"EQDC3": 2nd leg pt 2
Posted: Mon Sep 12, 2005 6:31 pmAlmost there... come on, baby... still burning too much gas, but at 35" and 2400 rpm as the book says, she just won't climb. ATC clears me for 5,000, then demands 7,000. thanks to the limitations of FS9, I can't ask to stay at 5,000- I have to go to 7,000. then ask to descend.And of course, they won't give me 3,000. Screw that. I cancel, and ask for flight following from Isla de Pascua. The Marqeusas VOR suddenly starts beeping its Morse ID at me, the needle swings, then it's gone. Weird. The IDP controller gives me radar contact confirmation and an altimeter setting, then he's gone. I'm alone again, except for God and Pratt and Whitney...
Eventually I settle for 4,500, and with MP/RPM still slightly over recommended economy cruise and full aft trim, I've got full back pressure on the yoke just to keep from sinking. I'm reminded of more words from Gann:
"There were other sobering discoveries as we eventually reached cruising altitude. Neither Johnson nor myself could make the airplane truly fly. Instead, it floundered..., mushing like a caravel, sinking hundreds of feet the moment we tried to relax."
I've got to do something...
Imagining that I have an elaborate array of valves, etc., I dip into the fuel and payload page again, to try to redistribute the fuel. Seems nose-heavy, so if I take some from the fwd center and move it aft... it helps a tiny bit,so I decide to move more later. Maybe from the wings, too.
But she's sinking again. Down to 3,000... can't afford to waste more fuel... still drawing from the aft tank... why? No time to go back and do plumbing repairs, esp. with a dive-happy plane, but maybe...
Aha!! the cargo! Most of it is in the fwd baggage area. I move it back to the rear baggage area, somehow making it back to my seat before losing another 1,000 feet. How- with all the tanks, plumbing, etc., and the plane diving like crazy? Well, let's just say I can move very quickly when necessary...
Sinking again... some turbulence, and every time the altitue slips, I can't get it back. I slip down below 3,000, between layers of cloud. The sea is barely visible through low clouds. The crude AP has gone crazy- won't hold heading, even with no turbulence, and dialing the AP trim yields worse results than hand-flying. Can't use it. I'm looking at about 35 hours of hand-flying. Well, Lindbergh did it; maybe I can...
Then, about an hour out,things seem to improve. I'm seeing a little climb. Wing tanks seem to be getting low faster. Hmmm... I check my "magic gauges" and see that since I moved that fuel aft, the selector has been working right, only drawing from the wing tanks. Good. Mystifying, but good.
Still no idea how far out I am; my only position fix will be when that VOR comes into range, and even then I'll have no DME. Well, at least that's a way out... when total fuel is at 800, unless I see that VOR bearing about 120 degrees or more left of my course, I'm gonna turn south and follow the beam. I'll be crossing the equator to the north in a few hours, so that goal won't be lost.
Ahhh. nice. Getting near 4,000, and finally set for decent economy. Airspeed is lousy, but the wind seems to have shifted- the bumps are different. Might be a tailwind. Good thing I decided to update real weather every hour...
Huh. There goes the VHF receiver again... then the signal's gone. Well, if I'm picking it up here, about 2000 nm away, it should be there when I really need it...
On I go... not much sense of motion (until I speed up the sim). Nearing two hours, and still drawing only from the wings.
I try the autopliot again, thinking maybe the w&b was responsible, but it's a mistake- she flops and flounders, and I lose several hundred feet. Boy, is this fun- and over 30 hours to go!!
Next: Decisions: Marquesas, Christmas, or a Swim in the Pacific?
Eventually I settle for 4,500, and with MP/RPM still slightly over recommended economy cruise and full aft trim, I've got full back pressure on the yoke just to keep from sinking. I'm reminded of more words from Gann:
"There were other sobering discoveries as we eventually reached cruising altitude. Neither Johnson nor myself could make the airplane truly fly. Instead, it floundered..., mushing like a caravel, sinking hundreds of feet the moment we tried to relax."
I've got to do something...
Imagining that I have an elaborate array of valves, etc., I dip into the fuel and payload page again, to try to redistribute the fuel. Seems nose-heavy, so if I take some from the fwd center and move it aft... it helps a tiny bit,so I decide to move more later. Maybe from the wings, too.
But she's sinking again. Down to 3,000... can't afford to waste more fuel... still drawing from the aft tank... why? No time to go back and do plumbing repairs, esp. with a dive-happy plane, but maybe...
Aha!! the cargo! Most of it is in the fwd baggage area. I move it back to the rear baggage area, somehow making it back to my seat before losing another 1,000 feet. How- with all the tanks, plumbing, etc., and the plane diving like crazy? Well, let's just say I can move very quickly when necessary...
Sinking again... some turbulence, and every time the altitue slips, I can't get it back. I slip down below 3,000, between layers of cloud. The sea is barely visible through low clouds. The crude AP has gone crazy- won't hold heading, even with no turbulence, and dialing the AP trim yields worse results than hand-flying. Can't use it. I'm looking at about 35 hours of hand-flying. Well, Lindbergh did it; maybe I can...
Then, about an hour out,things seem to improve. I'm seeing a little climb. Wing tanks seem to be getting low faster. Hmmm... I check my "magic gauges" and see that since I moved that fuel aft, the selector has been working right, only drawing from the wing tanks. Good. Mystifying, but good.
Still no idea how far out I am; my only position fix will be when that VOR comes into range, and even then I'll have no DME. Well, at least that's a way out... when total fuel is at 800, unless I see that VOR bearing about 120 degrees or more left of my course, I'm gonna turn south and follow the beam. I'll be crossing the equator to the north in a few hours, so that goal won't be lost.
Ahhh. nice. Getting near 4,000, and finally set for decent economy. Airspeed is lousy, but the wind seems to have shifted- the bumps are different. Might be a tailwind. Good thing I decided to update real weather every hour...
Huh. There goes the VHF receiver again... then the signal's gone. Well, if I'm picking it up here, about 2000 nm away, it should be there when I really need it...
On I go... not much sense of motion (until I speed up the sim
). Nearing two hours, and still drawing only from the wings. I try the autopliot again, thinking maybe the w&b was responsible, but it's a mistake- she flops and flounders, and I lose several hundred feet. Boy, is this fun- and over 30 hours to go!!
Next: Decisions: Marquesas, Christmas, or a Swim in the Pacific?
