Part 2 of 2N8-KNEW (the "cliffhanger"!)

[beaky]

Departing W91, climbing SE at first to avoid going out over the lake.
just about at cruise altitude (4500 feet), I intercept the 235 radial for the Lynchburg VOR, which will put me on Victor 222.


VOR gets a little weird later on, but I've held my course, and the Mt. Airy NDB comes up 90 degrees to my right, right on schedule.


Clouds are getting a little more numerous, and lower... have to divert from course and altitude a little to stay in VMC.


 Hickory Regional right where it should be... then passing Sugarloaf Mountain VOR, things are starting to look ugly.


Flight Watch is calling this VMC, but I'm starting to wonder. Time to do something. I can't go lower, because the terrain is rising as I skirt the edge of the Blue Ridge Mountains.That's a RL pic on the right; it was bad, but the vis was a little  better thru my Ray-Bans...I spent a lot of time customizing the FS9 wx for this flight, but it doesn't quite show it as well as that snapshot. Rest assured, I put the camera away after that- I had to do some quick thinking with no distractions...



Next: The Exciting Conclusion of Day One!!!

[beefhole]

Bad weather on solo cross countries-yipes!

I like the series though, good to see some 172.

[beaky]

Bad weather on solo cross countries-yipes!

I like the series though, good to see some 172.

It was a learning experience... never got into marginal conditions like that before. Got myself out, too, as you'll see later. However, as always, I continued only because the clouds and terrain behind me were still suitable for easy VFR flight! And I had 2 parallel plans laid out for the whole trip- one farther East; one farther West.  I have to point that out: don't want people thinking I'm stupid, as well as crazy...
That was the longest flight I ever made, but from what I hear, I did pretty well with the weather for that time of year along the East Coast. Second day was pretty much the same, as I'll show later, and on the return trip I was EXTREMELY lucky- scattered puffballs all the way, and very nice tailwinds (near Washington DC on the way back, the GPS showed 145kts at one point)!!

Glad you're enjoying it. I'm starting to get pretty comfortable flying the FS9 'Hawk; I may re-create some other RL logbook entries sometime.  It's a useful exercise- kind of a high-tech debriefing.

[Saratoga]

Very nice, awesome little series you got going. Might have to do one of these on a day of flying the 757!

[gn85]

Fantastic shots, both real and FS9.  Thanks for flying over my home state of Maryland.  Don't see too many shots from there.   I'm sure flying thru there is pretty tricky with all the airspace restrictions.  

When my computer is back up, I may retrace your steps.  

[beaky]

Oh yes indeedy, many restricted, prohibited, and military op. areas... I should post a scan of my chart for that flight. It worked out pretty well; I was still able to go more-or-less in a straight line. In fact, the only major detour I had to make was around an MOA in Alabama.
 Of course, this was in September 2000; there may be more ink on that sectional now...
If you really want to make the same flight in FS, bear in mind that some of my waypoints can't be used in that Flight Planner ("island in the Potomac" was an important one). But I could scan the charts for you, and include a copy of my navlogs...thanks for looking.

[WarriorDriver]

Cool you're not too far from me. I'm down in Danville,VA.  Keep on the look out for a white warrior with blue and green stripes on it.  ;D

[Ben_M_K]

Really nice shots! How many hours do you have rottydaddy? And do you still fly often?

[Omag 2.0]

Nice to see some-one takes his flying this seriously! Must be awsome in real life!

[beaky]

So many nice comments- Thanx. thought for sure everybody'd hate the small format (didn't want to be a hog).

Ben: looking at the ol' logbook here, I have a very unimpressive toal of 172 hours:
88.3 as PIC (including student solos)
88.5 dual (took me 83.3 hrs  over 2 years to get my PPSEL- no, I wasn't  that bad, it's a long story; also some of that grand total is FBO checkout rides and my 1 hour of aerobatics dual)
65.0  cross-country (as student dual/ solo, and as PIC)
2.8 simulated IFR (dual w/"foggles")
 3.4 night(dual).
Not much of a logbook, but it means a lot to me...

Sadly, due to budget and time constraints, I haven't flown since 1/19/03, and that was after about 6 mos. on the ground (took some dual just to get my "fix"). I'm making a little more money now, but my expenses went up during that period, and although I've changed a few things, it hasn't settled down yet.  Should get back into it pretty soon... maybe after the taxman cometh, or sooner if  a hoped-for job opportunity comes through (I could earn twice what I'm getting now if the deal goes down!!). Either way, it's not really worth it to fly maybe once or twice a year- I need to be able to budget a few hours' worth every month to be happy. That's one reason it's taking so long.

 Omag: RL flying is awesome. I really miss it. Flying is, for me, the perfect blend of fun and discipline; challenging yet very liberating.

Thanks again, all, and stay tuned for today's Exciting Conclusion!!