Sightseeing in the Cascades

[speedbird591]

I'm doing a trip in my Cessnas up through the Pacific North West (courtesy of ORBX scenery). I started from Creswell, near Eugene, Oregon and criss-crossing from the coast to the mountains and generally heading north to Alaska. My stopping points are places where ORBX have created add-on airfields as I want to see what the scenery is like and whether I should consider purchasing them. I haven't got far I've stopped off at Walter Sutton's private farm airstrip just NE of Portland and decided to buy it. Walter exists and is a real farmer with an enthusiasm for flying and his best friend, Walter Musa, lived a couple of miles away in the hills and also had a private strip doubling as his driveway. Musa died a couple of years ago but they used to fly to visit each other. ORBX have created both strips and they present a real flying challenge with power lines, trees and short runways. I've stopped over for a few days to explore the area and do some sightseeing in the Cascades including Mt. St. Helens. I was in Seattle a couple of weeks after St. Helens exploded in 1980 and drove down Highway 5 to see if I could see it. I couldn't get within 60 miles of it because the ash was inches deep over everything and the air was thick with it.

Anyway, here are some screenshots and a couple of Fraps videos of the two Walters' strips and a flight into the Cascade range. The videos should be set to 1080p HD.

Flights between the two Walters' airstrips: http://youtu.be/YYlHyTWxw9I

Walter Sutton's Farm

Yale Dam and Yale Lake

Mount Adam


Mount St. Helens and landing back at Walter Sutton's: http://youtu.be/mdfhFqdB2Wg

Ian

[Scorpius]

Looks as if you've got the Accu-feel bug there, all you want to do is take off and land.

It is quite addictive isn't it?

Nev

[Vancouver]

OOOoooooh a bit of will he won't he at the end of the second there. lol

[Paul K]

Excellent shots Ian. With Orbx scenery, exploring in a light aircraft is definitely the way to enjoy it. Are you sure those flaps were fully down when you landed in that vid ?

Do you have the PNW and PFJ .kmz files installed in Google Earth by the way ?

[speedbird591]

Nervous lot of passengers, you lot! I stopped, didn't I?

Yes, Paul, those .kmz files are very useful. The ORBX sceneries cover such a large area you need Google Earth to keep track of where you are. I'm using them to plan my journey. I want to check out Snoqualmie Falls next as there's a nice looking airfield there. But the more I look, the more there is I want to see. I have to do it before ORBX release their Northern Caifornia and Southern Alaska sceneries. I could spend the rest of my life exploring this part of the world

Ian

[petermcleland]

Wow Ian what fabulous videos and how beautifully flown...I enjoyed them very much and wish I could persuade my Fraps to produce such pause free sequences. I particularly admired how you stayed on those very narrow strips...Great flying skills

[speedbird591]

Thanks, Peter. I'll quote you on my CV when I apply for an Air Taxi job at McLeland Field

No fancy setup for Fraps. It seems to like being run as administrator for P3D, also I have it installed on my OS drive (which is an SSD) and not on my sim drive. It's set to record at 30fps. FPS in P3D are limited internally to 30fps and the vsync refresh rate is set in Nvidia Inspector to half refresh rate (monitor refresh rate is 60hz).

Please don't make the mistake of thinking that I understand any of this or know what I'm doing

I have set up my graphics and sim exactly as advised by my current guru, Kosta of Avsim fame! Here are his settings for FSX/P3D from his blog if you are interested:

http://kostasfsworld.wordpress.com/fsx- ... are-guide/

Ian

[DaveB]

Nice vid Ian

Was that all the flap you could get on? Didn't look like a lot I'd have wanted more AND the doors open if at all possible

ATB
DaveB

[speedbird591]

Okay, Okay! I didn't have full flap on, alright!

That was my first landing from that direction, I was light on fuel and figured it was long enough. Then on the approach I noticed that big red ball hanging on the power line which meant staying high and dropping down halfway down the strip. I should have done a dummy approach first. My first job at the farm will be to demolish the fence and move that semi-trailer

Ian

[DaveB]

Yes indeed mate.. anything in the way, get rid of it That said.. with full flap, perhaps the fence can stay


ATB
DaveB