Around the world in 175 days.

[blanston12]

Best of luck with your flight, Joe. I'm sure you'll have loads of fun and adventure. I wouldn't have been able to complete my round-the-world flight if it wasn't for the aircraft I used.

And no, it's not cheating!

Brian

I certainly would not call that cheating, the only thing that is cheating is skipping stops or slewing, beyond that we all set our own rules

Edit: well unlimited fuel is also cheating if you want to be technical.

[blanston12]

March 18, 1924: As they flew on the winds gradually decreased. Lt Wade was forced to land near Cottonwood California because a radiator leak. Major Martin decided not to land to prevent any damage to the other to planes and proceeded with Lt Smith to Eugene, they arrived after more than six hours, Lt Wade arrived three hours later. Again they were met by the city leaders and a large crowd, and were again the guests of honor at a dinner by the Chamber of Commerce.

June 1, 2017. Today I prepared the Junkers F.13 for flight. The F.13 first flew at the end of WW1 and was introduced in 1920, it was the world's first all-metal transport aircraft and was very advanced for its day. Well over 300 were built and production continued until 1932. The model I am using was made by Craig Richardson and is available on the classicwings.net website.

The flight started out as a pretty easy flight, light winds and clear skies for my next flight to Eugene Oregon, 221 nm away. I just had to get enough altitude to get over the mountains to the north. Things were going well when flying through the mountains in southern Oregon and also some puffy clouds near the top of the ridge, not wanting to loose altitude i decided to go over it, only to discover that it was not just a small cloud, it was the edge of a very large stretch of overcast. Once I knew I was past the ridge I decided it was not a good idea to be above the clouds in a VFR aircraft, so I tried to drop down in a hole in a cloud that was not really a hole, finally came out of the could at about 3000 feet only to see a 4000 foot ridge in front of me, up over the ridge, back into the clouds. Fortunately I brought a pocket GPS and when it looked like I was over a valley again I dropped down to get under the clouds and made my way the remainder of the trip at about 2000 feet until I reached Eugene, after 2.4 hours of flying. Here are a few pics from the trip.


Climbing out of Redding California


Heading on over the Mountains


Mount Shasta from the cockpit, cold!


Flying past Mount Shasta


Southern Oregon.


Finally under those clouds. Sorry I did not take more pics while i was in the clouds, but I was a bit preoccupied not crashing into a mountain.


Finally the clouds are breaking up.


Eugene Airport, my destination.

[airboatr]

Joe, you landed an update to your ATW flight over in the stratolauncher thread...

Adding a nip to your tea have ya? I wouldn't blame you... Flying those death traps! ...
a little something something to make you brave isn't a bad thing.

Ah well, at least you having fun

[blanston12]

Joe, you landed an update to your ATW flight over in the stratolauncher thread...

Adding a nip to your tea have ya? I wouldn't blame you... Flying those death traps! ...
a little something something to make you brave isn't a bad thing.

Ah well, at least you having fun

Sorry about that, deleted the wrong post. Maybe I should have added some tea to my nip last night. I wanted to get that posts before we head out of town for the weekend but a friend come over and ! This does explain why my first post seamed to disappear.

[blanston12]

March 19, 1924: The three planes left Eugene next morning for Vancouver Washington, on the way they were intercepted by five JN-4s from the Vancouver Barracks Aerodrome. When they arrived they were greeted by a large crowd from the cities of Portland and Vancouver. They motored into Portland for a luncheon with the city leaders. They had intended to fly to Seattle that afternoon but shortly after departing the ceiling dropped to 500 feet and Major Martin decided they should return to Vancouver. That evening, Lt Nelson arrived in Eugene, flying directly from Santa Monica after 9 hours 45 minutes of flying.

June 10, 2017. The aircraft for the next leg is the Fokker F.VIIa, by Jens B. Kristensen. The Fokker was the aircraft of choice for many early airlines, both in Europe and the Americas and it dominated the American market in the late 1920s.

My Progress has been delayed by the fact that I just received a new computer to use for flight sim and I need to transfer over and re-install enough software so I could get flying again. Today flying conditions are good, 7 kn winds, ceiling 2000-4000 feet with clear terrain between me and my destination of Pearson Field, Vancouver Washington, 93 nm away.


Ready for takeoff


Climbing out of Eugene Oregon.


Central Oregon.


Clouds getting thicker.


Make sure you avoid the radio antennas.


My destination, I'm flying over KPDX but my destination is just beyond the river.


Arrived at Pearson Field.

[blanston12]

March 20, 1924: The morning the three aircraft left Vancouver for Sand Point Field in Seattle (now the site of Magnuson Park), arriving by Noon. Lt Nelson arrived from Eugene two hours later. Once again they were meet by Local Dignitaries and were motored into town for a Luncheon. The flyers would then spend the next three weeks getting the aircraft ready for the trip including swapping the wheels for floats, protecting all metal surface with either varnish or oil and getting there supplies in order.

June 10, 2017: This afternoon I got ready the de Havilland DH.60 Moth by Golden Age Simulations, which I like a lot. The DH.60 was a two seat training and touring aircraft built from 1925 in many different versions until 1932 when it was replaced by the DH.82 Tiger Moth. “By 1929 it was estimated that of every 100 aeroplanes in Britain, 85 were Moths of one type or another”.

My 114nm flight to Seattles Renton Municipal Airport was pretty smooth, most interesting thing was this was the first real flight I did on the new computer using P3D V4, with autogen turned up to the max and the screen at 3840x2160 I was still getting 60 fps, hopefully you will see a difference in the screen shots.

So far I have had 12.1 hours of flight time compared to 13.5 by the flyers, and they arrived in Seattle after 4 days while I took 16, but I won’t have to take 3 weeks getting my aircraft ready for the next leg.

Here are the pics:


Ready for takeoff


Last look at Oregon for a while


Central Washington


Mount St Helens, hiding in the clouds.


I can't tell you how many times I flew under this Bridge in FS2004.


SeaTac Airport with Seattle in the distance.


My destination, Renton Municipal Airport.


Aircraft Secured, time for dinner!

[blanston12]

April 6, 1924: The preparations had been made and the flyers were ready to start their flight. The route had been organized into seven divisions for planning purposes and the first division was from Seattle to Attu in the Aleutian islands. The pilots had been instructed to name there planes after American cities on the four points of the compass, Major Martin named his plane ‘Seattle’, Lt. Smith named his plane ‘Chicago’, Lt Wade named his ‘Boston’ and Lt Nelson chose ‘New Orleans’. Sgt. Turner became ill just before departure and felt to weak to continue so Lt Smith chose alternate pilot Lt Leslie Arnold to be his co-pilot/mechanic. They wanted to depart on April 4th but bad weather reports caused them to cancel. On April 5th Major Martin tried to take off but his propeller broke with a loud crack and repairs took till the next day. Finally on the 6th, in front large crowds, the four planes taxied out and one by one took off. The planes were at maximum weight and Boston could not get airborne. Lt Wade taxied back to the dock, where they made some adjustments and unloaded some gear including their rifle, a small anchor and some extra clothing. An hour behind the others they took off and were on there way to Prince Rupert Canada, 650 miles away.

June 11, 2017: The flyers took about 8 hours to fly from Seattle to Prince Rupert, not having that much time today I decided to break the trip into three smaller legs. Since they had switched there planes from wheels to floats, I will use float planes on these first legs. The aircraft I have chosen is the Ryan B-5 Brougham by Golden Age Simulations. The Brougham was a very popular small airliner that was used in Alaska but also China and Central America. The model is very good, flying it is easy but side visibility is a bit restricted, but thats the way it was built. My destination for today is Comox, British Columbia, on the eastern coast of Victoria Island, 170 nm away. Flying conditions are again good, scattered clouds and 5-6 kn. winds, the flight was uneventful and I arrived after 1.7 hours of flying. Here are a few pictures from the flight:


Ready for takeoff.


Climbing out of Renton Municipal Airport.


Flying over Downtown Seattle


View along the way.


Another along the way.


Yet another along the way.


The destination is in site.


Landing at Comox

PS. Sorry for waiting so long to post this, its been a busy week.

[FlyTexas]

Canada! Looks like you're having a lot of fun.

Brian

[blanston12]

Canada! Looks like you're having a lot of fun.

Brian

Yes, finding time is proving more challenging than I thought. I had started the next hop in the trip but halfway there the flight sim crashed and I will have to start it over, since it was already pretty late I decided to do it another day.

[blanston12]

April 6, 1924: Lt Wade few solo to Prince Rupert through thick fog an dead calm. “I flew right down on the water so glassy that I was constantly fearful of slapping the surface.” Wade said. “I used the tree line on my left as a guide and followed it for a long way. In skimming over Johnstone Strait, we almost collided with ships twice”....

June 15, 2017: Today I got ready the Monocoupe 90, a two seat cabin monoplane, which first flew in 1927. Various versions were in production until the late 1940's, and over 300 were built. The version I am using today was made by Golden Age Simulations and is very good, the package includes the Monocoupe 90, 110 and 125 and has both wheeled and float versions.

I readied for flight the float plane version of of the 90 in a nice blue color. I had tried this flight two days before but the sim crashed so to make up time I did resort to some time acceleration. My plan today is to fly to Bella Bella, British Columbia, 191 nm away. Weather today is a bit more challenging than the previous flights, conditions in Comox were 14kn winds with cloud level at between 800-3000 feet. I headed north west following the Discovery Passage to the Johnstone strait, keeping between 1000-1500 feet to stay below the clouds, in the Johnstone strait the clouds got heavier and in I dropped to 800 ft and spent some time flying through rain. Once I reached the pacific things cleared up a bit, however once I reached the Burke Channel the clouds closed in again and I had to drop to about 500 feet to stay in clear air. I found the passage on the south side of Denny Island and followed it around to Bella Bella. The Monocoupe came in a bit fast and it took a few attempts to get the landing right. One problem with sea plane airports is its a bit harder to identify them, there are two of in this little bay and I ended up stopping next to the wrong one, but they are all pretty close together and as far as the FSAirlines client was concerned it was close enough and the flight got recorded. Flight time 1.9 hours. Here are a few screen shots from the flight:



Ready to depart.


Up the Discovery Passage


Down the Johnstone strait


Still flying down the Johnstone strait


Over the Pacific


Getting Closer


Up the Burke Channel


Arrived.