Exploring the world in the Beechcraft Bonanza

Greenland was easy to figure out thanks to Wikepedia

They are all nicely displayed on the map.

I switched mice to one with a working scroll wheel, huge upgrade for FS2020 since now I can zoom in and actually use the world map! (You can’t map VFR / World map zoom to anything else)

I’m still trying to catch up with these posts to where I am currently, in Riga, Estonia. When the sun comes up again (about 10pm my time) I’ll be heading towards Minsk and Chernobyl.

====================

A little side project I did while doing long distances over Siberia where detail is severely lacking, estimating fuel use for the Bonanza at different heights.

It’s all with full throttle varying the angle of the propeller blades while letting the game choose the best mixture (auto mixture), flying level for 15 minutes or so then checking how much fuel was consumed. Since the wind is always max 3 knots (until the patch) the ground speed shouldn’t be too far off. nmpg is Nautical Miles per Gallon, dunno if that’s an actual term :smiley:

The odd thing that stands out, at 2,500 ft, setting the propeller to the lowest RPM makes the plane go faster. (Ground speed was the same since the measurements were taken in opposite directions)

2.5K ft 100% prop 159 IAS 164 GS 43F 20.90 gallons per hour 7.85 nmpg
2.5K ft 90% prop 154 IAS 159 GS 43F 19.08 gallons per hour 8.33 nmpg
2.5K ft 80% prop 151 IAS 157 GS 43F 18.30 gallons per hour 8.58 nmpg
2.5k ft 70% prop 157 IAS 157 GS 44F 18.85 gallons per hour 8.33 nmpg

5k ft 100% prop 151 IAS 162 GS 33F 18.88 gallons per hour 8.58 nmpg
5k ft 90% prop 147 IAS 157 GS 32F 17.29 gallons per hour 9.08 nmpg
5K ft 80% prop 143 IAS 152 GS 39F 16.57 gallons per hour 9.17 nmpg

7.5K ft 100% prop 143 IAS 159 GS 22F 16.88 gallons per hour 9.42 nmpg
7.5K ft 90% prop 136 IAS 153 GS 30F 15.64 gallons per hour 9.78 nmpg
7.5K ft 80% prop 133 IAS 148 GS 28F 14.97 gallons per hour 9.89 nmpg

10k ft 100% prop 132 IAS 154 GS 23F 15.34 gallons per hour 10.04 nmpg
10K ft 90% prop 128 IAS 150 GS 23F 14.12 gallons per hour 10.62 nmpg
10K ft 80% prop 124 IAS 146 GS 23F 12.63 gallons per hour 11.56 nmpg

11k ft 100% prop 128 IAS 152 GS 16F 14.70 gallons per hour 10.34 nmpg
11K ft 90% prop 123 IAS 147 GS 16F 13.59 gallons per hour 10.82 nmpg
11K ft 80% prop 121 IAS 145 GS 19F 13.04 gallons per hour 11.12 nmpg

12K ft 100% prop 125 IAS 151 GS 16F 14.16 gallons per hour 10.66 nmpg
12K ft 90% prop 121 IAS 146 GS 16F 13.12 gallons per hour 11.13 nmpg
12K ft 80% prop 118 IAS 143 GS 16F 12.42 gallons per hour 11.51 nmpg

13K ft 100% prop 121 IAS 149 GS 12F 13.58 gallons per hour 10.98 nmpg
13K ft 90% prop 117 IAS 144 GS 12F 12.56 gallons per hour 11.46 nmpg
13K ft 80% prop 114 IAS 141 GS 12F 12.19 gallons per hour 11.57 nmpg

14K ft 100% prop 118 IAS 147 GS 9F 12.95 gallons per hour 11.35 nmpg
14K ft 90% prop 113 IAS 141 GS 9F 12.04 gallons per hour 11.71 nmpg
14K ft 80% prop 110 IAS 138 GS 9F 11.67 gallons per hour 11.82 nmpg

15K ft 100% prop 114 IAS 145 GS 5F 12.40 gallons per hour 11.69 nmpg
15k ft 90% prop 108 IAS 138 GS 5F 11.08 gallons per hour 12.45 nmpg
15K ft 80% prop 104 IAS 133 GS 5F 11.04 gallons per hour 12.05 nmpg

16K ft 100% prop 110 IAS 142 GS 1F 11.80 gallons per hour 12.03 nmpg
16K ft 90% prop 104 IAS 135 GS 1F 11.03 gallons per hour 12.24 nmpg
16K ft 80% prop 99 IAS 129 GS 1F 10.69 gallons per hour 12.07 nmpg

17K ft 100% prop 105 IAS 138 GS -1F 11.32 gallons per hour 12.19 nmpg
17K ft 90% prop 98 IAS 129 GS -1F 10.50 gallons per hour 12.29 nmpg
17K ft 80% prop STALL ---------------------------------

18K ft 100% prop 100 IAS 134 GS -5F 10.76 gallons per hour 12.45 nmpg
18K ft 90% prop STALL ---------------------------------
18K ft 80% prop STALL ---------------------------------

Anyway, higher is always better for fuel economy. However the Bonanza can’t reach its listed ceiling height of 18.5k ft and only got to 18K using slew mode.

1 Like

Leg 20 Krasnoselkup to Kamensk-Uralsky, Siberia, Russia

DAY9_11.PLN (6.2 KB)

9-10 Krasnoselkup USDP 8:08 AM
9-10 Urengoy USDU 8:49 AM
9-10 Novy Urengoy USMU 9:10 AM
Crash to desktop
9-10 Novy Urengoy USMU 9:17 AM
9-10 Pangody UPAN 9:37 AM

9-10 Pangody UPAN 11:13 AM
9-10 Nadym South USMM 11:38 AM

9-10 Nadym South USMM 8:27 PM
9-10 Salekhard USDD 9:43 PM <-- Awesome place Museum of polar aviation
9-10 Berezovo USHB 10:58 PM
9-10 Igrim USHI 11:26 PM
Power failure, switched to off-line mode, restart game
9-10 Igrim USHI 11:37 PM
9-10 Igrim UIGG 11:50 PM
9-11 Nyagan USHN 12:17 AM
9-11 Khanty-Mansiysk USHH 1:11 AM <-- Awesome place Artic museum
9-11 Uvat USTA 1:58 AM

9-11 Uvat USTA 7:35 AM
9-11 Vagay UVAG 8:04 AM
9-11 Yalutorovsk UYAA 8:51 AM
9-11 Plekhanovo USTL 9:10 AM
9-11 Roshchino USTR 9:18 AM
9-11 Shadrinsk Air Base USHD 9:58 AM
9-11 Kamensk-Uralsky UKAS 10:24 AM 2:49 17

Flight time: 9:54 17 stops

Siberia has quite a few hidden gems.
First leaving Krasnoselkup in the morning. There are some really big runways out here.

This looks like trouble

The weather cleared up again at Urengoy

Reka Sedz"Yakha river near Novy Urengoy

Novy Urengoy

And in real life

Ob river near Nadym

Salekhard on the Ob river which has an amazing museum of polar aviation

There are lots of cool things to find in this city including Stela 66th parallel.

Dramatic skies over the Ob river

Perhaps one day we’ll get a world wide boat sim, Ob river travel

Unfortunately still no (moving) boats spotted in fs 2020

Berezevo ‘airport’

Seeing double Igrim USHI and Igrim UIGG

Nyagan, first time I’ve seen gas lines like power lines strung above the roads.

Kanty-Mansiysk, another amazing city

See the corner on the left next to the tail of the plane that’s this:

Arkheopark, outdoor artic exhibit you can walk through in street view

The Ob river provides beautiful views

Now coming up on the Irtysh river

Finally, what I’ve not seen in forever in Siberia, farmland near Tyumen

Tyumen is expanding rapidly with more Western style housing

Big city, I left the unpopulated area behind

Pretty city as well, too bad FS 2020 has no churches nor mosque models for the AI buildings.

Gold domes in every city but not in the game.

Arriving in Kamensk-Uralsky where this odd rock face is

Going into Siberia with really no knowledge beyond the harsh climate, I’m excited to have found so many interesting places. Great trip.

1 Like

Leg 21 Kamensk-Uralsky, Siberia to Semyazino, Valdimir, Russia

DAY9_12.PLN (6.7 KB)

9-11 Kamensk-Uralsky UKAS 8:44 PM
9-11 Koltsovo USSS 8:57 PM
9-11 Bolshoye Savino USPP 10:13 PM
9-11 Chastyye UCHS 10:35 PM Internet connection trouble, ugly without streaming
9-11 Izhevsk USII 11:02 PM
9-11 Pirogovo UPIR 11:08 PM No internet, no airstrip, bland green :confused:
Reboot, restart everything
9-11 Pirogovo UPIR 11:22 PM
9-11 Mozhga UMOH 11:46 PM
9-12 Yelabuga UYEA 12:03 AM
9-12 Begishevo UWKE 12:15 AM
9-12 Kazan UWKD 12:55 AM
9-12 Borisoglebskoye UWKG 1:06 AM
9-12 Cheboksary UWKS 1:35 AM
9-12 Kstovo UKSF 2:20 AM

9-12 Kstovo UKSF 10:19 AM
9-12 Strigino UWGG 10:36 AM
9-12 Pravdinsk UGII 10:46 AM
9-12 Gorokhovets UGOK 11:01 AM
9-12 Novovyazniki UOOH 11:11 AM
9-12 Melekhovo UUIG 11:24 AM
9-12 Dobrinskoye Air Base UORG 11:34 AM
9-12 Semyazino UUBL 11:40 AM

Flight time 6:43 19 stops

Early morning Yekateringburg

Yekateringburg by day

Sunrise at Sylvenskoye Sel’skoye Poseleniye

The landscape between Izhevsk and Mozhga

Nizhnekamsk stood out from the air with a huge industrial zone next to a smaller city. From lower to the ground you get this view.

The Kama river

It must be quite a spectacle every year during spring melt to make all these patterns everywhere along the huge wide riverbed.

Kazan, stadium is a bit flat

I wish we had photogrammetry in this area, one day

Cheboksary

The size of the river Volga is intimidating

Nice and level over Bezvodnoye

Time for a picnic in Kstovo

Nizhny Novgorod

The Chakalov stairs down below

Klyazma river with similar melt patterns while the sun is starting to set

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Leg 22 Semyazino, Russia to Pori, Finland

DAY9_13.PLN (7.8 KB)

9-12 Semyazino UUBL 11:07 PM
9-12 Lakinsk ULAI 11:16 PM
9-12 Yegoryevsk Airfield UKRT 11:35 PM
9-12 Meshcherino Airport UMES 11:46 PM
9-12 Domodedovo UUDD 11:56 PM
9-13 Ostafyevo UUMO 12:04 AM
9-13 Sheremetyevo UUEE 12:32 AM
9-13 Shemetovo Airport USHJ 12:56 AM
Streaming issues switched to off-line mode, recovered just before restarting
9-13 Rybinsk Yuzhny URYB 1:39 AM
9-13 Cherepovets ULWC 2:15 AM
9-13 Kirishi UKIH 3:35 AM

9-13 Kirishi UKIH 8:25 AM
Forgot to connect flight stick, game locked up, end process, restart
9-13 Kirishi UKIH 8:32 AM
9-13 Manushkino Airfield UOTR 8:54 AM
9-13 Yanino Vtoroye UYAN 8:59 AM St Petersburg Walk through Military-Historical museum
9-13 Gorskaya ULII 9:13 AM
9-13 Kronshtadt Airfield UKRO 9:18 AM
9-13 Gromovo Air Base USAP 9:38 AM
9-13 Punkaharju EFPN 10:05 AM
9-13 Kitee EFIT 10:20 AM
9-13 Joensuu EFJO 10:39 AM
9-13 Kuopio EFKU 11:02 AM Ski jump
9-13 Kajaani EFKI 11:44 AM
9-13 Oulu EFOU 12:20 PM
9-13 Kruunupyy EFKK 1:04 PM

9-13 Kruunupyy EFKK 4:52 PM
Streaming issues switched to off-line mode, restart
9-13 Kruunupyy EFKK 5:45 PM
9-13 Pori EFPO 6:49 PM

Flight time 10:04 23 stops

I rarely sleep more than 4 hours, hence these long flight times.

Kicking off flying low over the forest at Yegoryevsk

National park Meschora, zooming over the trees

On to Moscow with (too) high expectations. It starts off great with Moscow State University

The Kremlin however looks out of place and the red square is flat

The Cathedral of Christ the Saviour does look wonderful

Yet what I was looking forward to most was St Basil’s Cathedral on the red square.

Still a very impressive city from the sky

Following the Volga river further to the North West

Flying over the locks (Rybinskiy Shlyuz) and Mother Volga at Rybinsk

Mother Volga where the Volga river flows into the Rybinsk Reservoir

Strange circle formation at Darvinskiy Gosudarstvennyy Prirodnyy Biosfernyy Zapovednik

Or Darwin nature reserve, Russians sure make long names for things!

Cherepovets

Turyshkino

Landing at Manushkino

St Petersburg, one of, if not, the most beautiful city in Europe.

It has a few issues


This city is awesome for virtual tourism. So many 360 degree street view points on all the roads, squares, water ways and even available inside many museums, for example the military historical museum, the winter palace and the central naval museum. I can lose hours ‘walking’ around St Petersburg.

Now following the Vuokai river

Sevastyanovskoe

Landing in Punkaharju, arrived in Finland

Flying low over the lakes near Kitee

Kuopio, famous for its ski jumps. I did spot the hill from the air but didn’t get a good shot, bugged hill in the way. (Not much to see anyway) The area in summer

Sunset at Suvatti

Getting dark at Kruunupyy

An uneventful night flight to Pori concludes this leg.

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Leg 23 Pori, Finland via Estonia to Riga, Latvia

DAY9_14.PLN (6.0 KB)

9-13 Pori EFPO 11:21 PM
9-13 Turku EFTU 11:58 PM
9-14 Genbole EFGE 12:19 AM
9-14 Vantaa EFHK 12:52 AM
9-14 Tallinn EETN 1:34 AM
9-14 Amari EEEI 1:50 AM

9-14 Amari EEEI 7:58 AM
9-14 Lyckholm EELU 8:09 AM
9-14 Vormsi EEVO 8:19 AM
9-14 Kardla EEKA 8:26 AM
9-14 Kuressaare EEKE 8:51 AM
9-14 Parnu EEPU 9:18 AM
9-14 Viljandi EEVI 9:35 AM Old castle ruins
9-14 Ulenurme EETU 9:51 AM Tartu birthplace of song festival, VR Tartu 1913
9-14 Seredka ULOR 10:16 AM
9-14 Pskov ULOO 10:33 AM
9-14 Varstu EEVU 10:57 AM
9-14 Valmiera EVVL 11:15 AM
Internet, phone and cable tv down, service interruption, back to the stone age.

9-14 Valmiera EVVL 1:30 PM
9-14 Riga intl EVRA 1:57 PM

Flight time 6:13 17 stops

Early departure (local time) from Pori

Sun rise at Torku

Ulkoluoto. Hmm, this sun visor would be useful right now. It’s very much stuck.

Helsinki, another beautiful city

That’s an Unesco heritage site down below, 18th century fortress

Fortress of Suomenlinna up close

Hopping across the gulf of Finland to Tallin in Estonia

Another amazing historical city

The historical inner city is amazingly well kept and looks pretty good from above

Haapsalu

Also home of an old medieval castle near the top right above

Suursadama

Piila, illustrating the typical farmland in Estonia

Kuressaare

Home of Kuressaare castle and an interesting statue Suur Tõll ja Piret

Tartu, birthplace of the Estonian song festival which had its 150th anniversary last year.

You can also get a VR tour here, walking around like it’s 1913

And it has a beautiful dome church

Pskov back in Russia

That ‘wall’ along the river (appartment blocks in fs2020) is actually this

Pskov is a medieval fortress along the water, amazing place

And finally arrival in Riga after a short night flight from Valmiera.

All caught up with updates, the rest will be more real time.

1 Like

Leg 24 Riga, Latvia to Chornobyl, Ukraine

DAY9_15.PLN (6.4 KB)

9-15 Riga intl EVRA 6:57 AM
9-15 Dobeles lidlauks EVDO 7:17 AM
9-15 Telsiai EYTL 7:40 AM
9-15 Klaipeda EYKL 7:57 AM
9-15 Nida EYND 8:13 AM
9-15 Khrabrovo UMKK 8:27 AM
9-15 Kaliningrad Devau UMAA 8:37 AM
9-15 Yuzhnyy UYUZ 8:45 AM
9-15 Chernyakhovsk UCHE 9:08 AM
9-15 Griškabūdis EYSK 9:30 AM
9-15 S Dariaus EYKS 9:42 AM
9-15 Vilnius Intl EYVI 10:08 AM Museum of Occupations and Freedom fights in KGB prison
9-15 Kyviskes EYVK 10:18 AM
9-15 Kisyali Airfield UMRA 10:45 AM
9-15 Minsk-1 UMMM 10:56 AM
9-15 Minsk-2 UMMS 11:12 AM
9-15 Babruisk Air Base UMNB 11:42 AM
9-15 Mozyr UMMZ 12:11 PM Chornobyl to the South East
9-15 Dymer airstrip UKIK 12:47 PM Chornobyl to the North East

Flight time 4:51 18 stops

Continuing on from Riga by daylight

There are many interesting buildings in Riga including this house of the Blackheads

Klaipeda

Very cool statue near the castle called Black ghost (Juodasis Vaiduoklis)

Crossing the land bridge to Kaliningrad, here the gray dunes near Morskoe

The landscape near Istrovska in an isolated part of Russia between Lithuania and Poland

Kaunas, Lithuania. There is a Gothic castle down on right of the left arm of the river (Neris river)

Vilnius, home of a bone chilling museum of occupation housed in an old KGB prison

Also in Vilnius, palace of the grand dukes of Lithuania

Minsk, victory park down below

Babruisk, haunted by remains from WWII

This is one of the fortresses in the lower left of the green area above

Carrying on to Chornobyl along the Pripyat river

Unfortunately it’s already too dark to explore. Who is putting the lights on here though?

Pripyat below, nuclear reactor lit up straight above.

I diverted to the nearest airstrip, very difficult landing in the near dark. (Especially since it’s full day where I am. It’s almost impossible to see detail on the ground). I made it down onto the short runway but rolled off a couple meters at the end. The plane should be fine, I’ve landed on grass many times before. The landing light on this plane is useless.

1 Like

Leg 25 Chernobyl to Sevastopol, Ukraine

DAY9_16.PLN (6.5 KB)

A long flight today. I couldn’t sleep so started early and I misjudged the scale of the Ukraine. What I though were 10 minute hops turned about to be closer to 25 minute hops going around the sea of Azov.

9-16 Dymer airstrip UKIK 5:00 AM
9-16 Lyneya UKSL 5:36 AM
9-16 Chernihiv Air Base UKCH 5:45 AM
9-16 Boryspil UKBB 6:24 AM
9-16 Cherkasy UKKE 6:57 AM
9-16 Svitlovods’k UKSD 7:18 AM
9-16 Pidhorodne UKPC 8:03 AM
9-16 Mokraya UKDE 8:29 AM Big hydroelectric dam, bugged, shows as a bridge.
9-16 Mariupol’ UKCM 9:17 AM
9-16 Yuzhny URRT 9:42 AM
9-16 Rostov-na-Donu USEY 9:56 AM
9-16 Rostov-na-Donu URRR 10:01 AM
9-16 Yeysk URKE 10:34 AM
9-16 Primorsko-Akhtarsk UPRI 10:50 AM
9-16 Pashkovskiy URKK 11:26 AM Amazing park Krasnodar, not on Bing yet
9-16 Vityazevo URKA 11:59 AM
9-16 Baherove UKBH Too dark
9-16 Belbek UKFB Too dark
9-16 Khersones Air Base UKSV 1:26 PM Landed using 3D terrain viewer

Flight time: 8:26 16 stops

First Chernobyl by daylight. Bright sunny day, makes it look a bit washed out.

The reactor

Buggy hill in the middle and a pretty old ground picture as the sarcophagus is still being built here. For some reason the AI populated the dome structure with random shacks.

Flying over the famous square in Pripyat

The amusement park with Ferris Wheel is behind the square, not in the game.

Real life version (taken from the right side)

The iconic ferris wheel, perhaps it will be added one day

The swimming pool

Perhaps in a couple generations we can look inside buildings

Carrying on, Kyiv, massive city

Verry pretty in real life

Following the Dnieper river, it’s huge

I found an open it mine! Poltavs’kyy Hirnycho-Zbahachuval’nyy Kombinat at Horishni Plavni

You can not fly into it, invisible barrier :confused:

A smaller sand pit near Zaporizhzia

Mines are about the biggest elevation changes in the landscape.

That’s the landscape on the way to the sea of Azov

Mariupol’ on the sea of Azov

Rostov-on-Don a massive modern city

Unfortunately the cool looking park I found on Google isn’t on Bing yet, missing.

The city is build on a hill

I was hoping to get this view, but have to settle with the above

The landscape changed into endless farmland

Zooming through Krasnodar at sunset

Good thing I took on full fuel at Krasnodar since no lights at Kerch

They do light up their windmills quite a bit

Still no lights at Belbek, on to Sevastopol

Plenty light in the city but all the airports are pitch black. I resorted to landing using the 3D terrain viewer, which is pretty similar to playing fs 4.0. It’s actually easier since there is no cockpit or plane in the way of the view! Easy landing.

1 Like

Leg 26 Sevastopol to Odesa, Ukraine

DAY9_17.PLN (4.4 KB)

Shorter flight today due to the update which made things ‘interesting’ for a bit

9-17 Khersones Air Base UKSV 7:40 AM
9-17 Balaklava UKBF 8:08 AM Game somehow changed to slow motion
9-17 Belbek UKFB 8:21 AM Simulation rate keeps changing
9-17 Kacha Air Base UKKA 8:25 AM Fixed, R sets sim rate and used for drone
9-17 Saki Air Base UKFI 8:34 AM
9-17 Yevpatoriya UKFV 8:42 AM
9-17 Rozdol’ne UKRL 9:22 AM 1:42

9-17 Rozdol’ne UKRL 10:22 AM
9-17 Krasnoperekops’k UKMF 10:34 AM
9-17 Armyans’k UKAF 10:50 AM
9-17 Skadovsk UKSK 11:14 AM
9-17 Kherson Intl UKOH 11:32 AM
9-17 Odesa UKOO 12:13 PM

Flight time 3:33 11 stops

As you can see from my notes, a very confusing start. Since the game now puts the HUD back instantly when switching from cockpit to external, I switched to using the drone for HUD free screenshots. However after using that my plane started behaving really weird. I kept losing control of the climb rate which I use the so called plus and minus for, mapped to my flight stick. After selecting it back to control VS mode, my plane did not seem to want to co-operate anymore.

Auto pilot didn’t really want to turn or climb anymore, just very slowly change direction. I thought it was a bug with max bank angle and maybe the fpm were somehow a factor 10 off after the update. However even without AP the plane felt very sluggish, as if the sensitivity of my flight stick had been dialed way down. I was about to exit and restart the game when I noticed it was also taking a lot longer to move forward, much slower than my airspeed was suggesting.

I finally checked sim rate settings, R sets plus and minus to control the sim rate. R also moves the drone view up. Ugh. I set the sim rate back to what looked like normal speed (there is no reset?) and continued. Then somehow I managed to set it to double speed and ended up landing at a near stall while it looked like I was coming in way too fast. I unmapped the sim rate button, then everything went fine again.

First shot of Sevastopol, HUD didn’t clear

Little inlet at the South side of Sevastopol

Crawling along the cliffs in slow motion :confused:

Forgot the hud comes back instantly again, Sevastopol

Drone view of Sevatopol

Real life view of the coast

Heading North along the coast, Chemors’ke

Mizhavodne FS2020 drone view

Mizhavodne real life drone view

The landcape near Krasnoperekops’k, lot of farmland

Shadovsk, not the best place for a short runway

And the sun is going down already on the way to Odesa

Odesa does have lighted runways, easy landing, parked there to check out the city by day time.

Leg 27 Odesa, Ukraine via Romania to Poprad, Slovakia

DAY9_18.PLN (4.9 KB)

A long beautiful flight today passing Dracula’s castle along the way

9-18 Odesa UKOO 6:04 AM
9-18 Cataloi LRTC 7:10 AM
9-18 Aerodromul Alexeni LRAL 7:45 AM
9-18 Henri Coanda LROP 7:57 AM
9-18 Baneasa LRBS 8:14 AM
9-18 Gheorghe Valentin Bibescu LRPW 8:28 AM
9-18 Aerodrom Piatra Craiului LRTO 9:03 AM Bran (Dracula) castle near Brasov
9-18 Lazarea Airstrip LRJO 9:35 AM
9-18 Bucovina Fly Club LRFR 10:13 AM
9-18 Floreni LRFL 10:46 AM
9-18 Porohy UKPA 11:29 AM
9-18 Stryi Air Base UKDL 11:47 AM
9-18 Kosice LZKZ 12:36 PM Beautiful town
9-18 Tatry LZTT 1:01 PM

Flight time: 6:57 13 stops

Odesa by mid day

The Potemkin stairs in Odesa, entrance to the city

Featured in the 1925 movie Battleship Potemkin

I also found this cool statue in the harbor, the sailor’s wife

Zakota along a long land bridge.

Colorful fields at the Tuzlovski Lagoons.

Entering Romania, the landscape changes

Starting to see some hills and mountains in the distance

Arrival in Bucharest, big and beautiful

Palace of the parliament of Romania

With photogrammetry and lovely detailed fountains

Dark clouds over the mountains on the way to Dracula castle

Bran

Close up of the castle, the general shape is there

Inside

Brosteni

It looks like I found a forest fire

Exploatarea de Sulf Gura Haitii

Kosice, Slovakia

Home of the amazing St Elisabeth’s cathedral

It’s situated in that thin green slice in the picture above, to the left of the old tower

And finally arriving in Tatry, Poprad at sunset.

If you look closely you can spot the last sliver of sun peeking out over the mountains.

3 Likes

Many thanks. I will definitely repeat your flight route. a very unusual and interesting adventure.

1 Like

Leg 28 Poprad, Slovakia through Poland to Dresden, Germany

DAY9_19.PLN (8.3 KB)

Up early again, why not take to the skies instead of tossing and turning

9-19 Tatry LZTT 4:44 AM
9-19 Zar EPZR 5:12 AM
9-19 Aleksandrowice EPBA 5:18 AM
9-19 Kaniow EPKW 5:26 AM Auswitch North East
9-19 Balice EPKK 5:46 AM
9-19 Pobiednik Wielki EPKP 6:08 AM
9-19 Pinczow EPPC 6:23 AM
9-19 Maslow EPKA 6:35 AM
9-19 Sadkow EPRA 6:53 AM
9-19 Nowe Miasto nad Pilica EPNM 7:07 AM
9-19 Okecie EPWA 7:24 AM
9-19 Babice EPBC 7:47 AM
9-19 Modlin Mil EPMO 8:04 AM
9-19 Torun EPTO 8:41 AM
9-19 Szwederowo EPBY 8:51 AM
9-19 Bednary EPPB 9:10 AM
9-19 Krzesiny EPKS 9:18 AM
9-19 Lawica EPPO 9:31 AM
9-19 Neuhardenberg EDON 10:10 AM Solar panel overload
9-19 Tegel EDDT (Berlin) 10:31 AM
9-19 Muehlenfeld EDBE 11:27 AM
Crash to desktop
9-19 Muehlenfeld EDBE 11:47 AM
9-19 Hannover EDDV 12:26 PM
9-19 Hildesheim EDVM 12:38 PM
9-19 Hasselfelde UL ED88 12:58 PM
9-19 Leipzig-Halle EDDP 1:23 PM
9-19 Dresden EDDC 2:00 PM

Flight time: 8:56 25 stops

Leaving Tatry heading high Tatras mountains. I had to make a big spiral first to gain enough altitude

High Tatras mountains, yep they are high

Zakopane, Poland on the other side of the mountains.

There is a ski jump arena at the bottom of the mountain. Don’t get close, it’s auto-gen buildings…

Jablonka, a few trees left behind along the river. Mainly farmland.

Auschwitch in Oświęcim

The camp is a lot bigger than I thought it was. It’s that whole section at the nose of my plane

May the world never forget

Krakow, another amazing city

Wawel royal castle in the bottom left of the picture above

Town square with St Mary’s Basilica, the Cloth Hall and Town hall tower.

View from St Mary’s Basilica

Warsaw (late addition, lost screenshots found)

The royal castle (right) and Kosciól Akademicki św. Anny (left) along the Vistula river

The palace of culture and science, magnificent building

One critical bug though

The time is wrong. It was about 2:30 pm (local time) when I passed there. Unforgivable for a palace of science!

On to Berlin, it’s been a while since I saw photogrammetry data

The iconic tv tower

Brandenburg gate with the Bundestag and Reichstag on the left

I’ve been here before since it has the closest Canadian embassy from Amsterdam. Quite a long drive to get a temporary passport.

Checkpoint charly. It’s that little bump in the middle of the street doh!

So much history. I was 15 when the wall came down, it left a big impression.

John F Kennedy 1963, sadly assassinated the same year.

Back to the skies, on to Potsdam

Lovely palace, a shame FS 2020 turns most fountains (and outdoor pools) into buildings.

Simply called new palace, completed in 1769. Not that new anymore!

Crossing the Elbe at Ferchland

Hannover

Leipzig at dusk

I temporarily set the rendering scale to 200 to get better lighting for the screenshot.

Tomorrow, on to Prague.

1 Like

Leg 29 Dresden, Germany through Czechia, Austria and Slovakia to Budapest, Hungary

DAY9_20.PLN (7.6 KB)

Sight-seeing overload today, so many things to see so close together. Czechia is amazing.

9-20 Dresden EDDC 5:44 AM So many castles
9-20 Pratzschwitz EDAR 6:45 AM
9-20 Letiste Lipova LKVI 6:56 AM
9-20 Bynovec LKDE 7:02 AM
9-20 Ceska Lipa Rams LKCK 7:09 AM
9-20 Stremy LKME 7:21 AM
9-20 Ruzyne LKPR (Prague) 7:35 AM Sex machines museum, close to torture museum
9-20 KBely LKKB (Prague) 7:42 AM Historic airfied aviation museum, lots of planes!
power failure, switched to off-line mode, restart
9-20 KBely LKKB 7:58 AM
9-20 Tocna LKTC 8:15 AM
9-20 Letiste Podebrady LKLI 8:38 AM
Game running very badly, long pauses / low fps, delete rolling cache, restart
9-20 Letiste Podebrady LKLI 8:45 AM
9-20 Hradec Kralove LKHK 9:00 AM
9-20 Pardubice LKPD 9:10 AM
9-20 Castkovice private ULM LKNO 9:35 AM
9-20 Jindrichuv Hradec LKJH 9:48 AM Pretty town
9-20 České Budějovice LKCS 10:07 AM
9-20 Dobersberg LOAB 10:26 AM Herbst Ralley Dobersburg
9-20 Znojmo LKZN 10:40 AM Walled town with undergound tunnels
9-20 Namest LKNA 10:55 AM Automotodrom Brno on the way to BRNO
9-20 Turany LKTB (Brno) 11:11 AM
9-20 Langenlebarn Mil LOXT 11:44 AM
9-20 Schwechat LOWW (Vienna) 12:07 PM Third man Prater ferris wheel
9-20 M.R. Stefanik LZIB (Bratislava) 12:21 PM
9-20 Ferihegy LHBP (Budapest) 1:13 PM

Flight time: 6:06 22 stops

First exploring the castles around Dresden, starting with Schloss Moritzburg North of Dresden

The castle is featured in the 1973 Czech movie, Three wishes for Cinderella (Tri orísky pro Popelku) hence the following golden shoe statue at the castle

Albrechtsburg, North-west of Dresden

Featuring this amazing castle

Turning back to Dresden, Schloss Wackerbarth

On to Dresden, beautiful city

Frauenkirche in Dresden, left one in the picture above (bottom right is Katholische Hofkirche)

Of course castles in Dresden as well, behind the Katholische Hofkirche.

Then this caught my eye

Panometer / Gasantstalt Reick

Apparently it’s a gas tank build in 1909

Time to leave Germany behind, on to Prague

A pretty lake on the way, Novozámecký Rybník

Racing along the Vitava river through Prague

With some extra scenery added thanks to @SnakeKobra

Close up of the bridge

Astronomical clock from 1410

So much to see in Prague as a virtual tourist, funny to find the sex machines museum not far from the torture museum. One inspired the other, similar ‘machines’ and instruments

Prague is a real tourist trap. Church of our lady before Týn on the old town square.

Onwards, the landscape at Lichnice-Kankovy Hory

My usual style of landing approaches, here at Jindřichův Hradec

Another pretty town, of course with a castle

Ceské Budejovice

Featuring the Samson fountain and Black tower from the 1500’s

Taking a little shortcut through Austria, Dobersberg

Known for Herbst Rallye Dobersberg

A working dam (for MSFS) at Namest

Autodrom Brno, back in Czechia

Brno is quite a nice city as well

Yeah, it has a castle or several, and you can visit a nuclear bunker 10-Z

Into Austria again, Vienna

WU6 update, Vienna is now a PG area

Down there is the iconic Prater Ferris Wheel, same view from the ferris wheel

Pretty close match after WU6

It will forever be tied to the 1949 British film noir The third man with Orson Welles, great actor!

Flying by Komarno along the Danube river on the way to Budapest

In the point there, this old fortress you can walk through in street view

We’re in Slovakia now, very cute town

Arriving in Budapest at dusk

Exploration will have to wait for the sun to return, plus I need a break.

2 Likes

Leg 30 Budapest, Hungary through Slovenia and Italy to Sinj, Croatia

DAY9_21.PLN (7.4 KB)

I need to cut down on the pictures, lot incoming again, another great journey

9-21 Ferihegy LHBP (Budapest) 5:11 AM
9-21 Balaton LHSM 6:06 AM
9-21 Varazdin LDVA 6:24 AM
9-21 Pleso LDZA (Zagreb) 6:45 AM
9-21 Cerklje Mil LJCE 6:57 AM
9-21 Ljubljana LJLJ 7:17 AM
9-21 Podpec Field LJNO 7:37 AM
9-21 Bled LJBL 7:49 AM
9-21 Bovec LJBO 8:04 AM
9-21 Gorizia LIPG 8:19 AM
9-21 Campo di Volo Prosecco LIQI (Trieste) 8:28 AM

9-21 Campo di Volo Prosecco LIQI (Trieste) 9:22 AM
9-21 Portoroz LJPZ 9:34 AM
9-21 Vrsar LDPV 9:45 AM
9-21 Medulin Campanoz (Pula) LDPM 9:57 AM Arena, Arch of the Sergii, Augustus Temple
9-21 Pula LDPL 10:03 AM
9-21 Grobnicko Polje LDRG 10:23 AM
9-21 Rijeka LDRI 10:29 AM
9-21 Unije LDPN 10:51 AM
Autopilot bugged, only wants to roll left, restart
9-21 Unije LDPN 11:00 AM
9-21 Losinj LDLO 11:05 AM
9-21 Otocac LDRO 11:25 AM
9-21 Zemunik LDZD 11:50 AM
9-21 Kastela LDSP 12:18 AM
9-21 Sinj LDSS 12:36 PM

Flight time: 6:22 22 stops

Departing Budapest, well known for its thermal baths and pools

Here flying over Platinus Strand baths

Down there Gellart Thermal bath

Also on the hill Szabadság szobor, liberty statue and on the side of the hill Gellért Hill Cave, a grotto chapel.

Gellart Thermal bath inside

Now that’s a nice place for a swim!

The Hungarian parliament building is very nicely modeled

The real deal

Actually looks like a model too

Budapest reminds me of one of my favorite movies, The Grand Budapest hotel. The hotel seen in the movie is just a model, not real. Most of the movie was shot in Czechia where the hotel is located that inspired the one in the movie. Grand hotel Pupp in Karlovy Vary

Making Czechia even more awesome!

Following the big toll route along the Žumberak and Samobor mountains

To Zagreb, the capital of Croatia

Onwards to Slovenia, I’ll be back in Croatia later

Kranj near Ljubljana

Ljubljana, the capital of Slovenia

The castle in the above picture. A glass funicular transports people up the hill.

Picture from the famous dragon bridge with Ljubljana cathedral in the background

On to the coast. I got in some nasty weather while climbing over the tall mountain range. Thanks to 3D view finder no issues navigating between the mountain peaks. Bovec in a valley between the mountains.

Flying through the valley, Kanin mountain behind me

Krn mountain to the left of me

The view from Krn on a good day

Trieste, Italy on the North-East end of the Adriatic sea

Remains of a Roman theater in the middle of the city

I still haven’t seen any moving boats in FS 2020, there should be a few here…

Pula, back in Croatia

The Romans left a full size amphitheater here, as well as a temple to Augustus and Arch of the Sergii city gate. Build to last.

Zooming over Park Prirode Ucka

Approaching Rijeka, moving boats spotted!!!

Zecjak mountain, tough climb

Otočac in the Gacka river valley

Lake Krušćica, heading South currently

Over the Adriatic sea again with Nacionalni park Paklenica behind me.

The Croatian landscape near Kakma

Kaštela, reminds me of ICO

Split, Croatia’s second largest city with many things to see

I bet Croatia inspired games like Myst and Riven.

Heading inland again, back to the mountains past Fortress Klis

It’s to the left in that picture, not visible. It looks pretty cool on Google The city and walls of Meereen from Game of Thrones were filmed there.

Ending the day at Sinj, which was already half hidden in the shadows from the mountains

1 Like

Leg 31 Sinj, Croatia via Bosnia and Hezegovina, Serbia, Montenegro, Kosovo, to Sofia, Bulgaria

DAY9_22.PLN (4.8 KB)

9-22 Sinj LDSS 7:04 AM North West follow the lake between the mountains
9-22 Glamoc LQGL 7:24 AM South-East via Blindinje nature park
9-22 Sarajevo LQSA 8:04 AM Sebrenica half-way
9-22 Belgrade LYBE 9:10 AM
9-22 Divci LYVA 9:36 AM
9-22 Ponikve LYUZ 9:53 AM Most na Đurđevića Tari bridge half way
9-22 Kapino LYNK 10:43 AM
9-22 Cilipi LDDU 11:10 AM
9-22 Tivat LYTV 11:24 AM
9-22 Cemovsko LYPO 11:40 AM
9-22 Amiko LYDK 12:10 PM
9-22 Pristina BKPR 12:24 PM
Performance severley degraded, restart
9-22 Prestina BKPR 12:31 PM
9-22 Breznik LBBR No lights
9-22 Sofia LBSF 1:32 PM

Flight time: 6:21 11 stops

I started off in the rain today. Light rain, just a couple specks on the windshield at take off.

It makes better pictures than the bleached out full sun look.

Zooming by Peruca lake

Blindinje nature park

Sarejevo, capital of Bosnia and Herzegovina, beautiful location in the Dinaric Alps

Apparently World War I started here with the 1914 assassination of Archduke Franz Ferdinand.

Mine site spotted at Palež

Sebrenica, looks like such an innocent town, known for the Sebrenica massacre.

Location of the most recent genocide / ethnic cleansing in Europe, in 1995.

25th anniversary, more dead are still being identified, still around 1,000 people missing

On to Belgrade, Serbia

Close up of the old fortress on the hill

Very beautiful place to land at Ponikve on top of a hill

Priboj

Windows 10 had this picture as background a few months ago


I saved the link to fly underneath that bridge when MSFS came out

Well, I found it

Needless to say, I flew over the bridge instead!

Good place for bungee jumps or zip line.

Niksic with a little rainbow

Cemovsko

Following the rainbow

Caught up with it at Tamare

Valbona National Park

Truly awesome to fly through

Pristina, Kosovo

Monument commemorating Kosovo’s declaration of independence from Serbia in 2008

The border with Serbia is still drawn as a dotted line on maps. There are many countries that do not recognize Kosovo as an independent state (about 50/50), neither does Serbia.

Ending the day in Sofia after skipping Breznik (no lights)

I forgot to turn the avionics brightness down, I blame my co-pilot. The knobs are on his side.

1 Like

Leg 32 Sofia, Bulgaria via North Macedonia to Skiathos, Greece

DAY9_23.PLN (5.2 KB)

9-23 Sofia LBSF 5:07 AM
9-23 Pirin Airfield LBGT 6:05 AM
9-23 Petrich LB45 6:18 AM
9-23 Negotino LW72 6:41 AM Ultra short runway
9-23 Skopje LWSK 7:00 AM
9-23 Brazda LW75 7:12 AM
9-23 Tirana LATI 7:56 AM
9-23 Kucova LAKV 8:17 AM
9-23 Ohrid LWOH 8:39 AM
9-23 Aristotelis LGKA 9:13 AM
9-23 Ioannina LGIO 9:36 AM
9-23 Myrini - Karditsa LGMA 10:22 AM

9-23 Myrini - Karditsa LGMA 11:35 AM
9-23 Lamia LG53 11:56 AM
9-23 Molos Airfield LGMO 12:02 PM
9-23 Alexandros Papadiamandis LGSK 12:26 PM

Flight time 6:06 14 stops

Another great day flying through the mountains

First Sofia visiting the Palace of Culture

Very interesting looking building

Into the mountains, climbing up a valley in Rila national park

The top is obscured in the clouds

The clouds stuck with the mountains, Pirin National Park in full sunlight

Kosharka, in one of the wide open spaces between the mountain ranges

Skopje, the capital of North Macedonia

The stone bridge, symbol of Skopje, and Archeological museum. It’s the bridge just after the thin rectangular building on the right of the Vardar river in the picture above.

What caught my eye is all the statues all over the city, including this giant one of Alexander the Great on Macedonia square. If that was added to FS2020 it would likely be reported as a bug!

National park Mavrovo, heading back into rainy weather

Stunning views, awesome to fly through

Luzni-Bulaç on the other side

Tirana, I think I’ll just stay inside

Berat, so much to see around here

Tomorri mountain national park

Ohrid on lake Ohrid

It has this cute St John the Theologian orthodox church on the water

Kastoria/ See that cave entrance at the bottom of the hill, front left

It’s called the Dragon’s lair.

Loannina, back in the rain

There are these old castle ruins, castle of Loannina.

Passing Glifa at sunset

Flying over Skiatos to make a 180 over the Agean sea to come in for a landing

Coming in for the final stop of the day

The plane is all clean and shiny after all that rain!

1 Like

Leg 33 Skiathos, Greece with a detour into Bulgaria to Alexandroupoli, Greece

DAY9_24.PLN (5.0 KB)

Greece is amazing, great mountains to fly through and lots of history

9-24 Alexandros Papadiamandis LGSK 5:01 AM
9-24 Stefanovikion Army LGSV 5:18 AM
9-24 Larisa LGTE 5:29 AM Meteora Unesco site monastry West then Mount Olympus North-East
9-24 Alexandria Army LGAX 6:35 AM
9-24 Makedonia (Thessaloniki) LGTS 6:54 AM
9-24 Silata Airfield LGNA 7:03 AM Extremely short ‘runway’, Mount Athos on Eastern most peninsula
9-24 Amigdhaleon AB LGKM 8:04 AM
9-24 Megas Alexandros LGKV 8:22 AM
9-24 Plovdiv LBPD 8:56 AM

9-24 Plovdiv LBPD 10:08 AM
9-24 Stryama Airfield LBST 10:27 AM
9-24 Kamenets LB42 10:56 AM
9-24 Gorna Oryahovitsa LBGO 11:21 AM
9-24 Burgas LBBG 11:48 AM
9-24 Dimokritos LGAL 12:56 PM

Flight time 6:43 13 stops

Not a lot of airports on the way, thus some big detours for sight seeing in between

First to Kalabaka and Kastraki where the Meteora monastries are located

The 6 Eastern Orthodox monasteries, listed as a World Heritage site, are built on top of rock pillars, which are sadly melted in the game. Still a pretty site for monastries.

The real deal

Maybe not all that tranquil anymore now it’s a tourist attraction

On to Mount Olympus, highest mountain in greece, home of the ancient gods and and goddesses.

Odd bunch of trees clinging to the side

A real picture, looks like a very mystic place.

Thessaloniki next

Home of the white tower, in the bottom of the picture above.

It has been a Byzantine fortification then a notorious prison and nowadays a museum.

Landing at Silata, one of the shortest runways I’ve seen

Too short to comfortably take off from, luckily the bit of gentle downhill at the end of the runway help to get out over the trees.

Mount Athos, important center of Eastern Orthodox monasticism

Impressive rock at the end of a long peninsula

One of the 20 monasteries around the mountain

Beautiful inside as well as outside

They remind me of Spirited away, the bath house

Back inland, Rodopi mountain range national park

Approaching Plovdiv in Bulgaria

This looked like a giant runway from the sky, it’s actually for rowing competitions

2019 world cup rowing in Plovdiv

Plovdiv is also home of the theater of Philippopolis

A Roman theater constructed in the 90s, first century and still in use.

Central Balkan national park, amazing to fly through

Crossing the Rositsa river near Resen

Gorna Oryahovitsa. I saw lightning in the distance, only one discharge though.

Burgas, the sun is already setting

A shame since I hoped to get this view

Apparently you can swim in those red/pink salt pools

Great city known for its sand festival, sand castles!

The sea garden is very nice as well

Sunset on the way back to Greece

Arrival at Alexandroupoli in the dark

(Btw I got the city light reflections on the plane back by turning TAA off, render scale 200)

Great flight, tomorrow on to Istanbul, Turkey. I’ll be back to Greece later, much more to see here.

1 Like

Leg 34 Alexandroupoli, Greece through Turkey to Geçitkale, Cyprus

DAY9_25.PLN (5.7 KB)

Early start, lot of long distances to get other stuff done.

9-25 Dimokritos LGAL 4:46 AM
9-25 Kesan LTFL 5:03 AM
9-25 Corlu AB LTBU 5:28 AM
9-25 Hezarfen LTBW 5:41 AM
9-25 Ataturk LTBA (Istanbul) 5:48 AM
9-25 Samandira AB LTBX 6:18 AM
9-25 Yalova AB LTBP 6:27 AM
9-25 Bursa LTBE 6:41 AM
9-25 Yenisehir AB LTBR 6:58 AM
9-25 Topel AB LTBQ 7:16 AM
9-25 Caycuma LTAS 8:11 AM
9-25 Sinop LTCM 9:15 AM
9-25 Esenboga LTAC 10:25 AM
9-25 Guvercinlik AB LTAB 10:50 AM
9-25 Polatli Airport LTPO 11:07 AM
9-25 Konya AB LTAN 12:03 PM to 12:38 PM
Autopilot bugged, save, reload, game save broken, game crashed to desktop
9-25 Approximate halfway position 12:51 PM
9-25 Gecitkale LCGK 1:25 PM No lights, landed with view finder

Flight time 8:26 16 stops

It seems the game starts to misbehave worse and worse after 5 hours running. Every time I leave it going continuously it grinds to a halt or crashes after 6 or 7 hours. Memory leak or rolling cache issues maybe.

First sight seeing stop today, Istanbul

The Blue Mosque on the left and Hagia Sophia on the right.

The Hagia Sophia looks marvelous, orginally build in 537

The Galata tower is across the water (still left side)

A very recognizable landmark, but not in FS2020 yet.

Flying past the Dolmabahçe Palace, bottom left

And here the Adalet Sarayi, palace of justice

Departing Bursa, clouds are coming

Skimming over the dead calm black sea by Lafarge Eregli Çimento

Zonguldak

Tunnels connecting the beaches and the Varagel tunnel which leads into the city

Küre Daglari Milli Parki

Ayancik, town spilling out into the sea

The Ilgaz mountains

Bülbül Pinari Mesire Alani

Ankara, the capital of Turkey

Flying past the Anıtkabir, memorial tomb.

It is the mausoleum of Mustafa Kemal Atatürk.

Ankara also house the Kocetepe mosque

Relatively new (1967) yet a prominent landmark in Ankara and largest mosque in the city.

Coming in for a landing in Konya

The last flight to Cyprus went horribly wrong. The game was already acting up more and more and then I accidentally hit active pause while star gazing with auto pilot on. There was no recovery from that, auto pilot completely on the fritz.

Since it was still over half an hour from any airport I saved, quit and tried to reload the save game to finish the flight. After loading the save game, no option to fly, nothing. I tried copy pasting the gps coordinates from the .FLT file, but for some reason the game converted them to somewhere in Africa… So I tried to estimate where I was and click on the map to continue from there. I clicked Fly, crash to desktop.

Restart the game, try a slightly different position and it loaded! It started me at 7500 ft, fine. Auto pilot worked again, all dark, see you at landing time. Of course no lights at the destination airport, no problem. I landed using the 3D terrain viewer just like before. I didn’t even turn the landing light on, stealth landing.

Tomorrow, exploring Cyprus, then back to Greece along the Southern coast of Turkey to tour the Dodecanese islands.

1 Like

Leg 35 Geçitkale, Cyprus to Samos, Greece

DAY9_26.PLN (6.0 KB)

Great flight, more mountains then islands

9-26 Gecitkale LCGK 5:02 AM
9-26 Acheritou Airport LCAC 5:10 AM
9-26 Kingsfield AB CX00 5:19 AM
9-26 Larnaca Intl LCLK 5:27 AM
9-26 Akrotiri AB LCRA 5:45 AM
9-26 Pafos Intl LCPH 5:57 AM
9-26 Mammari LCNC 6:27 AM
9-26 Alanya LTFG 7:09 AM
9-26 Manavgat Airport LTKI 7:31 AM
9-26 Antalya LTAI 7:47 AM
Bad performance, long stutters, restart
9-26 Antalya LTAI 7:57 AM
9-26 Kastelorizo LGKJ 8:36 AM
9-26 Cardak AB LTAY 9:21 AM
9-26 Adnan Menderes LTBJ 10:22 AM
9-26 Alacati Airport LTAM 10:52 AM
9-26 Chios LGHI 11:05 AM
9-26 Olimboi LG56 11:12 AM
9-26 Ikaria LGIK 11:41 AM
9-26 Samos LGSM 12:00 PM

Flight time 6:48 17 stops

First I spotted another race track, never hear of it before

Achna speedway in Dasaki Achnus on Cyprus

Apparently (among other things) they have a drift championship there

Lanarca

Asgata

Kamaras aquaduct is here and a huge salt lake

On the Seath-West end, Paphos with the tombs of the king, dating back to 4th century BC.

Cyprus has a mount Olympus as well

Quite a view from up here

And Troodos botanical gardens on the side of the hill

Heading back to Turkey, leaving Cyprus behind

Ugrak along the South coast of Turkey

Alanya

There is a castle with a huge defensive wall dating back to the Seljuk era.

Antalya, big city

So many hotels with huge swim resorts along the coast

Better to swim in the pools, the coast is pretty rugged

Siviri Dag Milli Parki

Uyluk Tepe

Pamukkale

The white stuff is this

Thermal pools leaving white sediment, great picture opportunities

I’ve seen these in Yellowstone ntl park, hopefully they’re more detailed there.

Pamukkale also the Necropolis of Hierapolis

Izmir, large coastal town with an ancient Roman/Greek market

The market is where that tall building in the lower left is standing. That building doesn’t exist, AI bug. That whole square is an open air musuem.

There are water tunnels underneath the market

Leaving the mainland behind, on to Chios

The wind has picked up, 23 knots, it’s blowing the plane around quite a bit

Olimpi

Sunset on the way to Samos

That wind is fierce, slow going and flying over 20 degrees off angle.

Tomorrow, island hopping including a lap around Crete.

1 Like

Leg 36 Samos to Syros, Greece touring the Dodecanese islands

DAY9_27.PLN (6.3 KB)

Lovely to revisit my backpack tour from 25 years ago. It looks like it’s a bit overcrowded with tourism nowadays. Fun to recognize all the places I’ve been to.

9-27 Samos LGSM 4:42 AM
9-27 Leros LGLE 4:57 AM
9-27 Kalymnos LGKY 5:07 AM
9-27 Ippokratis LGKO 5:16 AM
9-27 Diagoras LGRP 5:43 AM The valley of butterflies
9-27 Karpathos LGKP 6:28 AM
9-27 Kasos LGKS 6:35 AM
9-27 Sitia LGST 6:53 AM
9-27 Kasteli AB LGTL 7:19 AM
9-27 Tympaki LG54 7:36 AM
9-27 Maleme Air Base LGGE 8:09 AM

9-27 Maleme Air Base LGGE 9:09 AM
9-27 Ioannis Daskalogiannis LGSA 9:21 AM
9-27 Nikos Kazantzakis LGIR 9:49 AM
9-27 Santorini LGSR 10:26 AM
9-27 Astypalaia LGPL 10:51 AM
9-27 Naxos LGNX 11:17 AM
9-27 Paros LGPA 11:28 AM
9-27 Milos LGML 11:49 AM
9-27 Syros LGSO 12:22 PM Seagulls

Flight time 6:40 18 stops

First up Kalymnos, a big rock sticking out of the sea like most of the islands.

On to Kos, boat spotted

Once you have seen one, you have seem them all :confused: I haven’t seen any other type of boat yet.

Rodos

The valley of butterflies is here. I never got this far backpacking and I imagined it to be bigger

It seems it’s a pretty small valley, how do they all get there!

Achata beach on Karpathos. Beaches are hard to find along these rock islands.

Thrypti Dimou Lerapetras, Crete

Spathi mountain, also on Crete. Crete has some very high mountains.

The top of the mountain in real life

Mount Pakhnes, further to the West

Heraklion, largest city on Crete

It’s known for the palace of Knossos, the largest Bronze Age archaeological site on Crete and has been called Europe’s oldest city.

On to Santorini, I’ve been here. Beautiful place, mosquitos were awful

Walking up and down that zig zag road to the harbor early morning was great. (to get away from the mosquitos)

Yeah it looks like ■■■■ in FS2020

The island is basically an old volcano and you can still visit the smoking center part. Sad to read it’s over crowded with tourism nowadays. This is just ridiculous


I need to find my old photo album. Those pictures with empty streets on Santorini might be worth something today! Dine in a not even half full restaurant with epic views, no reservation needed. I miss the Greek food most haha.

Astipalea, bland rock

Naxos. We rented bikes here for some amazing cycling, all empty roads, great views.

The Apollo temple is on that outcrop bottom left

I have that picture somewhere.

Antiparos with Paros behind it

It looks like there are a lot buildings on the island nowadays. On Paros I got cured from the notion that it would be cool to sleep under the stars on the beach. The stars were great, getting sand blasted all night and waking up with a sleeping back full of sand… What was I thinking.

Paros had the most amazing fresh baked feta bread. It was from a local bakery somewhere hidden in the village. It wasn’t easy to find as no one spoke English, universal ‘sign language’ to the rescue. It made a big impression, that feta bread and gyros pitas are the first things that come to mind when I think of Greece.

We traveled from island to island on these ferries, free passage with interrail pass, which was only about $100 back then under 26, unlimited travel for a month.

Shame they aren’t in the game.

Milos, the island with the most amazing beaches

We rented bicycles here as well to visit (then) remote beaches

We swam here! It’s that cove in the picture above. Nobody else around

Looking in the opposite direction, that long curved beach is amazing

Again we were pretty much alone there, taking pictures of our stretching shadows on the terrain

Sifnos on the right

Final stop today, Siros

Tomorrow back to the main land, before heading over to Italy. Another thing I won’t do again, sleep on the deck of a night ferry. No sand, but you wake up soaking wet!

Leg 37 Syros, Greece, a bit of Albania, to Bari, Italy

DAY9_28.PLN (7.2 KB)

What a day for flying. I knew I was in for a rough ride when live weather showed up with lightning bolts. Lot of fun and an amazing sunset at the end of the day.

9-28 Syros LGSO 4:59 AM
9-28 Mikonos LGMK 5:16 AM
9-28 Eleftherios Venizelos Intl LGAV 5:52 AM
9-28 Hellinikon LGAT 5:59 AM Acropolis
9-28 Tatoi AB LGTT 6:23 AM
9-28 Elefsis AB LGEL 6:37 AM
9-28 Megara Army LGMG 6:46 AM

9-28 Megara Army LGMG 6:51 AM
9-28 Tripolis AB LGTP 7:15 AM
9-28 Sparti AB LGSP 7:35 AM

9-28 Sparti AB LGSP 7:50 AM Sparta North-West
9-28 Kalamata AB LGKL 8:14 AM
9-28 Epitalion LGEP 8:36 AM Olympia North-East
9-28 Andravida AB LGAD 9:09 AM
9-28 Dionysios Solomos LGZA 9:23 AM
9-28 Kefallinia LGKF 9:38 AM
9-28 Araxos AB (Patras) LGRX 10:01 AM
9-28 Missolonghi LGME 10:14 AM

9-28 Missolonghi LGME 10:30 AM
9-28 Agrinion AB LGAG 10:38 AM
9-28 Aktion AB LGPZ Geese 10:56 AM Geese
9-28 Ioannis Kapodistrias Intl (Corfu) LGKR 11:22
9-28 Kucova LAKV 11:58 AM
9-28 Tirana LATI 12:21 PM
9-28 Palese Macchie (Bari) LIBD 1:30 PM

Flight time 7:45 21 stops

First heading over to Mikanos

Circular parking place, you don’t see that very often.

Mikanos, known for its colorful houses

And plenty of the iconic windmills

Now I’m really thinking of ICO.

Back to the main land, entering at Daskalio on the way to Athens

The capital, Athens, also the heart of ancient Greece, so much to see here

First something modern that caught my eye, that stadium at the bottom of the picture above is

Lycabettus Theatre, outdoor concert arena

The next green section up houses Zappeio Hall, to the left of that, the big white rectangle

Panathenaic stadium, entirely build of marble, the site of the first modern Olympic games in 1896

Of course the main attraction and superbly modeled in FS2020, the Acropolis

On the right Odeon of Herodes Atticus, restored stone theater constructed 161 AD, renevated in 1950 and currently used for outdoor concerts. There is a lot more to see here

And I have to fly by the modern Olympic Athletic Center of Athens “Spiros Louis” before moving on

Passing mount Kinorio, the skies are looking grim

Look at that radar, all red

A break in the clouds at Kastanitsa

Almost to Sparta, Sparti Air Base (Sparta is North-West from here)

There it is Sparta!

Hmm, that conference building on the left, that’s ancient Sparta…

The real thing

The fake thing

The weather really let loose after leaving Sparta

First time I’ve seen rain streaking down the windows in flight

Cozy inside

Crossing the Neda river

To visit Olympia, the site where the historical Olympic games took place.

That landing strip is the old stadium where the athletic games were held.

Here’s a better weather picture

That’s the international Olympic academy with the historical stadium above

And this is what the historical site looks like, ruins from different temples etc.

I’ve been there 25 years ago, still looks the same. There are lots of historical artifacts on display as well in the nearby museum.

On to Andravida, a break in the weather ahead

Argassi on one of the Ionian islands

Zakhintos nearby

Mount Ainos in the distance

Passing South of Oxia back to the mainland in between two cloud layers

Araxos on the mainland, still raining there

Messolonghi on the other side of the gulf of Patras

Odd little airport, one farm field converted into a landing strip

Psili Korifi mountain in the distance

Looking behind from the same mountain, lot of cloud action

Speaking of action, Aktion on the Ambracian gulf

Corfu, large island, popular holiday destination

Recreation and historical sites like this Venetian fortress

It’s where that beached yacht is in the previous picture

Kucova, Albania. Odd happenstance of light, shadows and showers

Arriving in Tirana, capital of Albania

Passing over the city while departing for Italy

A colorful city in itself, now delivering the best sunset I’ve seen yet in FS 2020

Onwards to Italy with a hefty headwind

Final stop, Bari, Italy

Next up, South along the coast of Italy.

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