Alaska touring...

[petermcleland]

Here are a bunch of shots that I took today as I continue my tour:-


Continuing on from Juneau Airport I dropped into Juneau Harbour which has a seaplane landing area.


Taking off again to do a fly around...


...crossing the container port...


...and passing the little town on my left (Juneau)...


...and here is one of the two marinas.


Setting course now for my next port of call.


The direct way to it is mountainous so I am climbing.


Cresting a ridge I start a dive back down towards my objective.


There is the runway ahead, jutting out into the water.


I'm still diving as I enter a left base for a tight left turn...


...onto the runway.


Down safely and coasting to a stop.


This place is called Snettisham (same name as a place in England where I used to go to Motor Racing School!).


Taking off again and...


...setting off for a place called Taku Lodge.


That glacier is not named on my map.


Taku Lodge had me fooled a bit...when I got directly over it on the map, there was only water with a few sand bars. I landed on one of the sand bars and then zoomed in fully on the map...The red symbol on the map then showed an anchor. So Taku Lodge is an anchorage. I taxied back into the water, lifted my gear and taxied to the correct position. However the anchorage has a nice beach so I lowered the gear again and beached the Icon to leave till tomorrow's tour.

Thanks for looking

[speedbird591]

...and passing the little town on my left (Juneau)...

I thought it was the Alaska State capital!

That looks like a cracking adventure, Peter. I could easily spend hours exploring up there. A couple of questions about Flight. Can you change the seasons and the weather? For instance, could Juneau be snow-covered and snowing? Do the larger airports have navaids and what aircraft are available with instrumentation other than the Icon? I used to really enjoy the challenge of landing in winter at Juneau (in jetliners and in floatplanes) in Holger's FS9 scenery.

Off the subject, I note that in addition to your aviation experience and achievements, you've made some ocean crossings and now you just drop into the conversation that you have taken motor racing lessons. Now you seem like a man who would have kept diaries and journals so I do hope you have put aside some time to write your memoirs. Please say you have!

EDIT: I know you use your iPad for mapping in Flight. I've just stumbled across these useful looking FS Apps. Have you seen them? Search the App store for FSWidgets or look at their website: http://fswidgets.com/shop/index.php

Ian

[petermcleland]

...and passing the little town on my left (Juneau)...

I thought it was the Alaska State capital!

That looks like a cracking adventure, Peter. I could easily spend hours exploring up there. A couple of questions about Flight. Can you change the seasons and the weather? For instance, could Juneau be snow-covered and snowing? Do the larger airports have navaids and what aircraft are available with instrumentation other than the Icon? I used to really enjoy the challenge of landing in winter at Juneau (in jetliners and in floatplanes) in Holger's FS9 scenery.

Off the subject, I note that in addition to your aviation experience and achievements, you've made some ocean crossings and now you just drop into the conversation that you have taken motor racing lessons. Now you seem like a man who would have kept diaries and journals so I do hope you have put aside some time to write your memoirs. Please say you have!

EDIT: I know you use your iPad for mapping in Flight. I've just stumbled across these useful looking FS Apps. Have you seen them? Search the App store for FSWidgets or look at their website: http://fswidgets.com/shop/index.php

Hi Ian...Yes you have the same control over time and season as you have in FS9 with an additional button for Real Time Now. The weather is limited to a number of scenarios, perhaps more scenarios than FS9...about 7 or 8, I think...For this tour I have been sticking to Now for the time and season and Clear for the weather. Yes, I think Juneau could be snow covered and snowing but not perhaps NOW in June...I will have to do a few things with seasons and weather before I can properly answer that. Aircraft with instruments...Maule and RV4 and Stearman Biplane Trainer(Deluxe Aircraft they call those). There are also some aircraft without cockpits (Basic Aircraft they call those) Various single piston engined WW2 fighters and a Cub...I must confess that I don't bother with the basic aircraft.

I called it "Life Part 3"(Boat Bum) when I retired from B.A. and spent more time with my boat and married my crew...That is the period when I did all my ocean crossing and got albums full of photos that I have not even scanned yet. Jim Russell's Motor racing school was back in "Life Part 1" (Fighter Pilot) and my actual racing was in Kenya at Nakuru and back in UK after that tour on 208 Squadron. "Life Part 2" (Airline Pilot) was in the middle and I crammed a couple of other pursuits in there like Gliding Instructing and Pistol Shooting in 3 World Championships. Time to write a book?...well as you probably know, my wife has written a successful book and for the last few years I've been helping out with the picture side of that...Next year I will be 80 and I've said I will call myself "Properly Old" at that age...Maybe, I will put off that for another decade (like I did when I was 60 and again at 70) and see if I can fit in the writing of a book during "Life Part Old"

[WhisperJet]

Nice shots - best thing in the scenery for me is the water!
Absolutely stunning, these lakes and ponds look like photographs...

[speedbird591]

Nice shots - best thing in the scenery for me is the water!
Absolutely stunning, these lakes and ponds look like photographs...

Don't start that again!

Peter - no I didn't know that your wife had written a book. I remember seeing a photo of her in The Falklands, was that something to do with it? I'd be interested to know about the book.

Ian

[petermcleland]

Nice shots - best thing in the scenery for me is the water!
Absolutely stunning, these lakes and ponds look like photographs...

Don't start that again!

Peter - no I didn't know that your wife had written a book. I remember seeing a photo of her in The Falklands, was that something to do with it? I'd be interested to know about the book.

My wife writes under her maiden name Nicci Pugh...The book is called "White Ship - Red Crosses" and you can see it at Amazon...the latest is the Third Edition (30th Anniversary of the Falklands War edition). The publishers website has just gone down the drain with a ghastly update that needs Flash and anyway it costs a bit more there so I would recommend Amazon UK. Her book is a very good read and involves the patients, amputees and nurses from the Hospital Ship Uganda during the conflict and in later life. Nicci was one of three Operating Theatre Sisters on the ship.

[speedbird591]

Thanks, Peter. I've just ordered the anniversary edition from Amazon. There's only one left now. I think I'm going to enjoy it.

Ian

[petermcleland]

Thanks, Peter. I've just ordered the anniversary edition from Amazon. There's only one left now. I think I'm going to enjoy it.

Thanks Ian...Yes you will enjoy it and it may raise the odd tear

[Paul K]

I came across this thread at AVSIM which compares screenshots of the Tongass Fjords add-on for FSX with the corresponding locations in MS Flight's Alaska. Its a rough and ready comparison, I know... but I really can't say that Flight looks any better and in some of the shouts, its appears markedly inferior.

http://forum.avsim.net/topic/378399-fli ... son-shots/

[speedbird591]

It's interesting to compare the shots but the subsequent debate brings it into perspective. Tongass Fjords is an expensive add-on which covers a tiny part of the area covered by Flight. It's like comparing FS9 stock Heathrow (for instance) with Heathrow extreme.

Flight offers another simming option and is in its very early days so the comparisons are similar to those of a few years back comparing stock FSX scenery to the best FS9 add-ons. Tongass is superb and well worth the money but imagine the time and work involved in expanding it across Alaska, let alone the World.

Ian