Tonight I took the new and free Robin DR400-140B Dauphin for an evening VFR flight up the Mississippi River from KHZR (False River Regional, Pointe Coupee Parish, LA) to KHEZ(Hardy-Anders Field, Natchez, MS). The Dauphin is an upgraded version of the stock Robin DR400 Cadet with a bigger engine, different prop, and some other tweaks, so basically goes a bit faster but is still a hand-flying VFR machine with a single NAVCOM. It’s by @Dranbar and he did a very good job on it, so put your spare change in his hat if you get the chance. I much prefer this more powerful version. Great job!
The download site for this FREE plane is here: https://www.msfsaddons.org/aircraft/dr400-140b
BUT WAIT, THERE’S MORE! @DoAVitchy made a couple of very cool black-and-yellow bird-feather paintjobs for this add-on plane! FABULOUS! I prefer the one with the black nose due to sun glare, but both look great! Thing is, however, as these skins are add-ons to an add-on, installing them is a bit different. DoAVitchy’s download includes the whole base Dauphin plane itself, besides the skins for it. So, you need only download that to get the whole works. But if you already have the Daupin installed separately, follow the installation instructions provided in the link above. And again, drop your spare change in the hat for some great work.
Anyway, on with the show…
I took off from Runway 36 at KHZR, my home drome. Given the ample horsepower, and this being a non-towered field, AND me wanting to take pics, I broke the rule about not turning before reaching the end of the runway to position for this pic. Directly below the plane is the levee of the Mississippi River and all the trees north of there are really there, in the bature. But most of them are willows in real life. In the background, you can see the oxbow lake of False River (created in the early 1800s before the US Army Corps of Engineers put a stop to The River changing course, but that seems to have been a bad idea) and the town of New Roads, Pointe Coupee Parish, LA.
Not much further along, having immediately crossed the Mississippi, I looked west into the setting sun and saw Raccourci Island, a plot of land surrounded by another oxbow lake, Raccourci Old River. This got cut off in the mid-1800s. Mark Twain had a story about a steamboat that got trapped in the oxbow when this happened, and says its ghost still cruises lake looking to escape. Of more factual note, General Lejeune, Commandant of the Marine Corps, was born on Raccourci Island. And as an interesting tidbit, Raccourci Island is actually part of West Feliciana Parish, which is the land under the plane, its boundary with Pointe Coupee Parish on the other side being established by the path of The River prior to Raccourci being cut off. Also an interesting tidbit, Marine Corps Commandant General Barrow was born in mainland West Feliciana Parish. So, while this is totally “fly-over territory”, some folks of note have come from here. Thus, the approaches to the bridge connecting Pointe Coupee and West Feliciana, finished in 2011, are named for both.
KHEZ has a co-located VORTAC so it was simply a matter of flying straight there, although the old-school pendulum instrument was of less use than the HSI. For about the 1st 1/2 of the trip, I followed Big Bayou Sara to Woodville, MS. In this pic, my own house is just out of frame on the left margin. This forum’s prudeness prevents me from telling how Bayou Sara got its name.
It was easier to judge my position by the setting sun glinting off the Mississippi River than by my instruments.
In due time, KHEZ appeared more or less in front of me.
The landing was uneventful but the evening lighting was superb.
So, check out these wonderful FREE additions to MSFS! Kudos to the authors!
