Aussie Group Flights Team: NAV Exercise - Hamilton Is to Townsville

Welcome to another VFR event, where we fly from Hamilton Is(YBHM) on the east coast of Queensland Australia to Townsville(YBTL), to the North on the coast. We will follow the route requirements, which has altitude and position restrictions.

In this event we will fly a basic aircraft like the C152 and navigate using Dead Reckoning, i.e., consider the time it takes to travel, along with the effect of the wind, look out for detail to match the charts.

I will supply charts to assist with the route, so you can be familiar with the expectations.

We will fly in REAL weather and I will issue the required amended headings to account for the prevailing winds as reported prior to the event.

Route: HM COWI PN LFC WN GUNG AYR GIRU CEN TL.

IMG_7243

Details to follow. Hope you can join us.

PLEASE NOTE: THIS INFORMATION IS FOR FLIGHT SIMULATION USE ONLY.

Regards, Paul

Use CLEAR OFF checks …

A common check throughout the flight that pilots use are the CLEAR OFF checks.

C ompass/Heading
L ogs updated
E ngine instruments, Oil temps and pressure
A ltitude
R adios

O rientation (do you know where you are? can you confirm your position using multiple references?
F uel and tank selection
F orced landing locations

These are typically done after TOC, every 10 minutes, at waypoints and at TOD.

In the Sim, you can press the D key to realign the Direction Indicator to the Magnetic Compass.

NOTE: EXAMPLE ONLY …

Below is a sample of the Flight Card information for Flight Plan and Fuel. There is also a Weight and Balance sheet based on the typical empty weight of a C152 and how we are loading it.

I just want to give you time to absorb the detail so it isn’t too confusing at the event.

Plan

The first column shows the waypoints as shown on the VFR Maps.
LSALT: This is the Lowest Safe Altitude. Which involves reviewing 10nm either side of Track and noting the highest elevations. Then finally adding 1,000’.

ALT: The planned cruising altitude based on observing the ODD +500’ for travelling East and EVEN+500’ for travelling West.

TAS: This is the True Airspeed for the C152

TRK: This is the direct track to the next waypoint.

WIND: This is the reported wind for the area of the waypoint, reported in Direction and Speed.

HDG: This is the adjusted heading to track, based on the reported winds. THIS IS THE HEADING YOU FOLLOW FOR THE EVENT.

GS: This is the calculated Ground Speed, based on the reported winds.

DIST: This is the distance to the next waypoint.

ETI: This is the time to the next waypoint, based on the calculated ground speed. THIS IS WHAT YOU USE TO TIME WITH THE STOP WATCH.

EET: This is the elapsed time during the route to each of the waypoint.

ETA: This is the Estimated Time based on when we planned to take off.

FR: This is the remaining fuel based on a starting amount of 90 ltrs (see the fuel sheet for details of usage along the route).

90: This is the fuel figure at the start of our flight - 90 lts. The amount of fuel at our landing airport is also listed for reference.

REV: This allows us to enter revised fuel figures along the route.

ATA: This is the Actual Time you record when reaching the waypoint. Example if we took off at 0900z and it took you 19 minutes to get to the first waypoint, you would enter 0919.

These are the only fields that are important for the event.

I will issue the Flight Card, with all this information once I get up to date weather just prior to the event.

Weight and Balance information (assuming certain loadings).

Please ensure you select the Asobo C152 and load the plane as per the below picture:

We are navigating with Dead Reckoning, so you will need a stopwatch to time your legs. If you don’t have one handy, MSFS provides one for you.

From the floating menu, select the NavLog option.

This provides a handy stopwatch for timing your legs.

What to look out for on the Charts.

Note the indication for Roads, Rivers, Railways, High Tension Power Lines, Airports and built up population areas.

Note: When determining your position on the chart, don’t rely on one point of reference to suggest your position. Where possible pick up to three visual references, if available, to determine your position.

ATTENTION Aussie Flight Group Participants …

Group Flight: 2023-05-18T20:00:00Z

Please don’t spawn on the runway.

Route: HM COWI PN LFC WN GUNG AYR GIRU CEN TL

• Take off from Hamilton Is(YBHM)
• Track to Cow Is(COWI) 7nm
• Track to Proserpine(YBPN) 17nm (below 4,500’)
• Track to Longford Creek(LFC) 20nm (below 4,500’)
• Track to Bowen(YBWN) 14nm (below 8,500’)
• Full Stop Landing at Bowen(YBWN) +++10min Break+++
• Take off from Bowen(YBWN)
• Track to Guthalungra(GUNG) 22nm (below 8,500’)
• Track to Ayr(YAYR) 35nm (below 8,500’)
• Track to GIRU 13nm (below 5,500’)
• Track to Clevedon(CEN) 8nm (below 3,500’
• Track to Townsville(YBTL) 17nm (below 2,500’
• Full Stop Landing at Townsville(YBTL)

Altitude: The route can be flown up to 2,500’ to be clear of terrain.

Airport details:

Hamilton Is.(YBHM)
Elev: 15’
RW 14/32 Asphalt

Whitsunday Coast(YBPN)
Elev: 82’
RW 11/29 Bituminous

Bowen(YBWN)
Elev: 26’
RW 04/22 Asphalt
RW 12/30 Dirt

Ayr(YAYR)
Elev: 41’
RW 01/19 Asphalt
RW 11/29 Dirt

Townsville Intl(YBTL)
Elev: 18’
RW 01/19 Asphalt
RW 07/25 Asphalt

C152 as the Asobo version has no autopilot or GPS equipment. Also, fying at 100knots, you can use the predetermined times and vectors for the wind (to be issued just prior to the event for best accuracy).

We will land at Bowen(YBWN) for a 10 minute break.

IMPORTANT: In the interest of keeping it REAL, please refrain from selecting inappropriate aircraft, like airliners. This only detracts from the immersion of the flight.

Seeing Aircraft Correctly: You need to do two things to ensure you can see the other pilots in the event and see them in the aircraft they selected.

Select the same server: To do this, proceed as follows:

From the Welcome Screen, click on your Username (top right)
From the list of servers, under Servers, select WEST USA

Turn off Generic Planes: To do this, proceed as follows:

From the Welcome Screen, click on OPTIONS
Click on GENERAL
With TRAFFIC selected, scroll down to the last option and set USE GENERIC PLANE MODELS to OFF

Turning off Crash/Damage:

Select Options/Assistance
Expand Failure & Damage
Disable Crash Damage
Disable Aircraft Stress Damage
Disable Engine Stress Damage
Accept the changes

Voice Room: My personal Discord server is used for voice comms. If you haven’t already joined my server, click on the below link to request access. I will set you up as a Member so you can access the server. Ensure you do this prior to the flight, as latecomers will need to wait for the next event.

Link to join the Voice Room: Aussie Group Flights Team - On-line Flying

Note: this link is only valid for 7 days from posting.

Weather/Time: We will set the time to 8am. This will allow us to fly in daylight and choose REAL weather so that the winds are correct.

From the World Map view, click on Flight Conditions (upper right of screen)
Click on All Players, Live Traffic, Custom
Under Weather and Time, select Live Weather and move the time slide bar to show 8:00am. 
Click Close and Fly from the World Map view.

We can start departing from 20:00z. There will be no need for official radio calls. Lets just have some fun taking in the scenery and the social aspects of the event.

Turning on Points of Interest

Select Options/Assistance
Expand POI
Set Landmark Markers to ON
Set City Markers to ON
Set Airport Markers to ON
Accept the changes

Turning on Name Tags (This will assist you in following the group if you get disoriented):

Select Options/GeneralTraffic
Set Show Traffic Nameplates to On
Accept the settings

Still confused, check out the multiplayer video tutorial from SimHangar Flight Simulation: MSFS | MULTIPLAYER | How To Guide | Everything You Need To Know | Fly in events coming soon. - YouTube

Let me know if there’s anything else that I’ve missed that you need to know.,

Regards, Paul

Charts for the event …


Hamilton Is to COW Island


COW Island to Longford Creek


Longford Creek to Bowen


Bowen to Guthalungra


Guthalungra to Ayr


Ayr to Clevedon


Clevedon to Townsville

Note: All charts and navigation details are from my EFB (Electronic Flight Bag) OzRunways.

This is an EFB for real world operations in Australia but has a Simulation mode, which allows full functionality in a simulator like MSFS.

For more details, check out the site and features of the EFB.

IMPORTANT: Prior to the flight, I will provide a sheet with the navigation information on it based on the weather available. Refer to the explanation of the sheet (above). It will only work if:

You use the C152
You load the aircraft as directed both PAX, Cargo and Fuel
You use real world weather

Look forward to joining you for the flight.

Print this flight card out for your easy reference during the flight (Note: only available up to the date of the flight): Dropbox - Flight Card_NAV.pdf - Simplify your life

Suggested scenery …