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What kind of planes would be needed for this in MSFS, and would it require any sort of hot dogging, or just 500ft AGL + autopilot?
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Oct 1, 2023 23:52
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 7500' runways would provide some interesting logistical options for player-flown charter flights with bigger aircraft (if they come into play): Green (top circle) is "General Enrique Mosconi International Airport" (SAVC), which could also be a good place to offload supplies for allied ships in the Atlantic. Yellow/orange (left most circle) is El Calafate (SAWC), closer to the fight, but still fairly safe considering the distance. A long convoy run though, juicy targets for the PLAAF and PLAN. Red (bottom circle) is Norberto Fernández International Airport (SAWG), which I suppose would run the DCS risk of fighter/navy ship interdiction and maybe SAM attack, but being only 60 miles/95km from Tierra Del Fuego, it would mean getting troops and materiel right to the fight. All highly theoretical of course. Who would be crazy enough to fly supplies into any part of this war zone? Think of the aviation insurance premiums!
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Oct 3, 2023 05:57
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Mederlock posted:You don't need a full sim pit to enjoy flight sims, I get a *lot* of mileage out of a 10 year old setup consisting of a TrackIR, X52 pro, saitek rudder pedals, and I do have a Logitech yoke+quadrant too but that's not required. It's all stuff that can fit in one medium-large storage tub. You can buy older gear used too, it's not too crazy to get into if you're careful with your purchases. Hell I fly with a PS4 controller, still have a great time.
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Oct 5, 2023 19:50
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  Another day, another cargo flight. Route said Bogota to Bahía Blanca in Argentina, by way of a Bolivian fuel stop in Cochabamba. We are loaded pretty heavily for what should usually be a fairly easy non-stop flight. The dispatcher's choice of Cochabamba for the fuel stop is going to be tough, as it's a high altitude city, surrounded by even taller mountains. Oh and the flight dispatch also noted the ILS is out, and there's thunderstor--  Cállate Gilberto, put that video camera away and get the plane warmed up. I wanna hit Bahía before Los Chinos get there. Sí, jefe.   Waiting for a LATAM Colombia plane to land so we can leave   See you later Bogota. Won't have anything else to look at out the window for a few hours.   Other than the stars, nothing going on. No moon to see with either. Captain Santos ran out of coffee, and I was getting hungry, so I stepped outside into the forward galley to rustle up some food. It was a little odd seeing 80 passengers looking so similar. All seemingly had the same high and tight haircuts, and a matching fashion choice of "my spouse dressed me to be 'inconspicuous'." When I returned with the food and drink, Jefe pointed at something we could watch for a while. https://i.imgur.com/OYVGcd5.mp4 https://i.imgur.com/Yy3vS0G.mp4 The approach into Cochabamba did uhm, not go as planned. I left us too high for the runway, too low for the surrounding hills, and way too fast.  Captain Santos took over.   https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9pFT7VwnqMA Sorry. But hey, we made it!   ((will try to post leg 2 tomorrow))
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Oct 9, 2023 08:27
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We had a bit of a delay in Cochabamba while Captain Santos and the SLCB Avianca ground crew inspected the plane, after what my old flight instructor would have called a "Naval Aviator" landing. After about 45 minutes of them poking and prodding the plane, it was signed off, and I programmed the plane for our next leg to Bahía Blanca. Accompanying Captain Santos back onto the plane, was a member of the airline's ground crew carrying a huge box full of goodie bags. After he gave bags to the captain and myself, they moved into the cabin and handed them out to my "inconspicuous" passengers. It was adorable! The bags came with a few bars of Bolivian chocolate, some little key-chain good luck llamas, and a bundle of some kind of green leaves.    Don't you know what that is? It's coca leaves. You know. "Coca." Put that mierda back in the bag Gilberto, let's get going. Sí, jefe.   We departed just after sunrise, which made for a pretty takeoff, but also meant we were aimed towards the sun for quite a while until it rose higher in the sky. https://i.imgur.com/NwyUtfg.mp4   Being a daytime flight, there was a lot more to look at when we weren't making sure the Airbus MCDU didn't revolt.   Oh hey, look! We're flying over Córdoba. That's the second biggest city in Argentina next to Buenos Aires! Mmhmm. I'm from Buenos Aires and I say kill 'em all. What? Huh? Oh, nothing.  Oh check that out Captain, it's Laguna Mar Chiquita, the biggest salt lake in Argentina! Mmhmm. Hey did I ever tell you about the greatest goddamn Colombian soccer player ever, Carlos Valderrama? You should have seen him when he was at Deportivo Cali. Wasn't he the guy with the crazy hair?  Huh? Oh, yeah.  As we descended towards Bahía Blanca, we flew over Laguna de Epecuén, another salt lake, and one that destroyed Villa Epecuén back in the '80s when a dam failed. I would have pointed it out to Captain Santos, but he was engrossed with approach and landing numbers, not to mention he gave me the stink eye when I offered to fly us in.  Even with clear skies and reasonable winds, we took no chances on our landing, opting for the ILS autoland.  Well, about seven hours later, we finally arrived at Bahía Blanca. While taking on extra cargo and a few more "inconspicuous" passengers, I heard someone joke that they hoped the Bolivians also packed some combat llamas into the cargo hold.  ((there's a third leg to go, due to a dispatcher error the plans were not sent until late. I may just handwave it as "yep, flight went okay" if I don't have time to knock out the flight and post tonight.))
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Oct 9, 2023 20:36
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Taps posted:You boys ever been to South America?! Well buckle up!
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Oct 11, 2023 01:14
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Anyone streaming the Hercs?
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Oct 14, 2023 21:14
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Kaal posted:Air Tasking Order (18 FEB 10): ELINT Aerial Surveillance of Punta Arenas / Tierra del Fuego  Today's mission would have been some lovely sight-seeing had it not been 5am. I was under orders to follow the recon flight waypoints closely, do not deviate, do not fly into any granite clouds, and keep as much electronic equipment off as possible, so the ELINT soldiers could collect whatever they're looking for. No lights, no radios, no TCAS, not a single luxury. Someone in the back gave me guff when I took a moment to check in with the spouse via SMS, so off my cellphone went as well. Just be a Beechcraft-shaped hole in the sky, and for the next two hours, hope nobody accidentally gets vectored into us.    Nothing but the bleak blackness of the Atlantic for the first few waypoints. Dawn slowly approached as we came back ashore, with some lights from scattered towns to look at while monitoring the flight. The ELINT soldiers busily chattered away about whatever it was they were trying to gather, and out of curiosity I tried to listen in on their conversations when I got a tap on the shoulder. "Hey uh, piloto!" -"Yes uh, soldado?" "Yeah let me know when we're 90 seconds from waypoint 5, okay?" -"Ah, sure thing." A curious request, I thought, but harmless. ELINT people, who knows.  Approaching waypoint 5, I knew we were getting pretty close to the action. 10,000' below us, our comrades were doing their best to give the PLA hell. Once the navigation ETA said 90 seconds, I tapped the roof with my fist and turned around to yell the timing into the cabin. As I cleared waypoint 5 and moved to our final waypoint, someone laughed and loudly announced to the cabin, "I dropped my own bomb on the PLA!" The plane knew what was happening before I did.  The eye-watering stench roiled through the air. It hit like a tidal wave that smelled of wet dog and a used diaper covered in burnt hair. Dropped their own bomb? This was friendly fire! My co-pilot and I did what we could to increase cabin venting, and we bravely withheld the urge to strap on our emergency oxygen masks. The minutes passed like hours as the heavy aroma filtered away. I was never so happy to get the plane turned for home.     After a quiet and uneventful landing, I kept the doors closed after shutting down the plane. Once the aircraft was secure, I stood up and glared into the cabin: -"Hijo de un camión lleno de mierda! Which one of you desecrated my plane?!" There were some snickers, but silence. Bastards.
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Oct 26, 2023 04:38
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Looks like the wine has gone to waste.
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Oct 31, 2023 00:33
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Aviation nerds living in Rio Gallegos must be agog seeing all these unusual commercial planes landing.
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Nov 4, 2023 16:39
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Headed back to good old Puerto San Julián, this time with a cargo that's only been described as "spicy pipes." I guess the residents need some hot sauce, but 10,000kgs of cargo is a hell of a lot. Anyway, let's sign off on this thing before Captain Santos returns and crawls up my culo. It was a typical humid early morning out here in Rio, and the rain didn't help things. I was grateful for ground power to the air conditioner, as it sucked the humidity out of the flight deck air. The captain and I woke up our A320 and loaded the flight plan, a pretty easy and nearly direct jaunt down the South Atlantic coast. During pushback, there was an odd thump from the left side of the plane, and I radioed to the ground crew to ask what happened.  "What? Everything is fine here. Safe flight!" I glanced at Captain Santos and mentioned the noise, but he didn't seem concerned either. It was probably just a pothole, don't worry about it. You know this cargo ramp isn't as well kept as the rest of the place.    https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ZKU_HO2mBXs Takeoff was nominal, as we quickly punched through the rain clouds into the pink and orange hues of the coming sunrise. A few minutes after takeoff, while we were in the middle of our instrument departure procedures, the Captain and I started to hear an intermittent thunk noise. Like something was smacking against the fuselage. ... ... ...Mierda. The Captain sent me back to try and find the source of the noise, but everything seemed bolted down, the can openers for the spicy hot sauce pipes weren't going anywhere. I ducked into the rear lav for a moment of peace while I tried to figure out what was going on. As I exited and prepared to return with nothing to show for my hunt but an empty bladder, my eye caught a horrifying sight out a left window.  The fuel hose from the ground crew had been slamming against the plane. That was the noise! I rushed back to the flight deck to inform the Captain, who immediately contacted Rio Control for a temporary hold while we troubleshot the problem. The plane seemed to be flying alright, and to our relief, the hose was not draining the left tanks. Still, we needed to find out if this required an emergency dump and return to Rio, or if we could proceed onwards. I contacted the Avianca Operations team, and was told they were reaching out to Airbus directly for advice. After an agonizing 10 minutes waiting in the holding pattern, we got a company message on the MDCU.  Captain Santos and I looked at each other and shared a shrug. "Okay, we send it."      The rest of the flight was unremarkable, other than the continual intermittent thwap from the damned fuel hose. Neither of us talked much at all, which was probably a blessing, considering our last flights ended up with him not caring about my sightseeing, and me not caring about his love of 90s era futbol players.    After shutdown, the San Julián ground crew, Captain Santos, and myself all walked out to inspect the damage. Other than some black rubber scuff marks where the end of the hose smacked against the plane, it was intact, and we all agreed that the plane was still in flyable condition. That was enough excitement for me. I hope the locals enjoy their hot sauce.
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Nov 26, 2023 22:29
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Hey there Gilbercitos, it's a change for today! I've been assigned to a 747, the Big Bertha, the Queen of the Skies, the Cerdo del Aeropuerto. I'm headed down to Rio Gallegos, with 85,000kgs of unsold Christmas Crackers. Apparently they're things the British pull on to make them blow up? Weird traditions. Anyway, let's sign off on this thing and hit the skies! Yet another pre-dawn departure. Since we were running pretty near max takeoff weight with fuel and payload on board, we took just a bit more runway than normal on the roll. These late model 74's aren't as loud as their older siblings, but I'm pretty sure woke up a good chunk of Canoas with the sound of   Cruise went along pretty quickly, with I was paired with a different pilot for this flight, as Captain Santos was cashing in some vacation time. Captain Sotnas was a curious person but affable. We both shared a concern about our routing and landing so close to the front lines of the war, hoping that PLAF/PLAN ignored us. This was just a cargo flight, but other than an obsession with a weekly high and tight, who knows what goes on in the minds of military generals? If someone decided to reenact the 27th anniversary of KAL007, we wouldn't have any way to defend ourselves.     "So considering where we're going, what do you think we're really carrying?" Well, the manifest said "Christmas Crackers." "Come on, 'Christmas Crackers?' You can't actually believe that." Hey, as long as the boxes aren't complaining about the lack of drink service, it's fine by me. "You gotta open your eyes hombre." ...Yessir.   *smacks the center console a few times* "Gilberto, the FMS is being finicky, looks like you're going to need to fly the approach by hand, are you up for it? Of course you are. Get to work."    Target sighted. Tally ho, here we go!   Sotnas wasn't kidding about the FMS being finicky, between troubleshooting and hand-flying, we actually turned way too late in our approach setup, so we had to extend pretty far downwind to get back on track.  Gear down, flaps down, stable approach. ---- I wanted to snap a photo post landing, but Captain Sotnas shot me the stink-eye, so this will have to do:  ((Tried to take a parked photo, but after coming out of slew mode the game decided I had crashed. While parked. Also for the GM, 85,000kgs of anti tank weapons delivered at 10am local on March 4th.)) Bentai fucked around with this message at 23:05 on Jan 4, 2024 |
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Jan 4, 2024 05:05
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Shanakin posted:AIR TASKING: Learjet 35A Whoever takes this flight is in for an absolute treat on arrival:  
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Jan 7, 2024 19:42
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AppleNippleBOB posted:need to get my yoke, throttle quadrant and rudder pedals from my parents place so i can join in on this fun, but its a few states away.
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Jan 13, 2024 21:01
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Vahakyla posted:TO: General Figueroa Hey there Gilbercitos, I'm back in the comforting embrace of Avianca's A321Neo; the 747 was nice, but there's no place like home. We're headed back to my old haunt, Puerto San Julián, with 10,000kgs of fishing gear to help them get stocked up for next year's tourist season. Anyway, let's sign off on this thing and hit the skies!    It was just a bit overcast and rainy on departure this afternoon, but with half our maximum cargo load and tanks, it was a pretty zoom-zoom climb through the clouds and up to our cruise altitude.    Enroute cruise was pretty bog standard, clear skies (at least for our flight level), heavy crosswinds, but little chop. Got in some good time reading a book by Marie Kondo about decluttering your life and your home. These days it feels more like I'm living out of hotels more than home, so at least in the short term I'm not sure how much good this book will do for me.     We started our descent into San Julián just as the sun was setting, making it very picturesque. I was glad we hadn't left a bit earlier in the day, or else I'd have been shooting the approach almost directly into the sun. But anyway, enough burying the lede. We had a big problem on approach. As you long time Gilberto followers know, San Julián is an uncontrolled airport, which typically means the runway lighting is "pilot controlled," meaning we tune into the Common Traffic Area Frequency and toggle the transmit button a number of times to turn them on manually. So, tuned into CTAF, announced our position, and clacked the transmit three times. No lights. Tried it five times. No lights. Tried it eleven times, because why the hell not? Still nothing. So after a short discussion with Captain Santos, we agreed to extend our downwind leg, fully configure for as slow of an approach as we can safely fly, then aim towards the direction of the airport and hope we can find it visually. If not, we were going to have to divert north.   Can you see the runway? We were barely able to pick it up in the dying light of the day, but it was enough to setup on final and stick the landing.  That sucked.  ((10,000kgs of Harpoon weapons delivered. SAWJ has no runway lights in-game, had to find a scenery mod to add the correct lighting, but even with that it still is missing taxiway lights.))
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Jan 14, 2024 06:40
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Kaal posted:
Kaal posted:
March 9th, 2010 Hey there Gilbercitos, some dispatcher at Avianca must really want me to rack up some flight time, they've got me hopscotching across the continent. Today's cargo is a real mismash, starting off carrying 30 members of the Argentinian National Hopscotch team and their related luggage, and on the way we're stopping to pick up and drop off 5,000kgs of bailing wire and duct tape. I guess there's a run on the stuff in Puerto Montt? Anyway, let's sign off on this thing and hit the skies! Leg 1, SAZM->SAZB:       This was a very short leg, barely even 45 minutes door to door. Can't imagine this leg made Avianca much revenue. Anyhoo, we just sat at 22000' for the trip, fed the ANH boys some coffee, and before they had a chance to complain about the taste, we were on the ground. And apologizing profusely for accidentally using the Folgers we reserve for flights from the United States. No idea how that got on board! Leg 2, SAZB->SCTE:          5,000kgs heavier, our tanks were refilled and we hit the road to Chile. Crossing over the Andes is always a stunning sight, especially coming from the more arid lands well to the east. I'm sure the ANH boys were thrilled by that, and by the relatively low and long pass over Puerto Montt. There were some low clouds rolling into the area, so we had to fly the first part of the approach on instruments 🎺🎷🥁 till we broke through the clouds, after which was a fairly quiet and unremarkable visual approach and landing. Leg 3, SCTE->SAWT:           While we waited for the bailing wire and duct tape cargo to be unloaded, the low clouds settled into a general haziness in the area. It wasn't quite fog, but not quite clear. Either way, it was nothing that 143 kN of French-American fury couldn't overcome, and we quickly punched a plane-shaped hole in the haze. Even with the beautiful scenery, and the Aviaca Frequent Flier miles racking up, I was still starting to feel a bit of exhaustion en-route. The FMS being finicky and not properly updating the programmed waypoints helped add to my mental weariness. Why can't computers always just do exactly what I tell them to do? I'll blame the exhaustion for nearly running off the runway at Rio Turbio. Really, I just landed too fast and didn't apply enough braking. I was able to gather up the plane, and with full reverse and copious amount of hard braking, got her stopped a couple hundred feet from the end of the tarmac. I'm sure the MX crew will demand many cases of beer from me as payment for needing to inspect the brakes after that one.   After kicking everyone off the plane, and shutting her down, I stepped out for my first breath of fresh air in hours. As I strode down the stairs, a big thought occurred to me. Aeropuerto El Turbio is a ghost town, there's no way anything bigger than a light twin ever visits. Does this place actually have Jet-A so we can get back to base, or do I have to hump it across the continent to Rio Gallegos to get topped up? Stay tuned!
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Feb 2, 2024 09:37
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Vahakyla posted:64 pilots from FAP, two per each of the 32 jets, with their personal luggage, need to be flown from Base Aérea Las Palmas to Puerto Natales to fly those jets up north. They are getting ready right now, and will be ready to board charter or transport planes on a moment's notice. Elendil004 posted:Afternoon, Peruvian 3rd Army Division Supply Warehouse March 14th, 2010 Hey there Gilbercitos, Avianca is really picking up the pace in their war effort. After sourcing some Jet-A in El Turbio, dispatch hustled us up to the Gastronomical Capital of the Americas -- Lima, Peru -- for a couple days of rest while the aircraft got inspected and prepped for the next haul. My planned payload and routing was provided to me in advance once we debriefed in Lima, so I was able to peruse the docs that evening over lomo saltado and pisco sours.   Leg one, picking up 64 docents from Universidad Nacional Agraria La Molina, with a stop in San Isidoro to max out our cargo space with 12,000kgs of sour mix, both to be delivered to Puerto Natales. These college folk really know how to party. Anyway, let's sign off on this thing and hit the skies! Leg 1, SPLP->SPVR: Takeoff was a proper rocket with barely half a load of PAX and fuel. Getting to the active was a bit fraught because the airport staff forgot to move the weekend car show off the ramp, had to taxi at nearly idle thrust so I didn't flip over a bunch of classics. Dispatch routed us a little bit low, had some slight chop off the peaks as we approached San Isidoro, but it was pretty scenic. Totally worth it.      Got low and slow as we approached San Isidoro, maybe too low. Probably scared some farm animals down there, spooked some churchgoers, made a flight instructor somewhere yell "my controls" without knowing why. Landing was certainly different too, the sight picture was stable, but it was most likely not on a 3 degree approach path since we got a little too close to those hills for the plane's comfort. Had to jab the master caution button more than a handful of times to quiet the blaring bleeps and horns. Hope nobody in the cabin heard it. But they probably did.       Leg 2, SVPR->SCNT: Couple hours later, and the 321 is ready to go at nearly maximum takeoff weight to haul the Party Docents to Puerto Natales for spring break. Thankfully this leg was long enough that we cruised at 36000', well over the Andes. No more chop, no more anxious "will we miss that peak" thoughts.       As we began the approach into Puerto Natales, we got an odd warning from dispatch:  "Be aware, the ground crew at Puerto Natales is a little odd." "¿De qué?" "Dispatch, what does that mean?" "Reports are they like to play chicken with arriving and departing aircraft to prove their bravery to others. Just be smart." "Idiotas. Understood." We took a slightly longer arrival to the airport to burn off a little more fuel, but mostly to consider what "a little odd" would mean for us once we got to the ramp. Final approach was a smidge high, but still on a close enough 3 degree glide path. A touchdown on target and on speed meant we were able to brake and exit the runway without needing to taxi to the far end and turn around. Great work Gilberto! Thanks Gilberto!      And yeah, dispatch was not joking about the ramp rats playing chicken.  ((Delivered to SCNT: 12,000kg worth of Su-25T Missiles, 32 pilots, 32 backseaters))
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Feb 10, 2024 21:05
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Kaal posted:
March 16th, 2010 Hey there Gilbercitos, had a tough one today, both with flying, and with reading comprehension. I was ordered to report to Villa Reynolds, with the note "bring vodka." So after hitting a local fine boozery, I clanked my way to the airport. Once I checked in, a dispatcher slow jogged over to give me my marching orders, 60,000lbs of hawks to be delivered to Comodoro Rivadavia. That was a lot of birds, in fact I would go so far as to say that was too many birds. The Airbus-321 can't carry that kind of load anyway, so I inquired to the dispatcher if this meant I was making multiple trips. "No, just the one. Did you bring the vodka?" After I nodded in the affirmative, he signed off on the paperwork, then pointed me towards the ramp. When I stepped outside, I was gobsmacked at what appeared before me, an Antov AN-124. I could not believe I was going to be right-seating on a Condor!  Captain Svyatyy welcomed me aboard, and with a wink, carefully placed my bottle of vodka in a storage bin. As I settled into my seat, I had a stark realization, everything was in Cyrillic. How the hell was I supposed to fly this beast? I remarked to Captain Syvatyy that I only speak Spanish and English, and I don't know my Блять from a hole in the ground.  "A plane is plane is plane. Just like your Airbus, she has two wings, four engines, and 24 wheels. The instruments provide the same information, right? So don't worry much you'll be fine." Don't worry much. Anyway, let's sign off on this thing and hit the skies! The airframe complained loudly at us as we held the brakes while the engines spooled up to maximum thrust, obviously signaling how upset she was at not being able to start the roll. Once we hit 100%, we let the brakes go and she practically leapt forward, a feeling I did not expect from such a heavily loaded aircraft. After that leap though, watching the speed ticker agonizingly crawl to V1 made me "worry much." Sure, we had 2300m of runway to work with, but the Condor really felt like she was going to use every centimeter of it to just get her nosewheels off the ground. With a couple hundred meters to spare, I called Vr rotate, and she started a slow climb into the air.     This is a totally normal attitude to be holding at Flight Level 2-3-0. "Yeah but look sick!" Before I knew it, we approached the shores of Comodoro Rivadavia, and my time with Condor was coming to an end, but not without a fight. Even with throttles at idle, she seemed to make just enough thrust to keep climbing. Very strange bird, but with a bit of that Pilot poo poo and copious speed brakes, I was able to wrestle her into a long and high final.      Those were the last shots I was able to take, as the battery on my phone died during rollout. ((The AN-124 is all kinds of busted, but 60,000kg of A-4's have been delivered.))
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Feb 25, 2024 10:31
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mlmp08 posted:5. Leonard Glenn Francis requires a ride from Subic Bay to Muara Naval Base in neutral Brunei. He also requires a second leg to Jakarta, after which he can likely attain regular commercial transport. Aircraft: Dealer's choice. Mr. Francis was 30 minutes late to get on board my C4J, always a good sign the day is going to be just fine. Leg 1 Departure from Subic Bay was scenic and nominal. Clear skies gave Mr. Francis a nice view of Manila as we climbed to our cruising altitude.     Arrival into Brunei wasn't terrible, but the skies foretold what was coming for the next leg, that 30 minute delay was going to hurt. Late morning clouds, heavy, dark, pendulous, and swelled with rain, hung around the coast. We could have made this a non-stop flight, the distance to Budiarto Airport was barely over 1500nm, not even a problem. But I guess there was a good reason for the temporary stop here.       Leg 2 While waiting for Mr. Francis to return, I anxiously eyed the weather reports from Budiarto. Hazy, cloud cover in different layers, the airport swinging back and forth between IFR and VFR, and PIREPS of moderate turbulence on approach. Better weather was forecast for the next day, but unless there was a mechanical issue, or a thunderstorm decided to plant itself over the whole of Jakarta, we were not staying overnight. Eventually, he clambered back aboard, and motioned for us to "get on with it" as he settled into his seat. My dreams of a weekend stay at The Empire Brunei on the company dime will have to wait for another day.    In anticipation of the bad weather ahead in Jakarta, routing to the ILS 30 approach was loaded in the FMS, which made for an interesting, curved approach. And as expected, it was intermittent IMC descending into Jakarta, the poor C4J got rattled the whole way down. Mercifully, the haze lifted as we got closer to the airport, and the turbulence went from "call your dentist" to "oh this is fun, isn't it". Wonder if I could parlay this into a weekend stay at the Ritz-Carlton. After all, it'd only be prudent to have an A&P check out the plane after such turbulence, right?       
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Mar 11, 2024 07:44
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Ah yes, the famous alternate-universe Primus song, "Jerry Was a Viper Pilot"
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Mar 30, 2024 15:07
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Kaal posted:Service Support Order: Gregores Depot March 22nd, 2010 Hey there Gilbercitos, sorry for the slightly longer than usual time in between hearing from me! Seems my last post got me in some trouble, I guess publicly posting about an Avianca pilot flying a XXXXX ruffled some feathers with the wrong people. Or maybe it was using the company credit card to purchase XXXXXXX? Either way, part of my punishment was a two leg long haul sunrise to sunset combi flight. 35 passengers, and 12,000kgs of cargo, to be delivered to the middle of nowhere; Gobernador Gregores, Argentina. Good thing I brought petty cash, I'm pretty sure the company credit card has been locked. Anyway, let's sign off on this thing and hit the skies! Leg 1    Early morning legs are both beautiful and brutal. The commute to the airport is always quick and easy, because there's almost nobody else, plus you have a front row seat to the sunrise. On the other side? I'd rather be in bed. The urge for sleep still gnaws at the back of your head while you shuffle through security and go through the endless checklists for planning and preflight. Still, you fight it off with a combination of coffee and regular breaks to stand and stretch in the galley.       The flight was pretty by the book, nice tailwind, and a little interesting volcanic scenery to see as we flew down the coast. Antofagasta was fairly busy with some regional flights coming and going, so we had to be carefully worked to the gate to avoid any nose-to-nose meetings. Leg 2 With both our fuel tanks and stomachs refilled, we hit the road to nowhere. Highlight of the leg was flying over Santiago, Chile. Really pretty city, I need to visit one day on more than just an overnight layover. The approach into Gobernador Gregores was uh, a bit steeper than normal, but a 30 degree banked spiraling descent at 3000fpm never hurt anyone. Once we rolled out of that though, the landing was nice and quiet.         With the shadows growing longer as the sun set on the airport, I radioed dispatch and got verification a fuel truck was en-route to refill the plane, enough to get us a repositioning hop to Comodoro Rivadavia back to regular commercial flights. "Yeah, it'll be there tomorrow evening, maybe the day after." Well, time to see what they do for fun here. Maybe see if the credit card is unfrozen yet. ((35 PAX & 12,000 kg delivered to the Middle of Nowhere, Argentina))
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Apr 2, 2024 06:24
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Davin Valkri posted:
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Apr 21, 2024 07:44
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Vahakyla posted:SUPPLY STATUS March 24nd, 2010 Leg 1 Loaded up with 15,000kg of cargo at El Bosque in Santiago. Departure and climb out was pretty easy-peasy, though we did cross the Andes a little bit lower than we should have.     Approach and landing into Punta Indio Naval Air Base was fairly easy, though there was too much speed on touchdown, so there was no way to make the mid-field taxiway turnoff.    Leg 2 With an extra 25,000kg of cargo lumped into hold, we taxied out to depart, clipping a tree on the way to the runway. Turns out flying a jumbo jet into and out of an airport not meant for planes this size has its difficulties.   Due to various NOTAMS, we made sure to stay fairly close to the coastline to avoid being reached out and touched by a Chinese surface-to-air missile. Speaking of, some smoke and haze was still visible from the latest round of Chinese attacks on Rio Gallegos as we approached Piloto Civil Norberto Fernández International.    Leg 3 Leaving behind war-torn Rio Gallegos for the slightly less war-torn Teniente Julio Gallardo Airport in Puerto Natales. Due to our arrival path, we had to make a long sweeping right turn to line up for final, but it was a very picturesque approach nonetheless!    
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Apr 22, 2024 02:11
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Vahakyla posted:The moment you touch down in Puerto Natales, the company sends you a message. 
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Apr 22, 2024 07:20
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Volando a SPJC,    gracias a estos,    hijos de puta.    😡    ((it was a very pretty departure, at least!))
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Apr 23, 2024 20:17
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| # ¿ May 16, 2024 12:03 |
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Vahakyla posted:SUPPLY STATUS March 24nd, 2010 "Sending you the flight plan for today. You're hauling 8,000kg worth of Karens from Morón to Río Turbio." "¿8,000 kg de mujeres furiosas?" "Uh. Yes." --- Hey there Gilbercitos, going to make this one short and sweet, have a plane full of grumpy cargo, and the sooner I land the better. Anyway, let's sign off on this thing and hit the skies! Departure from Morón was nothing to write home about, but I guess it was since I'm posting about it in this blog. The Airbus wasn't fully loaded with fuel, so while we had a modestly heavy cargo, she still lept off the runway without much fuss. Climb out and cruise was also "honky-dory", if I remember my American slang correctly. Gear up, flaps up, feet up.      "God can't this thing go any faster? Are we there yet?" Early approach was smooth, but as we neared the airport, a line of storm clouds kicked up a pretty decent wall of rain and dust. Seeing that Río Turbio is an uncontrolled airport, and lacks any instrument approaches, the captain and I discussed our options. After one last review of weather at the airport, we decided to slowly proceed inbound above traffic pattern altitude, and if we could not clearly find the runway, or if conditions continued to deteriorate, we'd divert to El Calafate.    Thankfully, we were picked up the approach lights about 8 miles out, and quickly configured for an uneventful landing.   👏👏👏   Even with the war swelling the population, Río Turbio is still a pretty sleepy hamlet with no real night life. On the plus side, I was informed the company credit card was unfrozen, so it's a steak night. You gotta treat yourself, right?  ((8,000kg of Kh-25 Karens delivered to SAWT.))
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May 3, 2024 06:13
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