- OZ Tour 2006 -

cheekytrolly · Posted: Wed Dec 28, 2005 6:55 am Post subject: ***- OZ Tour 2006 -***

AN INTRODUCTION, 28/12/05

Thanks to Vista Austrails amazing upgrade of Australian scenery (www.vistaoz.org) and the CD's of replacement Australian mesh by Andy Weir that have come into my possession, I have decided to create a tour of the now very beautiful representation of the Great Southern continent this holidays.

I will split my 13,700 km journey into seven legs, starting in the North Eastern city of Cairns and heading clockwise, going south as far as Tasmania, West as far as Perth and North as far as Darwin. Over all I will be landing and taking off from 90 individual airports in Queensland, New South Wales, Victoria, Western Australia, South Australia and the Northern Territory.

I will be flying in my payware Piper PA-34 Seneca (from Just Flight’s Flying Club add on) which I have repainted especially for this occasion by adding an Australian flag to the tail, as you see below:

The seven legs are as follows:

Leg 1: Cairns to Coffs Harbor
Leg 2: Coffs Harbor to Mount Gambier
Leg 3: Mount Gambier to Kalgoorlie
Leg 4: Kalgoorlie to Darwin
Leg 5: Darwin to Karumba
Leg 6: Karumba to Cairns

Amongst many, many, many other locations I will fly via Brisbane, Hamilton Island, Townsville, Sydney, Canberra, Wollongong, Hobart, Melbourne, Ballarat, Adelaide, Port Lincoln, Perth, Garden Island, Wyndyham, Rockhampton, Bundaberg, Alice Springs, Ayres Rock and Lake Argyle.

You can download my whole 5 page NAV Log here: http://h1.ripway.com/djdarius/OZTourFlightPlan.doc which has every airport code I am visiting, distances, ETA’s, cruise altitudes etc etc.

I will update this post daily from January the 1st 2006, until I have completed the tour, with a flight log and many screenshots Very Happy

Please feel free to join me, I will properly fly a good percentage of it online on ‘67.18.56.106’ which is FSIMCAFE’s server. All I can say now is watch this space!

Cheers,
Andrew
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jarred_01 · Posted: Wed Dec 28, 2005 8:17 am Post subject:

Wow, sounds like you're going to be kept busy over the holidays. Are you flying GPS or simply with a compass?
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Air New Zealand Boeing 777-200ER ZK-OKB touches down on the tarmac at Christchurch, New Zealand (CHC / NZCH).

Liono · Posted: Wed Dec 28, 2005 8:19 am Post subject:

Have fun a and a little request of screenies please
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beerbadger · First Officer Joined: Nov 25, 2005 Posts: 392

good luck!
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99jolegg · Posted: Wed Dec 28, 2005 11:30 am Post subject:

Good luck and hope you enjoy it Wink

Fly safely Cool

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cheekytrolly · Posted: Sun Jan 01, 2006 3:01 am Post subject:

Oz Tour 2006 Log
Please note: I have not posted actual screenshots, but links to them as this helps people with slow connections load the page! Please do take the time to click the underlined links, as I believe I have got some good shots of some fantastic scenery

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Flight Day: 1
Route: YBCS, YIFL, YIGM, YPAM

Well the day has finally dawned, and the tour has finally begun! Just after lunchtime today at 12:15, I started up the Pipers engines and asked ATC at Cairns International for permission to taxi for take off to the South. For some reason, I got directed to Runway 33 pointing north, so after a perfect first take off, I turned right nearly 180 degrees as I climbed up to 6,000 feet and began the 25 minute trip to my first airport stop, Innisfail (YIFL) To tell the truth, my first impressions where feelings of disappointment, as I had downloaded the Cairns airport package from virtualvrf.com and all the costliness didn’t match up with the VOZ ones, and looked untidy. This all changed as I reached my cruising altitude, changed to spot view and started to take in the breath taking North Queensland scenery below me:

Screenshot 1: http://i35.photobucket.com/albums/d189/flightsim/day1point1.jpg
Screenshot 2: http://i35.photobucket.com/albums/d189/flightsim/day1point2.jpg

Soon after, I began my descent into Innisfail airport, for runway 14. It’s a rural-ish airfield with no ATC system, and with no other traffic in sight, I easily preformed a nice touch-and-go landing before quickly climbing up to 6,000 feet again for the half hour trip south to Ingham (YIGM) Heading at 165 degrees with autopilot on, my path led me over the glistening sea towards the absolutely stunning Hinchinbrook Island, then back onto the mainland, over a few rugged hills before the airport came into sight. I turned wide out to the right; descending through a very picturesque valley before I gently touched down, speeded down the runway and pulled up again for my final stop today. As you can see in the screenie below, there are trees standing right in the way at both ends of the runway which I was quite funny:

Screenshot 3: http://i35.photobucket.com/albums/d189/flightsim/day1point3.jpg
Screenshot 4: http://i35.photobucket.com/albums/d189/flightsim/day1point4.jpg
Screenshot 5: http://i35.photobucket.com/albums/d189/flightsim/day1point5.jpg

For my final destination today, Palm Island (YPAM) I didn’t climb all the way up to 6,000 feet or use autopilot as this was only a 12 minute hop. Instead I headed at 095 degrees, low over shallow tropical sea waters at 3500 feet passing many little islands on my way. The scenery here is spectacular and reminds me of my payware IWI series (Islands of the West Indies by Flight1) I touched down on runway 15, and taxed over to the grass to park, discovering I had only used up 19% of my fuel so far.

The reason I did such a short flight today is because I am still waiting for my MESH add on CD covering most of Australia which a kind flight sim pilot is sending me in the mail. I will continue my flight after it has arrived and I have installed it, meaning next time I return to the mainland (Townsville, YBTL is my next stop) I will hopefully bee in for a pleasant surprise with more eye candy and more screenshot opportunities Very Happy

Until next time-
Thanks for reading!
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Guest Ed · Guest

Great tour idea, CT! Have fun and keep us posted.

I love a good tour! Very Happy

Ed

cheekytrolly · Posted: Mon Jan 02, 2006 1:54 am Post subject:

Flight Day: 2
Route: YPAM, YBTL

I forgot that today was a bank holiday, and the mail doesn’t get delivered, meaning I still don’t have my mesh- but my goal for this tour was to do at least one flight each day, so that is exactly what I did. Wink

I took off from runway 14 at Palm Island (YPAM) and noticing on the GPS that the distance to Townsville (YBTL) was only 32 nm, I only climbed up as high at 3500 feet. Once I levelled off, I stitched on autopilot, turned to a heading of 153 and tuned into Townsville ATC. I was directed to land on runway 1, but I was still 30 minutes away, so I just sat back and enjoyed the scenery. I was over a large bay for most of the flight, passing a few of the reef islands on the way with their colourful lagoons. (See screenshot 1: http://i35.photobucket.com/albums/d189/flightsim/day2point1.jpg ) As I came over the coast, following a winding river towards the urban area, I noticed how much populated the area was than Cairns and Ingham where I had started out from, with lots of little villages and small towns dotted all over the place. (See screenshot 2: http://i35.photobucket.com/albums/d189/flightsim/day2point2.jpg ) I was cleared to land, as I banked over the city centre, paying more attention to the scenery below me (See screenshot 3: http://i35.photobucket.com/albums/d189/flightsim/day2point3.jpg and screenshot 4: http://i35.photobucket.com/albums/d189/flightsim/day2point4.jpg ) than the airport in front of me and came in a little lower than the recommended guide slope. I parked up in on a GA ramp, with out the pleasant surprise I had hoped for returning to the mainland, although the surrounding VOZed area was far better than the old default stuff.

Thanks for reading,
See you tomorrow!
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Corgi · Posted: Mon Jan 02, 2006 3:00 pm Post subject:

Hi

That's some work youv'e given yourself.

Thanks for the routes, I'll try some myself.

Best of luck with the flying

Regards

George Very Happy

Liono · Posted: Mon Jan 02, 2006 3:23 pm Post subject:

Looking good CheekyTrolly, that VOZ scenery you have installed is doing wonders Very Happy

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alohajoe · Posted: Tue Jan 03, 2006 3:49 am Post subject:

Awesome flight Cheeky! I don't have an organization for your plane, but can i put something else on maybe? I'll drop you an e-mail.
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The end of an era--->
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ecemobfzRNc

alohajoe · Posted: Tue Jan 03, 2006 3:50 am Post subject:

I guess i'm kinda late on the e-mail.. Crying or Very sad

oh well maybe next time.
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The end of an era--->
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ecemobfzRNc

cheekytrolly · Posted: Tue Jan 03, 2006 10:57 am Post subject:

Flight Day: 3
Route: YBTL, YAYR, YBWN, YBHM, YBPN, YBMK

Sorry this is a late post, but I have been out most of the day at Auckland International (NZAA) plane-spotting and I have uploaded some photos I took in another forum here at: http://flyawaysimulation.com/postp64662.html Anyway, today is also a bank holiday, and my mesh cd’s still have not come in the mail, so I decide to ‘improvise’ a little and downloaded some separate mesh files I found at: http://www.simviation.com/fsdterrainsrtm.htm while I wasn’t at home, which worked out quite nicely!

I started back from Townsville, took off on runway 1, and swung around the bay heading South at a heading of 110 degrees towards Hamilton Island. Both Ayr (YAYR) and Bowen (YBWN) were directly in my path, with Ayr being the closest at 37 nm away. I was planning on touching-and-going on runway 11, but as I descended in to land, the area which showed it on the map was just a blank brown space! I had to preform a sharp turn to the right, to land on runway 19, which I managed to pull off, just.

I took off again, turned left back to a heading of 110 degrees and flew low along the coast to my next stop (See screenshot 1: http://i35.photobucket.com/albums/d189/flightsim/day3point1.jpg ), Bowen, which was 50nm away. I could see the gravel runway a long way off thanks to lovely clear conditions and easily preformed a perfect touch and go, with hardly any other traffic in sight.

My next stop was Hamilton Island (YBHM), which I had wanted to visit ever since I saw it on the ‘United Travel Getaway’ TV show. Before hand, the terrain had been pretty flat with lots of wide valleys filled with wide rivers and wide bays, but now the land pushed itself upwards to create some interesting cliffs and hillsides along the peninsular I was flying. (See screenshot 2: http://i35.photobucket.com/albums/d189/flightsim/day3point2.jpg and screenshot 3: http://i35.photobucket.com/albums/d189/flightsim/day3point3.jpg ) I was cleared to land on runway 32, so I circled slowly over the bay, taking in all the glories scenery of the many tropical islands surrounding me, before touching down. I was not disappointed with this stop, as the VOZ creation made it just how I had imagined it, and I wished I could have stayed longer and explored some more, but I was running low on fuel and still had to more airports to land at today. (See screenshot 4: http://i35.photobucket.com/albums/d189/flightsim/day3point4.jpg )

As I took off again, I turned back towards the mainland, not climbing too high though because my next stop, White Sundays Coast (YBPN) was just 8 minutes away, and instead of setting the plane onto autopilot, I did a little low level flying, and swooped low in the valleys, hugging the trees until I reached the airport (see screenshot 5: http://i35.photobucket.com/albums/d189/flightsim/day3point5.jpg ). With no other traffic or ATC system, I picked runway 11 to land on, came in a little fast, speeded along the runway and was soon airborne again ready for my final stop today.

Mackay (YBMK) was 53nm south of Whitesunday’s, so I climbed up to 6,000 feet and set autopilot on and cruised at 150 knots for the next 30 minutes. I was cleared to land on runway 32, so I entered the pattern to the left, lowering my gear right over the small waterfront town. From the air, I could see lots of white blocks around the airfield which made me confused at first, but then I remembered that I had downloaded quite a few addon airports from www.virtualvfr.com and installed them last week, with out testing them out first, so that when I arrived at them on the tour, it would be something new for me to see. I had been tired when I installed it and I think I must have put some of the files in the wrong folders or something because it once happened to me a while ago when installing a NZWN addon. This was a little disappointing, but I was pleased to see a fuel pump and headed straight for it to find out I still had 21% fuel left! I thought I had way less, maybe 5% or 10%, but I topped up anyway, and taxied over to the GA ramp, as directed by ATC and parked up next to another Piper. (See screenshot 6: http://i35.photobucket.com/albums/d189/flightsim/day3point6.jpg )

It’s getting late now, so I best be off to rest myself for tomorrows flight.
Thanks for reading!
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cheekytrolly · Posted: Wed Jan 04, 2006 5:38 am Post subject:

Flight Day: 4
Route: YBMK, YWIS, YBRK, YTING, YMTO, YBUD

A rainy afternoon here in Auckland with nothing to do outside was perfect for me to get in a few hours more flight simming done inside. I managed to cover quite a distance today, visiting five airports during a two hour flight.

Starting off from Mackay, I took off on runway 32, glad to get away from the untidy scenery I had screwed up during installation, and turned south at 136 degrees towards Williamson (YWIS) over the ocean. The VOZ water textures looked immaculate, (See screenshot 1: http://i35.photobucket.com/albums/d189/flightsim/dayfourpoint1.jpg ) as I climbed up to 6,000 feet and cruised with autopilot on for 92 nm. When I got to 14nm out from the airport, all of a sudden, the screen went black and the loading bar appeared for two seconds, and then flickered back and continued as in nothing had happened- strange! I was so puzzled that I forgot how close I was and had to dive down steeply in order to touch-and-go at runway 14.

Once airborne again, I turned to a heading of 154 degrees and flew along the peninsular towards my next big town, Rockhampton (YBRK). The new rural textures where very pleasing to the eye, with such a huge variety of landclass, it looked like photoreal. (See screenshot 2: http://i35.photobucket.com/albums/d189/flightsim/dayfourpoint2.jpg ) I was amused to hear ATC referring to the airport as ‘Rocky’ as I glided into land on runway 33, circling the suburbs before I touched down, noticing a Qantas Link taxing on the apron.

I was soon back in the air and circling the pretty city, with a lazy river winding though the urban centre and some shielding hills in the background. (See screenshot 3: http://i35.photobucket.com/albums/d189/flightsim/dayfourpoint3.jpg ) After I put the gear up, I changed my heading to 166 degrees and headed inland for 70 miles towards Thangool (YTNG) The terrain (downloaded mesh) became much more rugged, and the population much more sparse, which was a little different from my previous flights that have been mainly along the coast. (See screenshot 4: http://i35.photobucket.com/albums/d189/flightsim/dayfourpoint4.jpg ) It was great seeing all the shadows formed by the landscape, rather than buildings in the late afternoon sun. When I reached the airport, I chose to land on runway 10, since it was tarmac unlike the other ‘sand’ runway which crossed it! (See screenshot 5: http://i35.photobucket.com/albums/d189/flightsim/dayfourpoint5.jpg ) …what ever floats your boat Mr airport director! Razz

My next stop was ‘Monto’ (YMTO) a small rural strip with no ATC system, or even any GA ramps, not the most interesting of areas, but the airfield just happened to be on directly in my flight path. I climbed up to 4,000 feet rather than 6,000 because it was just 17 minutes away and headed at 120 degrees, westwards towards the coast. I had a hard job picking the strip out visually, and then when I found it, it was nearly too late, so I had to swing sharply round to the right to pull off a decent touch and go landing.

The final stop for today was Bundaberg (YBUD), a big town back on the beautiful Queensland coastline, which was another 64nm away. I headed at 081 degrees, which bought my right past the southern tip of a large, odd shaped lake (See screenshot 6: http://i35.photobucket.com/albums/d189/flightsim/dayfourpoint6.jpg ) that I marked with a blue dot on my progress map, then across another long winding river before touching down at the small regional airport. (Unfortunately, the ATC system at YBUD didn’t come with an Indian accent, Wink

) I then taxied over to the empty GA parking area, and at 5:38pm simulator time, I cut the engines. I must have been sitting too close to the fuel pump because my fuel gauge suddenly registered as full, but before landing, I still had 40% left, meaning I could have continued much further if I had wanted. The only reason I didn’t though is because the mesh I downloaded only extended as far as this town, and I am still waiting for a terrain CD in the post to come, before I take my sunset flight down into Brisbane.

Thanks again for reading everyone.
I hope to do a longer flight tomorrow.
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RadarMan · Posted: Wed Jan 04, 2006 7:14 pm Post subject:

Great trip, maps and screenshots. It was as if I were traveling with you.
Thanks for letting us into your adventure!

Radar

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***- OZ Tour 2006 -***

- OZ Tour 2006 -