In-game I took my Cessna 172 Skyhawk (G530/430, KAP 140) on a flight from Seattle up the west coast to Alaska. I think my goal is to get to Tin City LRRS (CTNC).
I’m about half way there, but so far it’s been a pretty wild ride. Along the way I’ve experienced treacherous winds (40+ knots) and temperatures below -7 C.
I crashed the first time, but that’s because I couldn’t get to my autopilot in time (to turn it off). I’ve since figured out the keybindings on the Xbox controller and more importantly I’m paying attention to my airspeed and RPMs.
I also tried to fly at night (CYPR > CSGY) thinking it was no big deal, but I was sorely mistaken. I had to fly it with a Garmin 1000 so I could see what’s in front of me. I learned that since there are no city lights it is complete darkness. Landing was scary as hell because even the landing strip didn’t have lights. I get it–don’t fly out here at night.
At one point the turbulence was so great that I had to fly in between the mountain ranges to get some stability. Couldn’t have done it without the G1000.
My routes so far have been:
KSEA (Seattle) > CYVR (Vancouver)
CYVR > CYZT (Port Hardy)
CYZT > CYPR (Prince Rupert)
CYPR > CSGY (Skagway)
Has anyone else done any crazy flights. Any lessons learned?
I routinely fly back and forth between CYDQ and CYYJ IRL in a Baron G58. Always file IFR. Years ago I did the same trip in a 172. VFR. Navigated following the highways. Do NOT recommend it. If you insist on mountain flying in BC in any light single, pick your weather carefully.
Local surface winds WILL double at least over the rocks and the turbulence will leave shoulder strap bruises. The Rockies and Coastals are not for the inexperienced.
I once flew from CYYJ-CYLW in a Piper Warrior, beautiful condition until I hope just outside of hope and tried following the Cocohalla (Hwy 5) went from VMC to IMC in about 5 minutes… Of course minimum IMC level is 11000… a little hard to climb over the mountains in an Warrior, not to mention icing… LOL
I’ve had the same experience in Alaska. Flying a C172 over the mountains is a treacherous affair. Nevermind landing, as you pointed out. that’s just tempting fate.
That said, I love flying in that part of the world. The scenery is unreal.
Just wait for the full Moon. Especially during winter, navigating VFR is very doable with the whole landscape lit up by the moonlight reflecting off the white snow. I did that on a recent flight no problem… until I ended up with overcast skies at my destination
My most memorable real encounter with the weather here was bringing an RV-7 all the way west from Quebec. I departed Medicine Hat at first light, 5:00 am, with a perfectly clear sky ahead of me all the way to Vancouver. I got over Calgary and into the pass in the Rockies over Lake Louise just fine, but when I turned the corner west again towards Golden, something just didn’t feel right. I noticed I had quite a crab angle going through the narrow pass and everything seemed to be happening a lot faster than expected, and then I looked down at my GPS… I was doing 220 knots over the ground! I’d encountered a 70+ knot venturi effect tailwind. Felt like I was being shot out of a blow gun.
When I entered the main valley over Golden I was basically skidding sideways across it like a drift car. Then came the mechanical turbulence on the far side of the pass as the jet spilled out. I expected that at least, and slowed her way way down to reduce stress on the airframe, but still smacked my head against the canopy three or four times.
I needed to land there for fuel, so I gingerly circled down, feeling out the winds, and thankfully it let up significantly by the time I got down to around 1000 agl. Landing was uneventful and very pleasant after that. Pretty rare that I’m happy to be on the ground.
An R44 landed right after me for gas, and the pilot looked a bit pale. I imagine I looked the same.
And all of this was around 6:30am, when there shouldn’t have really been any serious winds at all. I’ve done a fair bit of mountain flying, most of it in BC, and I always try to get through them all by noon at the latest, but that was a bit of a wakeup call. Mountain flying insanity can happen at any time of day.
When I was a kid my friends and I called BC “Beastly”… and it can be.
Thanks for sharing , amazing to read real life experiences. I am scared when flying a c172 in regular summer turbulence , can’t imagine how bad it was if you were happy to be on ground hehe
Flew a route that passed over British Columbia a few days ago and I chickened out and promptly turned off live weather due to insane winds and turbulence that rocked my airliner so much I thought it was going to fall out of the sky.
Using the moon!? I never thought about that. I love it. It makes sense. I am really enjoying how this game pushes me to use real tactics even though I’m not a real pilot. BTW your pictures were super dark. I guess that was the point. The snowy mountains was a real nice view.
Oh my goodness, what a story. I looked up an RV-7 and that’s a much smaller plane than the C172. I could virtually imagine (somewhat) the experience you had. Wow! In-game I flew via IFR so they had me at FL10 and above. What’s a good altitude to fly in mountainous terrains?
Yeah it was a wild ride. There’s really no best altitude to fly in the mountains, since no two situations are the same. You have to adapt to the cards you’ve been dealt.
If the weather is clear and winds are light, and you can afford to climb 1000 feet over the highest ridges, then that should keep you out of the bumps. Often though that isn’t possible, either because the terrain is too high and you don’t have the performance needed or oxygen, or more often because the weather won’t allow it.
General rule of thumb is that if you need you fly through the mountains and there is significant wind, then stick to the windward side of the valleys and avoid the leeward sides (lots of mechanical turbulence and downdrafts as the wind spills over ridges). If there’s no wind, then stick to the sunny side of the valley, where you’re more likely to encounter rising air. Generally air will rise on that side and descend on the shadowed side.
The weather in real mountains though can change in a heartbeat, and often the best course is staying on the ground and waiting for better conditions.
There are many places in the world that have mountains. What makes BC unique is that it is nearly all mountains and those mountains create a wall that the Pacific weather systems slam into. Few places in the world have locations that allow for deep sea fishing, ocean scuba diving, sun burns on the beach, rock climbing, snow boarding and glacier ice cave exploration, all in one day!
While this is what gives us the moniker of “Beautiful British Columbia”, it is also what makes travel within the province treacherous. Driving the length of the province is a 30 hour, 2400km(approx) journey with multiple mountain passes and very unpredictable weather. Flying commercially, while routine and usually uneventful, is seldom a pleasant ride. Even at 30,000 ft the mechanical turbulence can be terrifying to the uninitiated. Flying GA in BC is an adventure and never taken lightly.
After 50+ years and 10’s of thousands of hours flying in some of the most inhospitable locations on our planet, I still catch myself tensing up getting in and out of some of the locations I fly regularly. I have written, on this forum, numerous posts regarding the reality of turbulence and wind when users have complained that the model has destroyed their airplane when flying over a mountain ridge or had them bouncing about uncontrollably. These users seem to think that turbulence is way over done. It is not. It is horribly under done.
I could write a book on mountain flying techniques and anecdotes about mountain experiences in small planes. @Ramasurinen summed it nicely when they wrote…
Much of the advice they offered is good advice. The only thing I can add is that when flying into the mountains, there is no substitute for proper planning, preparation, training and awareness.
I would suggest using them to adjust your monitor brightness/contrast/gamma. I can see things just fine, as you would on a full moonlit night. Ever been out in one when not under city lights? You can even see your own shadow
Note you also may just not have a decent monitor with good black levels and color contrast. I know I’ve played games with day/night cycles like The Forest and Valheim with friends and at night I’m walking around fine when without a torch and they are like “i can’t see squat!”
Ah yes, we like to think we are important but British Columbia is only a province in Canada, not a country in itself. As for the rest of the country, as soon as you get east of BC, the prairie provinces (Alberta, Manitoba & Saskatchewan) are awfully flat! Most of the country’s mountains seem to have gotten used up in BC…
Flied from Calgary heading toward Vancouver, late in the day getting dark and thick clouds and turbulence using real time weather, I was landing near Kelowna (I thinK) for a break, did not see the trees on top off a nearby mountain, should have save this flight before crashing even if it is cheating in a way, don’t think we can do that in real life, would have died or at least been very injured many times, but sitting comfortably in my living room, wearing VR headset it is ok I think, I am not that experienced for this undertaking…
I guess that was the point. 
Also; great advice.