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Thorsten - Andras Meridian VA


Thorsten42

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Hi fellow pilots,

 

after not much time spent in the flightsim the last years I'm back in the cockpit. Currently our small VA is doing a nice race around the US, but nearing it's end I think this around the world trip is a very nice thing to go. Not the first around the world for me but with this historic background a fun thing to fly for sure. As I'm more addicted to the "real" planes - the one with props (and in the best case with radials :D ) - I will do this tour in three aircraft:

 

- T6 Texan

- C47

- Constellation

 

First leg will bring me from London City via Andras Field To Venice in the C47. There I will switch to the Texan with a few hops down the coast of Italy to Brindisi. There I will switch back again into the C47 and Go down to Port Said.

 

Details to follow in the flight reports.

 

Have all fun

Cheers

Thorsten

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  • 3 weeks later...
  • 1 month later...

Well, I told him if he would make it to Dublin by Wednesday, 20-Dec-2017 at 09:00z I would fly an online session together with him to Liverpool.

Since he didn't show up in time I concluded my flight to London on my own. Guess he is fighting bad weather seasons in Alaska.:wacko:

 

No need to send a search party out for him. He's like a cat, always falls on his feet. We better go and have a drink or two, if you are still tolerated at the Reform Club Bar.:cheers_s:

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  • 3 weeks later...

Oh my... what to say... for sure I hate paperwork... but flying wise I was in time until the towards San Francisco leg. In the Aleutes I encountered random CTDs until I even wasn't able to load up initially anymore. So I had to do a full reinstall on p3dv4. Plus realworld business a nightmare before Christmas (nothing new but always refreshing) so I was out of the time schedule. But I did not gave up and just today I finally reached London again. Now back to paperwork and diary ;)

 

Cheers

T.

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First two legs with visit of Andras Field and crossing the Alpes to LIPZ done with the mighty old C-47. VOR to VOR navigation to keep the time spirit up.

 

Leg 1:

EGLC    London City
DVR    DOVER (114,95 MHz)
LEQ    LILLE (109 MHz)
LUX    LUXEMBOURG (112,25 MHz)
SUL    SULZ (116,1 MHz)
KPT    KEMPTEN (109,6 MHz)
ANF    ANDRAS (115 MHz)
EAFS    Andras Field

 

Leg 2:

EAFS    Andras Field
OZE    BOLZANO (117,05 MHz)
TES    TESSERA (115,3 MHz)
LIPZ    Tessera

 

 

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LIPZ change to another nice radial and following the coast of Italy down in a T6 Texan. Some low vis on the way but finally made it down to the south of Italy before going over the med sea.

 

Leg 3:

LIPZ    Tessera
CHI    CHIOGGIA (114,1 MHz)
RIM    RIMINI (116,2 MHz)
ANC    ANCONA (110,65 MHz)
PES    PESCARA (115,9 MHz)
LIBP    Pescara

 

Leg 4:

LIBP    Pescara
FOG    FOGGIA (114,2 MHz)
BAR    BARI (116,4 MHz)
BRD    BRINDISI (113,2 MHz)
LIBR    Casale Mil

 

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In LIBR switched back to the C-47 to cross the med sea to Port Said. Uneventful flight in fair weather.

 

Leg 5:

LIBR    Casale Mil
ARA    ARAXOS (112,7 MHz)
SIT    SITIA (113,3 MHz)
PSD    PORT SAID (112,7 MHz)
HEPS    Port Said

 

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Port Said the next big radial on the list. The Connie... Next twolonger legs done with the L049 to speed up to India.

 

Leg 6:

HEPS    Port Said
HGD    HURGHADA (116,5 MHz)
MAK    MARSA ALAM (115,5 MHz)
PSD    PORT SUDAN (113,1 MHz)
ASM    ASMARA (113,7 MHz)
ABI    DJIBOUTI (114,6 MHz)
HDAM    Ambouli

 

Leg 7:

HDAM    Ambouli
KRA    ADEN (112,5 MHz)
RIN    MUKALLA (116 MHz)
SLL    SALALAH (112,8 MHz)
BBB    MUMBAI (116,6 MHz)
VABB    Chhatrapati Shivaji Intl

 

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In India I switched back to the C-47 and followed the route via Kolkatta, Yangoon, down to Singapore, up again to Hong Kong visiting Kai Tak and finally getting into Tokio:

 

Leg 8:

VABB    Chhatrapati Shivaji Intl
BPL    BHOPAL (117,1 MHz)
AP    ALLAHABAD (328 KHz)
VIAL    Allahabad

 

Leg 9:
VIAL    Allahabad
GGC    GAYA (115 MHz)
CEA    KOLKATA (112,5 MHz)
VECC    Netaji Subhash Chandra Bose In

 

Leg 10:
VECC    Netaji Subhash Chandra Bose In
CTG    CHITTAGONG (113,4 MHz)
PTN    PATHEIN (115,6 MHz)
VYYY    Yangon Intl

 

Leg 11:
VYYY    Yangon Intl
DWI    DAWEI (112 MHz)
STN    SURAT THANI (110,6 MHz)
VTSB    Surat Thani

 

Leg 12:
VTSB    Surat Thani
HTY    HAT YAI (115,3 MHz)
VKN    KUANTAN (113,7 MHz)
VTK    TEKONG (SINGAPORE) (116,5 MHz)
WSSS    Changi

 

Leg 13:
WSSS    Changi
VPT    PULAUTIOMAN (114 MHz)
TSN    TANSONNHAT (HOCHIMINH) (116,7 MHz)
VVTS    Tansonnhat

 

Leg 14:
VVTS    Tansonnhat
DAN    DANANG (114,4 MHz)
SYX    SANYA (112,5 MHz)
ZJSY    Phoenix Intl

 

Leg 15:
ZJSY    Phoenix Intl
MLT    DONGMULANTOU (HAIKOU) (112,7 MHz)
CH    CHEUNG CHAU (HONG KONG) (112,3 MHz)
SC    STONECUTTERS (HONG KONG) (236 KHz)
RW    HONG KONG (377 KHz)
VHHX    Hong Kong Intl (old)

 

Leg 16:
VHHX    Hong Kong Intl (old)
SWA    SHANTOU (112,6 MHz)
XMN    XIAMEN (114,5 MHz)
FOC    FUZHOU (116,8 MHz)
SHY    SHUYUAN (113,6 MHz)
ZSPD    Pudong

 

Leg 17:
ZSPD    Pudong
FUE    FUKUE (115,8 MHz)
IWC    KUGA (114,3 MHz)
CBE    CHUBU (117,8 MHz)
LHE    HAMAMATSU (110 MHz)
HYE    YOKOSUKA (116,2 MHz)
RJTT    Tokyo (Haneda) Intl

 

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Then following the discussions with others and Toby making some calculations I decided to do the via Alaska to San Francisco tour and not going via Hawaii. First really long leg now from Tokio to Adak in the Aleutes. And what to say, the Connie is such a beautiful plane. Long nice flight into the cold and dark Aleutes. And yes for the ones taking a closer look, the plain white of the body wasn't that nice so it got a grey belly in Lufthansa style making it much more attracting.

 

Leg 18:
RJTT    Tokyo (Haneda) Intl
ADK    MOUNT MOFFETT (114 MHz)
PADK    Adak

 

 

 

 

 

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...and reaching the Aleutes I made a very bad decision. What about not doing a quick long jump with the Connie to San Francisco... instead follow the Aleutes and Alaska down to KSFO. A lot of scenery testing both new installs of Otter and Antonov plus some Beta tests going on brought my system down to its knees. So doing some hops with the Otter later on reaching PAEN I had do reinstall my sim cause it was rendered unusable with random ctds. And that was the moment I was dropping out of the race :(

 

Leg 19:
PADK    Adak
PAAK    Atka

 

Leg 20:
PAAK    Atka
IKO    Nikolski AS

 

Leg 21:
IKO    Nikolski AS
DUT    DUTCH HARBOR (113,9 MHz)
CDB    COLD BAY (112,6 MHz)
PACD    Cold Bay

 

Leg 22:
PACD    Cold Bay
PDN    PORT HEIDEN (109,5 MHz)
AKN    KING SALMON (112,8 MHz)
PAKN    King Salmon

 

Leg 23:
PAKN    King Salmon
ENA    KENAI (117,6 MHz)
PAEN    Kenai Mun

 

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With knowing I wouldn't make it in time and additional realworld business going berserk before the holidays plus heavy colds on the complete family it took time to reinstall the sim. I could have bailed out then but I decided nonetheless to continue in the fresh stable and fast setup and finish the tour. The Otter was nice but too slow. So back in the C-47 and following the coast down to Ketchikan while visiting some really nice places. Weather was horrible and I had to go really low most of the times because of the huge cloud masses. Carefully watching for icing and carb heat needed a lot. Wonderful nice atmospheric "dark" flights.

 

Leg 24:
PAEN    Kenai Mun
JOH    JOHNSTONE POINT (116,7 MHz)
YAK    YAKUTAT (113,3 MHz)
PAYA    Yakutat

 

Leg 25:
PAYA    Yakutat
SSR    SISTERS ISLAND (114 MHz)
CGL    COGHLAN ISLAND (212 KHz)
PAJN    Juneau Intl

 

Leg 26:
PAJN    Juneau Intl
LVD    LEVEL ISLAND (116,5 MHz)
CMJ    CLAM COVE (KETCHIKAN) (396 KHz)
PAKT    Ketchikan Intl

 

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At Ketchikan it was time to move to something faster back again. Connie time :D One long leg down to KSFO:

 

Leg 27:
PAKT    Ketchikan Intl
YZT    PORT HARDY (112 MHz)
TOU    TATOOSH (NEAH BAY) (112,2 MHz)
ONP    NEWPORT (117,1 MHz)
PYE    POINT REYES (113,7 MHz)
SFO    SAN FRANCISCO (115,8 MHz)
KSFO    San Francisco Intl

 

The flight itself was uneventful and accusim giving me some nice career boost on this flight. All systems working like a charm and weather was getting better going down the coast.

 

 

 

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Then I waited too long and the real weather on the East Coast was getting bad. If I would know about the next flight before leaving KFSO I would have quit before. But hey... We always love some challenge. Next leg from San Francisco to La Guardia following the original route:

 

Leg 28:
KSFO    San Francisco Intl
MVA    MINA (115,1 MHz)
TCH    WASATCH (116,8 MHz)
MBW    MEDICINE BOW (111,6 MHz)
BFF    SCOTTSBLUFF (112,6 MHz)
OBH    WOLBACH (114,8 MHz)
OVR    OMAHA (116,3 MHz)
IOW    IOWA CITY (116,2 MHz)
JOT    JOLIET (112,3 MHz)
DJB    DRYER (113,6 MHz)
SAX    SPARTA (115,7 MHz)
LGA    LA GUARDIA (NEW YORK) (113,1 MHz)
KLGA    La Guardia

 

A bit foggy on departure I was climbing to cruise altitude. Usually I stay at FL220 with the Connie. This flight I had to avoid some higher cloud layers and was going up and down between FL180 and FL250 giving the pressurization systems a hard time going to its very limit. And what to say. Just in the middle of this long leg. Search the image for funny things:

 

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With engine 4 out I got into trouble with the high altitude and had to go down into the turbulenes. But hey. Its one of the nicest three engined planes so lets go on. Things got worse approaching NY. Nearly no visibility due to heavy snow fall, night time at landing, winds around 30 kts gusting a lot and giving a big crosswind component coming in from the side with both engines running it was my worst ever landing with the Connie. Passengers screaming loud as I nailed it down half on the runway half on the grass. Ah lets forget about the flight. The mechanics stated later I had a rare and sudden engine failure. Nice to know. But on the other hand, wow thats why I love this plane.

 

 

 

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Waiting for the bad weather to calm down a bit the Connie got a new engine number 4 and we where ready to continue. One more stop in Newfoundland and the then straight on to Queenstown (overflying Cork ;) ) and into Dublin. Next two legs Connie legs again.

 

Leg 29:
KLGA    La Guardia
BOS    BOSTON (112,7 MHz)
YQI    YARMOUTH (113,3 MHz)
YQY    SYDNEY (114,9 MHz)
YYT    TORBAY (SAINT JOHN'S) (113,5 MHz)
CYYT    St John's Intl

 

Leg 30:
CYYT    St John's Intl
CRK    CORK (114,6 MHz)
DUB    DUBLIN (114,9 MHz)
EIDW    Dublin Intl

 

The flight to St. John was easy peasy an nothing special about. Passengers where peaceful on landing and crew forgave me the landing at La Guardia. And then on boarding in St. John for the hop over to Dublin, Betty calling out we have a VIP on board. Ms. Monroe herself. Oh boy. Don't mess this flight like the La Gardia one. :D

On a sidenote my fellow VA pilots and me were discussing in a chat group about how she would actually look like today or if we had some Zombieroe on board of one of our planes. Long uneventful flight mostly above a dense cloud cover but nearly no turbulences and kissed the ground at Dublin.

 

 

 

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Speaking of coming to an end of the nice round the world trip the next day our good old C-47 was waiting for the last two remaining legs from Dublin to Liverpool and back into Lodon City. Weather at Dublin and Liverpool was ok with some reduced visibility but the nice English weather made the last two legs IFR with the end of the journey in London was a landing into the London foggy soup.

 

Leg 31:
EIDW    Dublin Intl
WAL    WALLASEY (114,1 MHz)
EGGP    Liverpool

 

Leg 32:
EGGP    Liverpool
BPK    BROOKMANS PARK (117,5 MHz)
EGLC    London City

 

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To sum it up, it was a very nice tour with a good background story but for me definetly set into a bad timeslot in realworld. With October to mid December the busiest months in the IT with all wanting to get their projects finished and out before the year changes I had to search for free time slots a lot. Plus my own personal nightmare of having to resetup the sim completely I was out of the race. Anyway I wanted to finish it and at least share some of the nice and great moments. It was a lot of fun indeed.

 

Cheers

Thorsten

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Good Thorsten that you didn't post the zombie picture of Marilyn. Young flight sim fellows watching this forum might have been shocked.:huh:

If some of your lady passengers will read your posts you might get some invitations for 5 o'clock tea. They will love your stories.:wub:

Fully respect your endurance although the race already officially was closed.:cheers_s:

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Oh no not the Zombie picture again. That was indeed scary.

 

Yeah Betty said on leaving the plane she's very proud of working for the captain (me!) so I think it will not be a lonely night at London except that I missed the main party. Perhaps she brings Heidi with her :D

 

On the other note as I said, better finish late than never ;)

 

Cheers

T.

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Enjoyable trip Thorsten! 

 

Like you, I used to hate it when work got in the way of pleasure!  Being retired for a while, I'm noticing i don't seem to spend as much time at pleasure as when I worked.:( Now instead of going to work, I go to to the doctor(s)!  Truth be known, going to work was better.:rolleyes:

 

Come on in!  I'm buying!!

 

Rupert

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