Trip To The North Pole: Leg 5 (The Big Show!)
Posted: Fri Jan 30, 2004 12:32 pmLeg 1a: http://www.simviation.com/cgi-bin/yabb/ ... 1072026881
Leg 1b: http://www.simviation.com/cgi-bin/yabb/ ... 55;start=0
Leg 2: http://www.simviation.com/cgi-bin/yabb/ ... 1074930756
Leg 3: http://www.simviation.com/cgi-bin/yabb/ ... 1074933452
Leg 4: http://www.simviation.com/cgi-bin/yabb/ ... 1075463452
The main reason why I made the trip: Checking out the north pole in FS. Packed everything I needed (survival kit! although I would have had no chance of surviving if i really had to make an emergency landing) into my 680, put as much fuel into the tanks as I could and wrote my will (you may never know...). I've set myself an iron rule: "Life comes first!". This means that in case I never would be able to reach the pole due to fuel reasons, I'd immediately turn around and save my life instead of continuing the flight and crash somewhere because I've ran out of fuel.
With mixed thoughts consisting of worries and curiosity, I climbed into my "Com" and started the engines...
The map, no changes made:
Taxiing to the runway, one of the mysterious Learjets in the background.
Thundering down the runway. Needed almost every meter of it,because i had my engines in the "economical" mode.
Climbing to my cruise altitude. The nervousness and excitement rises...
Northern lights. A warning sign?
Crossing the 80th degree (north).
81st degree north, the end of the texturized FS world is closing in.
A small distance for an airplane....
...but a great loss of ground textures (you can see the border if you look closely at the water). :P
Umm,okay,now that's real darkness! No more clouds,water or stars...
Degree #89 (north). I'm running out of fuel,still one degree to go until I reach the magical 90th degree...
What to do now? Break my rule and fly into the "black hole of FS"? Give up everything just to declare myself "KIA"? NEVER EVER! Call me a coward,but I don't want to risk everything. Heading back to base at 89 degrees and 2.76 minutes.
As I was heading back, I took a look at the GPS,because I couldn't fly back just by following my compass. And that's what I saw:
I was in some kind of slew mode...I tried everything to keep a certian course,but I almost had no chance.
After some serious struggling, I made it back to the "real" FS world without some serious damages (except my nerves
). But I feld quite sad and disappointed of myself...
On final,back in Longyear. I just wanted to go back to civilisation, relax and think...
Touchdown. Some engine smoke gives the illusion of a hard landing.
Parked in front of one of Elvis' food storage buildings (but still no sign of him...).
I now gotta think about what to do next. Leaving it at that or trying again...been there,seen that,alright. But is that what it was about? I wanted to go to the pole. I almost made it. But only almost...damn!
Hm,I think the best ting is leaving the FS pole as it is,a covered mystery of the FS world.
Now i think about where to go next. Back to Sweden? To the USA? I have many possibilities. But I can tell you one thing: The story's not finished yet...
Silent
Leg 1b: http://www.simviation.com/cgi-bin/yabb/ ... 55;start=0
Leg 2: http://www.simviation.com/cgi-bin/yabb/ ... 1074930756
Leg 3: http://www.simviation.com/cgi-bin/yabb/ ... 1074933452
Leg 4: http://www.simviation.com/cgi-bin/yabb/ ... 1075463452
The main reason why I made the trip: Checking out the north pole in FS. Packed everything I needed (survival kit! although I would have had no chance of surviving if i really had to make an emergency landing) into my 680, put as much fuel into the tanks as I could and wrote my will (you may never know...). I've set myself an iron rule: "Life comes first!". This means that in case I never would be able to reach the pole due to fuel reasons, I'd immediately turn around and save my life instead of continuing the flight and crash somewhere because I've ran out of fuel.
With mixed thoughts consisting of worries and curiosity, I climbed into my "Com" and started the engines...
The map, no changes made:
Taxiing to the runway, one of the mysterious Learjets in the background.
Thundering down the runway. Needed almost every meter of it,because i had my engines in the "economical" mode.
Climbing to my cruise altitude. The nervousness and excitement rises...
Northern lights. A warning sign?
Crossing the 80th degree (north).
81st degree north, the end of the texturized FS world is closing in.
A small distance for an airplane....
...but a great loss of ground textures (you can see the border if you look closely at the water). :P
Umm,okay,now that's real darkness! No more clouds,water or stars...
Degree #89 (north). I'm running out of fuel,still one degree to go until I reach the magical 90th degree...
What to do now? Break my rule and fly into the "black hole of FS"? Give up everything just to declare myself "KIA"? NEVER EVER! Call me a coward,but I don't want to risk everything. Heading back to base at 89 degrees and 2.76 minutes.
As I was heading back, I took a look at the GPS,because I couldn't fly back just by following my compass. And that's what I saw:
I was in some kind of slew mode...I tried everything to keep a certian course,but I almost had no chance.
After some serious struggling, I made it back to the "real" FS world without some serious damages (except my nerves
). But I feld quite sad and disappointed of myself...On final,back in Longyear. I just wanted to go back to civilisation, relax and think...
Touchdown. Some engine smoke gives the illusion of a hard landing.
Parked in front of one of Elvis' food storage buildings (but still no sign of him...).
I now gotta think about what to do next. Leaving it at that or trying again...been there,seen that,alright. But is that what it was about? I wanted to go to the pole. I almost made it. But only almost...damn!
Hm,I think the best ting is leaving the FS pole as it is,a covered mystery of the FS world.
Now i think about where to go next. Back to Sweden? To the USA? I have many possibilities. But I can tell you one thing: The story's not finished yet...
Silent
