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.
by Nav » Sat Mar 26, 2005 4:59 am 
) landmarks, as I touched down.
Bar by Mees
