A Spanish Adventure - Around the world in Microsoft FS2020

[ChuckD]

Welcome back and thanks for joining me. 

 

We are, after a long while, finally nearing the end of our African adventure.  All that remains now, after having looped around the southern end of the continent and back, is to make the trek along the northern Mediterranean coast before turning north to cross the Straits of Gibraltar.  Today's flight will take us most of the way there!

 

Here's the intended route map for today.

 

We would leave Carthage and follow the coastline westward until we hit Sania Ramel airport in northern Morocco.  At least, that was the plan.

 

Early on a clear, cool morning in Carthage, we fired up Sweetpea II's twin radials and taxied to the runway.  Winds on the ground were strong and out of the west, but fortunately, they were rifling right down one of the runways, so a crosswind was not a factor.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Carthage itself is a suburb of Tunis, the capital of Tunisia.  As you can see, the city sprawled out in every direction.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

As we climbed, the winds aloft began to pick up.  At 7500 ft, our cruising altitude, we began bucking a 35kt headwind.

 

 

This unpleasant little surprise would present a significant challenge.  Where we normally make about 145 knots across the ground, this flight saw us averaging around 110, so we needed to keep a very close eye on our fuel situation.  If the wind held steady throughout the flight, we would be at the end of the Beech's endurance by the time we made it to Sania Ramel.  Being out of fuel and out of options is not a great place to be in aviation.

 

So, with little else to do, we set the autopilot, sat back, and watched the beautiful world go by (keeping one eye on the fuel gauge at all times, of course).

 

 

 

 

 

Here and there, a cloud bank would pop up and quickly march past us.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

But, for the most part, it was smooth - if not slow - sailing.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Occasionally, a low fog bank would roll in. 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

As the sun set, we had a decision to make.  With fuel dwindling and the wind still howling at our nose, we could try to make it to Sania Ramel, or we could divert.  A little "back of the sectional chart" math (known in the non-aviation world as "cocktail napkin" math), showed that if we held out for our planned destinations, we would be arriving on fumes.  No bueno.

 

Fortunately, we were only a few miles north of Melilla (ICAO: GEML).  Confusingly, this area is actually an exclave of Spain, so despite being on the African continent, it's actually Spanish territory.  Weird.  https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Melilla_Airport

 

We banked left and began a rapid descent, keeping a close eye on our cylinder head temperatures.  Too rapid a descent would overcool them and could potentially cause damage to the engines.

 

 

 

Lining up on the pattern entry, the wind was still howling in from the west, forcing us to crab the aircraft into the wind.

 

 

 

 

 

We swung around to enter base and final.

 

 

 

Committed to the landing, we crabbed hard to keep the aircraft flying towards the runway.  This would be close... I was already jockeying differential power and crossing the controls trying to keep her on centerline, but the wind was relentless.

 

 

Closer...

 

 

Closer...

 

 

Almost there - notice the asymmetric power settings.

 

 

Oof... touchdown was hard and abrupt, but survivable.  At the very last second a gust lifted the left wing, so I may have scraped the right wingtip in the dirt just a bit.  But again, survivable.

 

 

Bathed in sweat, we taxied clear of the runway and shutdown as the sun began to set.  Any landing you can walk away from is a good one, and today was no exception. 

Thanks for following along.  Up next - Like a rock: Farewell, Africa.

[Dpgsbody55]

Lovely pictures again, and a tricky landing.  I well remember my instructor telling me that nothing makes you forget all your problems like trying to land a small plane in a strong crosswind .

 

 

Cheers,

Michael

[ChuckD]

Welcome back and thanks for joining me. 

 

Today, we complete our African adventure! 

 

 

This flight will more or less complete the journey we tried to make last week, but which was stymied due to heavy winds.  We'll leave the Spanish exclave of Melilla and follow the coast as it turns north towards the Straits of Gibraltar before alighting at Gibraltar itself.  This would end up being a relatively short flight as we really didn't have that much ground to cover.  In the end, we were in the air for just over an hour - one of the shortest hops of this entire journey.

 

Dark, but broken, clouds gathered as we back taxied down the runway to the departure end, but fortunately, the winds were much more cooperative than they were on our arrival.  Back taxiing is a common practice of taxiing down the runway to reach the departure end in absence of any appreciable taxiways.  Most larger airports have sufficient taxiway infrastructures such that back taxiing is unnecessary, but smaller fields, or those built in cramped areas often don't.

 

 

 

 

 

With only a slight crosswind, the takeoff from runway 15 was smooth and uneventful.

 

 

 

 

 

 

We banked left to make a roughly 270 degree turn to bring us to our on course heading.  A more direct right turn would have put us dangerously close to terrain as we climbed out.

 

 

 

 

 

 

Sweetpea II climbed like a champ, as always.

 

 

As we climbed to our planned cruising altitude of 7500 ft, however, it became clear that we would be in the soup at that altitude. 

 

 

 

 

 

I checked the terrain profile for the flight and saw that the minimum safe altitude (MSA) was 3500 ft throughout, so back down we went...

 

 

 

 

 

After ducking under the coastal cloud bank, the sky opened up to a brilliant blue.

 

 

 

 

 

We followed the coastline as planned.  At 3500 ft, the craggy hills and valleys glided by just beneath us.

 

 

 

 

 

Here and there, towns and cities dotted the landscape.

 

 

 

 

Off to our right, we saw a first for this adventure: a ship!  While we didn't get much closer, we could see a large container ship making her way towards the Straits of Gibraltar and the middle Atlantic.  In this game, large shipping traffic is tracked and plotted the same as real-time aircraft traffic.  Pretty neat.

 

 

After the short over water jaunt, we returned to the coast and banked north towards Gibraltar.

 

 

 

This was the original destination of our flight from last week.

 

 

In the far distance, out of a light afternoon haze, the Rock of Gibraltar emerged like a monolith.

 

 

 

And with that, these are the last photographs we will take of Africa on this voyage.  Farewell, Africa.  Thank you for the adventure!

 

 

 

 

As we approached Gibraltar, I wanted to fly around the town a little bit to take in the sights.  As it happened, a lazy, looping left turn was a good, if not circuitous way to get us lined up for a straight-in approach to runway 09.  (Stupidly, the game's AI ATC cleared me to land runway 27 which would have put me in a 20kt tail wind.  So, I ignored them and landed 09 instead.  Thank God for this GPS and its wind reporting feature.)

 

 

 

Some cruise liners have called port.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Gear down!  The runway here is just to the left of the Rock and runs perpendicular to the Rock's long axis.

 

 

 

 

With a strong but steady headwind rifling straight down the runway, final approach was long, slow, and smooth.

 

 

 

 

Pretty much right on the money on short final.

 

 

Check out the super yachts.

 

 

Touchdown was smooth and uneventful.

 

 

We taxied to the general aviation ramp and shutdown in the shadow of the Rock of Gibraltar.

 

 

 

 

With that, our journey through the heart and coastal countries of Africa has come to an end.  I wanted to tally some stats, so I went through the logbook (a Google spreadsheet, really) and totaled out some interesting - to me anyway - information.

 

 

 

Though not perfect, this is roughly our travel log so far. 

 

It's not perfect because it doesn't include all the waypoints along the way; it only includes our actual stops.  As we work our way north into Europe in the coming weeks, I suspect we'll start to see some nastier weather and colder temperatures.  I'm also hyped that the flight legs will start becoming shorter which will allow for me to do a little more sight seeing rather than just high-altitude cruising.  Also, with less distance to cover, I can maintain a slightly higher power setting and therefore keep the speeds up a bit.

 

I'm really looking forward to the European portion of this tour, so please tune in as we explore the sights together. 

 

Thanks for following along.  Next up: A Spanish (and Portuguese!) vacation.

[Dpgsbody55]

Great trip so far.  I'm looking forward to your pictures of Europe next.

 

As the present version of MSFS has been quite stable on my PC, I've been doing a fair bit of simming myself lately, including a brief sojourn through Tunisia too, then on to Malta and up through Italy in the Milviz Cessna 310R, which is one of the better payware planes out there.  But the A2A Comanche has just progressed to beta, so I'll be a day one customer for that and probably ignore everything else for a long time.  Maybe one day they'll do a Beech 18.  I can wish, anyway...

 

 

Cheers,

Michael

[ChuckD]

Awesome!  Depending on your time zone, it might be fun to do a formation flight.  I'm UTC -5 (EST).  

[Dpgsbody55]

On 2/1/2023 at 2:36 AM, ChuckD said:

Awesome!  Depending on your time zone, it might be fun to do a formation flight.  I'm UTC -5 (EST).  

 

 I'm GMT + 8 and don't have a lot of time for MSFS right now.  At best, I get an hour three or four times a week.  My short flight around Italy, Sicily, Malta and A part of Tunisia took weeks.  Plus the sim is not reliable again since the last update .   It again has me questioning whether I'll buy any add ons at the moment.

 

 

Cheers,

Michael

Edited February 5, 2023 by Dpgsbody55

[Landrotten Highlander]

I haven't piloted an aircraft since 2004 - thats fine.

Became disabled in 2016, and still all desire to take off again and do some fun stuff away from the ground was 0 (zero)

Followed this fun trip from a distance, and still happy with my lot.

On Friday I visited one of my Bonsai students to work on his trees, and the conversation during the work passed flight simulation.  They Guy showed me his home sim (a complete cockpit of a 737 + livery of Ryanair, showed me how things worked and BAM.....

 

 

decided to get mesel' a flght sim - not as fancy as his, but still something that will make me feel like I am flying again.

Please pitty this poor soul, and keep posting your updates until I have gathered all the pieces and can do it mesel'

[Dpgsbody55]

3 hours ago, Landrotten Highlander said:

I haven't piloted an aircraft since 2004 - thats fine.

Became disabled in 2016, and still all desire to take off again and do some fun stuff away from the ground was 0 (zero)

Followed this fun trip from a distance, and still happy with my lot.

On Friday I visited one of my Bonsai students to work on his trees, and the conversation during the work passed flight simulation.  They Guy showed me his home sim (a complete cockpit of a 737 + livery of Ryanair, showed me how things worked and BAM.....

 

 

decided to get mesel' a flght sim - not as fancy as his, but still something that will make me feel like I am flying again.

Please pitty this poor soul, and keep posting your updates until I have gathered all the pieces and can do it mesel'

 

Congratulations/condolences on your newfound hobby/affliction.

 

 

Cheers,

Michael

[ChuckD]

On 2/5/2023 at 4:54 PM, Landrotten Highlander said:

I haven't piloted an aircraft since 2004 - thats fine.

Became disabled in 2016, and still all desire to take off again and do some fun stuff away from the ground was 0 (zero)

Followed this fun trip from a distance, and still happy with my lot.

On Friday I visited one of my Bonsai students to work on his trees, and the conversation during the work passed flight simulation.  They Guy showed me his home sim (a complete cockpit of a 737 + livery of Ryanair, showed me how things worked and BAM.....

 

 

decided to get mesel' a flght sim - not as fancy as his, but still something that will make me feel like I am flying again.

Please pitty this poor soul, and keep posting your updates until I have gathered all the pieces and can do it mesel'

 

What @Dpgsbody55 said.    I haven't flown since around 2004 too, so I feel your frustration.  While it's not ever exactly the same as the real thing, flight sims are a pretty close second.  And, to me, they come with some added benefits of being cheaper, easier, more accessible, and you get to fly fun things you'll never get to fly in real life.  I recently picked up the P-40 and P-38 modules for FS2020 (hilariously, this means that there will be random Warhawks and Lightnings scattered around the world as AI generated aircraft) and, despite not having usable weapons or any combat capabilities to speak of, they're actually pretty satisfying to fly.  Again... something I'll never get to do in real life.  Just like this whole round-the-world adventure too.

 

Anyhoo...

 

Welcome back and thanks for joining me. 

Screenshot gallery: https://postimg.cc/gallery/3DTgYHK

 

Today, we begin our first leg of the tour of the Iberian Peninsula.  The nice thing about the next few months of this journey is that we'll be covering much shorter legs per flight.  That allows me to fly a little lower, a little faster, and hopefully see things a little more up close.  You'll notice that in a lot of these shots, I've left the points of interest (POI) markers on to help aid with the sightseeing. 

 

The route for today...

 

Note that this shot was taken midflight past the first waypoint, so it looks a little wonky, but rest assured, we did leave from Gibraltar.  This first leg will take us across a few interesting sites in southern Spain then into Lisbon, Portugal.

 

 

 

The mega-yacht is still in town.

 

 

Lining up on runway 09, we roared down the runway into broken clouds.

 

 

 

 

 

 

Banking left, we climbed and turned north which offered us a splendid view of the town of La Linea de la Concepcion.

 

 

 

 

 

 

As we departed the area, the clouds briefly closed in around us, and not wanting to smack a mountain in the murk, we climbed.

 

 

 

 

We quickly broke out on top, then the clouds dissipated altogether.

 

 

 

 

For the first leg, had to climb to 6500' to clear a small series of ridges, but once past them, we dropped down to 3500' to get a better view of the surrounding countryside.

 

 

 

 

 

Here we passed over an old stone bridge in the town of Ronda, Spain.

 

 

The Spanish countryside was beautiful.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Next, we passed over the city of Seville and its sights.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Passing the city on the way to Lisbon, we found a mining operation of somesort.

 

 

And the Barragem de Alqueva hydroelectric power plant.

 

 

 

 

We soon neared Lisbon, whose urban center sprawled out across the nearby hills.

 

 

Busy day in Lisbon.

 

 

Our lights are on for safety.

 

 

The runway at Lisbon is 02/20.  The winds were heavy out of the north and there was a steady line of traffic coming and going from runway 02.  So, naturally, the AI cleared me to land runway 20.  Why wouldn't it?  Promptly ignoring it, I slotted myself into a gap in the landing traffic and hoped for the best.

 

 

 

Gear coming down, ready to go!

 

 

Lined up on final, on speed, and looking good.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

A nice three-point landing, and we're on the ground.

 

 

The tower controller whined about me not being cleared to land, but whatever.  In real life, I'd be in it deep, but then again, in real life, I'd have options to push back on such a craptacular landing clearance.

 

 

Thanks for following along.  Next up: Something a little special. 

Edited February 8, 2023 by ChuckD

[ChuckD]

Welcome back and thanks for joining me. 

Screenshot gallery: https://postimg.cc/gallery/xLVqQmB

 

Today we're going to do something a little special.  The city of Lisbon is the first city we've come across so far that has a lot of unique sights to see.  Unfortunately, with its big, honking engine nacelles just outside the cockpit, the Beech 18 is *not* the best aircraft to take in said sights.  So, after doing a checkout flight at the local flight school a short drive away, my kiddo and I loaded up in the school's Cessna 152 and went out to see everything that (the FS2020 rendering of Lisbon has) to offer.  Ma went shopping and Fatpuppy slept in the Beech.

 

 

 

Our route would take us first south to the coast, then northeast, then west again before returning to Cascais Municipal Aerodrome (LPCS).  The hashed lines coming in from the right denote our approach into Lisbon proper.

 

We taxied out around sunset and climbed into an azure sky.

 

 

 

 

 

Banking left after takeoff, we worked our way south to the coast of the river Trejo as it exits the continent into the Atlantic.

 

 

 

Many sandy beaches dot the coast line.  Here is Praia de Paço de Arcos which is apparently a very nice beach situated on a very nasty stretch of water.  So sayeth here anyway: https://www.travel-in-portugal.com/beaches/praia-de-paco-de-arcos.htm

 

 

The local soccer/futbol field.

 

 

 

 

And the Parque Aventura de Jamor, an outdoor adventure park. https://www.tripadvisor.com/Attraction_Review-g189158-d3869758-Reviews-Adventure_Park-Lisbon_Lisbon_District_Central_Portugal.html

 

 

After passing one of the harbor facilities, the next site was the Belem Tower, a 16th century fortification that served as an embarkation point for Portuguese explorers. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bel%C3%A9m_Tower

 

 

 

The trusty little Cessna is a magnificent sight-seeing platform.

 

 

Here we see the Museum of Art Architecture and Technology.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Museum_of_Art,_Architecture_and_Technology

 

 

 

And the statue of Christ the King off to our right. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Christ_the_King_(Almada)

 

 

Lisbon in the sunset was a beautiful experience.

 

 

 

 

Turning northeast to follow the coastline brought us closer to Lisbon's international airport.  We requested and were cleared through their airspace.

 

 

 

 

Near the main bridge across the river Trejo is the Torre Vasco da Gama.   https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Vasco_da_Gama_Tower

 

 

Over the tower we turned left, back towards the west and into the setting sun.

 

 

Just west of the airport is the Estadio Jose Alvalade, the main futbol stadium in Lisbon and home of the Sporting Club de Portugal.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Est%C3%A1dio_Jos%C3%A9_Alvalade

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sporting_CP .  

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Looking left along the coast we had just been following.

 

 

Nearby is the Estadio Da Luz.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Est%C3%A1dio_da_Luz

 

 

 

 

 

The suburbs of Lisbon.

 

 

 

 

We trekked further west as the sun sank lower in the sky.

 

 

Meanwhile the skies behind us turned a subtle, pastel pink.

 

 

Soon, we were over the Pena Palace, a castle on top of the Sintra Mountains that can trace its origins back to the 1400s. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Pena_Palace

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

With the sun now below the horizon, it was time to return to Cascais.  We passed it off our right to enter right traffic to runway 35.

 

 

After flying the Beech for so long, the slow little Cessna felt like a toy.

 

 

The wind kicked up a bit on short final, forcing a stiff correction.

 

 

But in the end, we touched down with a soft chirp from the main wheels.

 

 

 

 

 

 

I think from here on out, when I come to an area that has a lot of sights to see, I'll try to do something like this.  It's tough to see anything in the Beech, so "renting" a small airplane from the local flight school seems like a good way to actually get to experience the views.

 

Thanks for following along.  Next up: The anvil landing technique. 

[ChuckD]

Welcome back and thanks for joining me. 

Screenshot galleries:

https://postimg.cc/gallery/BqqN2ps 

https://postimg.cc/gallery/jK2WLFw

 

Well, after a covid-induced break, we're back on track.  Thankfully it was a mild case, and while I had the energy to fly a leg last weekend, I didn't have it in my to do a write up.  So, today, we'll do two legs to get us caught back up to the present.  For the first leg, we'll follow the western coast of the Iberian Peninsula northward from Lisbon, Portugal to A Coruna, Spain.

 

Naturally, I forgot to take a proper screenshot of the route, so here is one taken at the last minute with great haste and at enormous expense.

 

 

It was a busy day in Lisbon, but we were able to get out without too much trouble; the faithful Beech rumbling happily into the clear, calm air.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

We plodded northward at 3500 feet, leaving the bustling city of Lisbon behind us.

 

 

 

 

A nuclear power plant is situated just north of the city itself.

 

 

As someone who's been playing flight simulators since the 90s, I continue to be amazed by the scenery in this game.  I can very easily recall the two-color screens with nothing more than polygons.  I was wowed then, but even the "mundane" in this game is beautiful.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

We passed over the town of Coimbra, Portugal to see a number of unique and interesting bridges across the Rio Mondego.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

And, of course, the ubiquitous futbol stadium.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

A patchwork of fields unfolded out below us as we traveled further up the coast.

 

 

Soon, we passed over the Dom Luis I bridge between the cities of Vila Nova de Gaia and Porto in Portugal.

 

 

 

 

 

 

And the House of Music...

  

 

 

 

Then it was back to the rural countryside again.

 

 

 

 

The next sight on our trip was the cathedral Santiago de Compostela in Galicia, Spain.  My pics don't do it justice, so here it is: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Santiago_de_Compostela_Cathedral

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Not long after, we began to prepare for landing in A Coruna, Spain.  I alluded in my last post to this being something of an unorthodox approach.  Well, here's why:

 

 

This is the elevation profile for the descent.  There's an enormous plateau which has to be cleared, then you drop down past it to get to the runway.  The yellow line represents a normal descent path.  The black dotted line shows my actual descent.  Those of you more familiar with aircraft operations probably noted the little hop up right towards the end of my flight path.  That's not normal, but we'll get to that.

 

Though it's kinda hard to pick out, A Coruna's airfield is just above the crook of the windshield wiper arm here.  The edge of the plateau is the line of trees that intersects the wiper arm.

 

 

 

 

Prepping the aircraft, we dropped our gear and prepared for the descent.

 

 

Clearing the edge of the plateau with only a single notch of flaps, we chopped power and held about 90 knots dropped like a stone.

 

 

Now, what you can't really see - and I certainly didn't - is that dark patch of trees and foliage just this side of the runway is *actually* a pretty tall hill.  With high tension power towers on it.

 

 

This shows it a little more clearly, but I didn't really catch it at the time.

 

 

It was riiiiight about here where I realized I was on course to intercept the *hill* and not the runway. 

 

 

So, I punched full power.  And with Sweetpea II's engines screaming, we cleared the hill and its power towers.  Note that according to the approach path lighting, I've got 4 white lights... so according to the game (probably not in real life though), I'm well above the prescribed glide path.

 

 

Unfortunately, that put us pretty high on short final.  But I knew the Beech doesn't require much room to stop, so we continued the approach.

 

 

And crossed the numbers right on speed and height.

 

 

While the approach itself may have been a bit akin to an anvil being dropped from a building, the touchdown and rollout were smooth.

 

 

The next week, we left A Coruna for Bilbao on the northern coast of Spain. 

 

 

Firing up and taxiing out, I found the tower amusing.

 

 

 

 

 

 

Our first sight was just north of the airport itself: the Torre de Hercules, the oldest known lighthouse in the world.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Tower_of_Hercules

 

 

 

Its form cast long shadows in the afternoon sunlight.

 

 

 

 

 

 

As we trekked east, it became clear that this are was a huge center of power production.  The sheer number of wind power turbines was mind boggling.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Next was the Playa de las Catedrales, a dramatic shoreline.

 

 

 

 

 

 

We continued east, following the beautiful Atlantic coast of northern Spain.

  

 

 

 

Next was the Oscar Niemeyer International Cultural Center. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Oscar_Niemeyer_International_Cultural_Centre

 

 

 

 

 

Then it was on to El Capricho villa. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/El_Capricho   As we passed, the sun sank lower in the sky and a light fog began to shroud the hills below us.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Further east, we passed the Palacio de Deportes de Santander which is a huge and interestingly-shaped arena situated at the end of a long urban park in Cantabria, Spain.  https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Palacio_de_Deportes_de_Santander

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

From there, it was a brief hop to Bilbao, Spain, our destination for this leg.  With calm winds and the sun at our back, the approach and landing were smooth and easy.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Thanks for following along.  Next stop: Madrid!

[ChuckD]

Welcome back and thanks for joining me. 

Screenshot galleries:

https://postimg.cc/gallery/6WdXTpx 

https://postimg.cc/gallery/PfthvvH 

 

I'm back after a couple weeks' break.  Life has thrown a few curveballs at me over the last few weeks that have limited my hobby time.  Between a couple midwest ice storms knocking out power and deciding to leave my job, I've not been able to do much other than look for new employment.  Fun times. 

 

Today, however, we'll be doing two legs to get us back up to current.  When last we'd left, we were in Bilbao, Spain.  Today's two legs will see us head south to Madrid, the capital of Spain and in the heart of the Iberian Peninsula, then east to island of Menorca in the Mediterranean.

 

 

 

 

 

Leaving Bilbao was a fairly routine affair, excepting that the field was shrouded in low fog and overcast.  Also, the goofy layout of the runways there meant we had to taxi for 15 minutes just to get to the departure runway. 

 

 

Hang a right at the first stop light...

 

 

Go about five miles down Route 22...

 

 

Take a left turn at Albuquerque...

 

 

And you're there...

 

 

 

 

Given the low visibility and knowing that there were mountains in the area, we found and followed a SID (Standard Instrument Departure) at Airmate.aero for the given runway.  Climbing through the murk, we popped out on top to a beautiful, clear sky.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

We flew east over the coast to our first waypoint, the landmark of El Flysch de Zumaia - a towering rocky beach.  Looking at the pictures of it in real life, the game doesn't really do it justice.

 

 

 

 

We turned inland from there and as we trekked further south, the coastal clouds began to break up.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

We passed over a wide range of mountains.

 

 

 

 

 

 

These lakes at the top of a mountain cauldron were pretty neat.

 

 

Then the mountains gave way to a large, sweeping plain.

 

 

 

 

 

 

Our next waypoint was the City of Segovia, the capital of Castile and Leon, and home to several historic buildings including a roman aqueduct and the Alcázar of Segovia.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

From there we turned south, hopped over another mountain range and made our decent into Madrid.

 

 

 

 

 

 

The suburbs of Madrid sprawled out below us as we prepared for landing.  Fortunately, the AI ATC didn't pull any of its usual chicanery and the approach & landing were uneventful.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

We did get cleared to taxi to a gate, so there's that.  I don't think the jetway will come down that far.

 

 

A few days later, we departed Madrid in a rain shower and headed east towards the Med.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

We scuttled below the deck until the weather cleared, then climbed to enjoy the beautiful Spanish countryside.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

We passed over Almansa, Spain and its majestic castle.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Then headed east and out to sea.

 

 

 

 

 

Soon Eivissa (or Ibiza) island passed beneath us.

 

 

Including some inbound traffic into the local airport.

 

 

The next island, Mallorca, was almost totally obscured by a cloud deck, so we plodded on to our destination of Menorca.

 

 

Approaching the island, the weather was clear and the winds stiff, but cooperative.  We made our descent into the smaller, uncontrolled field on the island as we wanted to avoid the hustle and bustle of the main commercial airport.

 

 

 

The runway was nestled in a small woods.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Thanks for following along.  Next stop: A short hop to Barcelona.

Edited March 12, 2023 by ChuckD

[John1]

Looking good Chuck, good luck with the job search.    Do you use any live traffic programs?    There is an awesome freeware program that does a great job of adding real life traffic, both airborne and on the ground.   

[ChuckD]

Welcome back and thanks for joining me. 

Screenshot galleries:

https://postimg.cc/gallery/N2BspWW 

https://postimg.cc/gallery/77sxWNG 

 

Hello, everyone.  We're back on the continent today after our brief tour of the Balearic Islands off the eastern coast of Spain.  Today's flights will bring us from the island of Menorca to Barcelona, with a further sight-seeing tour of the city itself.

 

The route back is a pretty straight shot over the Balearic Sea back to Barcelona.

 

 

The weather was decent, with just some low-lying cumulus clouds and favorable winds.  After a short back-taxi, we were on our way.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Climbing out, we punched through a few clouds.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

But, we were soon over the smooth, clear air over the Balearic.

 

 

 

 

 

Without much fanfare or ATC chicanery, we were vectored in for the visual approach to runway 24R.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

With just over an hour of flight time, I still had it in me to do a little sight-seeing.  So, we drove to a nearby rural airfield and rented a Cessna 170B, the taildragger version of the venerable Cessna 172.

 

 

 

The plan was to head southeast, climbing over the hills just west of Barcelona, then follow the coastline northeast to overfly the city proper, then return.

 

 

Winds were a little tricky for the little taildragger, but we got off the ground in one piece and began our climb out.

 

 

 

 

 

First thing we noticed was a radar station perched on top of a hill south of town.

 

 

 

Barcelona was busy, but the controllers were kind enough to clear us through their airspace.

 

 

 

We turned north to parallel the coast and stay clear of the busiest of Barcelona's airspace.

 

 

 

The sea lanes were thick with container ships and other cargo vessels.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

A number of cruise ships were docked in port. 

 

As we continued north, I tried to grab a number of screenshots that gave the name of each of the major sites in the city.  In all, the photogrammetry used in this game for larger, more populous areas is a bit of a mixed bag.  It definitely gives a more organic, natural feel to the buildings (vs procedurally generated buildings), but it can get weird with things like dock cranes and other vertical items. 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Getting back to the rural field was tricky as well - the winds were just as difficult as they had been on the way out.  From ~3000' to ground level, their direction changed almost 180 degrees.  Crabbing the little taildragger into the wind, we made our approach.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

We *might* have put a wheel into the grass on the side of the runway as directional control was extremely difficult with the winds.  But, any landing you can walk away from...

 

 

Thanks for following along.  Next up: Vive le France!

[themongoose]

I’m getting caught up again! You’re really sucking me into this world. So earlier you mentioned “notice the asymmetric power settings.” when leaving africa and having to do that diversion in the wind. I don’t know what I’m looking at on the IP. Can you give me a pointer? Definitely interesting!