Guest J van E Posted December 31, 2010 Share Posted December 31, 2010 Ever wondered what a flightplan with way too many waypoints looks like? Here's how: Yes, that's right: I decided to make my longest VFR flight EVER, following the Trans-Canada Highway 1 from Calgary Intl to Vancouver Intl all the way. I usually do small hops, taking no longer than 30 minutes, but this time I wanted to do something else (after getting some great suggestions in this topic). I first did another suggested flight, with the Kodiak, that was quite long for me, but nothing much compared to this one. I enjoyed that flight a lot and even wished I had taken the slower DA-40 so I could have enjoyed the scenery even more. So I decided to take the DA-40 for this very long flight! And boy, did I have a great time...! I planned the flight in Plan-G, which is the perfect tool for this because you can see the actual road in great detail in that planner. It was great to see the the roads in NRM are 100% as their counterparts in real life! I ended up with +100 pics and a very satisfied feeling. The flight took 4 hours and 5 minutes (and a few seconds), but I have to add I did it in 4 sessions, spread over two days: I saved in mid-air in between a few times. I expected having to get some fuel along the way somewhere, but I made it easily with the fuel I loaded in Calgary, so no stops were made. I really did 'sit' in the VC ALL the time: whenever I had to go somewhere I paused the game or, if I had to go for a longer period, I saved the game. So I actually sat in the VC and looked out of the window for more than 4 hours... I never ever thought I could do that, but it was a pleasure to do so!!! Maybe I fooled around with my smartphone for about 5 minutes, but the rest of the time I just looked 'outside' and enjoyed the very diverse scenery. I made a selection of all the pics and ended up with the following 36 screenshots. They speak for themselves but I will add a few comments here and there. Calgary. Leaving the city. Mountains in the distance. Highway 1 is easy to follow! Getting closer to great scenery. Yes, mountains! In the beginning I flew manually... ...staying a bit to the side of the highway. I love this shot, with that shadow over the water! Later on I swtiched to the AP, sometimes using NAV/GPS but more often using HDG, so I wouldn't fly straight above the highway all the time. Things are getting narrow... ...real narrow! Out of the narrow mountains at last. It was fun at first but after an hour or so (or maybe even longer, I forgot) I was glad to see some more open space. I passed a few cities: didn't see much of those in the high mountains! Sometimes I did cut corners (the advantage of using HDG instead of NAV/GPS): the further I got. the more corners I cut. Leaving the beatiful green area behind me... I am not too fond of this 'sandy' part of NRM, I have to say... Still, great views, but I miss the trees... Now that's a big hole! The highway was easy to follow all the way. Looking down when the mountains got higher. Awesome. Ah, green again! It was great to suddenly see Hope, one of my beloved cities/airports in PNW. I had been wondering for some time when I would reach PNW and suddenly there it was! Turning towards the west. Leaving the mountains behind. This was the last hill I passed... The highway never left my side. Crossing the water in Vancouver! And here, according to Plan-G the Trans-Canada Highway 1 really ended... after almost 4 hours it was done. So I turned to Vancouver Intl. and looked back once more to where I came from... All that awesome scenery is there to be flown over again! Almost there! This has been one of the greatest flights of my life. Big fun. I will do this more often: follow roads or rivers over great distances. With Plan-G and FTX it can be done and it's absolutely awesome!!! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
moonman Posted December 31, 2010 Share Posted December 31, 2010 SUPER, SUPER, SUPER set of pictures :o here - a wonderful series!!! Great Work!!! Thank You very much for sharing them!!! i am going to spend new year´s day in the mountains as well - will be heading there pretty soon - but when i see the mountains in these pictures here i allready become a little impatient allready!!! So - once more: Super set!!! P.S.: May i ask what Your sys-specs are? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Matthew Kane Posted December 31, 2010 Share Posted December 31, 2010 Great shots. It took me 13 hours to do that drive by car. So you got it done in 4 hours. that is impressive. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
maxpax444 Posted December 31, 2010 Share Posted December 31, 2010 Fantastic set of shots there - looks like a good flight to do Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
John Lovell Posted December 31, 2010 Share Posted December 31, 2010 Fantastic series of pictures and great flight!... makes a very inspiring viewing and wouldnt mind giving that one a go myself! Thanks for sharing with us, your amazing trip! Happy new year to you! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Iain Emms Posted December 31, 2010 Share Posted December 31, 2010 Yes i really enjoyed looking at this set of shots a mighty fine trip. cheers Iain Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
airman Posted December 31, 2010 Share Posted December 31, 2010 Nice shots! Loved the tour.. Happy New Year.. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Waco Posted December 31, 2010 Share Posted December 31, 2010 Nice series of shots! I really enjoyed the tour and the narrative. Which DA-40 are you using? IRIS or EagleSoft? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
dontworry Posted December 31, 2010 Share Posted December 31, 2010 awesome! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
jankees Posted December 31, 2010 Share Posted December 31, 2010 very cool! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
evoras Posted December 31, 2010 Share Posted December 31, 2010 Great set J. Gonna have to try that one myself. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest J van E Posted December 31, 2010 Share Posted December 31, 2010 Thanks all. Nice series of shots! I really enjoyed the tour and the narrative. Which DA-40 are you using? IRIS or EagleSoft? Iris, because I could get that one for 5 AUD. I really like the plane though, so if the Aerosoft one is better, I might buy that one nonetheless. Some things don't seem to work well with the Iris version. EDIT There is no Aerosoft version yet...? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest J van E Posted January 1, 2011 Share Posted January 1, 2011 You can download the flightplan here! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Horatio Posted January 1, 2011 Share Posted January 1, 2011 Great job, so much nicer than driving a car over that route... Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Spirit Flyer_old Posted January 1, 2011 Share Posted January 1, 2011 That was great Jose. I bet that I have driven that several dozen times, but never so fast! Makes me really miss western Canada where I lived for 30 years. Kind regards and Happy New Year, Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
jjjallen Posted January 1, 2011 Share Posted January 1, 2011 A real treat! Thanks jja Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
turnandbank Posted January 1, 2011 Share Posted January 1, 2011 Great set of shots Jan. You should try the same flight in FXS with FTX NRM sometime! It looks almost as good as those real shots you posted above! Seriously those look incredibly realistic, especially with that maxed out autogen. Wish I could run with that much autogen on my system. Regards Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
alex330 Posted January 1, 2011 Share Posted January 1, 2011 That was a fantastic tripreport, i enjoyed every bit of it! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Waco Posted January 1, 2011 Share Posted January 1, 2011 Thanks all. Nice series of shots! I really enjoyed the tour and the narrative. Which DA-40 are you using? IRIS or EagleSoft? Iris, because I could get that one for 5 AUD. I really like the plane though, so if the Aerosoft one is better, I might buy that one nonetheless. Some things don't seem to work well with the Iris version. EDIT There is no Aerosoft version yet...? There is an EagleSoft version out. I bought the IRIS version also for 5USD and I'm not real happy with it that's why I ask. I'm thinking of getting the EagleSoft version also. Fantastic shots, thanks for posting the flightplan. EDIT: Actually it's a DA-42. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Alcibiades Posted January 2, 2011 Share Posted January 2, 2011 [glow=red,2,300]Great stuff![/glow] That was a lot of fun. One of the best picture stories I've seen on any of the flight forums. For any of my flights that are longer than 15 minutes, I listen to audio books, lectures, or classical music. I like to listen to them through the PC so I feel like I'm "in the car listening to the radio". Listening from another sound source kills the immersion. Have the lower the engine volume a bit sometimes. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
CoolP Posted January 5, 2011 Share Posted January 5, 2011 Wow, thanks for that. I've bookmarked this thread to catch up with it when flying your route suggestion. Great work! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
alexf Posted January 5, 2011 Share Posted January 5, 2011 Excellent trip and images. I've done the Vancouver to Hope and then north many times in the past but never ventured that far going East (the opposite way from you). Too long a trip for one sitting but certainly doable in two or three steps for me. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
sightseer Posted January 5, 2011 Share Posted January 5, 2011 J - I always enjoy your screenshots becasue you seem to like lots of trees and greenery and nice VFR conditions. its the same way I like to fly. These shots even look good on my internet computer with the cheapo monitor. Ill have to wait to see what they look like on the other computer. What time of year were you flying? All Im finding is lots and lots of snow. I had to go back down to Australia for a while to warm up but PNW kept calling. Luckily its not all snow covered around Portland. yet? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
robcap Posted January 5, 2011 Share Posted January 5, 2011 Hi, great set Ian! makes me regret not buying NRM during the sale Great suggestion on the audiobooks, might try taht some time. Cheers, Rob Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest Northwest Pilot Posted January 5, 2011 Share Posted January 5, 2011 Fantastic set J, thanks for sharing! I wonder how long that route would take me using Bob? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest J van E Posted January 5, 2011 Share Posted January 5, 2011 What time of year were you flying? Spring: thats the season I like most. I usually fly on the last day of that season. It's the greenest time of the year in PNW and NRM and I like that. Summer is too dry already: too much sand colors. Just recently I discovered hard winter can be very nice too though! BTW The colors are also influenced by the REX stuff you use (the sky has a great role in how things look all over) and of course by ENB: I use a rather 'light' ini (unlike most people, who apparently like to make things dark all the time, which I really do not like...). The only thing I really mark darker is the water (with FSWC): I don't like that too blue inland water that you get by default. The REX blue sky, the 'light' ENB ini and the dark FSWC water work well together imho. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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