Andy's Proposal for August 22, 2004:

Springtime in Yosemite Nat. Park (Canyon) J

Objective:- To fly VFR to Posn Alpha , descend and follow canyon floor at altitude of choice (got Yogi,s approval J ) Climb out to Posn Beta and immediately land in the paddock or on the lake.

Depart. Airport Mariposa-Yosemite ID o68 (Oscar)

Alt. 2250

R/W. 08/26 (3310ft)

Fly Hdg.043* dist. 15.5’ to Position Alpha (Lat 37*40.7 Long 119*47.3 Alt 6500)

Can use Shift + Z if forgot the stopwatch J -- then to Hdg 090* approx.

Suggest more Northerly course (020*) to intersect Lat 37*40 then "run your easting down J " to Long 119*47 as canyon difficult to pick out. (Look for river & tracks)

Descend into canyon (3500’) and follow tracks and river. On reaching a fork in the canyon ( round hill on the skyline ahead) take left fork over a small lake, commence a steep climb to exit at Position Beta (Lat37*47.4 Long119*29.3) Alt 8800

Immediately after the Exit position there is a fairly clear level paddock :-

Lat 37*49.4 Long 119*28.4 Approach. O2/200 Alt. 8202

After the paddock at Northern end is a sizable lake.

Approach Lake 03/210* Alt 8202’ The Caravan ( Amphib) did the climb out of the canyon easily

Used the Baron. (No problem) C152 (just made climb out of canyon)

Warning : climb out of the canyon is very steep. At the crest keep to the left for line up with the paddock.

ETE in the 152 is 38minutes.

Recommend cliff textures from www.aussim.com.au (Cliffs.zip 2.55mb)

Robert

Near KORF

G,day guys,

Talk about FAST !! Many thanks Robert, I am just about to copy and paste into a post (new thread) the same flight particulars , working on Ben,s advice to try Cut/Copy/ Paste etc. Will give it a go, again many thanks,
Regards,
Andy

Position Alpha is very close to the ELCAP Intersection over El Portal CA

The canyon is Yosemite Valley containing the Merced River. We will pass El Capitan (37° 44.15'N 119° 37.95'W 7569 ft) and Yosemite Falls (37° 45.45'N 119° 35.80'W) both to our left.

The left turn is just before Half Dome (8842 ft) and leads over Mirror Lake. The valley to the right is the Little Yosemite Valley containing the upper portion of the Merced River.

Position Beta is in Tenaya Canyon containing Tenaya Creek.

The lake at 37° 49.64'N 119° 27.95'W is Tenaya Lake

Most of this information is from Microsoft Encarta Interactive Word Atlas 2001 or DeLorme Street Atlas USA 7. Intersection identification from Flight Simulator 2004 Map.

Robert

Near KORF

Toronto Downsview to Niagara Falls Intl.

After takeoff from Downsview/CYZD turn over Toronto/YYZ VOR to follow V-164 to overfly Bassett Field/61NY (note turn at BULGE Int to a 123º course towards, but not to, Buffalo/BUF VOR ) then to KATHI Int./ADF and landing on KIAG Rwy 28.

I haven't made my own ETE calculations, but FS 2004 thinks the DC-3 would take 40 minutes to fly that 68 nm. route.

Check the fix in the Flight Simulator Adventure Logs if you plan to overfly the falls, but be carefull about the restricted airspace!

Robert

Near KORF

Rgr Robert... answers my query in your 'US Carriers " post
See you in CYZD
Regards,
Andy

There's a suggestion on the table to simulate some carrier traps on the Kitty Hawk (or Constellation if flying FS 2002) for the September 5 multiplayer. The ship is located a few miles outside San Francisco Bay. I figure we can fly to the vicinity of the ship and enter a left hand pattern, which I gather isn't to dissimilar to what US Navy pilots use (except maybe length of downwind and final)

Does anyone have suggestions about a departure point? Should we set up some winds to reduce our ground speed at touchdown? Let's discuss in the regularly scheduled Pilot Lounge chats as well as here.

I'll be flying one of the smaller single engine planes or a helicopter for this one.

Robert

Near KORF

Greetings Robert:

> I figure we can fly to the vicinity of the ship and enter a left hand
> pattern, which I gather isn't to dissimilar to what US Navy pilots use
> (except maybe length of downwind and final)

My understanding is military patterns are more of racetrack (oval rather than rectangular) shape, and yes, left traffic.

> Does anyone have suggestion about a departure point?

How far out to sea is the carrier? Perhaps Moffett would be nice (so we can see the Golden Gate and downtown on the way out).

> Should we set up
> some winds to reduce our ground speed at touchdown?

Which direction is the carrier steaming? Here's an interesting question: I wonder if the carriers change direction based on the wind direction as they do in real life? They never have in the past, but I would think they could be coded like the windsocks in FS.

Let me know which direction and speed you want and I'll see what we can do.

Ben

-= VPC OffLine Reader 2.1 =-
Registered to: Ben Chiu
-OLR.PL v1.83-

The position of CV-63 Kitty Hawk in FS 2004 is the same as CV-64 Constellation in FS 2002 as listed in the other thread. That's about 8 miles SSW magnetic of Saulsalito VOR (per GPS readout). The ship heading apears to be approximately 75°. The ship's heading does not appear to respond to changing the direction of 16 mile winds in the simulator.

Departing from Moffett Federal (KNUQ) to the carrier via VOR SFO, int. KUWAF (West of Alcatraz) and VOR SAU would be approximately 47 nm. That route would cross the San Francisco Class B airspace though. I don't have terminal area charts to determine if there are any GA corridors across the Class A or the adjacent Oakland Class C airpace. A westward route under the outer portion of the San Francisco Airspace would be significantly less interesting. We might just want to request clearance to cross over SFO a few thousand feet above the field.

We can discuss the merits of wind aiding the landing and impeding the westbound leg in the pilot lounge chats.

Robert

Near KORF

G,day Robert (guys),
Missed Wed. chat , sounds good to me though I find the CV 63 in FS9 very disappointing , very little detail of the carrier.
I have just downloaded the CAR2004a.zip file from FlightSim, eighteen carriers positioned throughout the world. Great detail, even to "slewing" onto the hangar deck.(I reckon we could all fit into it
What really put the icing on the cake is the CVN68 USS Nimitz is stationed just off the coast from TAREE !!
Well worth the download 4.76Mb.
Regards till Friday,
Andy

LAST EDITED ON 09-09-04 AT 07:25z ()

Three more ideas for flights

Grand Manan Maine to Bangor Maine:

92 nm within sight of Maine coast.

Inverness Scotland to North Connel Scotland:

78 nm along a Scottish valley. Would be a good flight for the Piper J3. I plan to stick to VFR pilotage for the navigation in this flight.

Moshi Tanzania to Loitokitok Kenya:

Estimated 50 nm. See something most people don't associate with Africa. I'll have to hand edit the flight plan to get the exact milage, as there are few intersections in the area for the built in planner. Will be departing towards Mtito Andea (MTA) VOR on 052° heading, but will turn off about halfway to the beacon. May use 41 mile DME arc to the 251 radial.

As always other ideas are welcome.

Robert

Near KORF

Whoops! further researh indicates Grand Manan Island is considered part of New Brunswick Canada. The map in Flight Simulator doesn't indicate where the border is SE of St Andrews (about 25 sm NW of Grand Manan) and the border takes a SW turn to seperate the Island from Maine. I should have picked up on the airport code though.

Robert

Near KORF

Fontanarossa at Catania Sicily to Reggo Calabria Italy

60 nm, including vectors to landing on rwy 33

Most of route along east coast of Sicily near Mt Etna (listed at 3323 m/10,902 ft in Microsoft's Encarta Atlas)

Destination has an offset localiser

Robert

Near KORF