What it is about:
Some people may know about the struggle with consistency and with sticking to a project even when your mind is wandering all over the place. To find a working solution and finally finish a world trip in MSFS 2020 I decided to try something new - something hillariously easy. In the past I either planned an entire route and struggled because I couldn’t deal with the restrictiveness or I didn’t plan anything and lost interest due to the lack of guidance. As easy as it sounds I never got to the point where I thought: “Perhaps just do a mix of both?” until yesterday.
Starting at the southern tip of Tasmania I will try to explore the world in a C172 Skyhawk G1000 with a semi-planned approach, which means planning only 2-4 trips in advance with the following restrictions:
- ~100nm trip length (if possible),
- acceptable weather conditions
- and some interesting POI’s on the way.
I hope both you and I will enjoy it! I finished the first two flights today and so far it feels right to me.
Table of Contents:
001: Bathurst → Triabunna.
002: Triabunna → George Town.
003: George Town → Killiecrankie.
004: Killiecrankie → Welshpool.
Bathurst (YBHB) → Triabunna (YTUA).
Difficulty: 3/5
POI’s: 4
Summary:
This first flight was the perfect start for this new project. Instead of a relaxed trip through a nice but boring landscape I got 30-38kn crosswinds, mountains and valleys galore and a perfect scenic lighting due to a bright Australian morning sun. It was breathtaking, it was exciting and my hands hurted like hell after finally touching down in Triabunna.
POI’s:
After taking off from Bathurst Harbour Airfield, which is located in the remote South-Western Wilderness, we passed Bathurst Harbour before crossing the Ray Range (1).
Just a few minutes later we saw Federation Peak (2) rising out of the clouds. Sadly I didn’t take a picture of the beautiful mountain lake just below it, but it was still a sight to behold!
Closing in on the Tasmanian state capital of Hobart we rounded the southern flank of Mount Wellington (3) - or “kunanyi” in the reconstructed Aboriginal language of Tasmania.
After rejoining our original course - which we left for “artistic” reasons, aka the beautiful scenery in Picture 3 - we crossed Derwent River in Hobart (4). Afterwards we travelled across a larger stretch of flat and forested, but otherwise unremarkable terrain before touching down in Triabunna Airport (YTUA) about 15 minutes later.
1 Like
Triabunna (YTUA) → George Town (YGTO).
Difficulty: 1/5
POI’s: 4
Summary:
Our second flight was way easier than the first one. Yet this relaxed journey through the Midlands of Tasmania and the Tamar Valley was full of beautiful views and vistas.
POI’s:
The first part of our journey wasn’t much different from first leg: We had to cross several hill ranges (although none as high as the ones in the South-Western Wilderness!) before entering the Midlands near Macquarie River (1).
The first “real” town we came across was Campbell Town (2), which turned out to be a rather sparsely-populated community in the Southern Midlands.
Launceston (3) was the second city (after Hobart) that we visited on our journey across Tasmania. Here, the Tamar Valley begins, which stretches all the way to the Northern coast of the island.
Tamar River (4) is not really a river - it is more of a joined estuary of both North and South Esk River. After following it all the way to the coast, we landed in one of the oldest European settlements in Australia: We arrived in George Town!
George Town (YGTO) → Killiecrankie (YRCK).
Difficulty: 2/5
POI’s: 4
Summary:
What began as a normal flight in the Roaring Forties became something way more challenging once we approached our destination. You see, I don’t usually check up on the airfields I’m landing at - as long as they are in range, they are viable for me. Imagine my surprise when Killiecrankie Airfield turned out to be a narrow strip of dirt cut into a dense forest where I constantly felt as if my wing tips were touching the trees…
POI’s:
As I said it started out like any other flight - nice, calm and with a beautiful sunrise in front of us. We followed the Northern coast of Tasmania east past Beechford (1) with a strong tailwind of about 40 knots.
At Double Sandy Point (2) near Bridport more and more smaller and larger bays appeared, creating a bit of a distance between our route and the land itself.
Goodbye Tasmania! This shot, which I took above Waterhouse Island (3) will be the last view of our “tutorial island” for the time being - if all goes well I intend to return here some distant day.
Crossing the Southern part of Bass Strait we arrived on Flinders Island with its airfield Flinders I (4). From here it was only a short skip over to our destination in Killiecrankie.
Killiecrankie (YKCK) → Welshpool (WHL).
Difficulty: 1/5
POI’s: 4
Summary:
As this flight consisted mostly of crossing the remaining part of Bass Strait to the Australian mainland, I left most of it to the C172’s auto pilot. Therefore it was no real challenge, except for managing my patience due to the heavy headwinds, which slowed the plane down to a crawl.
POI’s:
To put some perspective on my last post about the airfield in Killiecrankie (1): This is the aforementioned “small strip in the woods”, which is quite the challenge to land at when you can’t see it until being right on top of it. At least the take-off was smooth this time.
After a while we reached Deal Island (2), about halfway to the mainland if you take Mount Latrobe as a reference point.
About 45 minutes later we approached the coastline of Victoria (3), with Mount Hunter visible to our left and several scattered islets in front of us.
We hit the main continent at the Nooramunga Marine and Coastal Park (4) south of Welshpool. A beautiful entry point to the next step of our adventure!
1 Like
Nice plan, love the combo of planning and ad-hoc! Did you continue with it?
Sorry for the late answer. Sadly no - I had a relapse of my chronical illness and had to stop. Afterwards I didn’t really feel like flying and focussed on other stuff.
But thank you for your kind words! Perhaps I’ll start another similar project in the near future.
Sorry to hear that! I hope you can enjoy flying in good health again very soon.
