High mountain flying & landings

[RegentFalke4131]

Silent Running over the HINDU KUSH (25.300ft)

For 20 years drones have been present over the Afghan mountains.
Sitting in Nevada, a cool Root Beer in hand, you fly a free MQ-9 or HVN-900 over the northern frontier of the country:

starting from Kabul, first checking out the Korengal “Death” valley, then laser-mapping the highest peaks (called “Kohes” - Mondi, Tirich Mir, Noshak, Bandaka, Hevad, all higher than 20.000ft), in between some test landings on forward base strips (from the .to).

Sometimes venturing into neighbouring Pakistan & Tajikistan, finally landing in Feisabad.
Afghan_drone.PLN (5.3 KB)

[Sonicviz]

I’ve been doing a bit of high altitude STOL recently.
It seems even around 9000ft level you need to use a turbo engine STOL a/c, regular ones just don’t have enough grunt for the short strips.

[RegentFalke4131]

SOUTH AFRICA - Drakensberge (11.000ft)

We surf along the escarpment of the Drakensberg Mountains in a glider.
Put up a sailplane-friendly weather (thermals and a strong wind from the Indian Ocean) and follow the escarpment to the different rock formations (“Castles”) and the icy Sani Pass.

After landing, compare your trip to the real thing - will MSFS_2024 make a difference?:

Gliding in South Africa Drakensberg Mountains - August 2016 (youtube.com)

SA_Draken_sail.PLN (6.3 KB)

[RegentFalke4131]

NEVADA: Secrets of the High Sierra (13.150ft)

The Silver State is an important training ground for the USAF. We fly a MC-130H from Vegas to the Idaho border in a nap-of-the-earth infil/exfil exercise along its 20+ most prominent peaks (beautiful forest- and snow- patches included). Go to dune height over the desert stretches and approach Nellis AFB undetected.

More than 2000 planes have mysteriously vanished there in the so-called “Triangle” - in your Herkies vantage point you might be the first to spot lost wrecks in remote mountains.

US_Nevada.PLN (7.2 KB)

[RegentFalke4131]

SIBERIAN Bigfoot: Foray into the Chersky Range (10.000ft)

In 1957 inspired by the reports of the Yeti in the Himalayas, the Soviet Academy of Sciences became interested in the possibility of similar creatures in Siberia. They established a “Hominology Inquiry Commission” (by Drs. Porchnev, Bayanov etal ) to examine the question.

Expeditions were organised (which continue to this day…) to follow up the most promising reports of the “Almas” - as locals called the rare sightings since centuries.

Here you are dropping search parties into the wild of Yakutia with 3 Ski-AN-2s. Its springtime, the remaining snow allows to look for footprints…

And guess what - you did hit pay dirt:

USSR_sibir_almas.PLN (3.7 KB)

[SmotheryVase665]

Thanks again for posting these flightplans!

[Edit: I think some of these flights would make a great basis for new activities in MSFS 2024, depending upon the availability of an activity editor & how activities work in the new sim. Hopefully we’ll know more in September & October.]

[RegentFalke4131]

well spoken!

I always put the PLNs in a credible real-life scenario and a mission editor will substantially improve possibilities.

Also, mountains might profit most from the improved Bing/TIN/DEM-mesh - not to mention the new AI that changes (semi)-vertical faces & cliffs from a smear to real rocks.
exciting times ahead…

tally-ho!
RF

[RegentFalke4131]

LA REUNION - The Day of the Locust (10.000ft)

The steep terrain, good DEM and lush vegetation make that volcanic island a real gem in the sim.

In 1947 the villages inland were hard to reach as they are located in “Cirques”, i.e. old calderas and isolated by deep ravines.
The French Prefecture was looking for an aeropostale and flying doctor service in those pre-chopper times.
The plane of choice was the MS-505 Criquet (Locust), a copy of the German Super-STOL Fi-156 Storch (free @ the .to), available in abundance as the French produced it in large numbers.
You have to land (WPs labeled L-…) on meadows, village roads & soccer fields as there are no bush strips. It will test your pilot skills to the limits.

1. Cirque de Salazie (CdS), Piton de Neige (i.e. “Snow Peak”!), Fournaise Volcano.
   F_reunion_1.PLN (5.9 KB)
   

   
   
   
   

2. St. Pierre, Cirques de Cilaos & Mafate, Le Port
   its wild!
   F_reunion_2.PLN (4.4 KB)
   

   
   
   
   

[RegentFalke4131]

MONGOLIA: Manhunt for the mad Baron (14.000ft)

Roman von Ungern-Sternberg was a German-Estonian-Russian General: in the wake and chaos of the russian revolution he became a warlord who conquered Mongolia in 1920.
Due to his outright sadism he was called the “mad” or “bloody” Baron.

Roman von Ungern-Sternberg

In 1921 Bolshevik army units defeated his troops - he tried to escape through the Mongolian Mountains, avoiding the caravan routes. It didn’t work out…

You fly a biplane (free Brequet as a replacement for the real DH-4/DH-9s of the fledgling Red Airforce) on a scouting mission to find him and his remaining band of horsemen on the run. Climb early to make the high passes!

Mongol_baron.PLN (3.8 KB)

[RegentFalke4131]

“and then there was … KOREA” (9000ft)

most of us remember that intro of the movie MAS*H by “Hawkeye Pierce”!
Throughout the K-war, the US was using C-46, C-47, B-29 & HU-16 to secretly parachute agents & commandos deep into enemy territory.
The peninsula is mountainous, ideal for these lo-level classified flights.

1. Summer 1950
   South Korea has been largely overrun by enemy forces, the US-perimeter is barely clinging around the city Pusan.
   From there, drop various teams into the wild (WPs), upon return check if we can use tropical Jeju-Do island (with Hallasan volcano, pic) as a fallback position, just in case we are kicked out…
   
   

Korea_south.PLN (4.0 KB)

2. Winter 1952
   the front has stabilized near the old parallel, its time to put agents up north towards the Manchurian border - mysterious Changbai “Heaven” Crater Lake is just one drop zone:
   
   

Korea_north.PLN (4.0 KB)

Upon return calm down with a dry Martini but: “without the olive it just doesn’t make the grade” - your co-pilot “Trapper” John McIntyre opens a can:

[RegentFalke4131]

Isotopes drifting over TAJIKISTAN (18.000ft)

Sep.9th 1949: a WB-29 of the secret “Air Force Office of Atomic Energy Squadron” sampled strange isotopes in the air over the Bering Straits. They could have come from a sowjet A-bomb test - but this was expected by the experts only many years later.

So a clandestine overflight of the USSR was approved to get more data. The CIA assumed the nuclear facilities being somewhere in Kazakhstan. In order to come closer, a new AFOAES civilian-marked DC-6 was used - for plausible deniability, just in case.

The flight started in neutral Afghanistan and went lo-level backcountry and then hide-and-seek along the mighty peaks of the Pamir mountains in what is today’s Tajikistan.
https://nsarchive2.gwu.edu/nukevault/ebb286/index.htm

Based on its collected radio-chemical traces, President Truman went public on Sep 23rd:
“The Russians got it”. Stalin actually had managed to detonate his first A-bomb - the world would never be the same again.

TAJIK_a_bomb.PLN (5.0 KB)

[RegentFalke4131]

ARAB PENINSULA 12.000 ft

for more than half a century this wild area is part of air activities:

1. 1974 Oman:
   British BAC Strikemaster Trainers (here the Fouga, you can take e.g. the T-33, or free T-37) were used against the so-called Dhofar Rebels.
   We do a 5-canyon-hugging flight to learn how to avoid the SAM-7 manpads.

OMAN_DHOFAR.PLN (4.0 KB)

2. 2024 Jemen:
   local militias are firing missiles on ships in the Red Sea. We use a Reaper drone to recon possible hidden launch sites along the escarpments and to obtain SIGINT information.
   Get close to the capital Saana, while hiding behind Jabal Hadhur, the highest mountain of the peninsula.

JEMEN_DRONE.PLN (2.5 KB)

[RegentFalke4131]

MOROCCO: Rif Mountains 8100ft

Farmers in the Rif are proud of producing the best Cannabis in the world. Although the king has semi-legalized it, the cultivation has to be controlled. Take a STOL-plane from the National Observatory on Drugs and Addiction (ONDA) and fly low along the ridges to snap pictures and land a couple of times for ground inspections.
Jebel Tidirhine, the highest peak:

MAROC_rif.PLN (3.5 KB)

[RegentFalke4131]

MONTANA: Budworm spraying, 12800 ft

Since the 1940s aerial spraying is used to control the spruce budworm epidemic in the US and Canada.
Planes involved were Trimotors, Warbirds and Big Props, take your pick from these photos:
https://www.goodall.com.au/photographs/aerial-ag-usa70/70saerialag.html
https://www.goodall.com.au/warbirds-directory-v6/fire-bombers-1/usairtankers3.html
(+ 7 more pages, amazing stuff for livery-makers!)

For decades, hundreds of the small versatile Stearman biplanes were the principal sprayer - they could operate from any short strip and in tight spots like remote Montana mountain valleys - as we do now:

US_Mont_budworm.PLN (5.4 KB)

Of course the PLN is also interesting for Bronco and Skymaster fire spotters

[RegentFalke4131]

CARPATHIAN MOUNTAINS (8400ft)

1933: Irina Burnaia was a Romanian aviatrix famous for her pioneer flights over her native Carpathians and to Africa.

We follow in her wake the big mountain arc of the Balkans. Her IAR-22 plane will most likely never hit the Sim, so we have to adapt.

Unfortunately there had never been a WU of the region but the landscape is not bad.

ROMAN_carpathia.PLN (3.9 KB)

[SmotheryVase665]

Hi @RegentFalke4131,
I’ve started this flight, though for the benefit of others, the (2020?) flight plan you provided does not work with 2024 (its OK with LittleNavMap though).

The plane I chose was the default Curtis Jenny - the closest to that time period that I thought fitted the mood of the flight.

Note that in 2024, the Smolnik airstrip is sloped, so if you choose the Jenny & cold-n-dark, make sure you spawn on the north side of 13, otherwise, since the Jenny has no brakes, your aircraft will roll down the hill and into the trees at the bottom before you can get into it!

Taking off…

Heading off over hills and dales (sort of):

Rugged country, and habitations are few:

At Jenny’s top speed and fuel capacity, you can’t make this trip in one flight. I decided to end my flight near waypoint 1. The map showed a small cabin down by the river. Maybe I could stay there overnight?

Cabin looks good, but no way can I land the Jenny in this clearing in the woods:

There was aanother cabin a few miles further back on the route that I noticed:

Let’s try here. On approach. The clearing is dead ahead:

Tricky, but doable. You just have to apply full right rudder before hitting the trees at the end of the clearing!

[SmotheryVase665]

Leg 2
After taking off from Hut #1, a short 30 NM brings me to my second stop (it was dinner time in RL):

A small hamlet way up in the mountains:

After dinner, onwards to my next stop: Dumbrava:

Waypoint #4, ahead, is by the mountain massive peaked by Stanca lui Corbai & Om Bunom Rau:

I decided to detour off the route and land at Dumbrava (LRVBS), a short distance past the massive. On the way, one passes over Lacul Izvorul Muntelui, created by damming the Bistrita river:

Passing over the town of Piatra Neamt:

One reaches the small airstrip on the outskirts of town:

which seems to host the local glider club, if MSFS 2024 is to be believed:

[SmotheryVase665]

Leg 3
This was a challenging day. With Live Weather enabled, winds were between 45-55 knots from the NNW.

Shortly after takeoff from Dumbrava:

With a cruise speed of ~ 55 knots, the Jenny has a hard time in these winds. I found that I was crabbing into the wind the entire flight. Scenery was picturesque, though:

I follow DC180A past Zemes to Moinesti, then pick up DN2G and DN12A south. At Darmanesti, I continue south, crossing DN11 at Harja. This heading brings me to waypoint 6, where I turn to 207 degrees to get to waypoint 5.

Another course correction to 222 degrees should bring me to waypoint 4, but the winds are so strong at this point that I’m having a hard time keeping on course.

This is Varful lui Crai (1,472m). At this point the Jenny is acting more like a glider than an aircraft. I’m riding the ridgelift wherever possible to keep altitude:

Turning to 270 degrees at waypoint 4, I have choice to make. Hope to find a landing spot in the hamlet of Manastirea Suzana 2 miles ahead, or try to get over the ridge behind it (with Mt. Grohotis at 1,768m) and land at the slightly larger village of Predelus. I’m feeling lucky, so choose the latter!

I’ve got to get over this ridge, but the wind is against me:

This is my actual route:

I’m blown way off-course & to the south, and end up managing to scrape over the ridge at a spot 200m lower:

A rapid decent on the other side brings me to Predelus:

The only flat spot to land is the road!

Touchdown:

Let’s hope a friendly villager will put me up for the night:

[SmotheryVase665]

Leg 4
Well, there was a storm overnight, but it cleared earlier this morning, so time to head west:

But first things first - clear the runway!:

Shoo! Shoo!

We leave the sheep to their grazing…

And start the long, slow climb to the pass where DN7C tunnels under Lezerul Caprei (2,418m):

The Jenny has a hard time climbing at these altitudes. Sometimes it is easier to just go around a mountain than over it:

But we have to get to at least 8,200 ft to get over the mountains in the distance:

It is rugged territory:

Once over the summit, it is a short distance to the village of Lazeret and the railway station at Valea Fratelui.

This made a good mid-air stop for this leg. I’ll resume airborne here to start Leg 5 of the flight…

[SmotheryVase665]

Leg 5
Resuming from where we left off yesterday, it should only take an hour or so to reach our destination: the airport at Caransebes (LRCS). The winds, though out of the west still, are light - below 10 Knots - so should not slow us down too much:

Clouds look a bit odd today:

Lake Vidro on the left makes a good reference point to aim for on the first part of our flight:

Next up is the town of Petrosani. Can’t miss it if the weather is cooperating:

Peleaga at 2,509m is the last of the mountains we have to get over. There is a coll to the left of the peak we can slip through. It’s all downhill from here!:

Lake Marul makes a good point to start planning our descent:

Airport in sight!:

Safe and sound at Caransebes:

Total flight time, according to the MSFS logbook, was 9 hrs 16 minutes.