[Official] Community Fly-In Friday: Mach Loop in Fast Jets

[SeedyL3205]

An F-16 Strike Eagle from RAF Luton flies through the MacLoop in Scotland. Photographed from a Canberra.

We will be hosting an Official Fly-in alongside a group of community members (you!) on Twitch. This is an open event, free to all who would like to fly along with us and available to pilots of all skill levels. The goal is to have a great time, explore new locations of the world, and make new friends. This event is open to pilots on both the PC and Xbox platforms.

Hosted by @SeedyL3205, @Jummivana, @Pieter2427, @simtom2, and @SimFlightPro
When: Friday, June 2 @ 1800Z for two hours.
2023-06-02T18:00:00Z
Where: The Official Twitch Channel of MSFS

There will also be a Discord event channel open for those who want to voice chat with other members of the community.

Please see below for details on the upcoming Fly-In Event:

FLIGHT DETAILS

June 1 is the birthday of Sir Frank Whittle, the aeronautical engineer who invented the jet engine. The jet is arguably the most important innovation in the field of aeronautics since the Wright Brothers first flight in 1903.

In recognition of Sir Frank’s birthday, this week’s event will see us fly fast military jets departing from RAF Luton (EGGW), onward for a touch and go at Whittle’s hometown of Coventry, up north to Manchester, then south to Wales where we will fly through the famous Mach Loop, a NATO training area where pilots fly fast aircraft at low altitudes through mountain valleys.

Our flight will also include a fly-over of Portmeirion, filming location of the cult classic television series The Prisoner.

Zoomed in section of the Mach Loop:

Pilots on PC can download the .pln file below:
2023-06-02 Mach Loop.PLN (12.3 KB)

We will be starting at EGGW. Please load your aircraft 10 minutes prior to take off and taxi over to the runway in preparation for departure.

AIRCRAFT

Recommended aircraft: Boeing F/A-18 Super Hornet, L-39 Albatros, or any other fast jet of your choice.

MULTIPLAYER SETTINGS

Please adhere to the following settings so you can see everyone / be seen by everyone.

Variable	Setting
Server	SE Asia
Multiplayer	All Players
Live traffic	As preferred
Weather	Few Clouds
Time of Day	Daytime

It is advised in this flight to turn off both aircraft collisions and terrain collisions. If you do crash, you can use “slew” mode to join the pack. If the pack will be too scattered before the first stop, we will use slew on a defined point to regroup.

COMMUNICATION

To communicate with others, a voice channel on the "Official Microsoft Flight Simulator Discord” at https://discord.gg/msfs will be available to join.

LET’S FLY

This is meant to be a fun and informal flight. Everybody is welcome, no matter the amount of experience.

[Batterby76]

UMM Mr Community manager… Its an F15 Eagle. There is no such RAF Luton and… The MACHLOOP is in WALES not SCOTLAND

[Batterby76]

MSFS DC Designs F15C Mach Loop

F15 flying the Mach Loop in WALES

[Reaper7645]

As someone with Welsh heritage this hurts to read lol

[MattPMode]

RAF Luton is a spoof Twitter page😄. Also there is F18 on that picture. Taken from Canberra? I think it’s a joke😄

[Batterby76]

Also the route isn’t correct either

[Watty74]

This appears to have been thrown together by Twitter instead of being researched properly.

1, RAF Luton doesn’t and never has existed, it’s a parody Twitter page, EGGW is Luton Airport, it’s never been known as RAF Luton. Even during WW2 it was used as a training base and kept the name ‘Luton Airport’.

2, RAF Lakenheath is a more practical departure point for this flight, seeing as that’s where most real world fast jet loop flights start from, RAF Coningsby would work too but the RAF are currently banned from flying fast jets in the loop.

3, the flight plan through the loop is wrong, the entry is definitely wrong, and you appear to miss bluebell and Bwlch altogether.

I run a Facebook group dedicated to low flying and the Mach Loop in MSFS, I’d have been happy to help you set up a flight plan.

[hobanagerik]

What do you mean? I was based at RAF Luton back in the '80’s. I used to fly submarines out of there.

[Batterby76]

The event will probably be abandoned before they reach Milton Keynes due the the UNGODLY amount of RUBBER BANDING that fast jet groups experience regularly no matter which server they are using

[hobanagerik]

I don’t think anyone is expecting some formation flying on this event so it may not matter.

[Davethebrick69]

@hobanagerik

What do you mean? I was based at RAF Luton back in the '80’s. I used to fly submarines out of there

I believe they flew yellow ones back in the sixties. Sgt Pepper at the helm…

[Batterby76]

Now theres an idea…Microsoft magical mystery tour.

[Davethebrick69]

We need the Abbey rd addon for full immersion.

[Batterby76]

I need Acid for full immersion

[Davethebrick69]

Hardcore dedicated flight sim pilot right here.

You could do a Trans Atlantic all the way to Woodstock.

[LumpyAmmit]

Semi-nuclear submarines, I presume?

[Batterby76]

[thorung]

My usual contribution (not only) for XBOX/Cloud pilots.
2023-06-02 Mach Loop.txt (5.6 KB)

[OldpondGL]

Brilliant! You must be an Arsenal fan!