My Typical FSX Flight/Kingston Norman Manley (MKJP)-Aruba Queen Beatrix (TNCA)/Airbus A300B4 (Part 1)

The Flight
This is a rather interesting flight, split into parts. I really like making flights with stopovers. I don't really know why. I find it interesting to see what stopovers are made on which routes etc.
The flight is made up. I'm going to use the Airbus A300 B4 by Thomas Ruth in the Air Jamaica livery. The flight starts in Kingston, Jamaica and ends in Lima, Peru. There are tfour stopovers. The first one in Aruba, the second one in Barranquilla, Colombia, the third one in Cali, Colombia and the last one- in Guayaquil, Ecuador. The route might lack realism, but this is not all about it, isn't it.
First Leg

Wing View
The first leg takes me from Kingston Norman Manley airport to Aruba Queen Beatrix Airport. I haven't chosen a departure, due to the fact, that the waypoints used in the SIDs don't exist in FSX, so I went for a waypoint nearby to one of them. I was taking off from runway 12. Then I followed some intersections (I used the default GPS) and the Navigation Log. The crusing altitude is FL370. There is now STAR into Aruba, so I had to rely on intersections. Finally I went for the ILS approach, runway 11. That's it.
Taxing

I didn't need to start-up the airplane. Why? You'd probably have to get the default Cessna, Ctrl+Shift+F1 (total shutdown) and then start-up. I didn't consider this possibility. All I did was setting up the Autopilot, instruments, flight controls etc.
I'm taxing. To pushback, I used the thrust reversers (No GSX :). The plane seems to veer of to the right, there is a little bit of a cross wind. An interesting fact about this plane, is that it has fully operational nose steering tiller. We turn onto runway 12 with no issue.
Departure and climb

As soon as I roll onto the runway, I advance the throttles. I have to use the rudder a little bit, but that's no big deal.

So I'm flying. Things Are looking good. Shortly after takeoff I had a small problem with the pitch being a little bit high, but I changed the trim and things worked perfectly. Then, I switched the A/P on. Eventually, autothrottle doesn't work on this plane, so you have to control thrust manually.


So, I continue flying southwest. A wingview, for those who like them. I got clear of the clouds, there is no problem. I'm following the GPS. In actual fact, I'm not in GPS mode , the GPS is just a form of reference. After crossing 30 000 ft, the speed started getting a little low, around 200 knots.
Cruise

First officer seat.

You can see my typical VC "configuration".

That is a nice view. When you have got nothing to do in cruise, you can look around the views. This one is really nice.

Another view. This time, the picture is alittle bit ugly, due to the seat gaping at you in the middle of the screen :D

Descent

I start my descent. I'm late, so I have to go for a very high descent rate. I haven't gone for the speed brake yet. This A300 has a weird tendency to go very slow with spoilers on, even at high descent rates (-2000 ft/min).

I'm getting closer to an intersection called TETUM, where the default FSX flight planner wants me to be at  12 100 ft. As you see, I'm at 30 000 ft and 20 nm. from TETUM. Not the best situation you can get, but hey, there are ways out.

I forgot to take screenshots, but in general, I got slow, and had to lower my descent rate. I descended to 7 000 ft, instead of 12 000 ft, because the distance between TETUM and BOGVU (next waypoint) is to short for a 5 000 ft. descent. I have got the island of Aruba in sight. 

We are getting closer. The weather is looking good with no clouds.

I got a little bit high. In an effect, I had to make some turns. In the end, I went for a steeper descent and dropped the gear. The A/P isn't flying the ILS approach, as I decided to fly it manually and leave it as an indication.

I end up a little bit to the left and to low, mainly because of the use of speed brakes.


The touchdown is a small bit to early, whereas the flare, to small. But I have gone down safely.
Taxiing and shutdown

I don't have to taxi for a long time. The taxiway might look small, but it's well enough for a widebody jet, even a 747.

After shutdown. My flight has come to an end.
Initial Note No.1
I made several errors in this flight, mainly because I relied to much on the default FSX stuff. There is also very little cockpit screenshots. I'll correct it on the next flight. I'm not (or at least, I'll try) not to use the default flight planner.

My Typical FSX Flight/Vienna (LOWW) to Prague (LKPR)/Avro RJ100

Hey everyone,
I'd like to show you one of my typical flights with the Avro RJ. I made some mistakes, but also went for some unusual things and procedures (You'll find out).
The Flight
In general, this was a rather short flight. I checked the flight plan at one of my favourite flightsim sites-rfinder. I was cruising at FL190. The flight heads north to the waypoint LANUX. I get to this waypoint by the LANUX5D departure. Then I fly to the DESSNA VOR (there's also an NDB, If I recall) and then to VLASIM VOR. I was cruising at FL190. I actually don't remember which SID I chose, probably VLASIM2Z. Then, an ILS landing (runway 24).
I'm not using any scenery. The repaint of the Avro RJ100 can be downloaded from Flight1 File Library. It's made by Andreas Hempel. Other than that, I also use repaints from Avsim made by Sebastian Szucs and liveries from the Qualitywings library.
Takeoff


I'm sitting on the runway (that's when I decided to take pictures of the flight no taxi and startup, sorry). Flaps and trim (-3.5 to -4.0) are set properly.The FMC is set up, the MCP as well. In general, I'm ready for take off from runway 34. I'm going to use the LANUX5D departure.

Looking good from the outside.
The departure was smooth, though the plane seemed to fly a little bit slow and heavy, on the other hand, that's how the Avro RJ flies. I was rather reluctant to engage the autopilot at that height, as VNAV sometimes does weird things when flying a little bit slower than it should.
Departure
 
We continue our departure Now at a Flight Level as the transition altitude in Austria (and The Czech Republic) is 5 000 ft. I'm still not on VNAV. This time, again, I'll have to wine about VNAV. It sometimes is very inaccurate. VNAV sometimes climbs to the desired altitude to early, sometimes being to early by something like 8-12 nm. But nonetheless, on later parts of the climb and early descent, I use VNAV.

Still Climbing.....
Now, I've tuned in on the ILS frequency. The frequency didn't show up in the FMC after programming the arrival, but when I chose a transition, it did. I'm not a fan of using transitions. I don't usually fly ILS approaches or use transitions. I prefer VOR approaches or manual approaches. But nonetheless, I prefer ILS from RNAV approaches.

A wing-engine view that you would get from the Avro RJ100 business class.
Cruise

According to the FMC we should have been here a little bit lower, but it's no real issue.

Looking good from the outside, nothing to worry about.

I added another waypoint, at the end of the ILS approach (L NDB), so that If I don't intercept the localizer and can't make an ILS approach, I'll (at least) have some sort of reference.

Descent/Arrival

I have made an error, trying to delete one of the transitions, as it made my route down to the airport longer. Accidentally, it deleted my entire route apart from the L NDB. Luckily, I have put a 12 nm fix around the L NDB, so I had some sort of reference. I had to make my descent rather rapid, but the Avro RJ is capable of a rapid decent, due to it's large speedbrake. Oh yeah, that's one big speedbrake :)

I'm intercepting the localizer. I'm going a little bit to fast, but with this plane it's no big deal to slow down nicely. The DME shows that we are 12.7 nm from the airport, so things are looking good at this point we don't have to hurry.
Landing

I take out the autopilot, as we are pretty close to the airport. I also disengaged autothrottle (some people would still leave it on), but I can safely control the speed my bare hands. I don't know why, but the plane veered to the left a little bit.

It's a nice touchdown, close to the centreline. The nose is a little to high for an RJ, but nonetheless it's not a big problem.
I forgot to take any pictures of the taxi procedure. I'm sorry I was in sort of a rush.

Shutdown. I have opened and put on all of the entries and chocks apart from the airstair, which the real airplane doesn't have.
Please give a +1, comment and share. This is a very big motivation to me. Thank you!

 

ORBX FTX Australia First Impressions

What is FTX Australia?
For those who don't know, FTX Australia is a scenery for FSX covering the entire country of Australia. https://www.fullterrain.com/product/australia  It's the product's site. In general, FTX Australia features corrected rivers, lakes, roads, mountains etc. There are new terrain textures along with night lightning. The scenery is considered one of the best FSX payware addons. For those who know FTX Australia is and perhaps own it it's probably clear, that the scenery is worth every cent, penny, eurocent whatsoever.

Australian Capital Territory.

Only one airport in here.

I decided to take the Avro Shackleton for a spin. Very nice airplane developed by Rob Richardson.  At first I saw, that the ground textures are veeery realistic. Default FSX ground is very dull, with boring colours that repeat itself. The colours aren't natural. In here, it looks very realistic. I set the Shackleton up (flaps up, trim 3.0-2.0, I don't remember, I set the Autopilot). The Shackleton needs some time to accelerate, but for it's size and appearance, the plane isn't a bad performer.

Looking down, I can see trees. The way they are placed is very realistic. Some follow roads, some are on their own (that can't happen in default FSX, I've never seen it).There are multiple variations of buildings, bigger, smaller, longer, in different colours, shapes and diameters. The ground textures look great once again, fields are visible, some places are lighter, some darker. I've never seen this before!

I continue my flight. The A/P (autopilot) is set to control the altitude (hold 3 200 ft.), once I control the heading and speed (the Shackleton doesn't have autothrottle). I can see a lot of small homes below. There are some spaces, probably parks or something similar. All fields and hills are detailed, covered with so called mesh ( mesh changes shape of the ground to more detailed, that is the simplest explanation I could think of).

Afterwards, I turn back to the airport. The Shackleton does have a GPS, that I use to locate the airport. I'm flying at a high speed, so I drop the gear down and lower the altitude. I take a look outside and see this building. As Canberra is the countries capital, this might be some governmental building, I suppose. But nonetheless I continue my flight. The approach and landing is pretty much painless, apart from the flare manoeuvre.. I don't have pictures, sorry, I forgot to take them.

Real life Canberra, from Wikipedia.

New South Wales
Wollongong, don't you like this name?


This time, the Pilatus Pc-9 "ll make it. It's a semi-Australian development, so it's more realistic than the Shackleton, operated only by RAF and South African Air Force. I took off with and then push the throttle back, so that I can fly slowly and enjoy the landscape. Then, I decied to go faster back again. With proper trimming, the PC-9 flies quite nicely.It's not equipped with an autopilot, as it's an acrobatic/trainer airplane, that usually doesn't need A/P support.

Afterwards, I turn left (the Pilatus is very handy, like a fighter jet, or at least a jet trainer), so that I can fly over the coast. I could see beaches, in fact they are all different, some longer, some wider, whatsoever. Actually, the Pc-9 reminds me of the Embraer Emb-314 Super Tucano,  a Trainer and light attack aircraft, that the Brazilian Air Force sometimes uses to fight with drug dealers. Going back to my FTX flight, I notice very low Fps from 6-10. Though the FPS was usually around 20-30, this time it dropped, probably due to dense autogen (trees and house, actually, that looks quite good). My computer isn't a monster one ( i3-2100 3.1Ghz, Geforce Gt 525 (m), 4 GB of RAM), it's very noise (due to the fact, that it is an All-in-one PC). I struggle flying near the coast, but that is the way to get to my destination, that is HMAS Albatross military air base, YSNW.

The airport has two runways, both a little bit longer than 2 000 metres. The airport was operated by SeaVenoms and A-4 Skyhawks, I bet those airplanes would even make it from two times shorter runways. Troops and Navy cadets are trained here, too. A bit of knowledge about the airport, for those, who are interested, visit Wikipedia.

A-4 Skyhawk in YSNW, from Wikicommons.


Great landclass and waterclass. And those fields, textures. Great scenery.
I continue my flight down to Albatross Air Base at a low altitude. My speed is quite high, despite the fact, the Pc-9 is very stable, it turns quite nicely. If you like flying trainer aircraft, acrobatic airplanes, handflying a nimble, but small airplane, then you should get this one for free. The Pc-9 is available at Iris simulation site (http://www.irissimulations.com/), or www.rikooo.com. Iris is also known for developing payware aircraft, however they sometimes have problems with proper system simulation, flight dynamics, etc. The freeware Pc-9 doesn't have such problems, some people say it's even better than some Iris paywares.

As I get closer, I drop the gear down, then the flaps. The plane starts slowing down (with some help from the spoilers). I watch some of the views below. Again, great ground textures. I continue my approach and start my descend (PAPI lights help me). Afterwards, I land without a problem.

Touchdown, a little fast, I know
Other pictures