Dutch Harbor

[speedbird591]

On impulse I blew a couple of quid on Aerosoft's Dutch Harbor to extend my Alaskan territory out to the Aleutien Islands. You may be familiar with Dutch Harbor if you've ever watched the TV docu Deadliest Catch - about the incredibly dangerous crab fishing industry based there. I've been reading Wiki and it's actually the biggest commercial fishing port in the US but hell, it seems incredibly remote even in Flight Sim There is a daily scheduled flight into the airport (Unalaska - named after the island) but due to poor weather conditions approximately one in five is cancelled. Other than that there is a fortnightly ferry from Kodiak. It was the scene of a battle in 1942 when a Japanese carrier fleet attacked a US base there as a diversionary tactic before the attack on Midway. And of course it was Russian until 1867 when the Americans bought Alaska from them.

The Aerosoft scenery isn't up to their usual standards but neither is it expensive and of course the surrounding scenery is default P3D so it doesn't enhance it - but it's something a bit different and if/when I get ORBX Global it may look a lot better (then again it may get green fields and white houses on the mountains ). It's not the most welcoming airport terminal I've ever seen but If the weather was poor I expect you'd be very glad to see it







Ian

[DaveB]

Well mate..

It may not be the most exciting scenery you'll ever see but it has to be quids better than default. I'd sooner fly into that than a default airport any day

It doesn't look bad and 17.95Eur isn't a Kings ransom

ATB
DaveB

[dfarrow]

Ian , that does look tasty , as good as Highlands and Islands . Such good wx too ,as all books and period photos seem to show it in appalling wx. Think one was about setting up Reeve - Aleutian airways ... just found it '' The Flying North '' by Jean Potter ISBN 0-553-23946-5.. mind you 1983 edition . I guess we went past there on Anchorage -Tokyo routes , only did that twice and was always dark , 'n later we found out that Korean had been splashed by the Russians .
P.S. Did you get your early trap or was it a snowy n/s somewhere exotic ?

ATB dave f .

[Airspeed]

Thanks for showing us, Ian,
I thought the collection of ships was interesting in itself.

[speedbird591]

I guess we went past there on Anchorage -Tokyo routes , only did that twice and was always dark , 'n later we found out that Korean had been splashed by the Russians .
P.S. Did you get your early trap or was it a snowy n/s somewhere exotic ?

I thought we went north, over the Pole from Anchorage but I expect I'm wrong. I'm sure we did on 707s because we used to carry a Polar survival pack on them, replacing the last two rows of seats. Actually, I think we did on Classics as well. Survival suits for about half the punters and much thicker ones for the crew! Stoves that ran on jet A-1 for cooking human flesh and other useful trinkets. That KAL incident certainly focussed the mind for a few months when flying near Kamchatka, didn't it? It involved frequent visits to the flight deck to check that they were awake and knew where we were

No early finish on Friday. As a punishment for daring to dream the dream, not only was my last train delayed an hour but it broke down in So'ton as well. So I was well late getting home oh well, next time perhaps...

Ian

[J0hn]

I've had this for years, but funnily enough I never actually got round to flying there It's like that with a few of my scenery add-ons, I just get really busy with something else and that's it - forgotten about!

I would highly recommend Vancouver+ and Victoria+ sceneries, though, if you like this kind of thing. Fantastic, both and with excellent harbour scenery to boot, along with a good dolloping of improved VFR airfields around each. I think Victoria has been freeware for a while, in fact. At least a part of it.

For me the best and biggest 'strip' challenge is PIS' excellent PNG Bush Trekker scenery. I often set up an Air Hauler company there with a C185F or similar and fly those mountain-top, sloping and very short grass runways. I have a habit of seeing just how big an aircraft I can get into them, although it isn't always a true representation as some FSX aircraft can seemingly take off on a sixpence - still it's great fun.

I'll go and fetch some screenshots from my gallery and post a few.

[J0hn]

Here's Victoria Plus:









Not sure if I was trying to get stopped or get airborne in that last one. Panic time, though...

Here's some of the Bush Trekker PNG ones









The main airport - all the other FSX models you see are part of my Air Hauler company - AH creates AI for your other 'planes when you go into FSX:



This is the kind of approach AoA that is very common in those parts:



The road to nowhere?




Can you spot the strip here?



there it is:



You spend a lot of time craning your neck around the windows in this area, looking for the tell-tale signs of a strip. Even using the GPS and map it can take some spotting.






Great fun!

Now imagine it with REXE, in a thunderstorm!

[speedbird591]

Thanks for posting those shots, John, some lovely scenery and it looks like a lot of fun

I've had my eye on Vancouver+ for a while as Holger has made it fully compatible with FTX PNW but something else always seems to have a higher priority Victoria+ is upgraded to FSX but I doubt whether it will be compatible with FTX but I've got all of Don Grovestine's scenery for the area - which is compatible. I might look at Air Hauler when (if) I ever retire

Ian

[dfarrow]

Ian , bad luck ... next time we get an heat wave and track buckles , you might be stuck at the beach . Didn't know the route from ANC at all , and having forbears who were N Naarfick beach fishermen and lifeboat crew ... they reckoned a compass did not work when you were out of sight of land !..... and being a shorthauler at heart .. I agree . The classic 74s had polar survival gear as well [one of the fun bits of cabin crew course ], the 744s did not . Found the rule about that when being trained ; up to 700 nm from an adequate airport , no need for polar kit .. we reckoned the turning point North of Siberia was 698nm from an adequate airport ... wasn't suitable 'tho .. -35C ,1000m vis , cloud at <200' , blowing snow and only a basic NDB approach ! In fact it was closer to the North Pole at only 550nm .
John , some lovely shots there . Otter/ Beaver looks challenging , guess they're only for fsx 'tho ? Wouldn't get it for Kangaroos but that 'lil grey Fergy , might change my mind !

Rgds dave f .

[speedbird591]

Speaking of Siberia and diversions reminds me of a trans-Siberian flight in a 707 from Moscow to Tokyo in winter in the 70s. I was the F/C galley steward and about halfway across, in the middle of the night, the Skipper came out to grab a coffee and stretch his legs. He was a worried man and explained his quandary. Due to exceptional atmospheric conditions the OAT was lower than predicted and the fuel temperature had dropped to within a few degrees of freezing. Normally losing a couple of thousand feet would solve the problem but the Russians were telling him that the extreme temperature extended down to 15,000 feet. If we descended that far then we didn't have enough fuel to reach Japan and would have to divert to a military field within Siberia I'm not usually shy about offering an opinion but in this case I wasn't really able to help very much It was a nerve-racking couple of hours and the fuel temp dropped to 2 degrees above freezing before starting to rise again. Now that would have been an experience to relate - I never heard of a western aircraft having to divert crossing Siberia. I know they used to keep a very close eye on us and once we strayed a couple of miles off track and they were very quickly on the blower. Too many military airfields out there!

Anyway, enough of the real world and back to simulation Exploring a bit more of the Aleutiens, I just flew from a place called Cold Bay down to Dutch Harbor at dawn in Real weather. I was lucky - it was quite a clear day even though the winds were a bit strong. Anyway, I thought the screenies captured something of the Arctic dawn and the cold temperature.






Ian