I got three full flights in over the past two days, all in the Fokker 28, and all in parts of the world I hadn’t yet explored in MSFS. Flying internationally in FS9 and FSX was never really fulfilling. The world in those simulators was a quilt of endlessly repeating autogen scenery that looked the same no matter where in the world you flew. Now, to see the world as it really appears in MSFS is a real treat!
My first flight was between Durban, South Africa (FALE) and Matsapha, Eswatini (FDMS). This route was flown in the late 1970s by SAA’s fleet of HS.748s. Thanks to BigMacDYU at flightsim.to, we have a complete set of fictional Fokkers in early and late 1970s SAA liveries. I substituted Mk. 2000 ZS-SBF.
Be still my beating heart! I love a good cheatline, bright colors, and especially bare metal. You can keep your boring white paint, boring logos, and blocky “AIRLINE.COM” labels on the fuselage. Of BigMacDYU’s set, I preferred the more retro “early 1970s” SAA look, but based on the Mk. 2000’s potential delivery date, this scheme is more accurate.
Navigating to Matsapha was difficult, since there’s a distinct lack of usable navaids enroute. That’s one drawback to the Fokker and other golden oldies in MSFS: using GPS is historically inaccurate, but the number of ground-based navaids is dwindling.
Next I jumped into Royal Swazi National Airways’ Mk. 3000 3D-ALN at Matsapha and continued on to Lusaka (FLKK). All the cities to which Royal Swazi flew in 1979 are available for download at flightsim.to, with the notable exception of Johannesburg. (Actually, I noticed a distinct lack of scenery for South Africa, period. I’d love to explore there, but the generic airports in Africa are…uh…not very good.) Thanks to Fab10 for this beautiful skin!
Somewhere over Zimbabwe at FL230. ALN reportedly holds the unfortunate distinction of being the only airliner ever to be hijacked twice, once in the Seychelles and once enroute to Eswatini. I have no way of verifying that claim, but given Royal Swazi’s tiny fleet and the general unrest in that part of the world during the 1970s and 80s, it’s certainly plausible!
Formerly known as Swaziland, Eswatini is very small. I crossed the country’s border well before reaching my cruising altitude! Over one million people live in this tiny nation that is barely the size of South Florida.
All buttoned up at Lusaka. It appears that ALN spent very few nights at Matsapha, overnighting instead at airports around the system. I wonder if the crews were out-station based?
Today I flew Air New South Wales’ VH-FKD to Norfolk Island (YSNF) from Sydeny (YSSY). Stretched to the limit with payload and fuel for a distant alternate airport at Noumea, I had to plan this flight using long range cruise data. It was a long flight at barely 350 knots true airspeed (I’m used to clipping along at 480).
Passing over scenic Lord Hower island. Even in this modern age of realiable jet engines, there’s always a sense of relief when land comes into view after a long overwater leg.
Speaking of long overwater legs… The only reference to New South’s flights to Norfolk indicate that FKD was modified specifically for the route. I’m sure the modifications included the optional center fuel tank, and I assume they also included long-range communications equipment (HF radios, likely), life rafts, and possibly a long-range navigation system like LORAN or OMEGA, or possibly even a navigator. For this leg I activated the optional GNS, but still completed all my own calculations.
Who needs a navigator? My “cockpit” while enroute, with cruise charts, navigation data, calculator, and my trusty CR-3 at the ready. What you can’t see is the cat sleeping in my lap! 
I flew the 10 DME arc to the VOR Runway 11 approach. After 2:45 block time, I arrived at the gate having burned within 200 kilograms of my planned burn. For a MSFS model, that’s impressive accuracy!
What a beautiful place! The Norfolk Pines watching over the terminal are spectacular.
New South’s canary colors were certainly distinctive, especially when compared to the boring “Eurowhite” livery on the competition 
(Qantas’s livery in the early 1980s wasn’t bad, but that’s the nature of mixing old and new aircraft in MSFS!)
I’m really enjoying the Fokker! Tomorrow I’ll be “delivering” one of SAA’s Mk. 1000s from Amsterdam to Johannesburg, a multi-stage flight that will likely take a few days. For now, have a great night and keep the stories and photos coming! 