In the community events for today is a planned trip in Ireland. I am relatively new to MSFS and not able to participate in that event today, but it got me searching for a write up I did for a tour of Ireland I did back in MSFS 5.1 in 1995.
=======================
FLYING VIRTUAL IRELAND
Tradition in my family has taught that the family hails from Ireland [2023: and Lanark Scotland]. As a child I learned that there were very few families with my surname in the US, mostly in Kentucky and Florida. Some had ventured as far as California, Nevada. As I grew older, my thoughts turned to finding more specific information on my ancestry.
I grew up with a dream of visiting the country of great words and song, great vistas and color. I learned some traditional Irish songs to understand Irish thought. I tried to pay attention to news stories about Ireland. I wondered at stories of people in one religion shooting those of another. How could my people do this to each other?
Finally, after nearly forty years, I was asked to set up a corporate partnership in Sandyford, outside Dublin. I was able to arrange several visits to my heartland. The first was arranged to maximize my opportunity for seeing the Irish countryside. I flew into Shannon, visited the Cliffs of Moher (in a driving rain), dined at Bunratty, climbed the circular stairways of Blarney, sang in a Dungarvan Pub, walked the beach at Clonea Strand, got “take-away” food on the other side of the car at a Waterford McDonalds, wandered in Wexford and finally settled in to the more constant work life in Dublin. I made wonderful friends, visited historic sites in and around Dublin, and accomplished an historic union between two fueding corporations [IBM and Microsoft].
Since my heart longs to visit again, and to visit the rest of the country, I was pleased to find that a fellow named Bob Hobby had spent months building an Ireland scenery file for Microsoft Flight Simulator. I found the file, Irlbgl.zip, on CompuServe in the Flight Simulation forum FSFORUM. After installing the scenery onto my disk and integrating it into the Flight Simulator world database, I was ready for my virtual return to the Irish countryside.
I noised about on CompuServe to scare up a flight plan from Bob Hobby, the scenery designer. This great guy built a custom, narrated flight plan for me. The detail, the humor, the accuracy of this one hour flight plan is phenomenal.
I started out my virtual visit in the pilot’s seat of a small, high wing aircraft preparing to depart on Shannon airport’s runway 24. I set up a spot plane to view my virtual aircraft on the runway. You can “see” a few terminal buildings in the distance. Each runway, building, the fields, hills, coastline feature had to be reproduced in the Flight Simulator virtual Ireland.
On the tarmac at Shannon:
Sitting on the uncrowded virtual runway, I took the opportunity to read the notes Bob had written about Shannon:
In 1995, Shannon celebrated 50 years of operation. From 1945 until the arrival of the big jets, Shannon was a necessary refueling stop for transatlantic flights. In those early years, passengers had to wait an hour or two while their plane was refueled and serviced. Early on, somebody noticed that all those Yanks had cash in their pockets. And so the concept of the Airport Duty Free Shop was born to give the passengers something to do for those couple of hours: go shopping!
After a quick check of the airplane, I released the brakes, ran up the engine and began the journey. I leveled off about 1000 feet above sea level and banked right to head more west north-west at 300 degrees. Looking about I could see lots of small farms of west Clare as I headed toward the coast. Now that I was leveled out, I looked to Bob’s plan to understand what I was looking at:
To your left, across the Estuary, is the town of Foynes, which was an important transatlantic seaplane base before Shannon was build. There is an excellent Flying Boat Museum in the town, well worth a visit next time.
Bob put in the grass strip airport, farms and the hills around Spanish Point. He explained that several galleons of the Spanish Armada had shipwrecked on this coastline. The emerald color of the spring grasses was evident. Flight simulator allows varying the time of day and season in this virtual world. Some scenery elements change accordingly to match the setting. I kept Spanish point to my right side till I reached the coast, then turned right to follow the coastline.
Near Spanish Point:
As the waves crashed on the virtual beach, my flight carried me up Liscannor Bay with several good views of Hag’s Head. Popping up the rolling map view allows confirming the aircraft position with my Fodor’s travel guide.
Approaching Liscannor Bay with Hag’s Head beyond.
Bob had warned me that I would need to grab my photographs to see the Cliffs of Moher. As suggested, I just put a few photos on the floor next to me and admired the Cliffs from the air. Off in the distance Inisheer, Ineishmaan and Inishmore, the three Aran Islands began to appear.
Flying over the Cliffs of Moher toward the Aran Islands
I deviated from my flight plan to visit Inisheer Island. Bob programmed a light house to guide the virtual boats past the rocky shores.
After a quick look about, I headed back up the coast toward Black Head.
Inisheer Island, closest of the Aran Islands
I was having some difficulty with my virtual instruments occasionally, so I flew over the limestone hills of the Burren. I was reminded of the recent article I had read in “Ireland of the Welcomes” on the many wild flowers of the Burren.
After leaving the Burren, and passing into Galway Bay, I began to search for the next landmark Bob had described for me:
Ahead, across Galway Bay, you’ll soon see the transmission mast of Radio na Gaeltacht, which broadcasts Irish language programmes. Many people in Connemara (now off to the left) and on the Arans speak Irish as their first language.
The Tower of Radio na Gaeltacht with Galway town on the right
After spotting the tower and Galway town, I looked for the River Corrib which cuts through Galway. Bob suggested Neachtain’s Pub “for a pint or ten” on my next visit. This visit though, I wasn’t planning to touch down in Galway town. I turned tail and headed back over the bay, leaving Carnmore and Galway’s airport off to the left.
Bob had me tune up a non-directional radio beacon (339) at the Shannon runway 24 LOM.
There were large hills to skim between and views of the countryside that were amazingly lifelike.
Crossing back from Galway to the Co. Clare
Eventually, I spotted the Shannon runway and turned to line up for my final approach. Flaps lowered, engine slowed, glide slope established, small direction changes to fix my sloppy navigation, and finally I was ready to put the gear down.
Final approach to Shannon Runway 24
I cut the power, flared to drift down, tapped the brakes a bit and rolled back up to the virtual Shannon terminal. My heart was still racing from the stress of the landing. Although this was only a simulation, attempting to landing safely after an hour invested can leave your armpits dripping, knees weak and mouth dry just like the real thing.
For those of us that cannot visit our homeland for little weekend trips from Dublin to Cork, or catch an artshow in the gaeltacht towns, flying Bob Hobby’s virtual Ireland is sweet diversion.
A special thank you to Bob Hobby, and happy flying!
Note: (1997) This has remained unpublished for the last two years. I flew this a year before I started taking pilot training. I had over 300 hours in simulated flight with Microsoft Flight Simulator when I flew this, but no time in a real plane. I have finally gotten around to doing something with the article. The screen shots are from Microsoft Flight Simulator 5.1 which was a DOS version. The latest MSFS for Windows 95 is much, much better.
=================
2023: Hopefully soon I’ll get the time to retrace my flight in MSFS