Temporary gravel strips on the river banks of the Yarlung Tsangpo were used (this one today converted into ZUNZ…). Unload/load fast with engines running, after restart go west for appr. 10 miles until you see a wide valley and make your escape south over low passes and rain forest until you reach the safety of clandestine dirt strip VEDZ Daparijo.
if I could invite you all for our Slovak High Tatras flight (Poprad Tatry LZTT airport next to them) Hope you’ll enjoy to this fantastic (if we can say long ridge from W to E) peaks box.
Your domestic Airline is offering a scenic flight considered one of the best in the world - along the volcanic chain of the ecuadorian Andes.
The free ATR is perfect because of its slow speed, big windows and high wing.
After a long climb you will pass @ up to 20000ft along the isolated mountains Sangay, El Altar (check if Tungurahua to the north is smoking and if so make a short detour), Chimborazo, Cotopaxi, Antisana, Reventador (deeep in the jungle…) and Cayambe.
Landscape representation currently varies, from very good to large patches with interplolation.
The Vercor mountains are not high but very beautiful. August 1944 - the french Resistance had liberated the massif but the Germans have largely retaken it. But now American armies advance from the south.
Take your US light plane (Savage with free-camo ) with a Colonel on an advanced recon/liasion mission: talk to local Maquis commanders on hidden airstrips under Free French control and assess the general situation. vercors1.PLN (4.2 KB)
Start the day @ Salette, land on extreme Mt. Aiguille to check if we can land gliders there. Are the Col du Rousset, the famous Combe Laval road , Les Granges crossing and the Gorge du Nan free of road blocks? Fly north along the western cliff, circumventing Grenoble widely, into the Chartreuse massif - finally, @ Lac de Bourget turn left, back towards the Rhone and friendly troops.
Thankfull for the Norway DEM published recently by @mikeaat9612 took a flight to Rondane National Park, a remarkable mixed landscape of old and young mountain ranges near ENVI airstrip. This airstrip is very small, accessible for C172 but I doubt it would be handy with heavier aircraft.
Start from Paro and fly along Jigme-Dorji-Nationalpark and the wild West Face of Masang Kang Peak to the secret Shangri_La monastery (which is near WP4 @ the holy mountain Noijinkangsang). Tibet_Bhutan.PLN (2.9 KB)
Pick up the two specialists by landing on the dirt road @ WP3. Experts will do the mission at night “ablaze with the familiar, friendly stars” and a full moon maybe, luckily the monks have the road brightly lit…
But will you make it to your destination before the world as we know it ends?
Revisited Alaska Bay… tip: install this, if you like fauna
… go over the sea and spot blue whales and orca. On the other side there is grizzly bears and seagulls.
This time I went straight up, the not so high mountains near … far up north in the summer you actually can see trees above the snow… because some snow just always remains there… This is only 3000-4000Ft.
For a landing challenge… put your 172 down on that airstrip… no log 1 sofar.
1979: expectations are high that there is big money in doing oil exploration from the sky over France (with special DC-3s !)
But first doubts have come up: as the method uses “gravity waves” you are to place sensors on the countries high (i.e. “heavy”) peaks to measure field distortions and quell castigators. F_alpes_west.PLN (4.2 KB)
Fly along the route and land with your STOL plane on snow fields or gravel plateaus at the summits (indicated by “custom WPs”). Highlight is Mont Blanc - on which peak landings have been done since 1960.
This the hilarious true story behind, very french:
The PLN takes you over most of the 80 ruins and POIs. Use the VFR-map to zip directly over each WP and don’t follow the spline function that often makes shortcuts. F_Alsace.PLN (10.6 KB)
Its nice in winter, add just a little bit of snow (9-10cm) so that the vineyard texture comes to good effect.
no other region can train you better in dynamic contour flying than the Norwegian Fjordland - it bests the famous UK Mach Loop by far.
Plus the PLN lets you see the tourist highlights of the area N_South.PLN (13.0 KB)
Fly with any Jet-Trainer (history buffs will take a Recce-Spitfire…) xlo-level over sea & plateaus, roll high-G inverted when going over ridges and diving into fjords, skim peaks (you will go over Norways highest) , go under bridges (well, some…), use smallest valleys and hills for cover.
With a Muscle-PC and fast Internet it will be the ride of a lifetime.
we support lakeside reindeer-camps of the first-nation Sami people (so we are allowed to land everywhere in the NPs) and bring anglers to inaccessible fishing waters inland and on the ocean. There are literally hundreds of lakes and bays for them to pick.
It starts innocuously in low swamps & woodland but will bring you into Swedens wildest NPs (too bad no bears were coming with the update as there are many) and highest mountains - and ends in the wild Lofoten islands.
1964: the Chinese are testing their first atomic bombs deep in Xinjiang Province. U-2 recon planes snapped pics and dropped isotope detector pods during hi-level overflights - but those all malfunctioned.
Now its up to you to place the dropsondes into the desert sands at low-level. LopNor2.PLN (7.6 KB)
Fly your venerable CIA DC-6 out of India (the original was N6184M from “Southern Air Transport”, so PMDGs “Northern Air Cargo” finish here is a nice irony…).
Its a 2000 nmi ride, at times you will have to crank the Lady up to 21000ft:
A direct approach is out of the question, so always stay along mountains that give you cover. Long before the target area (“custom” WP24) you have to go down to dune height to drop the string of sensors and to avoid any radars. Head straight for the protection of the hills and go home south of the Taklamakan basin to Leh in Ladakh.
Colombia is one of the most beautiful countries and a save haven for the last Douglas Props (especially Villavicencio SKVV). With this PLN you follow as a freighter pilot the Eastern Mountain Range: COL_cord_orie.PLN (5.6 KB)
You fly between the low Amazon Jungle and 18000ft peaks until the Caribbean Sea, extremely challenging airports and weather included.
A Biology PostDoc from U-Dub has hired you and your Icon for fieldwork on the rare Cascades Trout, found only locally in high mountain lakes. US_cascades.PLN (5.8 KB)
Fly her along the requested route and land on the lake WPs - some need a careful approach (e.g. Sulphide L., labeled, pic 5) but you might find tougher ones.
On the way lie some of the highest Cascades peaks (labeled) which she wants to snap for Instagram, so circle.
With “life weather”: clouds are rolling in from the Pacific at Mt. Baker (pic 6) - together with the sub-meter DEM the area is a true VFR-gem!
Not to be outdone by Chamonix, the Prefect of the wild Department des Ecrins plans for extreme ski arenas, summer ski lifts and cable-car top-stations right on his peaks.
Go on a recon trip and land with your ski-bush plane (Bush League Legends - MSFS Aircraft) on each suitable summit, glacier and snow field (some veeery sloped…) to report on the conditions.
Happy landings…
GERMANY: Cuckoo Clocks, cool girls, the Mad King and an Eagles Nest:
this is a famous scenic flight for American tourists staying in Frankfurt or Heidelberg. GER_KA_to_LOWS.PLN (5.8 KB)
We start in the air @ Karlsruhe castle (as EDTK is defunct now in RL) and continue south to the rolling hills of the Black Forest with the Rhine river to our right.
Along some distinctive promontories (Teufelsmühle, Hornisgrinde, Brandenkopf: windmills correct, antennas and towers not) we reach the central Triberg region, famous for its Cuckoo Clocks and Red Pompom Girls
Turn left at the Schauinsland lookout to the Feldberg Ski Arena and Lake Schluchsee
From there we leave the Black Forest heading east along the Wutach Gorge to Hohentwiel Castle sitting on a prominent hill.
Cruise along north shore of Lake Constance (with Mainau & Lindau Islands) to reach the Alps.
We surf now along the German-Austria-border, after two distinctive peaks (Hoher Ifen, Maedelegabel) we finally reach the Mad King Ludwig II Castles Neuschwanstein (modelled) and Linderhof (missing).
Climb to Germany’s highest peak Zugspitze (10000ft, badly modelled) and
continue between Walchensee Lake and the wild Isar River Valley to Kufstein Fortress and the jagged Wilder Kaiser ridge.
Zip over Watzmann Peak and dive down xlo-level to St. Bartholomey church on Koenigsee Lake: the steep rock faces here create a famous echo - your engines will ignite a thunderous roar all over the place.
Start out of Samedan LSZS in a southerly direction and climb towards the Bernina massif (13.333ft). With the new DEM the famous Bianco snow-ridge is clearly visible up front.
In a wide turn over the lakes we pass over glitzy St. Moritz and briefly hit the railway that tunnels under the Maloja Pass - while we have to fly over it.
Further north zip through the spans (!) of Landwasser Bridge, the wet dream of (model) railway buffs worldwide.
After reaching the Rhine Valley strike a course west and start climbing. After passing the Ski resort Flims-Laax go low over Toedi peak (12.000 ft), the most prominent watchtower in the region. Swing back towards the railway tracks in the valley left and pass along with the locomotive (MS Train simulator 2022 ?) over Oberalp Pass. Andermatt and environs is the heart of Switzerland, continue over Galenstock peak (12.000 ft) and Furka Pass.
While the railway spirals now down into the Rhone Valley we continue over lakes and rugged mountains to the Finsteraarhorn Peak (14.000ft). Great views over the biggest ice fields in the Alps and a glide down along its longest glacier, the Aletsch.
We meet the train again in Visp where the route swings south. Have some oxygen left so can skim mighty Dom Peak (15.000 ft). As Zermatt village (the Express terminus) has no Airport we circle wide around it, passing prominent peaks (Monte Rosa, Matterhorn…) only to reach via the huge dam Grande-Dixence the asphalt runway of LSGS Sion (or the challenging grassy Altiport Croix Coeur LSVE…).
Hope you’ll enjoy to this fantastic (if we can say long ridge from W to E) peaks box.
