Leg 7 of Canada → Israel trip in the PC-6! I’m in greenland now, but its not so green haha. Not many airports around here so I improvised with some Skis crossing the Labrador sea was a really long trip, I did.. murder the engine on the way there, seriously, lost all oil pressure & engine power. I was able to glide to my destination, though! Anyways, that was yesterday. I got an engine flown in overnight and the maintenance crew worked tirelessly to get it swapped for my next leg, which was today.
I took the Pilot’s Boeing 314 Clipper for a sunset ride, and everything was going perfectly. Lovely update, by the way. But, I touched the mixture lever with the mouse, and my engines promptly quit. I made a nice emergency landing in the unnerving quiet of the windmilling props.
We continued our exploration of the Oregon countryside in the PC-6 on a crisp northwest morning. Following the Deschutes River beginning at 075 Grass Valley, we stopped at several small (fictional) bush strips along the way.
After our final stop on Miller Island, however, the unthinkable happened: total engine failure. I’m pretty sure it was my fault, over-torquing the old girl. We were about 6 miles out from KDLS, Columbia Gorge Regional, but by that point only had about 1500 feet of elevation and started dropping fast. I did my best to reduce drag, but there was no way we were going to make it to the airport. Luckily, the PC-6 is made for unconventional landings, and I was able to find a clear field. Sure, it was a bit bumpy, but we came to a stop right-side up.
Max, however, didn’t flinch one bit during the entire ordeal. Good dog.
The first time I took my drone out was a night to day flight from Dallas to Saskatoon, so I didn’t really have much to enjoy, as you can’t see a lot flying at night.
This time I thought I would launch my drone from Saskatoon and go to Winnipeg while I swung by Regina. I never really played with the drone until this flight and I learned that when you’re doing almost 700 knots trying to pull a sharp corner will result in you dropping out of the sky like a toilet 10/10 times. Ask me how I know
I had to reset the drone twice, and this was all to get a picture of the Saskatchewan Roughriders Football Stadium
Sapporo Okadama to Niigata. Learned a lot about how Say Intentions and how it uses the call sign information, requiring me to test things out before starting the flight. The airline I flew is TOKI, but TOK made the plane a Papua New Guinea livery, heck it even fooled FSLTL and Flightaware, which had Papua New Guinea ATRs in several parking places at Niigata. Sheesh.
Took my Global Hawk home after trying it out in the US during the last two days. This evening I flew it from Leipzig-Halle to Gdynia-Kosakowo, a naval air base north of Gdansk. This might have been one of the most relaxing experiences in my flight sim career. Just leaning back and watching the ground cam for about an hour.
Departing from my last off-airport landing, well i didn’t check the weather, but decided against my better judgement to just go for it. 40 knot winds, complete snow storm. It worked out, though! Got to hand it to the PC-6. Taking off into the wind, not sure I even needed throttle, it just came right off the ground in what seemed like less than 50 feet.
Found a small patch of ok weather, descended down and it looked suitable.
I’d say the landing went well considering the conditions, had to carry a lot of speed into this one. quite tricky
And then setup my camp site and tucked in for the night. -30 up here!
Continued our exploration of Oregon, this time in the south. Taking off in the Caravan from Medford, we came up to Calvert Peak (OR73) and Winkle Bar (OR74), some great add-ons which tempted me to stick around for a while and relax next to the river. Alas, the ocean was calling, so we headed up and out (at a fairly steep climb) from Winkle then over to Brookings for a few days of rest and relaxation.
First flight in the Black Square Caravan and so far loving it as a bush plane. The field of view is wonderful and she handles like a champ both in the ground and in the air. Doesn’t stop quite as fast as some of my other bush planes, but I’m still getting the hang of her systems, so I suspect that will improve with time. I think I’ll be taking this one out quite often when I go on bush trips!
crossing the Labrador sea was a really long trip, I did.. murder the engine on the way there, seriously, lost all oil pressure & engine power. I was able to glide to my destination, though! Anyways, that was yesterday. I got an engine flown in overnight and the maintenance crew worked tirelessly to get it swapped for my next leg, which was today.
