Lol
Is that a forklift out there 
nice shots!
Floaty’s Adventure; I am ‘Not’ flying around the World…not never ever.
It is the Holiday season and no one wants to work anymore. So I thought, fly a little. Just a short trip from Melbourne to Phillip Island. 20 mins at the most. But now (4 days later) I am in Queensland. How did that happen?
I think I get an ‘F’ in navigation. Looking a the Fuel-Truck… I am not the only one who does not know when to stop.
3 Likes
- Heading out of Philiadelphia to New York (Spirit) on a very cloudy night
- Small test flight over Calicut (Air India) on a gorgeous evening
Cheers,
Nish
1 Like
Hi, this is the Carenado Mooney M20 Ovation. Fantastic plane and for a low-winged plane very easy and stable to fly. The other plane with the four engines is the PMDG Cloudmaster.
Admiring the beauty and perfection of the PMDG Cloudmaster.
The super-complex engine management and the possibility of engines getting damaged or even destroyed when handling in a wrong way (instead of simpleton F4 full-throttle until landing and nothing is ever getting damaged) is everything I ever wanted. Maybe PMDG will even put a similar turbine management flight engineer function in their 737! 
And look how the hull has more or less cargo loaded depending on how much tons of cargo is loaded:
Even fully empty cargo bay is possible:
And of course the hydraulic dampers of the gear compress and the whole airframe goes down a foot or two when the airplane is fully loaded.
When the engines take damage, they perform not so well anymore… In this case engine Nr. 2 has taken serious damage (Nr. 1 also, but not as severe as number two)
Well it´s still running and has 500rpm less power on the propeller on idle and on full throttle even more, but delivering that cargo is too important and the engine will get overhauled on the destination airport.
As long as it´s running it will probably be fine, or maybe not and it will fail which is even BETTER because it makes that flight through the thunderstorm even more exciting!
Preparing for take-off.
Oh wait maybe let us jettison some fuel to compensate for that damaged engine before taking off. Jettison a thousand gallons and just throwing one palette of cargo overboard will be enough - better be on the safe side if that engine fails during climb and reduce some weight!
Aaaand down to 2000 gallons with tank number two, the rain will wash away that puddle on the runway in half an hour if the fuel is not too oily:
That´s why runways have grass on the side - for better fuel jettison without someone noticing!
But now we are good to go!
Thank you for flying PMDG.
This is the BEST airplane one can buy, endless possibilities endless system depth and functions, endless realism, the possibility of aircraft systems getting damaged or even destroyed when not handled correctly.
The only thing that I miss is flaps getting stuck (or even blown away) when extended during too high speed just like in DCS.
In one of Rob`s videos yesterday I have learned that the descent of the Cloudmaster is primarely controlled by flaps and speed and not by engine power, a smooth descent is even possible with cruise power when the flaps are far out.
It should be possible of having flaps getting stuck or even destroyed when becoming too fast with extended flaps or when releasing them during too high speeds. For even more A2A perfection in a PMDG plane.
PMDG is slowly becoming A2A + PMDG in one airplane development team which means PMDG is the new best developer out there.
I hope PMDG somehow manages to put some of these interesting engine and maintenance options in a turbine-driven plane like the 737, that would be the best of the best.
At least a core-lock should be possible when overheating N2, vibrations leading to the destruction of the turbine in icing conditions, compressor surging and stalling, flame-out in the combustion chamber ring (by whatever causes a flame-out I am not an expert in turbines but PMDG hopefully will give me enough knowledge and true to the core study-level handbooks to become a hobby flight engineer with a great knowledge about plane systems when their 737 is released!)
5 Likes
“Forklift 2 5, ready for departure.”
3 Likes
I flew the Cessna 172 with the Garmin Glass Cockpit from Cape Fear Regional (KSUT) to Bristol-Johnson City-Kingsport (KTRI). I am still working out how to add approaches into the Garmin (a bit of a weird thing, I think, since I’m on the Xbox and don’t use a keyboard or mouse)—managed to land without much approach help.
“This is the BEST airplane one can buy, endless possibilities endless system depth and functions, endless realism, the possibility of aircraft systems getting damaged or even destroyed when not handled correctly.”
Nicely said.
But honestly? Are you a glutton for punishment? The PMDG Cloudmaster needs four hands to fly it.
Someone unnamed wrote this;
“The DC-6 encountered a sizable amount of accidents throughout the 50 plus years of operation. There is not only one notable reason since the accidents were caused by a number of different circumstances, pilot error, and or fatigue, explosion on board, propeller reversed, airport failed to turn on the landing lights, inclement weather, loss of control caused by extreme turbulence, false fire alarm, midair collision with private single engine airplane, the list goes on and on. Sadly we don’t know the reason for every single crash that occurred from 1947 through 2000.”
Me says; (jokingly) ‘Yea…Glutton for punishment…’ 
Have fun!.
Wow, this is going to be so much fun!
I’m going to fly the whole weekend. Or maybe the whole rest of the year.
4 Likes
I got one in XP11. The Kodiak is an Expert plane. It does not respond very well to mistakes made by the Pilot. Apart from that… It has a T.P. Engine… not really my favorite engine type.
Still, it is an excellent Aircraft for the right people.
I stick with my floaty.
1 Like
Well thank you for considering me an expert, I personally wouldn’t go so far. But I will definitely not fly anything but the Kodiak for the time being.
A continuation of our tour up from Quito, Ecuador. This time from Aruba to St Martin.
ORBCARIBE66
TNCA-TNCM 2050Z
A20N
FL390
M0.78
Only problems throughout flight was the strange behaviour at the RNAV approach at final approach fix, then aircraft parked too close to taxiway.
From here not sure to head south to Barbados then French Guyana, Brazil, Argentina finally Ushuaia, or alternatively up USA into NE Canada, Greenland, Iceland UK? Which one would you do and why?
I will go first to South America. Why? Personal opinion:
Missing a Continent is not a complete world tour to me.
After that," USA, Canada, Greenland, Iceland, UK.
Why? Range is a problem, even with my Cub-float having a 40 Gal Turtle tank equipped. I can not cross the Pacific. The availability of Aviation-Gas is also a problem. So the only route for me is the C-G-I-UK route. Else I would go through Russia and China. But outside the US and Europe AVGAS is seldom available.
2 Likes
Doing my first real flight in 787, from Twin Falls Idaho to Portland Oregon. Trying to the 300 mile trip to get the achievement since I have done that in a prop and jet.
3 Likes
Just another day in Antarctica, flying cargo runs between Rothera and Ushuaia Airport…
Make good progress across the ocean / Drake Passage, but then when you hit the ice shelf, your ground speed drops by about 40kts. Its a long, remote flight. It is fun though, you need to dial back the power across the ocean stretch, saving fuel, then crank it up over land. It really sucks more fuel than you expect.
Hoping to pickup a larger aircraft soon - maybe the DC6, but need to attempt a test landing, as the run way is slighter shorter than the minimum for the aircraft… it may not be suitable.
I got a mission at Rothera to deliver urgent medical supplies, but there aren’t any in this part of the world, so I’m building a small factory in Ushuaia to make them. Then I can transport those across as well.
Been lucky with weather so far, no snow or bad visibility, maybe this is a typical summer in Antarctica? however, I do have 34kt wind gusts at Rothera itself with 42kts on the approach, but it will be a tail wind. Have to watch my speed, luckily its not a cross wind.
I tried to lookup the wind maximums for the Embraer EMB 110, to make it fairly realistic, but I can’t find them…
1 Like
Done some more practice with the Reno planes today! Starting up my A32NX now 
Paid for my earlier “been lucky with the weather” comment, zero visibility, even at 500ft, overshot the runway with 2% fuel remaining but had no choice as couldn’t see it, and there is no ILS or RNAV here.
Banked it around very low to retain some visibility and somehow got it down, on the runway. It wasn’t pretty, it was smooth, but not a nice approach. Couldn’t see anything! Landed in a blizzard and very low visibility. Great fun! need to improve my fuel management, until I can afford something better.
Could I land a DC6 in that weather? no way. Not sure what other aircraft I could use with the range and short runway capability, will have to stay with the EMB 110 for a while.
Weather “cleared up” a bit here… a bit…
2 Likes
‘Floaty’, the Aircraft that will Not fly around the World.
Okay… I decided on an around the World tour. But ‘Floaty’ is not up to the task. Why? Because of this!
‘AVGAS Availability’.
For this reason I regretfully sold my trusted Cub and bought ‘DANG’
Why a DA 40 NG? Because of this…
"DA 40 NG Fuel grades
Jet A-1, Jet A, TS-1 (Russia, Ukraine), RT (Russia, Ukraine), No. 3 Jet Fuel (China), JP-8"
I guess that if things really get to the crunch I can buy a few gallons of Vodka and fly on that.
So…good by ‘Floaty’ and Hello ‘DANG’ I will leave Australia tomorrow and make for PNG. After that to Indonesian and Bali. After that…wherever the wind blows…
3 Likes
Congratulations on a successful ‘low visibility’ Landing. Now, do not get frostbite 
2 Likes