Exploring the world in the Beechcraft Bonanza

Leg 235, Friday Harbor, Washington via Oregon to Orofino, Idaho, USA

DAY04_14.PLN (12.8 KB)

World Update 4 day, slow connection, lot of stuttering, which slowly cleared up later in the evening. Server load does seem to make a difference on local performance. Some odd changes to the wheel grip, the plane jerks a lot more while touching down, not gradually gaining grip anymore, rather instantly. No problem, the new super grip made it easier to land on a narrow bridge with crosswind :slight_smile:

04-13 Friday Harbor KFHR * 5:22 PM
04-13 Burden Field (Rabbit Run) 61WA 5:24 PM
04-13 Lopez Island S31 5:26 PM
04-13 Center Island 78WA 5:29 PM
04-13 Decatur Shores WN07 5:31 PM
04-13 Decatur / Jones WA18 5:32 PM
04-13 Anacortes 74S 5:36 PM
04-13 Skagit Regl KBVS 5:40 PM
04-13 Arlington Mun KAWO 5:49 PM Everett PG Area Bad performance, server very slow
Internet down, fps < 5, end task, restart 6:04
04-13 47°56’45.42", N122°15’19.58"W 6:03 PM Slow loading
04-13 Snohomish County (Plaine Fld) KPAE 6:05 PM Seattle PG Area
04-13 Boeing/King Co Intl KBFI 6:38 PM PG Runway tears
04-13 Seattle-Tacoma Intl KSEA 6:42 PM Tacoma PG Area Terrible stuttering long pauses
04-13 Mcchord Field (Joint Base Lewi) KTCM 7:04 PM
Terrible stuttering, can’t operate plane anymore, 2 fps, restart 7:08 PM
04-13 47°3’46.74" N122°20’3.52"W 7:15 PM
04-13 Kapowsin Field 86WA 7:17 PM Mount Raineir 46°51’07.5"N 121°45’26.5"W
04-13 Tieton State 4S6 7:45 PM
04-13 Southwest Washington Rgnl KKLS 8:21 PM Lewis And Clarke Bridge 46°6’17"N, 122°57’42"W
04-13 Michair WT44 8:32 PM Unclear runway
04-13 Karpens OR23 8:40 PM
04-13 Astoria Megler Bridge 46°12’50"N, 123°51’41"W 8:52 PM
04-13 Astoria Rgnl KAST 8:57 PM
04-13 Seaside Mun 56S 9:03 PM Haystack Rock 45°53’4"N, 123°58’6"W
04-13 Nehalem Bay State 3S7 9:22 PM
04-13 Tillamook KTMK 9:28 PM Lot of Turbulence 29 knot head/crosswind
04-13 Abba’s 91OR 9:39 PM
04-13 McNary Fld KSLE 9:52 PM Salem PG Area
04-13 Harchenko Industrial OR38 9:58 PM
04-13 Meyer Riverside Airpark OG34 10:03 PM Beaverton Portland PG Area
04-13 Portland Intl KPDX 10:25 PM Bad performance, terrible stuttering
04-13 Portland-Troutdale KTTD 10:32 PM 29 knot headwind
04-13 Chenoweth Airpark 6OR2 10:53 PM
04-13 Columbia Gorge Rgnl/The Dalles KDLS 10:57 PM Memory escalating, stuttering, switch to terrain detail 10
04-13 Wasco State 35S 11:06 PM
04-13 Eastern Oregon Rgnl At Pendlet KPDT 11:36 PM
04-13 Walla Walla Rgnl KALW 11:50 PM 22 to 32 knot headwind lot of turbulence
04-14 Lewiston-Nez Perce County KLWS 12:14 AM
04-14 Orofino Mun 12:37 AM Dworshak Dam 46°30’55"N, 116°17’47"W

Flight time 6:54 35 stops

Inappropriate take off from Friday Harbor

Center Island in Lopez Sound, Washington

Anacortes, named after Anne Curtis Bowman, wife of early Fidalgo Island settler Amos Bowman

Everett, the largest city in Snohomish County. Here looking at Delta Yard

Naval Station Everett

I landed on the aircraft carrier, but sunk into the deck and had to use slew mode to get off…

Seattle Salmon Bay Bridge

Spotted the Holland America Line

Komo TV Transmit in Queen Anne

The Space Needle (605ft) and Museum of Pop Culture lower left

At Union St - 4th Ave, a view that’s not possible anymore, a building popped up after the data was taken

Century Link Field, home of the Seahawks & Sounders

T-Mobile Park, Seattle Mariners’ ballpark, formerly known as Safeco Field (until 2018)

Union Pacific Railroad - Argo Yard

Boeing-King Co International Airport

Husky Terminal & Stevedoring in Tacoma

New Tacoma to be exact

Tacoma East 21st Bridge with the Museum of Glass on the right

Next heading for Mount Rainier

First a stop at Kapowsin Field

Mount Rainier (14,411ft)

The Cascade Range’s highest mountain

Long way back down

Rimrock Lake in Tieton State

Flying by Stonewall Ridge

Spirit Lake in front of Mount St Helens

Mount St Helens (8,366ft)

Until 1980 Mount Helens used to be about 1,300ft higher

Lewis and Clarke Bridge over the Colombia River

Astoria Megler Bridge near the Pacific Ocean

Too easy flying under the high part

This is more like it, cozy under here

Fully functional bridge, no problem landing on it as well

My plane does not fit under the girder part, up and over

Uniontown, Astoria ahead

Seaside Municipal Airport

Flying by Haystack Rock at Cannon Beach

Salem, not the one from the witch trials, that’s in Massachusetts, east coast

Willamette River, PG girder bridges have a tendency to grow trees

Nice mural spotted near First United Methodist Church

Salem is home to the Oregon State Capitol, capital city of Oregon

Next up Portland, flying over Chapman Square

On the left Veterans Memorial Coliseum and Moda Center, on the right the Oregon Convention Center

Awesome Steel Bridge to the right (a photogrammetry mess unfortunately)

1912 bi-level lift bridge, one of a kind

The Oregon Zoo up in the hills

Willamette river flowing through Portland

Colombia river on the other side of Portland, here at Portland-Troutdale
https://i.imgur.com/YFE8P3F.png

Franz Lake National Wildlife Refuge
https://i.imgur.com/rj5bXmG.png

Sunset over Oregon
https://i.imgur.com/SDaj9UR.png

Mount Hood (11,250ft)
https://i.imgur.com/uLhHRjI.png

The Dalles, the largest city of Wasco County, along the Colombia River
https://i.imgur.com/wsHyihM.png

Sherman County, entering windmill territory
https://i.imgur.com/PzC3q8Y.png

Morrow County
https://i.imgur.com/P3H98Er.png

Walla Walla, Washington in the distance
https://i.imgur.com/Qm7fMLT.png

Take off from Walla Walla Regional Airport
https://i.imgur.com/izLuXmB.png

Take off from Lewiston-Nez Perce County Regional Airport
https://i.imgur.com/rT0cfMD.png

Flying by the Dworshak Dam, nicely lit up at night
https://i.imgur.com/km1AwDI.png

Final stop this leg at Orofino, Clearwater County, Idaho
https://i.imgur.com/ZFEGmY9.png

No lights here, but the runway was in the G1000, no problem
https://i.imgur.com/s93qeu0.png

Heading to Salt Lake City tomorrow after a peek at the dam by daylight.

Leg 236, Orofino, Idaho via Utah to Bear Lake County, Idaho, USA

DAY04_15.PLN (8.8 KB)

Lovely nature flight over Idaho, beautiful mountains and valleys to fly through.

04-14 Orofino Mun 5:36 PM Dworshak Dam 46°30’55"N, 116°17’47"W
04-14 Kooskia Mun S82 5:49 PM
04-14 Dixie USFS A05 6:10 PM
04-14 Big Creek U60 6:22 PM
04-14 Lower Loon Creek C53 * 6:45 PM
04-14 Mahoney Creek 0U3 6:54 PM
04-14 Thomas Creek 2U8 6:58 PM
04-14 Indian Creek USFS S81 7:02 PM
04-14 Morgan Ranch 02ID 7:10 PM
04-14 Sulphur Creek Ranch ID74 7:13 PM
04-14 Bruce Meadows U63 7:19 PM
04-14 Boise Air Terminal/Gowen Fld KBOI 7:43 PM
04-14 Mountain Home Afb KMUO 7:59 PM
04-14 Buhl Mun U03 8:20 PM
04-14 Joslin Field - Magic Valley Rg KTWF 8:25 PM
04-14 Lucin 02UT 8:51 PM
04-14 Wendover KENV Salt flats 9:08 PM Bonneville Salt flats racetrack 40°45’44.4"N 113°53’46.0"W
04-14 Delle Utah KGRT 9:31 PM Bingham Copper Mine 40°31’23.0"N 112°08’57.9"W
04-14 Salt Lake City Intl KSLC PG Area 9:51 PM
04-14 Skypark Bountiful KBTF 10:10 PM
04-14 Hill Afb KHIF 10:16 PM
04-14 Ogden-Hinckley KOGD 10:19 PM
04-14 Logan-Cache KLGU 10:35 PM 37 knot cross wind
04-14 Bear Lake County 1U7 10:55 PM

Flight time 5:19 23 stops

Departure from Orofino, looks nice by daylight

Checking out the Dworshak Reservoir and Dam

Clearwater River

Rainbow Lake

Salmon River through Payette National Forest

Chicken Peak (8,440ft) in the Big Hole Mountains above Fleming Canyon

Mosquito Ridge South

Big Creek at Hogback Ridge

Flying over Valley County

Approaching Lower Loon Creek from the north

Over the Middle Fork Slamon River

Lower Loon Creek Airstrip USFS

I came in a bit fast, long way down, stopped in time before the rocks

Mahoney Creek

Indian Creek

Back over the Middle Fork Salmon River

Sulphur Creek Ranch, on the straight and narrow

Over Lost Lakes

Hole in the Wall Creek

Wilson Peak (5,353ft)

The Snake River winding through Owyhee County

Twin Falls County, huge farms to the horizon

Rain incoming over Cassia County

Fivemile Springs, Nevada

Burnt Mountain near Death Creek Reservoir in Utah, on Google maps that is

Burnt Mountain is actually far further South, no name for this rock

Box Elder County, still cold enough to end up with an iced up plane

Tooele County

Wendover on the western edge of the salt flats

Salt works in Tooele County

Bonneville Salt Flats

In Bonneville State Park

The Bonneville salt flats are known for setting all kinds of land speed records

Futher on to Delle, strange landscape

Grassy Mountains HP (6,596ft)

Cedar Mountains ridge just before Delle

Stansbury Bay, at the southwest end of Great Salt Lake

Stansbury Island

Great Salt Lake, western Hemisphere’s largest salt-water lake

Bingham Canyon Mine aka Kennecott Copper Mine, just southwest of Salt Lake City International Airport

The largest man-made excavation, and deepest open-pit mine in the world (3,900ft)

Salt Lake City, capital of Utah, Salt Palace Convention Center on the left

Salt Lake Temple, the centerpiece of Temple Square & the Mormon Church

The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-Day Saints Conference Center with gardens on the roof

Utah State Capitol Building behind towards the hills

Light fading fast, heading North along Capitol Hill after checking out the south part of the city

Skypark Airport

Take off from Ogden-Hinckley Airport

Leaving Ogden behind to climb over the mountain range in the dark

To finish this leg at Bear Lake County Airport

The co-pilot had a spot on the window to see the runway, 28F outside
https://i.imgur.com/I9YY0xW.png

On to Yellowstone National Park next leg.

Leg 237, Bear Lake County, Idaho via Wyoming, Montana and South Dakota to Omaha, Nebraska, USA

DAY04_16.PLN (11.4 KB)

Not the best weather, Yellowstone looked great regardless. It’s probably better with a cloudy background to bring out the color. I hope one day the water vapor and old faithful’s geyser will be added. It’s not quite the same without the fog from the hot springs.

04-15 Bear Lake County 1U7 2:37 PM
04-15 Afton Mun KAFO 2:51 PM
04-15 Star Valley Ranch WY39 3:00 PM
04-15 Alpine 46U 3:07 PM Snowing and raining
04-15 Jackson Hole KJAC 3:22 PM Grand Teton 43°44’24.1"N 110°48’08.5"W
04-15 Driggs-Reed Meml KDIJ 3:36 PM Old Faithful 44°27’37.6"N 110°49’41.6"W
Grand Prismatic Spring 44°31’30.3"N 110°50’17.5"W
04-15 Yellowstone KWYS 4:33 PM
04-15 Gardiner 29S 4:48 PM Plane animations broken, switches inoperable
04-15 Briar Creek 2MT5 5:06 PM
04-15 Haggerty 24MT 5:09 PM Mystery runway, field landing
04-15 Waterfall 23MT 5:12 PM No runway, landed in field nearby
04-15 Edsall Field MT71 5:16 PM Marker not working but found the runway
04-15 Monger 9MT8 5:18 PM
04-15 Bozeman Yellowstone Intl KBZN 5:21 PM
04-15 Kreikemeier 4MT1 5:24 PM
04-15 Big Timber 6S0 5:45 PM
04-15 Billings Logan Intl KBIL 6:11 PM
04-15 Big Horn Co 00U 6:25 PM
04-15 St Labre Mission 3U4 6:50 PM
04-15 Stallions 07WY 7:05 PM
04-15 Thrush Ranch 04WY 7:17 PM
04-15 Ipy Ranch WY14 7:31 PM Devils Tower 44°35’26"N, 104°42’54"W
04-15 Taylor Field WY55 7:44 PM Bad Stuttering after leaving the landmark, high memory use
04-15 Mondell KECS 7:58 PM Bad performance, memory use increasing faster and faster
End task, restart, 30+ GB RAM in use for no reason 8:07 PM
04-15 43°51’13.85"N 103°49’1.97"W 8:14 PM Smooth again, memory use halved
Crazy Horse Memorial 43°50’12"N, 103°37’25"W
Mount Rushmore 43°52’44"N, 103°27’33"W
04-15 Rapid City Rgnl KRAP 8:37 PM
04-15 Oasis Ranch 0SD6 8:56 PM
04-15 Hayes Emergency Airstrip SD21 9:09 PM What strip? Dodge the buildings
04-15 Pierre Rgnl KPIR PG Area 9:25 PM
03-15 Mitchell Mun KMHE 10:03 PM
03-15 Chan Gurney Muni KYKN 10:25 PM
03-15 Wayne Mun KLCG 10:42 PM
03-15 Eppley KOMA 11:14 PM Omaha PG Area

Flight time 8:30 31 stops

Departing from Bear Lake County, Idaho

Red Mountain (9,284ft) in the Salmon River Mountains, in Custer County

Afton, Lincoln County, Wyoming

Star Valley Ranch

Lincoln County

Deadhorse Canyon, Wyoming, horses die in a lot of canyons

Grand Teton National Park

Grand Teton (13,775ft)

Located in Teton County, south of Yellowstone

Yellowstone National Park, featuring the world’s largest collection of geysers

Mount Sheridan (10,313ft) overlooking Heart Lake, behind the mountain. Lewis Lake up ahead

Yellowstone Lake

The Promontory

West Thumb Geyser Basin

Yellowstone Lake, Thumb Geyser and Fishing Cone

Old Faithful

Grand Prismatic Spring

Grand Prismatic and the Opal Pool

Terrace Spring

Following the Madison river along Harlequin Lake

Through Yellowstone Canyon along US Highway 191

Yellowstone Airport

The Crags

Gardiner, Montana

Dome Mountain (7,560ft)

Briar Creek

Bozeman Yellowstone Intl

Kreikemeier Airport

A break in the clouds over Sweet Grass County

Crossing the Yellowstone River

Yellowstone County

Billings in southern Montana

Custer Battlefield Museum along I90

Custer Battlefield Museum and Little Bighorn Battlefield National Monument

The Battle of the Little Bighorn, known to the Lakota and other Plains Indians as the “Battle of the Greasy Grass” was the most significant action of the Great Sioux War of 1876.

Crow Reservation where the battle took place

Hwy 212 cutting though Lame Deer County

St Labre Mission

Devils Tower (1,267ft), Wyoming

867ft from summit to base, most likely formed by cooling magma that later got exposed by erosion

The name originated in 1875 during an expedition led by Colonel Richard Irving Dodge, when his interpreter reportedly misinterpreted the native name, Mato Tipila (Bear Lodge/Rock/Tipi), to mean “Bad God’s Tower”. It’s listed as Bear Lodge on old maps.

Mondell Airport

Crazy Horse Memorial, an Oglala Sioux Indian chief who fought against removal to a reservation in the Black Hills. In 1876, he joined with Cheyenne forces in a surprise attack against Gen. George Crook; then united with Chief Sitting Bull for the Battle of the Little Bighorn.

Started in 1948, seams and cracks in the underlying rock as well as funding are slowing down progress

Mount Rushmore with George Washington, Thomas Jefferson, Teddy Roosevelt and Abraham Lincoln

Close shave for George Washington

I had not planned getting quite that close, plane is sluggish with iced up wings, close call

Sunnyside Township

Missouri River

At the Oahe Downstream State Recreation Area

Pierre, the capital city of South Dakota

South Dakota State Capitol, Hollister Football Field and Hyde Baseball Stadium

Sunset over Pierre at Builders FirstSource

Oahe Softball Complex along the Missouri River

Pierre Regional Airport

Following the Missouri river to Mitchell

Lower Brule

Mitchell, South Dakota

At the location of a prehistoric Indian village and home to The World’s Only Corn Palace

Chan Gurney Municipal Airport

Wayne, Nebraska

Approaching Omaha close to the Iowa border

Preparing for my final landing of the day

At Eppley Airfield

The moon is up, still very little light from the moon

I’ll be checking out Omaha by daylight tomorrow then on to Kansas city.

Leg 238, Omaha, Nebraska via Kansas to Granby, Colorado, USA

DAY04_17.PLN (12.8 KB)

A double leg visiting a bunch of cities, getting spoiled by the rich amount of detail in the US data.

04-16 Eppley KOMA 3:59 PM Omaha PG Area
04-16 Millard KMLE 4:14 PM
04-16 Lincoln KLNK 4:26 PM PG Area
04-16 Nebraska City Mun KAFK 4:54 PM
04-16 Rosecrans Memorial KSTJ 5:18 PM
04-16 Kansas City Intl KMCI 5:30 PM PG Area
04-16 Charles B Wheel Downtown KMKC 5:38 PM PG Area
Terrible stuttering, memory increasing, end task, restart 5:58 PM
04-16 38°55’43.92"N 94°46’22.48"W 6:05 PM Small update appeared, downloaded, smooth again
04-16 New Century Aircenter KIXD 6:08 PM
04-16 Topeka Rgnl KFOE 6:22 PM PG Area
04-16 Manhattan Rgnl KMHK 6:53 PM
04-16 Salina Rgnl KSLN 7:11 PM Coronado Heights Cactle 38°36’48"N, 97°42’12"W
04-16 McPherson KMPR 7:23 PM
04-16 Moundridge Muni 47K 7:30 PM
04-16 Newton City Co KEWK 7:35 PM
04-16 Colonel James Jabara KAAO 7:42 PM Witchita PG Area
04-16 Witchita Mid-Continent KICT 7:52 PM
04-16 Kingman Airport-Clyde Cessna 9K8 8:02 PM
04-16 Dodge City Rgnl KDDC 8:32 PM
04-16 Garden City Rgnl KGCK 8:50 PM
04-16 Scott City Mun KTQK 9:05 PM Monument Rocks National Natural 38°47’36"N, 100°45’46"W
04-16 Oakley Mun KOEL 9:26 PM

04-17 Oakley Mun KOEL 8:17 AM
04-17 Shalz KCBK 8:26 AM
04-17 Cheyenne Co Mun KSYF 8:42 AM
04-17 Wray Mun 2V5 8:55 AM
04-17 Haxtun Muni 17V 9:10 AM 16 knot headwind icing
04-17 Sidney Muni/Lloyd W Carr Field KSNY 9:23 AM Chimney Rock 41°42’14"N, 103°20’52"W
04-17 Western Nebraska Rgnl/William KBFF 9:48 AM
04-17 Cheyenne Rgnl/Jerry Olson Fiel KCYS 10:16 AM PG Area
04-17 Greely-Weld Co KGXY 10:48 AM
04-17 Land CO82 10:55 AM
04-17 Denver Intl KDEN * 11:02 AM Denver PG Area
04-17 39°44’38.62"N 104°59’48.27"W 11:39 AM The Colorado Convention Center
04-17 Centennial KAPA 11:48 AM
Bad performance, memory increasing, end task, restart
04-17 Centennial KAPA 11:55 AM
04-17 Rocky Mountain Metro KBJC 12:05 AM Boulder PG Area
04-17 Boulder Municipal Airport KBDU 12:11 AM Can’t get over the mountain, icing
04-17 Granby Grand KGNB 1:07 PM Tough mountain crossing

Flight time 10:03 35 stops

First up, Omaha where I landed in the dark last leg. TD Ameritrade Park Omaha

Annual host of the College World Series & home ballpark of Creighton University men’s baseball team.

Omaha Downtown

Bob Kerry Pedestrian Bridge at the Lewis and Clark National Historic Trail Headquarters

Another pass through downtown, at S10th st - Dodge st, odd no avenues

Saint Cecilia Cathedral, opened 1905, completed 1959

Millard Aiport, the rain started

On to Lincoln Nebraska, BSNF Terminal

Nebraska State Capitol

Memorial Stadium, Home field of Nebraska Cornhuskers

Following the Missouri river into Missouri

Little glitch in Clay Township, grows taller as you get closer

Bigelow Township

Green Township, well named

Approaching Kansas City, Missouri

Charles B. Wheeler Downtown Airport

Kansas city center or is it Sprint center, actually it’s T-Mobile Center

Kauffman Center for the Performing Arts

National WWI Museum and Memorial

■■■■■ Leagues Baseball Museum at the left side of my plane

And Black Archives Of Mid-America, the building with the bright red roof

Exhibits on segregated league’s 1920 founding to Jackie Robinson’s 1947 Brooklyn Dodgers debut

Flying over Clinton Lake

To Topeka, here at the Kansas State Capitol

Brown v. Board of Education National Historic Site (The school with the red roof)

School at the center of a 1954 court case that ended racial segregation in education facilities. You can walk through the school in street view, turned into a museum.

Topeka Constitution Hall (beneath my plane)

One of the most famous surviving buildings of early Kansas, a two-story building of native limestone with a flat roof, constructed by brothers Loring and John Farnsworth between April and October 1855.

Manhattan along the Kansas River

Milford Lake

Coronado Heights Castle

Alleged to be near the place where Francisco Vásquez de Coronado gave up his search for the seven cities of gold and turned around to return to Mexico

Witchita, Kansas

Witchita The Keeper of the Plains and Mid-America All-Indian Museum

Botanica, The Wichita Gardens

New Wichita Ballpark and Century II Performing Arts & Convention Center

Dodge City Regional Airport

Dodge City known for Boot Hill Museum celebrating the city’s frontier past

Logan, entering crop circle territory

Scott City Municipal Airport

Monument Rocks National Natural Landmark, weird name, weird landmark

Bing has some info: Monument Rocks (also Chalk Pyramids) are a series of large chalk formations in Gove County, Kansas, rich in fossils. The formations were the first landmark chosen by the US Department of the Interior as a National Natural Landmark.

Oakley Municipal Airport Approach

Landing in the rain at night, fun

Good time to stop, continue in the morning

Oakley at sunrise

I70 in North Randall

St Francis in Cheyenne County, Kansas

Wray in Yuma County, Colorado

Yuma County, more circle farms

Climbing a bit to see the circles from higher up, of course rewarded with icing

Was worth it, great view up here

Gurley Nebraska

Chimney Rock, 325ft tall, part of the Oregon trail

“Completely underwhelming. Don’t waste your time.” according to a review on Google

Cheyenne, the capital of Wyoming. Here at Frontier Days Old West Museum

BSNF Cheyenne yard on the way to the city center

Cheyenne Depot Museum dedicated to the Union Pacific Railroad

Behind it is the Historic Atlas Theatre, dating back to 1887, still in use

Wyoming State Capitol

Cheyenne Big Boy Steam Engine 4004

One of eight surviving examples of the world’s largest steam locomotives

Weld County, more circle farms on the way to Denver

Denver International Airport

Got a bridge, will fly under

Fitzsimons, Aurora, part of the University of Colorado

Denver Zoo below, Ferril lake and the smaller Duck lake

With pictures of Canada Geese, those aren’t ducks…

Colorado State Capitol under my wing, Civic center Park behind

Cathedral Basilica of the Immaculate Conception on the right

Trinity United Methodist Church hiding between the skyscrapers

Coors Field, home of the Colorado Rockies

Empower Field at Mile High, home of NFL’s Denver Broncos

Elitch Gardens amusement park visible behind the stadium

Sculpture Park at Denver Performing Arts Complex

That parking garage looked like the perfect landing strip

Colorado Convention Center

Difficult take off, just cleared the railing, should have backed up further, not much room to turn

Dipped down to keep control and climb again before hitting the street

On to Boulder, via Hillcrest reservoir

Boulder Municipal Airport

Colorada University Boulder East Campus

Folsom Field, historic home of the Buffaloes football & other CU-Boulder teams

Heading into the rocky mountains over Boulder County

Silver Lake, icing…

This crossing turned into a major headache, icing preventing me to get over the mountains

Finally decided to follow the I70

Then up a valley along Red Mountain

Finally over, managed to climb to FL125 over Range Creek thanks to a break in the clouds

Grand County, the grass is greener on the other side

Granby, Grand County

Last stop this leg, let my plane melt before the next one

Further South next leg to New Mexico and Texas.

1 Like

I have lots of family in Nebraska and lots of fond memories driving through Kansas City, Wichita, Salina, and McPherson on the way to/from visiting them, so thank you for this. And Boulder, Colorado always reminds me of the TV show Mork & Mindy. And finally I never get tired of seeing the rain and wet runway effects.

1 Like

Leg 239, Granby, Colorado via New Mexico to El Paso, Texas, USA

DAY04_17B.PLN (6.2 KB)

I finally decided to fix the date ‘problem’ on my pln files since crossing the date line, hence April 17 has 2 legs. I had a bit of luck with live weather not working at the start of the leg. Lot of mountain crossings in clear skies, no icing, although the actual forecast had it overcast. Sunny pictures this leg.

04-17 Granby Grand KGNB 4:01 PM
04-17 Aspen-Pitkin Co/Sardy Field KASE * 4:38 PM Live weather bugged, cloudy according to the forecast
04-17 Lake Co KLXV 4:55 PM
04-17 Carrera Airpark 93CO 5:13 PM Bumpy, landed at the neighbors airstrip, close together
04-17 City of Colorado Springs Municipal Airport KCOS 5:52 PM PG Area
04-17 Pueblo Meml KPUB 6:07 PM
04-17 Spanish Peaks Airfield 4V1 6:23 PM
04-17 Taos Regl KSKX 7:06 PM
04-17 Santa Fe Muni KSAF 7:30 PM PG Area
04-17 Albuquerque Intl Sunport KABQ 8:24 PM PG Area
04-17 Alexander Mun E80 8:37 PM
04-17 Socorro Mun KONM 8:49 PM
04-17 Spaceport America 9NM9 9:14 PM
04-17 Shoestring Ranch NM79 9:29 PM Las Cruces PG Area
04-17 Las Cruces Intl KLRU 9:40 PM
04-17 El Paso Intl KELP 9:56 PM PG Area

Flight time 5:55 15 stops

First up, flying by Williams Fork Reservoir west of Granby

The Spider Mountain (12,692ft)

Mount Powell (13,586ft)

Bald Mountain (13,684ft)

Vail Ski Resort featuring over 5,000 acres of skiing trails

Beaver Creek Ski Resort at Beaver Creek

Gold Dust Peak (13,382ft) and Big Lake in Eagle County

Ruedi Reservoir

Approaching Aspen

Aspen lies to the left along the Roaring Fork River

Aspen-Pitkin Co - Sardy Field

Nice log terminal

And off again, into the mountains after a look at Aspen

Aspen, well known very popular ski resort

Mount Oklahoma (13,845ft) in Colorado

Mount Massive (14,428ft) in the Massive Wildreness Area

Flying along Sheep Ridge

Tomahawk State Wildlife Area

Antero Reservoir in the distance

Sulphur Mountain

Pikes Peak (14,114ft)

Known for the Pikes Peak Hill Climb

Colorado Springs, elevation 6,035ft at the eastern foot of the Rocky Mountains

America the Beautiful Park Fantasy Playground

Colorado Springs Pioneers Museum

Garden of the Gods, Juniper Way Loop

1,300 acres of sandstone formations

Back along the Kissing Camels

Pueblo, Colorado

Spanish Peaks Airfield

East (12,684ft) and West (13,625ft) Spanish Peaks

Culebra Peak (14,059ft) and Red Mountain (12,890ft)

Purgatoire Peak (13,676ft)

Taos County

Latir Peak (12,708ft)

Enchancted Circle Byway at Moly

Taos Regl Airport

Following the Rio Grande

On its way to the Gulf of Mexico

Back to flying with icing over New Mexico

Cañada de Abeyta (river) down in the gorge

Rio Arriba County

Nambe Pueblo

Santa Fe, the capital of New Mexico in the Sangre de Cristo foothills

New Mexico State Capitol

Santa Fe Plaza (wildly overgrown) and The Cathedral Basilica of St. Francis of Assisi further back

Another shot from the County Clerk’s Office

Continueing over Santa Fe County

Sandoval County
https://i.imgur.com/UsSCLNt.png

Sandia Crest (10,678ft)
https://i.imgur.com/T3UM2jW.png

Imagine living up there! (mostly radio antennas up there)
https://i.imgur.com/Ng5l0S8.png

Albuquerque, New Mexico’s largest city, located in the high desert
https://i.imgur.com/GvsM7zu.png

Albuquerque Tguex Park with the New Mexico Museum of Natural History and Science (right side)
https://i.imgur.com/Y1eYfcS.png

University Stadium and Isotopes Park (baseball stadium behind)
https://i.imgur.com/gcUxavp.png

Albuquerque Intl Sunport, X means land here?
https://i.imgur.com/VrXoEO0.png

Bernalillo County, following the Rio Grande again
https://i.imgur.com/DuferXK.png

La Joya
https://i.imgur.com/dAKaDuJ.png

Just took off from Socorro Municipal Airport
https://i.imgur.com/t7iENk5.png

Jornada Del Muerto Wilderness Study Area
https://i.imgur.com/xd6vTFe.png

Ladybug Peak (7,457ft) and Middle Peak (5,786ft)
https://i.imgur.com/xitmWG3.png

Mt Baldy and Skillet Knob (7,562ft)
https://i.imgur.com/uhLQmrF.png

Unnamed and unlisted airport along WSMR P Route 6
https://i.imgur.com/yfLehTn.png

Spaceport America
https://i.imgur.com/u2bFuE9.png

Long runway
https://i.imgur.com/KF3cfVL.png

Virgin Galactic gateway to space
https://i.imgur.com/mD3lasu.png

Block Mountain
https://i.imgur.com/zYYGyuA.png

Oñate Mountain (7,090ft)
https://i.imgur.com/VX2LmuO.png

Doña Ana County
https://i.imgur.com/h27ih2C.png

NASA - White Sands Test Facility
https://i.imgur.com/7clII2b.png

https://i.imgur.com/gUNEaHl.png

Shoestring Ranch, admiring the cacti
https://i.imgur.com/MvMgCEH.png

Baylor peak (7,667ft) at Organ
https://i.imgur.com/UEnBO05.png

Las Cruces on the edge of the Chihuahuan Desert
https://i.imgur.com/OpCAXGm.png

Flying over the Las Cruces Cruces Railroad Museum
https://i.imgur.com/LVNJP70.png

Las Cruces Intl
https://i.imgur.com/hdXJyMJ.png

One more hop to El Paso
https://i.imgur.com/ygbDPfc.png

El Paso, Texas in the far western part of the state
https://i.imgur.com/hbBDYVG.png

El Paso Internation Airport
https://i.imgur.com/UHTs0Ln.png

Next leg, Tuscon where the airplane boneyard is and on to explore Arizona.

Leg 240, El Paso, Texas via Arizona to Telluride, Colorado, USA

DAY04_18.PLN (12.2 KB)

Another marathon Sunday leg, pretty much ending back up where I started the weekend. There is so much detail in the US data it will be weird to fly over the more average terrain again. But it will also be nice not to have to look out for all the transitions between PG area and regular data. Color matching remains problematic.

First, a lot to see in this leg featuring Arizona, which always makes me think of Lucky Luke. Beautiful landscapes and a lot of detailed cities to explore.

04-18 El Paso Intl KELP 8:42 AM PG Area
04-18 Dona Ana Co At Santa T KDNA 9:10 AM
04-18 First Aero Squadron Airpark NM09 9:29 AM
04-18 Bisbee Douglas Intl KDUG 10:10 AM
04-18 Sierra Vista Muni Libby Aaf KFHU 10:28 AM
04-18 Tucson Intl KTUS 10:49 AM PG Areas
04-18 Davis Monthan Afb KDMA * 10:54 AM Airplane Boneyard 32°10’19.8"N 110°50’55.5"W
04-18 La Cholla Airpark 57AZ 11:43 AM PG Areas
04-18 El Tiro AZ67 11:54 AM
04-18 Eds Field 20AZ 12:05 PM

04-18 Eds Field 20AZ 2:59 PM
04-18 Coolidge Mun P08 3:06 PM San Tan Valley PG Area
04-18 Williams Gateway KIWA 3:16 PM Mesa PG Area
04-18 Falcon Fld KFFZ 3:26 PM Tempe PG Area Bad Stuttering, long pauses
04-18 Phoenix Sky Hardbor Intl KPHX 3:49 PM PG Area
04-18 Glendale Muni KGEU 4:28 PM Peoria PG Area
04-18 Phoenix Deer Valley KDVT 4:40 PM Carefree PG Area
04-18 Sky Ranch At Carefree 18AZ 4:51 PM Anthem PG Area
04-18 Rio Vista Hills AZ64 5:13 PM
04-18 Wickenburg Mun E25 5:17 PM
04-18 Flying Dare’s Ranch 26AZ 5:25 PM
04-18 Gene Wash Reservoir 5CL7 5:47 PM Lake Hasevu City PG Area
04-18 Lake Havasu City KHII 6:01 PM
04-18 Ford Motor Co Arizona Proving Ground 58AZ 6:12 PM 25 knot headwind
04-18 Bagdad E51 6:42 PM
04-18 Ernest A Love Field KPRC 7:01 PM Prescott PG Area (south)
04-18 Cottonwood P52 7:24 PM
04-18 Sedona KSEZ * 7:36 PM
Bad stuttering, memory increasing, not recovering, end task, restart
04-18 Sedona KSEZ * 7:43 PM
04-18 Flagstaff Pulliam KFLG 7:51 PM PG Area
04-18 Lechee Airport KLEF 8:16 PM Meteor Crater 35°01’37.7"N 111°01’25.4"W
04-18 Winslow-Lindbergh Rgnl KINW 8:22 PM
04-18 Ganado KGAN 8:44 PM
04-18 Sanostee NM27 9:19 PM Unclear runway Shiprock 36°41’16"N, 108°50’11"W
04-18 Shiprock Airstrip 5V5 9:32 PM Cliff Palace - Mesa 37°10’1"N, 108°28’23"W
04-18 Telluride Rgnl KTEX * 10:16 PM

Flight time 10:33 33 stops

Departing from El Paso International Airport early morning

Checking out El Paso, downtown area

Southwest University Park

El Paso Convention and Performing Art Center

Sun Bowl Stadium, home to the El Paso Miners at The University of Texas

El Paso Hills at North Mesa

Flying out over Doña Ana County

Potrillo Volcanic Field

First Aero Squardron Airpark

Sierra Rica, Chihuahua, Mexico just over the border in a corner

Lone Cedar Gap in Hidalgo County. Good movie (Hidalgo) unrelated afaik

Hidalgo county offering some target practive for any aliens out there

Nice day in New Mexico

Bisbee Douglas International Airport

Some kind of mining operation at Paul Spur, next to Forest, Cochise County, Arizona

The Lavender pit aka Sacramento pit behind Warren in Copper King Canyon

Queen mine (copper mine) in Bisbee

Queen mine on the left, ghost town Bisbee and the Lavender Pit on the right

Ocotillo Preserve

Tucson, Pima County, Arizona

Landing at Davis Monthan Air Force Base, not the proper way to do it, runway is plenty long

Behind the air force base is the Airplane Boneyard

Amazing place

Which keeps on going

And works without a hitch, well done Asobo, looks and flies great

On the other side of the airport, Tucson Pima Air & Space Museum

One does not belong in there, hanging out with the big boys

Time to check out downtown Tucson

The colorful wall is from BLX skateboard shop

Tucson is home to the University of Arizona. Arizona Stadium, home to the Arizona Wildcats

On to the next city, flying by San Pedro Vista

La Cholla Airpark

Ed’s Field, time for a break

Continuing in the afternoon, Coolidge Municipal Airport

Phoenix-Mesa Gateway Airport

Superstition Springs, Mesa, Arizona

Falcon Field Airport, Sim city style square block zoning

Hohokam Stadium, longtime baseball spring training facility for the Oakland A’s

Tempe, just east of Phoenix

Home to Arizona State University and the Sun Devil Football Stadium

Arizona State University Desert Arboretum Park

Papago Amphitheater along E McDowell Rd on the way to Phoenix

Chase Field, home to Arizona Diamondbacks in Phoenix

Phoenix Suns Arena, now Talking Stick Resort Arena, still US Airways Center in game

Heard Museum (on the right) along N Central Ave with exhibits devoted to Native American civilizations

Featuring a beautiful collection of Southwestern art as well

Arizona State Capitol

State Farm Stadium, Gila River Arena and AMC Westgate 20 movie theater

Big entertainment complex nearby Glendale Municipal Airport

Bellair Golf Club, north side of Phoenix

Phoenix Deer Valley Airport

On to Boulders Carefree in Scottsdale

Sky Ranch at Carefree

Leaving the massive urban area behind, flying over Hieroglyphic Mountains

Yavapai County

Mericopa County, Wild Horse Tank below

Smith Peak (5,242ft)

Harcuvar Mountains Wilderness

Planet, Arizona on the north bank of the Bill Williams River in La Paz County

Havasu Springs Resort at Parker Dam in the Colorado River

Gene Wash Reservoir and Airport

Lake Havasu City, known as a base for trails in the nearby desert and water sports on Lake Havasu

Bridgewater Links Golf Course and London Bridge

Famous bridge rebuilt after being transported from London in the 1970s

Ford Motor Co Arizona Proving Ground

Flying over Mohave County

Sycamore Creek

Quite the canyon for a creek

Bagdad Copper Mine

Bagdad Airport

Granite Mountain Wilderness Arizona

Granite Gardens Park along Hwy 89 to Prescott

Prescott, located in central Arizona

Wildly overgrown Courthouse Plaze with the historic Whiskey Row alongside, Jefferson Park behind

Sedona, desert town near Flagstaff

Sedona Airport, rightfully one of the star airport locations

Amazing views at this airport

Beautiful area, Slide Rock State Park

Flagstaff, gateway to the San Francisco Peaks, home to Arizona’s tallest mountain (Humphreys Peak)

Also home to the Northern Arizona University and Walkup Skydome sports complex (big white dome)

Flying over Meteor Crater Natural Landmark

Lechee Airport nearby Meteor Crater

Into Navajo County

The terrain is getting more rugged

Apache County, some traces of snow left here

Canyon de Chelly

Created by the innocent looking Wheatfields Creek

Trouble brewing at Old Sawmill Spring

Looking for Sanostee Airport

It’s in one of these valleys

Not much to see there, on to Ship Rock in the Navajo Volcanic Field

Iconic & religiously significant Navajo Nation monadnock that rises over 1,500 ft into the air

The term monadnock is used by American geologists to describe any isolated mountain formed from the exposure of a harder rock as a result of the erosion of a softer one once surrounding it (a landform termed “inselberg” “island-peak” elsewhere in the world)

San Juan County, New Mexico

Ute Mountain Reservation

Cliff Palace in Fewkes Canyon, Montezuma County

Cliff dwelling built by Ancestral Puebloans from 1190 to 1260

On the other side of the canyon is the Sun temple. Archaeological site of a ceremonial structure thought to be an ancient Pueblo astronomy observatory

Great view of Cliff Palace from the Sun Temple

Sunset over Montezuma County

Mancos, Colorado

Mount Wilson (14,252ft)

I decided to go around, running out of light

Telluride, a former Victorian mining town in Colorado’s Rocky Mountains

Final stop at Telluride Regional Airport

Slightly downhill runway

Actually makes for a very smooth landing

I decided to park for a change, nicely detailed airport

Awesome leg, detail overload

Next up, heading to the Grand Canyon

Thank you for pointing me to the Richat Structure.

Never heard from this before. But thats ok :wink:, Since MSFS 2020 is released, I have already learned more about the beauty and the versatility of our planets surface than in the last 50 years.

I am endless grateful for this experiences, thank you MS/Asobo!

When I am finished with my south americas tour I will went to africa next.

fly safe!

1 Like

Leg 241, Telluride, Colorado via Utah to Grand Canyon North Entrance, Arizona, USA

DAY04_19.PLN (7.8 KB)

I’ve been to this area a couple times although last time is already 20 years ago. Great to see it all from above, what’s further beyond the scenic lookouts. Terrain quality is a bit of a challenge, height data isn’t all that detailed while shadows are baked in on cliffs. It seems a morning flight would match better in this area. However it still looks amazing, awesome landscape to fly through.

04-19 Telluride Rgnl KTEX * 5:12 PM
04-19 Montrose Rgnl KMTJ 5:28 PM
04-19 Grand Junction Regional KGJT 5:46 PM
04-19 Hendricks Field at West Creek Ranch 63CO 6:05 PM
04-19 Hubbard 9CO3 6:09 PM
04-19 Las Sal Junction 01UT 6:21 PM
04-19 Mineral Strip UT75 6:42 PM
04-19 Happy Canyon UT97 7:01 PM
04-19 Hite UT03 7:12 PM
04-19 Fry Canyon Field UT74 7:30 PM
04-19 A Z Minerals Corporation 03UT 7:51 PM Monument Valley 37°1’13"N, 110°5’33"W
04-19 Eagle Mesa 37°3’3.18" N110°7’4.57"W 8:06 PM
04-19 Monument Valley UT25 8:10 PM
04-19 Oljato 05UT 8:18 PM
04-19 Navajo Mountain 04UT 8:29 PM Lake Powell 37°04’00.2"N 111°14’36.4"W
04-19 Page Muni KPGA 8:41 PM PG Area Glen Canyon Dam 36°56’15"N, 111°29’3"W
04-19 Marble Canyon L41 8:55 PM Navajo Bridge 36°49’3"N, 111°37’53"W
04-19 Bryce Canyon KBCE 9:20 PM Bryce Canyon 37°35’09.9"N 112°11’29.7"W
04-19 Cedar City Rgnl KCDC 9:40 PM Angel’s Landing 37°16’17.6"N 112°56’33.8"W
04-19 Colorado City Mun KAZC 10:01 PM
04-19 Grand Canyon Airport KGRM 10:24 PM

Flight time 5:12 20 stops

Departure from Telluride Airport

First we got to gain some height to get over the mountains

Back and forth gaining altitude

To get by Mears Peak (13,496ft) and Dallas Peak (13,809ft)

Montrose on the other side of the mountains

Following Dry Creek

Delta County

Mesa County, all highlands, flying at 8,000ft

Grand Junction in Colorado’s Western Slope region, known as the hub of Colorado’s wine country

Also home to Colorado Mesa University

Glade Park

Further over Mesa County, Moores Mining ahead

Landing at Hendricks Field at West Creek Ranch

Hubbard in Trumbull County, Ohio

Near Needles Overlook

Coming up on the Colorado River

Winding through Canyonlands National Park

Upheaval Dome, eroded crater, 5 km across, from a prehistoric meteorite impact

Mineral Canyon Strip at Mineral Bottom along the Green River

Taking off again along Tidwell Bottom (right) and Horsethief Bottom (ahead)

The Green River as it flows towards the Colorado River

Above Buttes of the Cross South in the northern reach of Glen Canyon

Hans Flat Ranger station at the junction in the road ahead

Flying over Wayne County, Mt Pennell (11,413ft) on the horizon

Happy Canyon Airport

Approaching Lake Powell along the Dirty Devil River (Colorado River coming from the left)

Utah State Route 95 crossing the Dirty Devil River

I remember driving that route, amazing

Hite Crossing Bridge, where Route 95 crosses the Colorado River

Hite Crossing Bridge from Hite Overlook, picture I took in the summer of 2000

My attempt at a 270 degree panorama at Hite Overlook from ye old analog pictures

Lake Powell near Hite (behind), Mt Holmes (7,998ft) and Mt Ellesworth (8,245ft) to the right of me

San Juan County, Utah

Jacobs Chair (6,808ft) in the Elk Ridge

Fry Canyon Field, further along Utah State Route 95

Tables of the Sun South (7,116ft)

Further over San Juan County

To Pollys Canyon

Which joins the San Juan River

Monument Valley near the border with Arizona

Fun gap to fly through in Stagecoach

Landed on Eagle Mesa, a bit bumpy

I would take a closer screenshot but it’s very low res if you get closer

Taking off from Eagle Mesa, completely dwarfs my plane

Taking off to the west, Rock Door Mesa in the distance

Looking back at Monument Valley from Oljato

Oljato Airport, looking towards Arizona

Navajo Mountain (10,387ft) and Navajo Mountain Airport

Back to Lake Powell, the soutwest side

Page in Coconino County, Arizona

Glen Canyon Dam, the end of Lake Powell

Marble Canyon

Under and over at Navajo Bridge near Marble Canyon Airport

Flying from Marble Canyon to Bryce Canyon

Lower Hackberry Canyon

Tropic, in Garfield County, Utah, along Utah Scenic Byway 12

Bryce Canyon, featuring towering spires (hoodoos) & a natural amphitheater

Even more stunning in real life

I’ve got video footage of it from 1998 filmed with a JVC GR-DV1. (first Mini DV camera) Unfortunately it still recorded on (mini) tapes and the mpeg quality has degraded a lot. The resolution was pretty low as well (although better than VHS) hence I went back to analog pictures in 2000. It is a very neat compact camera for the time. Now any cheap cell phone takes better movies!

Landing at Cedar City Airport

The sun is getting low, time to hustle

Cedar City, the largest city in Iron County, Utah

Zion National Park, another amazing place

Zion Observation point (on the right), hiked up there in 2000 via Echo Canyon Passage

Angle’s Landing (lower left), hiked up there in 1998, not as high but plenty narrow high ledges to get there

Our view at Angel’s landing from Zion Observation point in 2000

Zion National Park Visitor Center

Virgin River below

Rockville, in Washington County, Utah along the Virgin River

Coconino County

Last stop today at an airstrip near North Entrance Station of Grand Canyon National Park

I made it to the Grand Canyon, but will have to wait until tomorrow

Next leg, following the Grand Canyon to Las Vegas

Leg 242, Grand Canyon North Entrance, Arizona via Nevada to South Lake Tahoe, California, USA

DAY04_20.PLN (10.7 KB)

The mighty Grand Canyon. She looks pretty good in game as long as you don’t get too close. Same for Las Vegas and Yosemite. This leg is more retracing my steps from 21 years ago, all very recognizable.

04-20 Grand Canyon Airport KGRM 4:21 PM
04-20 Grand Canyon National Park KGCN 4:34 PM
04-20 Tuweep L50 5:18 PM
04-20 Grand Canyon Bar Ten Airstrip 1Z1 5:25 PM
04-20 Grand Canyon West 1G4 5:42 PM
04-20 Pearce Ferry L25 5:52 PM
04-20 Temple Bar U30 6:01 PM
04-20 Hoover Dam Bridge 36°0’45"N, 114°44’29"W 6:17 PM
04-20 Boulder City KBVU 6:23 PM
04-20 Henderson Executive KHND 6:31 PM
04-20 Mc Carran Intl KLAS 6:37 PM Las Vegas PG Area
04-20 Fremont Street 36°10’14"N, 115°8’37"W 7:06 PM
04-20 North Las Vegas KVGT 7:15 PM
04-20 Indian Springs AF Aux KINS 7:31 PM
04-20 Desert Rock NV65 7:38 PM
04-20 ■■■■■■■ U75 7:48 PM
04-20 Stove Pipe Wells L09 8:01 PM Death Valley 36°36’53.7"N 117°06’47.4"W
04-20 Chicken Strip KLOO 8:18 PM
04-20 Bishop KBIH 8:35 PM
04-20 Mammoth Yosemite KMMH 8:48 PM
04-20 Lee Vining O24 8:58 PM Mono Lake 37°59’51.1"N 119°02’17.6"W
Yosemite Black Bears 37°54’15"N, 119°15’27"W Not home
Half Dome 37°44’41"N, 119°32’5"W
Yosemite El Capitan 37°43’58"N, 119°38’11"W
04-20 Mariposa-Yosemite KMPI 9:37 PM
04-20 Modesto City-Co-Harry Sham Fld KMOD 9:55 PM PG Area
Manteca 37°47’17"N, 121°13’59"W PG Area
04-20 Stockton Metropolitan KSCK 10:10 PM PG Area
04-20 Lodi 1O3 10:24 PM PG Area
04-20 Sacramento Executive KSAC 10:32 PM PG Area
04-20 Yolo County KDWA 10:45 PM PG Area
04-20 Sacramento Intl KSMF 10:51 PM PG Area
04-20 Swansboro Country 01CL 11:08 PM Bad Stuttering, memory increasing
04-20 Lake Tahoe KTVL 11:27 PM Memory back down

Flight time 7:06 29 stops

Approaching the Grand Canyon from the North Entrance

Flying out over her along Buddha Temple

Point Sublime visible in the other direction

Grand Canyon Village along the South Rim

Angels window in the distance

South Rim Trail

Two shots from my trip back in 2000

Making a quick stop at Grand Canyon National Park Airport

Back to the canyon to explore down below, descending along Plateau Point

View from Plateau Point

Down to the Colorado River

Looks pretty rough down there, heading back up at Salt Creek

Monadnock Amphitheater

Garnet Canyon

Great Thumb Point

Kanab Canyon

Stopping by Tuweep Airport down below

Tuweep Airport in Broad Canyon

Aeroportul Grand Canyon Bar 10 / Webbs Ranch Landing Strip

Iverson Tank below, tiny dried up lake

Grand Canyon West

Where the Grand Canyon Skywalk is

Located at Eagle Point

Lake Mead National Recreation Area

Coming up on the Hoover Dam

Terrain quality is really bad here, hence not much of the dam in the picture

Mike O’Callaghan–Pat Tillman Memorial Bridge on the other side

I had to land on it of course, very busy bridge

Boulder City Municipal Airport

Seven Hills, a master-planned community approximately 7 miles from the Las Vegas Strip

McCarran International Airport

Flying along the Las Vegas Strip starting at the Mandalay Bay

Luxor Hotel and Casino

MGM Grand

Bellagio with the awesome fountains and Paris

Water conservation not all that high on the list there, the funtains consume about 12 million gallons of water a year and cost between 300K and 400K per month to operate.

Bellagio Fountain combined with Tiesto

Treasure Island where a pirate ship sunk in the Sirens of Ti free show (show stopped end 2013)

In front the Mirage Volcano, still erupting fire but less frequently nowadays

Sirens of Treasure Island

Mirage Volcano

Circus Circus Hotel and Casino which includes the largest permanent circus in the world

My favorite Las Vegas movie has great scenes there, Fear & Loathing in Las Vegas

The STRAT Hotel with some daring thrill rides at the top

Freemont Street with the world’s largest video screen build overtop

Makes for a decent runway as well!

Viva Vision Imagine Dragons at Freemont Street

Nearby is or rather was the Star Trek Experience in the Las Vegas Hilton. It wasn’t that big yet in 2000 but well made. It got a major renovation in 2004 which added the Borg invasion 4D-attraction but then it closed in 2008 and never re-opened (lost the license)

Now to get back in the air was pretty tricky

Avoid the building across the street

Made it, climbing out of El Cortez Hotel and Casino

North Las Vegas Airport

Indian Springs Air Force Base
https://i.imgur.com/zxn6DF1.png

Desert Rock Airport
https://i.imgur.com/HcKDRBe.png

Amargosa Valley
https://i.imgur.com/ZP3JPgJ.png

Death Valley with the Mesquite Flat Sand Dunes
https://i.imgur.com/g9USIoM.png

Tbh it was a bit underwhelming in person, same in the air. It was really hot there though.
https://i.imgur.com/Gdk9lSW.png

Cottonwood Marble Canyon
https://i.imgur.com/Ow8XqoV.png

Grandstand Nature Preserve
https://i.imgur.com/FvoNh3u.png

Waucoba Mountain (11,128ft)
https://i.imgur.com/wOq2Mlg.png

Bishop located near the northern end of the Owens Valley
https://i.imgur.com/KPkz2lR.png

Bad form stopping in the intersection
https://i.imgur.com/BBTQKmf.png

Aspen Springs on Lake Crowley
https://i.imgur.com/xcs0vVP.png

Mono Lake, an ancient saline soda lake located at the eastern edge of the Sierra Nevada
https://i.imgur.com/7kAkr8J.png

Formed at least 760,000 years ago as a terminal lake in an endorheic basin
https://i.imgur.com/ZK6mCDp.png

Flying over Mount Dana (13,061ft)
https://i.imgur.com/pPV6aTG.png

Into Yosemite National Park
https://i.imgur.com/aytfS7U.png

Half Dome (8,839ft)
https://i.imgur.com/YinhvZM.png

A granite dome at the eastern end of Yosemite Valley
https://i.imgur.com/5gOhumD.png

El Capitan (7,569ft) located on the north side of Yosemite Valley
https://i.imgur.com/LPnME7T.png

Popular objective for rock climbers, and featured in the opening of Star Trek V
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_PRxN-KNqLs

Mariposa-Yosemite Airport
https://i.imgur.com/pCoX9Z1.png

Modesto City-Co-Harry Sham Fld behind Modesto Air Products & Chemicals Inc
https://i.imgur.com/VJkxEML.png

Modesto, largest city of Stanislaus County, California
https://i.imgur.com/zxmFaa6.png

Salida along the Golden State Hwy 99
https://i.imgur.com/vykICUq.png

Manteca further on the way to Stockton
https://i.imgur.com/jChmiM6.png

Stockton on the San Joaquin River, in California’s Central Valley
https://i.imgur.com/bUezsj3.png

Banner Island Ballpark and Stockton Arena at McLeod Lake
https://i.imgur.com/iiKtx1C.png

Lodi in the center portion of California’s Central Valley
https://i.imgur.com/RJvbdAI.png

Landing at Sacramento Executive Airport
https://i.imgur.com/zkfUREv.png

Sacramento, the capital of California (I always thought it was San Francisco)
https://i.imgur.com/2dgozdN.png

Golden 1 Center before the new Arena was build (construction began end 2014)
https://i.imgur.com/l1QFf6P.png
Pretty consistent, all the NA PG data seems to be from 2014

California State Capitol and Court of Appeal on the left
https://i.imgur.com/hzpup7o.png

Sacramento Tower Bridge of the Sacramento River
https://i.imgur.com/slpFroe.png

Sacramento International Airport
https://i.imgur.com/XoNUJUg.png

Flying by McClellan Airport and the smaller Rio Linda Airport
https://i.imgur.com/1Jguptk.png

Folsom in front of Folsom Lake, home to Folsom State Prison
https://i.imgur.com/JxNxqxx.png
Opened in 1880, Folsom is the state’s second-oldest prison after San Quentin

Folsom Prison Blues
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0_SJ2e9Dbc8

Flying over Dark Canyon, well named
https://i.imgur.com/lI86Ts6.png

Following Silver Creek up towards Lake Tahoe
https://i.imgur.com/Esxh1Ez.png

Lincoln Valley Reservoir
https://i.imgur.com/LbJVQiL.png

Lake Tahoe in the Sierra Nevada Mountains, straddling the border of California and Nevada
https://i.imgur.com/UiP4i5z.png

Final stop today at Lake Tahoe Airport
https://i.imgur.com/X0LMk5S.png

More of California tomorrow. There are close to 60 PG areas in California. It feels like half the game content is in the USA and 25% of that is in California. I’ll be heading a bit north first then along the coast to San Francisco.

Leg 243, South Lake Tahoe, California via Oregon to Santa Rosa, California, USA

DAY04_21.PLN (13.5 KB)

A loop through Oregon, pretty quiet state with some nice vistas.

04-21 Lake Tahoe KTVL 4:01 PM Grass Lake - Black Bears 38°47’41"N, 119°58’27"W
04-21 Minden-Tahoe KMEV 4:12 PM
04-21 Carson KCXP 4:19 PM PG Area Lake Tahoe - Seagulls 39°14’21"N, 120°3’28"W
04-21 Truckee-Tahoe KTRK 4:34 PM Seagull marker disappears when getting within 3nm
04-21 Reno/Tahoe Intl KRNO 4:51 PM PG Area
04-21 Reno/Stead KRTS 4:59 PM
04-21 Bodad Airstrip CA11 5:11 PM Bodad - Black Bears 40°4’1"N, 120°15’29"W
04-21 Herlong H37 5:19 PM
04-21 Empire 18NV 5:37 PM Fly Geyser 40°51’33"N, 119°19’57"W
04-21 Sulfur NV41 5:55 PM
04-21 Winnemucca Muni KWMC 6:12 PM
04-21 Battle Mountain KBAM 6:29 PM
Betze-post pit (Nevada) 40°58’29.5"N 116°21’18.8"W
04-21 Stevens-Crosby 08U 6:58 PM
04-21 Elko KELF 7:01 PM
04-21 Elko KELG 7:06 PM
04-21 Owyhee 10U 7:13 PM
04-21 J-Lazy-M Ranch ID04 7:32 PM
04-21 Rome Service Airport 0OR6 7:44 PM
04-21 Roaring Springs Ranch OR10 8:07 PM
04-21 Lake Co KLKV 8:30 PM
04-21 Tulelake Mun O81 8:46 PM Lava Beds National Monument 41°46’29.7"N 121°30’24.2"W
04-21 Longbell Ranch 2CL3 9:00 PM
04-21 Dunsmuir Muni-Mott 1O6 9:12 PM
04-21 Tews Field CA53 Redding 9:30 PM PG Area Bump in runway
04-21 Redding Muni KRDD 9:39 PM
04-21 Chico Muni KCIC 10:01 PM PG Area
04-21 Paradise Skypark CA92 10:12 PM Orville Dam 39°32’4.01"N, 121°29’11"W buggy lake
04-21 Oroville Mun KOVE 10:21 PM
04-21 Sutter County O52 10:32 PM PG Area
04-21 Yuba County KMYV 10:34 PM
04-21 Colusa Co O08 10:43 PM
04-21 Antelope Valley Ranch 4CL3 10:52 PM
04-21 Ukiah Muni KUKI 11:07 PM Bad Stuttering, might be the night lighting
04-21 Boonville D83 11:13 PM Memory increading, bad fps, reduce terrain to 10
04-21 Lofty Redwoods 53CL 11:21 PM
04-21 Ocean Ridge E55 11:25 PM Memory recovered, smooth again, terrain back to 100
04-21 The Sea Ranch CA51 11:29 PM
04-21 Charles M Schulz-Sonoma Coun KSTS 11:44 PM

Flight time 7:43 37 stops

Departure from Lake Tahoe

First a little backtracking to visit the bears at Grass Lake

Then to Minden-Tahoe Airport east of Lake Tahoe

Carson City, the capital of Nevada, named after the mountain man Kit Carson

Carson Nugget and the Nevada State Museum

The well hidden Nevada State Capitol (left) and Supreme Court of Nevada (middle)

Incline Village at Lake Tahoe

Reno, known as “The Biggest Little City in the World”

Also known for its casinos, here the El Dorado, Silver Legacy and Circus Circus Reno

Greater Nevada Field, home of the Reno Aces

Flying over Upper Long Valley

Plumas County

Bodad Airstrip

More black bears here in a pretty little valley

Pyramid Lake in Paiute Reservation

Flying towards Gerlach, Kumiva Peak (8,237ft) to the right

Pershing County, Nevada

Dry Lake Bed at the Black Rock Desert where the annual Burning Man festival is held

Fly Geyser Nature Preserve

Also known as Fly Ranch Geyser, a small geothermal geyser

Hycroft Mine, mining Gold and Silver deposits

Humboldt County, Nevada

Flying by Sonoma Peak (9,396ft)

Further over Humboldt County

Buffalo Mountain (8,206ft)

Eureka County

Gold Strike Complex with Betze-Post Open Pit and Meikle and Rodeo underground mines

Unfortunately the pit has no height data, filled in MSFS

Owyhee River at Holdup Canyon

Deep Creek

Little Thomas Creek

Skull Creek

Mickey Hot Springs

Steens Mountain (9,733ft)

Steens Mountain Wilderness

Crump Lake ahead

Lake County Airport

Landing at Tulelake Municipal Airport

Lava Beds National Monument

Desert wilderness park with volcanic features, 700+ caves and Native American rock art

Longbell Ranch

Mount Shasta (14,180ft)

Potentially active volcano at the southern end of the Cascade Range in Siskiyou County, California

Turning to land at Dunsmuir Municipal-Mott Airport

Located along I-5 in Siskiyou County
https://i.imgur.com/mg6K8aG.png

Castle Crags State Park
https://i.imgur.com/j00jwmb.png

Shasta Lake
https://i.imgur.com/ummvUQi.png

Created by Shasta Dam, 602f high, curved gravity dam
https://i.imgur.com/6zjw7Ta.png

Shasta Lake (city) formerly known as Central Valley or CV
https://i.imgur.com/x56oyJ0.png

Redding on the Sacramento River, Sundial Bridge below
https://i.imgur.com/k5xpKNh.png

Redding, northern California
https://i.imgur.com/VGBJPvg.png

California State University, Chico
https://i.imgur.com/hYSC9QU.png

Landing at Paradise Skypark
https://i.imgur.com/ZwmfZ7H.png

Oroville Dam, 770-foot-tall artificial embankment on Lake Oroville considered the tallest in the U.S.
https://i.imgur.com/WUb7bcT.png

Yuba City on the Feather River
https://i.imgur.com/MnIpTuj.png

Sutter County Airport
https://i.imgur.com/YShYaZE.png

Caldwell Hills
https://i.imgur.com/warDDdk.png

Colusa County Airport
https://i.imgur.com/I7aDLDv.png

Sunset over Colusa County
https://i.imgur.com/26PdPk1.png

Blue Lakes at The Narrows
https://i.imgur.com/4skfXMm.png

Ukiah, largest city of Mendocino County, California
https://i.imgur.com/E3vMhr3.png

Boonville, getting close to the Pacific Ocean
https://i.imgur.com/Y8SlP0e.png

Ocean Ridge Airport
https://i.imgur.com/MECzapY.png

Green Cove Harbor Seal Rookery
https://i.imgur.com/D1UQh9R.png

Where seals hang out on the rocks
https://i.imgur.com/36eKmld.png

Approaching Windsor in Sonoma County
https://i.imgur.com/IFmFTwz.png

Charles M. Schulz–Sonoma County Airport
https://i.imgur.com/V1DBmOF.png

Part of Santa Rosa, California
https://i.imgur.com/bzxmH1g.png

Final stop today, not far from San Francisco
https://i.imgur.com/kU1eEw4.png

Next leg, exploring San Francisco and San Jose.

Leg 244, Santa Rosa via San Francisco to Three Rivers, California, USA

DAY04_22.PLN (9.2 KB)

A lot of detailed scenery to explore in California, it will take a couple days to through this state. This leg San Francisco and San Jose and a bit of the coast down to Hearst Castle. Average speed down to 75 knots per nautical mile (as the crow flies) due to all the circling and looking for places. So much to see.

04-22 Charles M Schulz-Sonoma Coun KSTS 4:25 PM Agua Caliente PG Area 38°18’28"N, 122°29’16"W
04-22 Napa Co KAPC 4:39 PM
04-22 Travis Afb KSUU 4:47 PM PG Area
04-22 Funny Farm 4CA2 5:00 PM Antioch Concord PG Areas
04-22 Buchanan Field KCCR 5:28 PM Richmond PG Area 37°56’18", 122°20’37"W
04-22 San Rafael CA35 5:43 PM
Golden gate Bridge 37°49’09.5"N 122°28’42.7"W
Alcatraz 37°49’37"N, 122°25’23"W
04-22 Metropolitan Oakland Intl KOAK 7:17 PM Casto Valley PG Area 37°42’28"N, 122°5’13"W
04-22 Hayward Executive KHWD 7:25 PM
04-22 San Francisco Intl KSFO * 7:34 PM Foster City PG Area 37°33’40"N, 122°17’6"W
04-22 San Carlos KSQL 7:47 PM Fremont PG Area 37°33’10"N, 121°59’42"W
04-22 Moffett Federal Afld KNUQ 8:02 PM
04-22 Mineta San Jose Intl KSJC 8:10 PM Runway tears, earthquake!
04-22 Reid-Hillview Of Santa Clara C KRHV 8:22 PM San Jose PG Area
Los Gatos PG Area 37°14’51"N, 121°57’50"W
04-22 Bonny Doon Village CL77 8:37 PM
Terrible stuttering, memory out of control, end task, restart
04-22 Bonny Doon Village CL77 8:44 PM Santa Cruz PG Area 36°57’49"N, 122°1’23"W
04-22 Monterey Bay Academy CA66 8:58 PM
04-22 Salinas Muni KSNS 9:07 PM PG Area
04-22 Monterey Rgnl KMRY 9:14 PM Bixby Creek Bridge 36°22’17"N, 121°54’7"W
04-22 Hearst Ranch KCAM 9:41 PM Hearst Castle 35°41’07.4"N 121°10’07.6"W
04-22 San Ardo CA88 9:52 PM
04-22 Mendota M90 10:12 PM
04-22 Madera Muni KMAE 10:21 PM PG Area
04-22 Fresno Yosemite Intl KFAT 10:36 PM PG Area
04-22 Selma 0Q4 10:43 PM PG Area
Reedley PG Area 36°35’46"N, 119°27’25"W
04-22 Sequoia D86 10:52 PM
04-22 Three Rivers KTHR 11:03 PM

Flight time 6:31 24 stops

Departure from Santa Rosa in the fog, flying over Historic Railroad Square

Galvin Park, luckily it was just some low hanging clouds

Sonoma at the heart of the renowned Sonoma Valley winemaking region

Called Agua Caliente PG Area (Fetters Hot Springs-Agua Caliente, CA) in game

Hanzell Vineyards

Los Chamizal Vineyards

Napa County, known for hundreds of hillside vineyards in the Napa Valley wine region

Solano Town Center (the name of the mall)

Solano County, taking green energy seriously

They don’t rotate quite in sync, more like a wave to fly through at the right speed :wink:

Funny Farm Airport on Penny Lane (it’s real)

Antioch waterpark behind Deer Valley High School

Schools are so big here with an amphitheater and all

Pittsburg Power Plant on Suisun Bay

Preparing to land at Buchanan Field Airport in Concord

West Wind Solano Drive-In next to the airport, what genius planted a tree in front of the screen

Pinole in Contra Costa County on San Pablo Bay

Modern day castles, Richmond Hilltop Mall

Taking off from San Rafael Airport

To finally head to the Golden Gate Bridge, seen here from Battery Spencer

Fort Baker 19th-century concrete battery, now offering views of the Golden Gate Bridge

The only place where you can fly under the bridge (Conzelman rd) without getting swatted down

You can’t fly through the pillars either and landing on the road makes you hover 10 ft above the deck

Beautiful bridge, but not that suitable for stunt flying

The notorious Alcatraz, maximum security prison from 1934 to 1963, Al Capone among one of the first to serve time there. Museum site since 1986, attracting some 1.5 million visitors annually.

San Francisco seen from Pier 45, known for its 2 World War II-era vessels (USS Pampanito sank…)

Behind lies the well known Pier 39 where tourists and sea lions like to hang out

Zooming through the Financial District

The famous Lombard Street

The straight ones offer much better entertainment, Bullitt 1968

Flying over Dragon’s Gate, marking the entrance to the city’s iconic Chinatown neighborhood

The Painted Ladies on Steiner st at Alamo Square Park, a row of Victorian houses

well-known for appearances on movies, TV shows & postcards

Checking out the coast line at Lands End

Seal Rock Beach on the left and USS San Francisco Memorial middle, Point Lobos on the right

Sutro Tower, can’t miss it, on Mount Sutro, used by TV & radio stations

Crossing the Oakland Bay Bridge

No problems following this bridge, except for the tunnel part

Continuing after Yerba Buena Island

Stealth mode

To the other side of San Francisco Bay

South Prescott, harbor area in Oakland

Naval Air Station Alameda

A favorite location in Mythbusters and locale for the epic finale of the series

Metropoliton Oakland International Airport

Hayward Executive Airport

And San Francisco International Airport

Flying out over the terminal, pretty quiet down there

San Mateo Central Park

Port of Redwood City

San Carlos Airport

Stanford University, founded in 1885

Stanford Stadium

Approaching Moffet Field Airport, Googleplex global HQ of Google at the tip of my right wing

National Full-Scale Aerodynamics Complex at Ames Research Center

California’s Great America Amusement Park
https://i.imgur.com/uPA2xBR.png
Levi’s Stadium in the background, home of the San Francisco 49ers

San José, Silicon Valley’s largest city
https://i.imgur.com/vJcVfBa.png

Flying past The Tech Interactive (purple dome)
https://i.imgur.com/kmUMTeJ.png

San José City Hall in front of San José State University
https://i.imgur.com/BsYWc3D.png

Next heading to the coast via Joe Colla Interchange
https://i.imgur.com/4o8tuuN.png

W Valley Fwy in Los Gatos
https://i.imgur.com/NGEOZYb.png

Vasona Reservoir
https://i.imgur.com/9lahqGg.png

Santa Cruz Beach, very foggy here
https://i.imgur.com/B7lBs2Q.png

Monterey Bay Academy Airport
https://i.imgur.com/Nkz6ku5.png

Salinas in Monterey County
https://i.imgur.com/04vGQzY.png

Castle Rock Viewpoint and Bixbie Creek Bridge
https://i.imgur.com/cEP9MJS.png

This is more how I remember the coast
https://i.imgur.com/HfUO74A.png

It looks a bit better from higher up, following the Cabrillo Hwy
https://i.imgur.com/einnA7t.png

Through Monterey County
https://i.imgur.com/lblWzuX.png

At Salmon Creek Falls
https://i.imgur.com/imn9NbP.png

Landing at Hearst Ranch Airport
https://i.imgur.com/4yX0AAU.png

Hearst Castle, build by William Randolph Hearst (1863-1951) Businessman, newspaper publisher, and politician with a net worth of 3.1 billion at the time, and featured in Citizen Kane (as Charles Foster Kane)
https://i.imgur.com/NpLdebL.png

Build between 1919 and 1947, National Historic Landmark and museum
https://i.imgur.com/KYLKixf.jpg

San Benito Mountain Research Natural Area
https://i.imgur.com/fGgbXf2.png

Fresno County
https://i.imgur.com/k2i3Znp.png

From hills to farms
https://i.imgur.com/jeQzs3h.png

Madera Speedway
https://i.imgur.com/4ILzTqw.png

Fresno Chukchansi Park, home of the Fresno Grizzlies
https://i.imgur.com/tRzb3Dt.png

The Big Fresno Fair, hosting the Central Valley’s largest annual event
https://i.imgur.com/1Ngah7U.png

Sunset at Fresno Yosemite International Airport
https://i.imgur.com/Atje89b.png

Cought another glimpse of the setting sun while climbing out of Fresno
https://i.imgur.com/TaYDiCL.png

Selma in Fresno County
https://i.imgur.com/TzgvCTT.png

Reedley on the Kings River
https://i.imgur.com/7KLV97H.png

Final destination this leg, Three Rivers Airport
https://i.imgur.com/uDXmRO5.png

Grass strip along a road, works as runway lighting as well
https://i.imgur.com/sLWYKVM.png

The stars are out, continue tomorrow
https://i.imgur.com/s33Za8W.png

Next leg, a quick visit to Sequoia National Park the making my way towards Los Angeles.

Wow that’s the first time I’ve seen a drive-in theater! I’ll have to see if I can find some of my local ones. Also I’ve heard the Fresno city hall has an interesting shape like an alien space ship.

It’s actually a double screen theater there, you can see the parking spaces lined up for the other screen in the picture. If you park at the right place you can each watch a different movie! I flew by a couple other ones yet this one had the best captured screen, despite the tree in front of it. No clue what’s up with the trees, they grow out of bridges, ships, cranes, I’m pretty sure I don’t have an apocalypse mod installed!

Fresno city hall looks interesting, not as wild as Walt Disney Concert Hall I flew by today. The Greater Los Angeles area is all PG area, it doesn’t seem to end! It’s a completely different game there, so much detail. I’ll post the leg tomorrow.

These flights over PG data a very demanding, so much to look at. No autopilot climb to 2,500 ft, as I usually do, and watch the screensaver go by while browsing google maps. My laptop held out, barely, couple very long pauses where I though the game had locked up but it struggled through all that data. (Pausing to take screenshots helps a lot to keep it alive) My data usage for this month already sits at 243 GiB, mostly from California.

1 Like

Same for greater San Diego where I live, it’s eerie seeing all my local stores, schools, etc.

San Diego is coming up soon, any places I should visit? :slight_smile: I made it to Oceanside to today, will be heading to Palm Springs first before San Diego.

I’ve been to San Diego before, San Diego Zoo is amazing, or was, I was there back in 2000. I saw Chicken Run there in the theaters, so must have been end June, early July, 2000. Sea world has probably change a lot since I was there. I saw today that there’s a whole extra theme park next to Disneyland.

This was the view from our hotel in San Diego back then


No luck placing it anywhere with Google Maps, probably all changed

1 Like

Yup, Disney California Adventure opened around 2002 or so. As for San Diego there’s La Jolla Cove with the Children’s Pool (albeit more for seal children than human children these days) and breakwater, the USS Midway museum (retired WWII aircraft carrier), Miramar air base (former home of Top Gun), Coronado Bridge and the Hotel Del Coronado, Belmont Park on Mission Beach with the Giant Dipper roller coaster, Petco Park (Padres baseball stadium), Qualcomm Stadium (former Chargers football stadium), Balboa Park near the zoo, and San Diego State University. In general there is so much variety of microclimates (coast, valleys, mountains, and deserts) packed in a relatively small area. And if you keep going east from there, the Salton Sea isn’t too far away.

1 Like

Also looks like you’re along Ash St between India St and Columbia St, which would place you at the Best Western Plus Bayside Inn, looking west, over the Mission Federal Credit Union and towards the Embarcadero and Wyndham Hotel.

Yes! I was looking one street too close to the bay. That little red roof sticking out is Ruth’s Chris Steak House. It did change a bit, the tennis court is gone. I got all the places converted to coordinates, will check em out when I fly by.

When we first got to San Diego (started our tour there in '98, visited again in 2000) us ignorant Europeans had never heard of North South designations for streets, or rather that they each start numbering from 0 again. We couldn’t find our hotel, right number, completely on the wrong side of town!

Great city, I’ll be back one day showing my kids around.

1 Like

Leg 245, Three Rivers via Los Angeles to Oceanside, California, USA

DAY04_23.PLN (12.6 KB)

Another day in California, exploring the Greater Los Angeles Area. It’s all a continuous PG area, flying over this ocean of building for hours really drives home how many people there are. Sure you see it on maps, and I’ve actually driven through the area before. Yet seeing it like this from the air is different, buildings to the horizon which ever way you look.

The Greater Los Angeles Area has 18.7 million people. Far less than Tokyo-Yokohama (38.5 million) yet there a lot is auto gen buildings which don’t convey the same feeling of endless variation. Or rather, autogen buildings don’t draw as much attention and you fly much higher over them. To see all the detail in the Greater Los Angeles area I was at 1,000ft above the terrain at most.

04-23 Three Rivers KTHR 9:45 AM Sequoia National Park
General Sherman Tree 36°34’53.8"N 118°45’05.3"W
04-23 Sequoia Ranch CA44 10:08 AM
04-23 Exeter O63 10:19 AM
04-23 Visalia Muni KVIS 10:29 AM PG Area
04-23 Hanford Muni KHJO 10:36 AM PG Area
04-23 Salyer Farms 24CL 10:43 AM
04-23 Porterville Mun KPTV 10:55 AM PG Area
04-23 Kern Valley L05 11:11 AM Lake Isabella - Seagulls 35°39’22"N, 118°28’2"W
04-23 Bakersfield Muni L45 11:35 AM PG Area
1:50
04-23 Bakersfield Muni L45 5:17 PM
04-23 Taft-Kern Co L17 5:25 PM
04-23 7R Ranch CL25 5:31 PM
04-23 Santa Barbara Muni KSBA 5:45 PM Runway Tears PG Area
04-23 Point Bennett Research Station KLOP 6:12 PM
04-23 Ranger Station KBUE 6:15 PM
04-23 Bechers Bay Airstrip KISS 6:22 PM
04-23 Christy Airstrip CA97 6:30 PM
04-23 Oxnard KOXR 6:44 PM PG Area
04-23 Point Muga Nas (Naval Base Ven KNTD 6:50 PM
Simi Valley PG Area 34°15’12"N, 118°46’28"W
Santa Clarita PG Area 34°26’31"N, 118°32’6"W
04-23 Skyotee Ranch CL74 7:24 PM Willow Springs racetrack 34°52’23.0"N 118°15’50.0"W
04-23 Rosamond L00 7:33 PM
04-23 Lancaster KLAT 7:40 PM Unclear runway, bumpy terrain PG Area
04-23 Palmdale USAF Plant 42 KPMD 7:43 PM PG Area
04-23 San Gabriel Valley KEMT 7:59 PM Runway tear, flipped plane PG Area
Downtown LA PG Area 34°3’4"N, 118°15’36"W
Glendale PG Area 34°8’56"N, 118°15’27"W
Hollywood PG Area 34°8’1"N, 118°19’20"W
Universal Studios 34°08’15.8"N 118°21’06.7"W
04-23 Bob Hope KBUR 8:47 PM
04-23 Van Nuys KVNY 8:52 PM
04-23 Santa Monica Muni KSMO 9:05 PM PG Area
04-23 Los Angeles Intl KLAX * 9:10 PM Inglewood PG Area 33°57’17"N, 118°20’17"W
04-23 Jack Northrop Field/Hawthorne KHHR 9:13 PM PG Area
04-23 Zamperini Field KTOA 9:23 PM Longbeach PG Area 33°45’33"N, 118°11’37"W
04-23 Long Beach/Daugherty Field/ KLGB 9:40 PM Downey PG Area 33°56’15"N, 118°7’30"W
La Habra PG Area 33°55’47"N, 117°56’44"W
04-23 Fullerton Muni KFUL 9:45 PM Disneyland Anaheim PG Area 33°48’45.3"N 117°55’08.4"W
Santa Ana PG Area 33°44’57"N, 117°52’24"W
04-23 John Wayne Airport-Orange County KSNA 10:02 PM
04-23 Catalina KAVX 10:16 PM
04-23 San Clemente Island NALF KNUC 10:27 PM
04-23 Bob Maxwell Memorial Airfield KOKB 10:51 PM

Flight time 7:24 34 stops

I snuck in a couple hours in the morning, departure from Three River

To check out Sequoia National Park

Sequoia & Kings Canyon National Parks

There in the middle is the General Sherman Tree

From the other side, General Sherman Tree Car Park above the tree

General Sherman Tree, just under 275ft tall, one of the tallest trees in the world

By volume, it is the largest known living single-stem tree on Earth, estimated to be around 2,300 to 2,700 years old. Cowboy James Wolverton, discovered the tree on August 7, 1879 and named it after the Civil War general under whom he served.

Flying a bit further into Sequoia National Park in Tulare County

Moses Mountain (9,331ft)

Springville, preparing for a 180 degree turn to land at Sequoia Ranch behind me

College of the Sequoias at Visalia

Kings County

Tulare County

Porterville in the San Joaquin Valley

Lake Isabella in the southern Sierra Nevada

Finally spotted a seagull!

I managed to chase it with the drone while pausing the plane

Still not easy to follow, reducing sim rate helps (Fauna slows down too unlike traffic)

Then suddenly a whole flock appeared

Lot of birds

Things not to do in real life, with a lot of pausing not to quickly overshoot the birds

Flying with the birds is nice, except I’m actually moving nearly 100 mph faster

Definitely not the view you want to see in a real plane

Enough bird watching, on to Bakersfield, the country music capital of the West Coast

Home of country music singers Merle Haggard (1937-2016) and Buck Owens (1929-2006)

Kern County

Santa Barbara County

Flying into Los Padres National Forest


Over the Santa Ynez Mountains to Santa Barbara

La Playa Field on Leadbetter Beach in Santa Barbara

The pier (behind) is unfortunately mostly under water

US 101 overpass at N Calle Cesar Chavez

Santa Barbara downtown

Flying out to the islands on the coast, San Miguel island

Caliche Forest on San Miguel Island

Home to Cabrillo Monument, the Portugese navigator who discovered California in 1542

Santa Rosa Island

Santa Cruz Island, Channel Islands National Park

Landing at Christie strip on Santa Cruz Island

Back to the mainland, landing at Oxnard Airport

Oxnard, a seaside city west of Los Angeles

Bard Lake

Simi Valley in the southeast corner of Ventura County

Brandeis up in the hills

Over the Ronald Reagan Fwy at Topo Canyon rd

Six Flags Magic Mountain at Santa Clarita

Following Bouquet Creek up into Bouquet Canyon

Skyotee Ranch

Willow Springs International Raceway, just over 50 miles north of LA

Approaching Pasadena
https://i.imgur.com/7OO1ve4.png

Descending back into the metropolitan ocean, San Gabriel Valley
https://i.imgur.com/C3cz7XI.png

San Gabriel Valley Airport
https://i.imgur.com/aIksdH6.png

Remember to always wear a seat belt, runway tears flipped my plane upside down after touch down
https://i.imgur.com/1FhZ46X.png
The whole ground shifts up an down while the terrain tiles get updated

Monteray Pass Rd, heading for Los Angeles
https://i.imgur.com/IUIcXL1.png

Crossing the Los Angeles River, the Terminator 2 vibes are strong
https://i.imgur.com/jOjhcFP.png

Walt Disney Concert Hall, downtown LA
https://i.imgur.com/EMUwMK0.png

Los Angeles Central Library between the sky scrapers
https://i.imgur.com/2NzuZod.png

1000 Grand by Windsor construction at Los Angeles S Grand Ave - W Olympic Boulevard
https://i.imgur.com/jySX43L.png
Opened 2015, another indication data is from 2014 at the latest

STAPLES Center, hosts LA teams, the Lakers, Clippers, Kings & Sparks
https://i.imgur.com/CtXvo7Z.png
L.A. Live behind, massive entertainment complex featuring a theater & The Grammy Museum

Elysian Heights
https://i.imgur.com/FgEi4t3.png

On top of Mount Lee, since 1923
https://i.imgur.com/Cs7dtVi.png

Hollywood Reservoir
https://i.imgur.com/8ieAZ4y.png

Hollywood Boulevard, Chinese Theater on the left as well as the Walk Of Fame
https://i.imgur.com/WH8mqQB.png
I watched a movie there once, it wasn’t all that good, the theater made up for it. Beautiful theater

Hollywood Boulevard at N Highland Ave
https://i.imgur.com/LcokLys.png
Another chance to date the data, when was that combination of billboard up

Back along Hollywood reservoir
https://i.imgur.com/HClfl4c.png

To Universal Studios Hollywood
https://i.imgur.com/iXObXJ9.png
We got drenched there in the Jurassic park ride (replaced 2018) then warmed up at Backdraft (replaced 2010). The park has changed a lot, 1998, 2021

Crossing the San Diego Freeway
https://i.imgur.com/w5Zg9PC.png

To Santa Monica, Pacific Park on Santa Monica Pier down below
https://i.imgur.com/xqpCVSf.png
Unfortunately the rest of the pier is under water

Santa Monica at Broadway and (end of) Promenade, Muscle Beach (Venice Beach) in the distance
https://i.imgur.com/pfCmJin.png

Looking down Ocean Ave along Santa Monica Beach
https://i.imgur.com/9Hbphg6.png

Santa Monica Municipal Airport
https://i.imgur.com/TZmTOaX.png

Los Angeles International Airport
https://i.imgur.com/pK0SktH.png

Even with ground traffic at 10 my laptop can barely handle all the details
https://i.imgur.com/x2tS2WO.png

Los Angeles Southwest College along Glenn Anderson Fwy
https://i.imgur.com/HtyohlD.png

Making a loop around Lunada Bay
https://i.imgur.com/0U9fQYN.png

Terminal Island at Long Beach
https://i.imgur.com/kqgGGvU.png

Long Beach, RMS Queen Mary is moored in Queensway Bay, a museum/restaurant since 1930
https://i.imgur.com/o9sdmC0.png

Sadly overgrown by trees in the game
https://i.imgur.com/q9KKgiu.png

Fullerton Municipal Airport
https://i.imgur.com/OeqhI7K.png

Disneyland Anaheim, the original, opened July 17, 1955
https://i.imgur.com/AkGYlxA.png

And directly behind it, new to me, Disney California Adventure Park
https://i.imgur.com/g0iF2LS.png

Santa Ana River, at first I thought that transition was a glitch, it’s real
https://i.imgur.com/IGoEann.png

Most of the river has been replaced by concrete, some parts are turned into parks again
https://i.imgur.com/46AETba.png

John Wayne Airport-Orange County
https://i.imgur.com/6015SlD.png

Newport Center
https://i.imgur.com/ejuYx3q.png

Escaping the urban sprawl to enjoy the sunset on the way to Santa Catalina Island
https://i.imgur.com/21OkrSU.png

Catalina Airport
https://i.imgur.com/9LwOQ4T.png

San Clemente Island
https://i.imgur.com/giF3K5P.png

Arriving back at the mainland after sunset, already very dark under the clouds
https://i.imgur.com/EX7OxDL.png

Last stop this leg, Bob Maxwell Memorial Airfield
https://i.imgur.com/Sle79kD.png

More of California next leg, Palm Springs and San Diego up next.

2 Likes