What started out as a simple ‘delivery flight’ from Toulouse to Basel after the A310 release, has since evolved into a ‘round-the-world flight without a clear route. Completed the longest leg (so far) yesterday - 6h50’ from Ushuaia, Argentina to Malvinas on Easter Island, Chile. The latter has a regular direct schedule from Santiago de Chile with LATAM Chile’s 787-9, which I’d like to fly in Sim as soon as an AAU improving the default 787-10 hits.
Captions below the pictures:
Loading up the A310 in SAWH/Ushuaia. 159 PAX, a combined cargo/payload of 28500kg and 41100kg block fuel for the 6h45’, 2513nm flight - flawlessly imported from simbrief via the aircraft-intern ACARS menu.
Pushback, off we go. The Simulación Extrema Ushuaia scenery adds a really nice terminal and even some whales breaching on the nearby shore!
Left turn over the USU VOR towards SUNLI on the USU2B departure, escaping cloudy and windy Patagonia before leaving the South American mainland behind.
Four hours into the pacific ocean. Not a single land mass or traffic in sight. The A310 absolutely aces the LRC and stays well within the projected fuel burn limits. At this point, I was listening to Gustavo Santaolalla’s “De Ushuaia a La Quiaca” on repeat - it really captured the mood of peacefully cruising over the Pacific Ocean.
Finally, 6h30’ into the flight - land ho!
A310 captured the LOC/GS without a hitch, giving me some time to snap an outside drone shot of its hawkish silhouette when fully configured.
Welcome to SCIP/Malvinas, Easter Island. Another rather nice scenery by Simulación Extrema, even has a Chilean Air Force KC-135 parked on the military apron side.
Aaand that’s 6h50’ of air time covered! Started the descent wayyy too early and wasted around 2.5t of fuel, but hey, we’re allowed to learn in the sim.
Disembarkation and cargo offload in progress. Let’s see where the A310 takes me next…
Next on the list will probably be a flight to Papeete, French Polynesia before finally continuing onwards to Auckland. But this is a story for another day. For now, I’m just very happy and lucky to operate flights like these on my Series X - the A310 is an incredible blessing. If a fraction of the WASM aircraft are as stellar as the A310 is, us Xbox simmers are in for a treat after SU12.