Me and @CuzDawg3 like to get drunk and fly in bad weather using inappropriate planes. We hit the jackpot on that last night as it happened that a short-lived tropical cyclone named Gombe, classified as a Moderate Tropical Storm, was just then coming ashore on the east coast of Madagascar. So naturally, this was a job for the CTLS (or is it really a CTSL?), an LSA without even an attitude indicator We flew from FMNH south towards FMMS, our route taking us through the north eyewall over the Masoala Peninsula, then across the eye over the mouth of Helodrano Antongila Bay, then through the south eyewall over the northern part of ĂŽle Sainte-Marie.
It was nice enough at FMNH as this wasn’t a particularly big storm and there were fewer rain bands on the north side.
Soon, we started entering the various rain bands but, before we did, we got a look at the massive Masoala National Park which covers most of the peninsula. This is supposed to all be virgin jungle yet it appears the natives have been doing a lot of slash-and-burn agriculture here.
And then we had to penetrate several INTENSE rainbands, which largely obscured the hilltops. An attitude indicator would have been nice
As we proceeded south, the winds picked up and the rain bands thicker and more intense, with the sky no longer really clear between them. But there were some pretty sights.
Finally, we got to the northern eyewall and I got just a hair too high and lost all visual references, and also got upset by the strong winds. I tried using @CuzDawg3 's nameplate as an attitude indicator but that didn’t last long as I started spinning and lost sight of him.
I managed to stop the spin by watching the magenta line on the map spinning around but had by then lost too much altitude and hit a hill. Somehow, @CuzDawg3 managed to stay alive. Kudos to him
So, I restarted at FMMS and headed north to meet him. The battle through the south eye wall was intense but, as the island is pretty low and flat, I could stay at treetop level just off the beach. FMMS is at the south end of the island and just as I broke out into the eye near the north end, I spotted FMAD airstrip, which I noted as a potential diversion location. It was then in the clear.
Pretty soon I met the indomitable @CuzDawg3 still heading south. Somehow he’d made through that monstrous pile of obscured mountains in the background.
But the storm had been moving west all this time, so going back across the eye had its rough moments.
We decided FMAD would be the better part of valor so headed towards it. As it happened, @CuzDawg3 got there just before me and was able to land no problem. But as you can see, the SW part of the eyewall was RIGHT AT the edge of the field.
By the time I’d swung base to final, the eyewall was over the field and I couldn’t see ANYTHING. It was amazing how fast conditions changed.
I made 4 attempts to land at FMAD but couldn’t see the runway at all until too late to line up with it. So I just followed the west coast of the island down to FMMS. @CuzDawg3 was able to take off and join me.
This was largely a repeat of my previous trip north up the east side of the island. We flew at treetop level just far enough off the beach to navigate by the trees on shore.
This was a long, rather intense leg but eventually we reached FMMS and the weather there was quite good at that moment, so we wasted no time getting down.
Anyway, that was quite a lot of fun. I found it interesting that this Southern Hemisphere storm spun the opposite direction from the storms I’m used to on the US Gulf Coast, and the game depicted that. Anyway, I’ve been hunting hurricanes in MSFS since the alpha and I think their realism has improved over time. Gombe here I think was the most realistic I’ve flown in yet.
After this misadventure, we tried private races at Reno in all classes, in which @CuzDawg3 beat me consistently. He was obviously cheating by not drinking enough during our whole evening. But hey, that new private race system works quite well and is a lot of fun. Highly recommended!
Anyway, thanks to @CuzDawg3 for a good time last night!