I took the Fenix A320 for my very first flight yesterday. It was a very scenic evening flight from Calgary (YYC) to Vancouver (YVR), and I took the chance to try it with my brand-new custom W.I.P livery.
Today’s flight time was about 1hr 20min, with fantastic weather at Calgary, and some rain/showers expecting me in Vancouver.
Departure time was at 7:01pm (Mountain Time), 7 minutes behind schedule.
I eventually pushed back and departed YYC from RWY 35R. The clear skies made for a stunning view of the Calgary skyline far off in the distance.
It wasn’t long until I reached the Rocky Mountains. This is when the flight got quite bumpy! I had the seatbelt sign on for most of this flight, but the sights were spectacular!
It wasn’t long until I started my descent into Vancouver. The winds had shifted so I had to rework my approach from RWY 26L to RWY 08L, and this sort of messed up my flightplan. It would still get me close enough to intercept the ILS beacon though, so it wasn’t too bad. Nonetheless, the sky definetely got more intimidating as I began my approach to YVR, but the couple of breaks in the clouds here and there made for fantastic landscapes and scenic views!
I punched through the clouds and flew out over the Straight of Georgia before turing to line up for RWY 08L and intercept the ILS. The sun was setting and it made for a very cool reflection over the water.
I lined up and landed at YVR, but quite hard at -430 fps! Not my best landing! I taxied around the International Terminal and arrived at my gate just 2 minutes behind schedule, at 7:27pm, pacific time.
All in all, the Fenix A320 is a phenomenal add-on. Having recently flown on an A320-200, I must say the sounds are almost spot on, albiet a but dull. I’ll definelty fly this bird some more to get used to its more detailed systems and mechanisms.