Victoria to Ottawa and back in a 172

[JRoc]

Was searching around the other day and stumbled upon this page: http://strickland.ca/flying/2003/ontario/

Lots of pictures, fuel consumption table, and more.  I'm recreating the flight in FS - although I'm using a slightly faster aircraft (Cessna 210M), so my legs are on average 45-60 minutes shorter.  I'm about to begin Day 3 Eastbound.  Using the awesome Past Weather Climate Data at Environment Canada (http://www.climate.weatheroffice.ec.gc.ca/climateData/canada_e.html), I was able to simulate the same weather conditions.  Quite a lot of the stops have scenery files available, too.

[beaky]

Wow, that's a greata find... man, I would love to make a trip like that.

[JRoc]

So I completed the eastbound journey to Ottawa in FS9.  I flew the entire trip on almost the exact same flightpath (not hard, considering it's mostly direct-to).  UT Can/AK and various meshes really made a difference though, for the sake of pinpointing the landmarks in the photos.  Way fun. (Although I must say the Western Prairie portion was slightly boring, but by far the easiest, because I fly those areas almost exclusively.)

Checking my logbook, it took 17h 19m 28s from Victoria to Ottawa.  The first half of the trip had an average speed of 130 knots, due wonky cross- and head- winds.  The second half (from Brandon straight through to Ottawa) was 140-145, as I rode a 10-20 knot tailwind that popped up at Kenora.  The return trip should make for some interesting flying when I get the weather settings just right.