As I mostly fly GA aircraft in IFR conditions on MSFS, often low and slow, I’ve often taken time to plonk down somewhere interesting or challenging.
I suspect many older simmers have had a go at landing a Cessna 172 in Red Square in Moscow (look it up if you don’t know why) only to discover that it’s currently covered in grass…well it was when I tried it.
So to get things going, I have landed my fave buzz around plane, the Pitts Special in Vatican Square (which is round) and also on the Circus Maximus, where the chariot races were held in front of Nero’s Golden House. Getting off again is a challenge, but hey.
As I also fly FPV electric rc models with a headtracking camera beaming down to video goggles in RL, I also managed to get the Pitts to land on the main strip of my RC club, and took off again successfully. Mind you, we had some chap who rang the club once on his mobile, attempting to land his Piper Cub there, only to be quickly dissuaded (he was circling overhead at the time).
Any difficult or interesting spots you have tried and succeed at, or failed spectacularly?
Engine out in a DA40 over Paris. Unplanned, not even any failures set up. Just totally bugged out and wouldn’t restart. Put it down in a field that was somewhat flat. Couldn’t quite stop in time and hit the trees at about 20kts. Confident that I wouldn’t have been too injured though. Other than that, I’ve put the Cubs down just about anywhere. Exploited some 30kts winds to land in someones back yard.
1 Like
In case you want to stay as real-as-it-gets, but also difficult and spectacular, I suggest you visit and practice landing at the private field Locher (freeware available here).
3 Likes
Whoa, that’s some serious stuff right there. Imagine the turbulence in real life with dodgy weather.
I really must have a go at this one. Thanks for that.
Another thing that struck home was the high voltage power lines (we have them everywhere here in Tasmania, over mountains and valleys, from the hydro dams).
When I was a student pilot I did some glider flying in a private field in north east Victoria, Oz, run by two brothers, who had a somewhat relaxed attitude to safety on their private strip. I was coming in on final on my first flight there in a Blanik (which I had several hours in elsewhere). I felt I was doing OK, as the instructor behind me wasn’t saying anything, but just as I crossed the main road on final to prepare for the flare I skimmed over power lines that had no markers…by maybe three feet. Never saw them until it was too late. Scared me real bad. After I landed I turned around to have a go at my instructor and he was fast asleep.
A year later they had a fly in and some poor chap killed himself on those same unmarked power lines. I believe they were shut down over it.
Engine outs when you least expect it are what makes a good sim worthwhile. It’s happened to me too on sims, though thankfully not in real life. Closest I came was when an instructor closed the door when I went for a solo spin at the end of the lesson and his seat belt was trapped outside. The banging when I took off made me think I’d blown a rod on the engine or something and I was torn between landing straight ahead or try and make it back round (the fatal question). I had enough strip, so aborted takeoff.
I saw a real live video on Youtube from the cockpit of Bhutan Airlines, how they land in Paro. I did that myself, it’s really very difficult. Took several attempts until I got it that way.
1 Like
