Classic British Flight Sim

Firstly - please forgive the quality of some of the shots - my little Sony digital just cant handle sitting in a dark cockpit shooting at VERY bright sunlight - LAS-MSO-LAS Sunday 30/04 (my annual Obs ride) Some intresting stuff at MSO - including the ex NASA and NOAA Atmospheric Research Electras a Neptune fire bomber doing touch and goes , and a visiting Goshawk.


1/. Take off Power set - departing LAS 25R in vey very bright sunlight



2/. Density Altitude - you can get pretty fast in a Maddog at 30C and 158K
TOW - lots of rubber been left on 25R



3/. On the Tralr2 departure - thats our gracious host Capt Tom Estrada



4/. Last day of April and the Southern Cascades still well snow covered
just northeast of Boise Idaho FL320


5/. Another shot of the Cascades over Toms shoulder



6/.Bitterroot Valley - Missoula Montana - with the cloud deck starting to fill up


7/. Bitterroot River south of Missoula


8/. Descending into MSO - yup were going down that valley

9/.MSO runway at top of pci - we have a fairly hefty rate of descent going



10/. Base Leg MSO - after a VOR-DME Arc approach (notice the rising terrain on foreground)



11/. Established on the Approach at MSO (the runway is short but not that short - you'll see the foreshortening later)


12/. two whites two reds


13/. beepbeep beepbeep beepbeep


14/ despite what the vapi says we look high - you can see the upslope and hump on 29 in this shot



15/ Looking over the tanker base the approach we just flew - you ski down the slope in the center of the shot
note the Neptune tanker and 2 Electras at the tanker base


16/. Neptune fire bomber flying the circuit


17/, The Office Not bad for an almost 25 year old aircraft


18/. Ex NASA and Atmospeheric Research Electras at the Tanker Base


19/ Going Home - Scott Ashby rotates 765GA off 29 at MSO


20/. Climbing up the Valley - almost like flying into certain Swiss and Austrian airports more familar to you folks on that side of the pond




Thats it - hope I didnt bore you too much - the MD80 certainly isnt British
but is well on the way to becoming a Classic - again thanks to the whole crew of AAY530. If you have to go and sit for 4 hours I couldnt think of a better way to do it


Leif

Lief,

Thank you very much for posting the pics. They are great! The scenery outside the plane is great too.

I love the MD 80 too!

Thank you BT - we have 22 of them so thats why there arnt any
external views - they all look like this -



Leif

Thats a stunning paint alright!

One question though - 22 MD 80's! How do you choose which one to fly!?

LOL if you like the paintjob its available at the usual suspects for the SGA
MD83 and 87 (we have 2 pocket rockets) - LOL I dont - I chose the crew I want to fly with and where - hence LAS-MSO-LAS and the very pleasent company up and back - BT- Dispatchers in the US are NOT the same as
Despatchers in the UK - firstly we are licensed airman (Sorry Jetty NOT
denigrating what you and the boys at Serviceair Manch do )
and as licesnsed folks we have to go through recurrent training every 6 months AND fly a minimum of 5 hours per year observation on the jump seat (Its a dirty job but someone has to do it) As to the decision of what flies where and how and when - those decisions are made by dispatch and maintenance control on a daily basis - with consideration as to when daily checks are due - any preventive maintenance - the weight of the aircraft vs the routes flown and type of equipment vs routes flown -
(we only have four aircraft that are fully overwater equipped )

Does that answer your question??


Cheers
Leif

You're very lucky Lief, you've got a great job!

Thanks for that Leif

What a way to spend a Sunday

Beats mowing the lawn

Garry

Great picture Leif. Thanks for sharing them mate!

Looks like great fun all-round. Nice paint-scheme on those aircraft!

Those are fantastic shots matey, but why not one of yourself?

Your right about the difference in our jobs, I would love to be a qualified dispatcher, but there is no call for it in this country. If the opportunity arose for a position in the States then I would be there.