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Found a very nice 7E7 (modelled by Robert Versluys, painted by Dirk Keefer) in the silver-red/blue American Airlines livery I used to love travelling in in the late

Good test drive, but why are the screenies so "blocky"?

Hi, FridayChild!

Problem with the size limit - my computer will happily run FS at 1024x768, but that means that I have to cut screenies to about half-size to get them down to the required size, which wrecks them!

Took advantage of the clocks going back to get well out into the Pacific, and the fuel seems to be holding out well.

Encountered one problem that I haven't come across before, which is worth mentioning in case it helps others. As I crossed the coast out over New South Wales I encountered huge tailwinds (up to 100 knots) and turbulence. The auto-throttle was 'surging', the speed was flickering up above Mach 0.85, the groundspeed was above 500 knots, and I got an 'Overspeed' warning!

The solution was to turn off the auto-throttle soonest, use the spoiler to get the speed down, and work the throttles manually until things calmed down. At one point I had N1 down to 60% and I was STILL clocking Mach 0.78 at 35,000. Had to keep it up for a hundred miles or so before things calmed down.

Must admit, I KNEW Sydney has lousy weather (they're always complaining about storms) - but this was ridiculous.

your graphics seem kinda low Nav.

Then don't run it at that resolution!  lol  Check out IrfanView.  I've found that it resizes with very little quality loss.

[quote]Then don't run it at that resolution!

Very, cool enjoyed reading your progress!

One thing I noticed....with the 7E7/787s fuselage being made out of carbon composites, that American airlines bare metal scheme wouldnt be possible.

nice plane

Isn't it, X56SB? Used to give me a 'lift' every time I saw those colours, in the 'old days'. StrutterGunner, I never enquired - but the fuselages were too 'silver' for it to be bare metal, I suspect that it was silver paint!

Thanks everyone for the tips - Irfanview seems to have helped a lot. Hyperion, as you've probably gathered, I like fitting 'information-rich' special panels - I find the better resolution helps with the small print.

This is 'coast out' over New South Wales - the inlet is Jervis Bay, a big naval base. Last sight of land until California, unless I run short of fuel and have to divert.

Pacific sunset - one of the reasons I never tire of flying round the place. Note that we're still in the Southern hemisphere, the sun is north of track.

After the vicious tailwind I got a heavy wind on the port beam for a while - then things settled down to a very gentle tailwind (under 10 knots). Guess I was flying through the edge of a circular storm. Once it was quiet again I tried going up to 37,000 and Mach 0.82, but found that the fuel flow jumped to over 10,000 pounds/hour, and stayed there; so I reverted to 35,000 and Mach 0.77, which seems to be the right sort of cruising setup for the 7E7. The flightplan says a groundspeed of 472 knots, and I'm making about 465, which is close enough.

This is at about 3,400 miles out - half-way. I still have 59% of the fuel left, and consumption is hovering around 8,500 pounds/hour. Should make LA easily, especially since, from experience, I can pretty well count on brisk westerly winds as I get closer to the California coast.

Well on the way now, looking forward to daylight.

As expected I got an 80-knot tailwind for the last leg. So fuel wasn't a problem - I arrived at KLAX with 23% left in the tanks - just about right for a 6,600-mile leg, looks as if the modeller got it spot-on, 8,000-mile max. range.

The modeller scored again when I got told to start my descent - I found that, as you'd expect with high-aspect-ratio wings, the 787 showed very little interest in going down, and even less in SLOWING down.

The sub-panel to set the ILS frequencies was a sight to behold - and SO easy to use, for a change.



The solution to the speed problem was to leave the spoiler deployed all through the descent, and ALSO use it to slow down to 180 as I got close to intercepting the glidepath.

For some reason, though, ATC brought me in at only 1,800 feet, so I didn't intercept the glidepath until I was only about 8 miles out; the autopilot couldn't stabilise the approach path in time; I had to switch to VFR. Got it sorted out and 'tamed' in the end, though - helped by a really good clear ILS display.



The only other slight problem came when I flared; the engines are done properly, which means that they spool down really slowly, so I floated along the runway a lot further than I should have; giving me a good view of the KLAX control tower, one of Los Angeles' main (only? ) landmarks, as I touched down.



Verdict is, nice challenging aeroplane and fun to fly, I'll certainly go on and complete the round-world trip.

Good stuff. Don't like the 7E7 though..

Don't like the 7E7 though..

Why ever not, Rimshot?  :)

nice trip. i like the landing pic