random ops today
Mc Ghee Tyson (KTYS) to Charlotte (KCLT) in the default Heart es30, flight time was 1 hour and 15 minutes
Random ops today
Default Cessna 408 from Charlotte (KCLT) to Orlando (KMCO), flight time was 1 hour and 47 minutes
Southwest ops today
Flew a Boeing 737 max 8 from Orlando (KMCO) to Rochester (KROC), flight time was 2hours and 50 minutes
I’ve long wanted to do a Lower 48 tour, but never got around to establishing a route that I liked. The other day, I discovered Randal Olson “Optimal Roadtrip Across the U.S.” While the “roads” I’ll use are the skies, this has provided a good basic outline and plenty of opportunity to use many different kinds of planes, from the humble Comanche, all the way up to the A320 or 737. Olson bases his stops on national parks and various national monuments. For the purposes of my trip, I’ll find an airport close to his suggested destinations, and perhaps do a bit of sightseeing along the way. In case anyone else wants to do something similar:
https://www.randalolson.com/2015/03/08/computing-the-optimal-road-trip-across-the-u-s/
On the first leg, I flew the C400 Corvallis, what I like to term my “Sunday afternoon driver”, just a fun and stylish little plane to take a short trip. We started at Grand Canyon airport and went up to Bryce Canyon airport. The highlights for this leg were, of course, the Grand Canyon itself as well as the Vermillion Cliffs, a wonderful place to see in person if you ever get the chance:
After landing at the small Bryce Canyon airport, I hopped in the Citation Longitude for the trip up to Pocatello, ID, near Craters of the Moon National Monument. Out of all the small jets, I think the engine sounds on the Longitude are my favorite, and boy does she climb fast!
Flew the archer midnight from Greater Rochester (KROC) to Dansville municipal (KDSV)
MSFS 2024 - I’ve just flown in to KGPT (Biloxi Mississippi) in a Live weather thunderstorm in Fenix A320, must admit I was impressed by the lightning and sounds of thunder, as well as the rain on the windscreen. Clouds aren’t looking as good as I’ve seen in the past though. Seems like a few years since I’ve seen lightning in MSFS. I resisted MSFS 2024 due to reviews, but finally made the switch when SU4 was released. Haven’t flown 2020 since. I do miss the Bush Trips though, hope they re-instate them in 2024 before too long.
Flew from Dansville (KDSV) to Ovid NY (D82), in the Curtis c46
She’s surprisingly pleasant to fly, isn’t she.
It was fun, I had to get airborne earlier than normal because I got a severe thunderstorm watch notification on my phone for my NY county (I only fly with live weather) and taxing the c46 was actually interesting, the airport I landed at is a little finger-lakes farm town (that i would completely move to), but the aircraft was really fun to fly and I noticed there was a sound improvement to it
But I think I put myself more in the storms path based on where they are moving on the map