. Happy to have sparked a fire. Thanks for following along.
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Dec 4, 2022 02:49
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Entebbe Airport of course most famously known for the big hostage rescue, though it appears most of that iteration of the airport has been demolished at this point. Really appreciate the giant letters someone made sure to include on the side of a hill, god bless modders.
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Dec 4, 2022 20:20
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Welcome back and thanks for joining me. Today, we leave Entebbe, Uganda and head northeast with a destination of Combolcha, Ethiopia. Why northeast? In looking at the in-game planning map, there are a few spots of wildlife and bespoke sights to see, so it seems like a good idea as any. The plan from here will be to follow the coast of the Red Sea up to Cairo, then turn west to parallel the North African coast before crossing at Gibraltar to the Iberian peninsula. It is in North Africa where we'll cross over our first major battle grounds of WWII where elements of the Commonwealth and US armies slugged it out with Erwin Rommel and his vaunted Afrika Korps. Should be interesting to see up close some of the places I've read so much about. Anyhoo, departure from Entebbe was uneventful with clear weather and light winds. Weather has been extremely favorable this whole trip.      The urban area around the airport is extensive.   Entebbe itself is a huge, sprawling urban center.    Climbing to 11,500' - the sweet spot for the Beech 18's fuel consumption in the game - we winged our way northeast towards Combolcha. Though bumpy, the air was remarkably clear.     Here and there, a few clouds dotted the sky.    The real show-stealer on this flight was the scenery. As we neared Combolcha, flat plains gave way to a dramatic landscape of deep ravines, and craggy mountain peaks.       Combolcha itself is located at the end of a long river valley cut between two mountain ranges. In this photo, it's nestled at the foot of the mountains at about the 10 o'clock position. The only real approach is to come up from the south as the approach to the northern runway would be... challenging owing to reasons that will be evident momentarily.  We turned due east to get us over the valley and the start of our descent and approach. Fortunately, winds and weather were favorable and the mountains provided the only real concern.  Just over the valley, we banked hard left and began a somewhat rapid descent to get down to pattern altitude of about 7,000 feet. I was wary of shock cooling the engines, so I kept the power up a bit and the cowl flaps closed. In an air-cooled engine such as the R-985, a rapid reduction of power and an increase in airspeed (as often seen during a rapid descent) can overcool the engine and cause damage to, or in extreme cases, failure of the cylinder heads. 99.99% sure FS2020 doesn't model this, but I still try to keep the old girl within her normal operating parameters.  Combolcha is tucked away at the foot of that mountain.   GPS terrain mode was helpful here... but not all that reassuring. As you can see, on the approach, the terrain to our left was already towering above us, while the terrain to our right has dotted with ragged peaks. As we descended, we were well below most of the peaks to our right as well.  Hold on, here we go!   It quickly became apparent that going around would be problematic at best. If it came to it and I had to go around, my plan was to make as hard a bank to the left as I could manage to clear that prominent hill there, then use the valley (out of frame to the left) to climb out and try again. While the immediate terrain to the right looks a little more favorable for a go around, a solid wall of mountains stands just to the right of the picture.     Almost there, everything looking good.  Okay, let's stick this.   Touchdown!  Cleaning up the aircraft, we back-taxied briefly then parked at the ramp.     So, funny thing about that landing. There are three main camera views in FS2020: Internal/cockpit, external, and "drone" mode. Cockpit view is self explanatory. External view is a view in which you can pan the camera around the aircraft, but the aircraft is more or less always the center of the frame. Drone camera is essentially a free camera mode that allows you to position the camera any way you'd like without the game trying to focus it on the aircraft. Because of the way I have (*had* as of just now) my controls set up - or it's the default, I'm not really sure - there is a quirk in this game where you can get stuck in a loop between the two external views without being able to return to the cockpit. While trying to capture more dramatic shots as I'm landing and taking off, I've gotten fairly proficient at hitting the key for the external view, then hitting F12 to take a screen shot, then hitting the key for external view again to return to the cockpit. Trouble arose on this landing when I accidentally hit the external view key, took a screenshot, then hit the key for the drone mode. Now I was stuck in an view loop on *very* short final. That, in and of itself, would be a challenge as I'm not used to landing while viewing from outside the cockpit. However, there's an even greater issue. In drone mode, all flight controls are disabled. Why? ~*just Microsoft reasons*~ (read: I don't know.) So, as I was about 10' off the ground, I got stuck in a view loop, unable to return quickly to the cockpit, and the external view (where the controls *are* responsive) was set to here:  ^^^ That's the angle from which I landed my notoriously squirrely aircraft on a narrow, sloping mountain runway. The shots above, from directly above and behind the aircraft while on short final were in drone mode and controls were *not* responsive. There's a saying in aviation that seems somehow apropos for this occasion: "It's better to be lucky than good." Sure, I could have paused, gotten the views sorted out and probably landed without complaint, but things were happening very quickly and I didn't think to hit the pause key. Surprisingly, it wasn't a terrible landing. I bounced once, then transitioned to a 3-point attitude and settled on the runway. I've done worse (and better, too) from the cockpit view. That said, I have now changed some of the key configs around to give me an option to "toggle cockpit view" which should take me directly back to the cockpit view whenever needed. No more view loops. Phew. Thanks for following along. Next up - wildlife harassment. This time I mean it.
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Dec 10, 2022 14:28
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Hey G43, just wanna chime in and say how much I enjoy the LP, and after showing some of the images to my dad, he now reads the updates whenever I'm at home visiting (hey babba  )
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Dec 10, 2022 15:10
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how close are these trees to the end of the runway? How long is the runway? nice looking update with all the mountains
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Dec 10, 2022 17:06
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ilmucche posted:how close are these trees to the end of the runway? How long is the runway? Stupid close. Like, the terrain generator goofed a bit. I've seen this at quite a few airports unfortunately and it just seems to be an artifact of trying to build a one-size-fits-all terrain generator. In the game, there's an airport in Michigan with about a 60' tree situated maybe 50' from the end of the runway. Makes for an interesting approach. I think there's a mod out there that can help reduce the effect, but I haven't looked into it too deeply yet. inscrutable horse posted:Hey G43, just wanna chime in and say how much I enjoy the LP, and after showing some of the images to my dad, he now reads the updates whenever I'm at home visiting (hey babba Thanks and welcome aboard to both of you. Glad you're enjoying and along for the ride.
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Dec 10, 2022 17:35
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Welcome back and thanks for joining me. Last week, we'd bumped our way into Combolcha (sometimes spelled Kombolcha), Ethiopia, coming down over some fantastically beautiful scenery and setting us up for this week's flight over some interesting terrain, fauna, and sites. Recall that Combolcha's airport is nestled in the northern end of a canyon with steep mountains towering on three sides. So, our route would first, necessarily, take us south, giving us room to climb out of the mountain valley before turning northwest towards our first point of interest. From there, we'd turn north-northwest to hopefully see some more animals, then another unique building. After that though, I decided on something of a detour to visit the Islamic holy city of Mecca. As it turns out, there are a number of unique buildings there and it will help me check some of the western Middle East countries off my list so that I don't have to hit them on the way back. All that said, I will be the first to admit that I have very little in-depth knowledge of the Islamic faith, so if any of you out there do and want to chime in with information, please feel free to share!  Once again, the weather was in our favor with crystal clear skies. Winds were relatively light, but gusty and, of course, a perfect crosswind. Sweetpea II fired up quickly and we taxied to the runway.     As mentioned above, you really only have one departure option from Combolcha - south. As I lined up for takeoff, the wind was from the left and gusting from 7-15 knots according to the GPS. Unlike the unorthodox takeoff out of Comoros - where the crosswind was steady - these gusty winds meant I would not be able to effectively use differential power to compensate for the Beech 18's relatively low crosswind tolerance. I waited for the wind to abate a bit then applied full power and started down the runway. Just as we hit 40kts, a wind gust pushed the tail hard, yawing the nose left. Kicking hard right rudder wasn't enough to compensate and with the edge of the runway looming, I chopped power to abort the takeoff and tapped the right brake to keep us on asphalt. Crap. I decided I'd give it one more try, so I back taxied and lined up again. This time, I pushed the throttles forward during a wind gust, reasoning that the wind might then die down during the takeoff roll. We thundered down the runway and at 40 knots the tail lifted off the runway. Miraculously, the wind held off and we shot straight as an arrow into the afternoon sky. (Naturally, I forgot to get any pictures of this as I was so focused on trying not to bend the airplane.) We climbed with mountains rising all around us.      Reaching 10,000 ft, we banked left to make a ~270 degree turn towards our course. A turn to the right, while closer to our on course heading, would have seen us pile drive into a mountain, so a climbing left turn seemed more prudent. Note the big red blotch behind us.   In short order, we crossed back over Combolcha's airport and rejoined our track.  The nearby city of Dessie is nestled into the cradle of a mountain plateau.     We continued northwest, having to detour slightly for a large, bulky peak ahead. Even at 11,500 feet, the terrain was still a factor.     Our first point of interest on this trip was a herd of giraffes that were rumored to be in the area. I had intended to do a low and slow flyby once I found them, but as we neared the area, it became clear they were at the bottom of a deep river valley. And, while I wanted to see them, I decided to use some gamey tools at my disposal to check them out. I didn't want to risk descending into a valley that I may not be able to climb out of.  You can juuuust barely make out the white vertical POI marker below and to the left of the left wingtip. There was no way I was diving into that valley just to grab a picture or two. Instead, I let the drone camera do the work.      Turning slightly right, we continued north in search of an elephant herd that was marked on the planning map. En route, the terrain was again beautiful.         Unfortunately, the elephants were a no-show. Not sure what happened, but they were nowhere to be found, so we continued north over more dramatic scenery.   The next stop was a unique building - the Church of Our Lady Mary of Zion in the town of Axum, Ethiopia (https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Church_of_Our_Lady_Mary_of_Zion) - which is said to be the resting place of the Ark of the Covenant. It also happens to the be the site of a mass killing by Eritrean militants in 2020. Ugh. In any case, it's a beautiful and architecturally interesting church tucked away in the middle of Ethiopia. Again, I make no claims to be an expert on this site, so please chime in if you have any additional information.    From there, we turned northeast and began the long, slow trek over the Red Sea towards Mecca. A few puffy clouds lazily floated over the coastal areas.  Sweetpea II is feet wet.    After quite some time, the western shores of Saudi Arabia slid over the horizon.  And Sweetpea II is feet dry.  The coast was, incidentally, the top of our descent, so we throttled back slightly and began the ride down.   Mecca is a large city with a expansive urban areas which are punctuated by high hills and craggy mountains. The Abraj Al Bait towers (https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Abraj_Al_Bait) which are situated directly next to the Great Mosque (https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Masjid_al-Haram) are immediately visible on the skyline.    Dropping to 1500 ft above ground, we circled the location to take some photos.   It's odd... for the devs to spend time crafting a custom building only to leave the immediate area around it untouched seems like a missed opportunity. In the above photo, the buildings between the Mosque and the highway are flat satellite images, as is the area to the left of the 3D Mosque itself. What a weird design choice.   We flew around Mecca for a bit longer then headed towards the uncontrolled field just east of the city proper - appropriately called "Mecca East."     With a mountain looming near the traffic pattern, we had to cut in close to the field for the downwind leg, so it wasn't my best approach ever.   Getting ready to turn base:   Too high on final, time to slip the aircraft. Slipping basically means to cross the controls (e.g. left rudder and right aileron) to expose the side of the airframe to the wind and act as something of an aerodynamic brake. It helps you reduce altitude while not drastically increasing speed as you would in a coordinated dive.  That's better.  Short final...  ... and touchdown.   We taxied to the pumps and pulled the mixtures to bring the R-985s to a much-deserved rest.   4.8 hours in the air, bringing our total flight time on this journey to 216.7 real-time hours. Thanks for following along. Next up, adventures of the geometric kind.
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Dec 18, 2022 13:40
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Huh, and there I was thinking the Ark of the Covenant was in a US warehouse being studied by top men. Top. Men.
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Dec 18, 2022 14:40
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quote:A turn to the right, while closer to our on course heading, would have seen us pile drive into a mountain, so a climbing left turn seemed more prudent. this got a chuckle. more prudent, indeed.
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Dec 18, 2022 20:10
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That was a cool leg
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Dec 19, 2022 00:42
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Funny place to wind up if you're looking for exotic booze. I've been to Makkah and Medina. I did the smaller pilgrimage (Umrah) back in 1999, and the large pilgrimage (Hajj) in 2001. Both cities have probably changed quite a bit since then, because they keep adding hotels and malls around the mosques, and adding escalators and moving sidewalks to make things easier for pilgrims. And to do something to prevent stampedes. We were this close to being trampled in 2001. We sorta caught the tail end of it, and then we saw them setting up a triage at the end of the pathway. Weren't you going to spend more time in North Africa? Do the tourist-y thing and go by Egypt? Oooh, or Tunisia! There's this coastal place where all of the houses are white but the doors and windows are painted blue.
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Dec 19, 2022 07:39
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painedforever posted:Weren't you going to spend more time in North Africa? Do the tourist-y thing and go by Egypt? Oooh, or Tunisia! There's this coastal place where all of the houses are white but the doors and windows are painted blue. Isn't that up in the hills near the ruins of Carthage? Cool place, great view
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Dec 19, 2022 11:04
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Sidi Bou Said, according to the internet. It was a Sun Microsystems event. We wandered around Carthage a bit, and did a scavanger hunt around the souks in Tunis, which was fun.
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Dec 19, 2022 13:45
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painedforever posted:Funny place to wind up if you're looking for exotic booze. Yep, I'll be heading back to North Africa from Egypt to Morocco via the Mediterranean coast. I have a few WWII sites that I want to see, though I admit I have not spent a lot of time studying the North African campaign, so it should be a good opportunity for me to learn some geography and battle locations. I have an oddball spot that I want to try to land and pay homage to something with a little sentimental value which is off the beaten path too. Thanks for sharing the experience about your pilgrimage. That's really fascinating and unexpected to me. I'll try to look for Sidi Bou Said, but I'm not going to hold my breath that there'll be anything better than procedurally generated buildings and such. But, it's worth a look! Thanks for the recommendation. And, for the adventure into Mecca, we'll stick with tea.
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Dec 20, 2022 02:49
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Welcome back and thanks for joining me. When last we left off, we had done some sight-seeing around the Holy City of Mecca, the center of the Islamic faith. That represented something of a quick detour from our African adventures, and today, we will be winging back to the big continent as we continue northward towards Cairo, Egypt. Though I forgot to take a screenshot of the exact route, this is roughly the plan:  We will take off northwest out of Mecca, cross the Red Sea, then head inland to pick up the Nile River valley so we could follow it north to Cairo proper. Weather was again very cooperative with clear skies and light winds. I was starting to wonder if the weather modeling was broken (it's been buggy before), but checking the actual weather reports at the time proved that the game was in alignment with the actual conditions. *shrug* Lucky me, I guess. With fair winds and clear skies, take off and climb out were pretty uneventful. I'm happy to say that after all this time, I've gotten better on my takeoff procedures (knock on wood). Generally speaking, when the tail comes up at 40 knots, it's a hard, sharp kick to the right rudder to keep the nose from yawing left. Then relax pressure to let the nose come right just a bit, then dance on the pedals until the big bird flies herself off the runway.    The hills that dominate the inbound traffic pattern.  We climbed to the relatively low altitude of 6,500 feet and settled into cruise, leaving Mecca behind.    Soon, we had crossed the coast and were over the Red Sea, the sun at our backs.  And before long, the rugged terrain of eastern Egypt crossed the horizon.  From the coast, it was a short stint westward across rocky, barren desert to pick up the southern reaches of the Nile River valley.      But from the dry, desolate sand, a long ribbon of deep, lush green stretched from horizon to horizon. We'd reached the Nile.   Turning north, we followed the river's valley whose fields and agriculture stood in stark contrast to the endless sand seas on the either side.     Occasionally, we wouldn't follow a sharp bend of the river and were immediately plunged back into the deepest of the desert.   But then the river would sweep back and we would again find ourselves over deep greens and urban centers that seemed to spring out of the desert floor itself.  As we worked northward, the agricultural areas widened, and the suburbs of Cairo slowly came into view.   Turning slightly left, it was time to do some sight-seeing.  Out of the sandy, wind-blown haze and urban pollution, distinct and unique shapes began to emerge.   We pulled power and descended for a better view.   Time for some GRM (ground reference maneuvers)!    (we weren't the only ones)     After a few passes, we turned northwest as it was only a short jaunt to our destination of Cairo West. Winds were cooperative and presented only a slight crosswind from the left, so we began our approach to runway 34 via a more or less straight in arrival.    Rolling out on short final, we were on speed and in the groove.    We touched down and rolled out to the general aviation parking ramp.     All in all, I was pretty happy with the flight; total time in the air was 5.5hrs, bringing the total time for this journey to 222.2hrs. The Pyramids around Cairo are well-rendered and a really neat sight to see. I'm not a huge traveler in real life, so this is likely as close as I'll ever come to seeing the pyramids of Egypt. We'll take a closer look at Cairo and its other sites on the next leg as we begin heading west along the Mediterranean coastline. Thanks for following along. Next up, the desert of ghosts.
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Dec 24, 2022 14:23
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 It really is crazy how Egypt could be described as the Republic of the Nile. Just goes to show how inhospitable the deserts are. And yay for our first (and only) wonder of the ancient world!
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Dec 24, 2022 15:32
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A few years ago I flew (commercially) from Hurghada to Cairo, and while following the Red Sea coast was neat, I was slightly disappointed we didn't get to see the Nile from above.
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Dec 27, 2022 00:23
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Welcome back and thanks for joining me. Today, we'll be covering the progress of two legs flown over the course of a week over two separate posts. I'd planned on making it one long trip, but got busy with household stuff and decided it would be smarter to land and call it a day, then do the remainder later. The first leg was flown on Christmas Eve and was a relatively short hop from Cairo to Mersa Matruh by way of El Alamein.  As I've mentioned, I am a WWII enthusiast, to the point where I'd probably call myself an amateur historian. Those who know me well enough know that my passion for WWII history has been the predominant characteristic of mine throughout my life. I can attribute that largely to a pair of books. The first came in kindergarten at age 5 or 6. One day, while wandering around the room during library time, I found a book about the Battle of the Coral Sea (we'll visit that too) on a wire rack in my elementary school library. On the front was this iconic photo of the Japanese aircraft carrier Shoho ablaze and taking a torpedo to her starboard side. https://www.ibiblio.org/hyperwar/OnlineLibrary/photos/images/g10000/g17026.jpg[/img] Awed, I checked the book out that day and have been hooked ever since. For those of you familiar with WWII history, the name El Alamein may ring a bell. For several months in 1942, this small stop on the Egyptian railway saw heavy fighting between the Axis forces of Germany and Italy, and the Allied forces under Britain, Australia, New Zealand, and others. It was there that the vaunted German Afrika Korps's eastward advance towards the Suez Canal was halted and eventually pushed back. Capture of the Suez Canal by Axis forces would have been a catastrophic blow to the Allies and their ability to wage war in the Mediterranean and China/Burma/India (CBI) theaters. With the benefit of hindsight, it's not unreasonable to suggest that the course of the war could have been vastly altered had the Commonwealth Allies not sacrificed and made their stand at El Alamein. All that being said, the two WWII theaters that I have studied the *least* are the North African campaign and the Sicily/Italian campaigns. So, for anyone with additional knowledge of those campaigns, feel free to correct me. For more reading: North African Campaign overview (June 1940 - May 1943): https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/North_African_campaign The First Battle of El Alamein (July, 1942): https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/First_Battle_of_El_Alamein The Second Battle of El Alamein (Oct/Nov, 1942): https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Second_Battle_of_El_Alamein The first order of business on this flight was to see some more sights in and around Cairo, as we were more or less ready to be done flying when we'd arrived previously. Departing from the Cairo West airport complex (*shockingly*) west of Cairo, we turned east and climbed to 2000 feet.   Low clouds and smog hovered over the city like a heavy pot lid.   As before, the areas nearest fresh water are surprisingly green, while the areas just outside are arid and barren. The contrast is profound.   Cairo itself is huge.    There were a few points of interest marked in the city proper, so I thought we'd go take a look. I briefly turned on the in-game markers to help me find them.   Passing over them southbound, we looped east through a 270* turn to overfly them.  Note the Mosque-Madrasa of Sultan Hasan directly below the aircraft. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mosque-Madrasa_of_Sultan_Hasan  The Museum of Egyptian Antiquities   The Cairo Tower https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Cairo_Tower  The Sofitel Cairo Nile El Gezira (a hotel) And across the river, Cairo University https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Cairo_University From there, we left the city proper and took a couple more laps around the Pyramids of Giza for good measure. We weren't the only ones with that idea.    We got a good look at the Sphinx which, for some reason, I almost completely neglected to see on our trip in.   And with that, we bid adieu to Cairo and turned westward, the barren desert again spreading out below us.  As we neared El Alamein, the thing that struck me is the vast flatness of the terrain. While the battles there were often centered around "ridges," they were only ridges in the context of the vast, flat wastes of the desert. With such flat terrain, direct-fire cannons could theoretically see and engage targets for miles, and the thought of being in a Sherman tank while German 88mm cannons are picking you and your mates off from miles away is terrifying. Approaching from the west, we headed parallel to the line of advance of the allied forces.   This battle map shows the general dispersion of forces and in the above photos, we are almost directly over top of the British 1st and 10th Armored positions.   Where once there was vicious fighting, tank duels, trenches, obstacles, and acres upon acres of minefields now stands a golf course.  I wonder which had a greater impact on the environment. We continued westward to Mersa Matruh, again, open desert spreading out everywhere south of the Mediterranean. There are many stories of troops cracking and frying eggs directly on the armor of their tanks during this campaign. While possibly apocryphal, given the temperature, the burning desert sun, and the lack of any shade whatsoever, it is definitely feasible.    Aside from being the destination for the first leg of this journey, Mersa Matruh was an important battle in its own right. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Battle_of_Mersa_Matruh As the allies retreated from the Afrika Korps in the summer of 1942, the German General Erwin Rommel (https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Erwin_Rommel) strove to cut their lines of escape at Mersa Matruh. Though they did succeed, the German forces were too weak to maintain the encirclement, and the Allied forces were largely able to make their way further to the west. We descended into the field with cooperative winds and a relatively clear sky.     The touchdown was uneventful and we taxied to the ramp.    Thanks for following along. The next leg of our journey would be something of a sentimental one. Chuck_D fucked around with this message at 17:49 on Jan 2, 2023 |
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Jan 2, 2023 17:46
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Welcome back and thanks for joining me. The route map for today:  You are probably wondering why on earth we're detouring 646 miles off course to the middle of the desert. No, there's not a city under the icon for that southern waypoint. There's not an oasis, a village, or a wadi either. There's nothing. For hundreds of miles. So why bother? To pay a small homage to these poor souls:  Meet the crew of the B-24D Liberator (Army s/n 41-24301), nicknamed "Lady Be Good." Left to right: - 1st Lieutenant William J. Hatton, Pilot - 2d Lieutenant Robert F. Toner, Copilot - 2d Lieutenant Dp Hays, Navigator - 2d Lieutenant John S. Woravka, Bombardier - Technical Sergeant Harold J. Ripslinger, Flight Engineer - Technical Sergeant Robert E. LaMotte, Radio Operator - Staff Sergeant Guy E. Shelley, Gunner/Asst Flight Engineer - Staff Sergeant Vernon L. Moore, Gunner/Asst Radio Operator (Still Missing) - Staff Sergeant Samuel E. Adams, Gunner By spring of 1943, the Allied air forces had established heavy bomber bases in North Africa. From these, aircraft such as the B-24 Liberator and B-17 Flying Fortress could reach German and Italian targets in Sicily and Italy proper, probing what Churchill called "the soft underbelly" of the Axis powers. It was on one such mission on April 4th, 1943 that the Hatton crew boarded the brand new B-24 nicknamed "Lady Be Good" to attack port facilities in Naples, Italy. It was to be both the crew's and the aircraft's first combat mission. As the last part of a second wave of attackers, they were one of the last to get off the ground, departing around 2:15pm local time. As they climbed and made their way north, 8 of the 12 aircraft in their wave got separated in a sandstorm and turned back. Four, including the Lady, continued on to Naples in the gathering darkness. As darkness fell, the straggling group got separated, each ship now having to navigate its own way home. But fate was against the Lady and her men that night. Shifting winds, faulty navigation equipment, and an inattentive and inexperienced navigator all conspired against them. As they droned southward towards their base at Benghazi, they became hopelessly lost. Believing they were still fighting a headwind and deep over the Mediterranean on this pitch black night, they continued south for hours. Owing to sandstorms and low clouds, they didn't see the flares fired by the ground crews at Benghazi - fired when the ground staff could hear the bomber droning overhead. Onward they went, further and further into the desert, all the while believing they were over the Med. At 2am, after 12hrs in the air, the engines began to sputter for lack of fuel. First one, then, two, then three of the big bomber's four engines fell silent. Only the outboard engine on the right wing continued on its fumes. Still believing they were over the sea, and knowing the odds of surviving a ditching in a B-24 at night were slim, they donned their life vests and jumped into the night; the Lady flew on. One can only imagine their shock when their boots thudded down on a hard, gravelly plain instead of cold sea water that dark night. In the gloom, they fired pistols and flare guns to find each other and, before long, all but one man (John Woravka, the bombardier) had joined them. Realizing their error, they began walking north. Fifteen years later, the world had done its best to move on from WWII. The post-war boom was on in full swing and everything needed oil; exploration teams set out across the globe in search of the precious liquid. On a blistering day in 1958, a British Petroleum oil survey team was searching the Calanshio Sand Sea - a vast, tractless waste of gravel and sand dunes that stretched from horizon to horizon. Something caught their eye and when they moved closer, they were shocked at what they saw.    A B-24 bomber stood alone in this vast nothingness where it had made a near perfect crash landing on the hard gravel desert floor. Though weathered and wind beaten, her perspex windows sandblasted to complete opacity, the name Lady Be Good was stenciled on the right side of her nose. The survey team picked through the wreckage carefully but found no trace of the crew. What they did find was a perfectly-preserved time capsule. Log books, working machine guns, operable radios, even a survival kit with potable water, edible rations, and more were among the items still on board the Lady. Puzzlingly, the navigator's log did not have a single entry in it after they'd left the target area in Naples. What it did have was doodles in the margins; throughout the log, the o's and b's and other letters with a circle in them were absentmindedly filled in. It was almost as if the navigator, Dp Hays, had just given up when they'd gotten separated from the other ships in their flight. Reporting their find to the nearest US military authorities, the team moved on. As the US had no record of aircraft losses in that area, they ignored the report. A few months later, a subsequent team investigated the site further and finally, on May 26th, 1959, the US Air Force sent out a recovery team to determine what had happened. In February 1960, the bodies of 5 of the 8 crewman who'd managed to join up that cold night in April 1942 were found huddled together 81 miles north of where they had met the first night. On the body of the copilot, Robert Toner, was a diary that told their tale, woven with welling agony, fear, and despair. It is available here, scanned in entirety, https://unwritten-record.blogs.archives.gov/2017/06/16/lost-and-found-the-story-of-lady-be-good-and-her-crew/ showing that they survived 8 days in the desert with a single canteen of water to share among them. They had trudged ever farther north, expecting the Mediterranean to appear over each rise, only to be met with more sand, more gravel, more wind, more blistering sun, and more freezing nights. Several days in, the desert transitioned from hard gravel to soft, sweeping sand that seemed to melt under their feet with each step. Imagine their despair as they fought their way up a soft, pillowy dune, struggling to reach the crest, only to see countless more beyond this one. After a few days, they were all but spent. Toner's diary indicated that five of the crew could not go on, but Shelley, Ripslinger, and Moore set out north, desperately searching for help. Shelley made it another 20 miles (101 miles total). Ripslinger 27 miles (128 miles total) further than that. Moore was never seen again. In August 1960, Woravka's remains were found not far from the crash site, his body crumpled under a partially-deployed parachute. Some might consider him luckier than his crewmates. I learned about this ill-fated ship and crew in the early 90s when I, by now firmly entrenched in my interest in WWII, checked out a book called "Log of the Liberators" by Steve Birdsall from the local library. The story of the Lady Be Good and the Hatton crew are the opening chapter and Birdsall told their story in such a way that it absolutely captivated me. Now, in my middle ages, I see that these guys were just kids and it breaks my heart. War is a story of infinite tragedies, but the story of the Lady Be Good and her crew stuck with me over the years. So, I knew I had to visit the site. Thanks to Little Navmap, the flight planning tool I use, I was able to enter the lat/long coordinates exactly into the GPS. I realize I'm just flying a flight simulator, and that I didn't *actually* go out to the desert to pay homage to these guys, but I was still in a somber mood as we picked up out of Mersa Matruh and began our trip south into the desert.    We cruised at 3000 feet, occasionally scudding under some low clouds.     An oasis slid under us, then gave way to endless waves of undulating, shifting sand.      I had hopes of trying to land at the spot where the Lady Be Good touched down, but the terrain didn't allow for it, so I would have to content myself with circling the site. A few minutes out, we descended to the deck and slowed somewhat.  At the waypoint, we turned off the autopilot and circled quietly.  The shadow is almost directly on top of the point where the Lady Be Good came to a stop.  After making a few circles, we turned north and climbed slowly to 9500 feet for the return flight. This leg of the flight took us roughly over the path that the crew walked as they searched in vain for the sea.     We met the sea at Tobruk, the site of the famous siege https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Siege_of_Tobruk and turned west into the setting sun.      With darkness gathering around us, we settled smoothly and quietly into Benghazi, completing the journey that the Lady and her men never could.     Thanks for following along.
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Jan 2, 2023 19:45
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Oh man, I think I read that story only recently. Got mentioned in a newspaper, I think? It's one of those "oh wow" things. Are you breaking laws during your flight-simmy trip? I'm assuming that if you're flying in real life, you have to maintain a certain elevation, and stick to a certain flight path. But do you intend to swoop down closer to interesting objects on the ground? Essentially what I'm asking is, will you be buzzing my house when you fly over Pakistan? Or, y'know, we are planning on moving to New Zealand in the near future (Feb, fingers crossed), so will you be waggling your wings as you fly overhead?
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Jan 3, 2023 03:20
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Eh, I'm trying to keep things pretty realistic, but I am taking some creative licenses here and there. Things like buzzing the Panama Canal and landing at military bases would be deeply frowned upon... Or, in some cases, get us shot down. That said, FAA regs (which, admittedly, mean fuckall in Libya) allow for low altitude flight as long as you maintain certain clearances. I forget, but I think it's around 500' from any buildings or dwellings. I'd be happy to buzz anyone's house or home if they'd like, as long as it doesn't take me too far off the beaten path.
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Jan 3, 2023 03:37
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That's a real depressing story a out the lady and her crew 
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Jan 3, 2023 11:36
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