Leg The Next

On to SFO


Climbing out of Honolulu

This leg is a long one: The GPS says 2018nm as I sit at the gate, so I'm going to do everything I can to conserve fuel. I'm going to cruise at FL310, 210KIAS (M 0.72). I'm also going to reduce the climb rate from 1,800 feet per minute to 1,200.

The flight's uneventful, good weather the whole way, including at SFO (!). Even fairly reasonable vectors in to 10R. Nice views of the Golden Gate and the city off to the left on approach, touched down just as the sun was going down (yeah, I adjusted the world clock a tad for effect.)



On Approach near the Golden Gate










Coming in over the hills












Lining up for final

















At the gate

Some Definitions for those what need 'em

Nautical Mile, or nm (not to be confused with nanometer, also abbreviated nm) is the unit of measure typically used for distance in aviation, so distances and speeds are typically given in nautical miles, or 'knots'. A nautical mile about 1.15 miles. The exact definition is one meridian arc minute at sea level. An arc minute is 1/60 of one degree, and there's 360 degrees around the planet, so the earth is 360 x 60 or 21,600 nautical miles around at sea level at the equator. Also, 1 nautical mile is equal to 1,852,000,000,000 nanometers.

Acronyms-
KIAS or IAS: Knots, Indicated Air Speed- how fast the plane is moving through the air, measured in nautical miles per hour. Actual ground speed can be quite different. As the plane flies higher, the air is thinner, and has less resistance. At FL330, while KIAS might be 275, actual ground speed might be 480kts.

IFR: Instrument flight rules- plane and pilot must be able to fly using only instruments (altimeter, radio navigation, GPS etc.)

FL: Flight Level- Altitude in hundreds of feet. i.e. FL220=22,000 ft FL330=33,000 ft

GPS: Global Positioning System- satellite navigation. Same as the Garmin you might get for your car. Or that Scott-Scott (Bob-Bob?) uh, Tom-Tom system.

The Story So Far

Since you asked...

Leg The Fourth

Cassidy International to Honolulu International

Weather still very clear...

Pushed back from the ramp at 14:52, virtual local time, got IFR clearance from Christmas Radio, switched to advisory, taxied out and took off. Instructions were to climb to 14,000, which was a bit unusual- typically, it's been to 6,000 or 7,000 over the pacific for the first altitude stop. Anyway, looking back after takeoff, I was thoroughly chagrined to discover that the other end of the runway has approach lighting- which I could have used, because winds were calm when I came in the other day. That's a minor beef I have with FS- default IFR approach seems to be east to west, no matter what the facilities are. In general, a lot of the vectors to final seem wierd, and in cases where I've actually flown into airports (as a passenger, duh) the vectors I get from FS aren't anything like the patterns that the airlines actually fly. Sometimes the instructions are just dumb. Coming in to Honolulu, for example, the vectors put my flight path coincident with a mountain. Not the best plan when you're trying to line up with the runway.

Climbing out of Cassidy

Oahu (virtual) from the cockpit (virtual)

The deal is that I got vectored in to runway 22L, but the vectors went through a mountain range. Control seemed to be unaware that there was a mountain range... Anyway, on first approach, it was obvious I wasn't going to be able to put it down without my virtual passengers virtually heaving in all their virtual barf bags, so I declared missed approach and went around. Same vectors in, but this time I knew what was coming, and managed to put it down without hitting a mountain or making a big splat. Again, no ILS on this runway.

After missed approach

Landing at Dusk

Stats: trip was about 1160nm, longer flight beause of the missed approach, flew 275KIAS at FL320 (mach .76 for those keeping score at home). Tuned to Oakland center after takeoff, passed to Honolulu center 250nm out of Honolulu, passed to Kaneohe approach during vectors, then to Honolulu Int'l tower. In flight entertainment was Boston Legal (where Lincoln Meyer, the bizarre peeping tom, in a kidnapping gone awry, takes a crossbow bolt to the chest, and quotes the Black Knight from Monty Python & The Holy Grail: "It's only a flesh wound." I swear I am not making this up - Dave Barry)

Edited to fix typos at 3:38pm

Leg The Third

Pago Pago International in American Samoa to Cassidy International, which happens to sit on the island Kiritimati, which is one of the Line Islands, in Kiribati. According to Wiki, the airport gets one flight a week, stopping between Nadi and Honolulu. Basically the same thing I'm doing.

Great weather, visibilty 50, with just a few scattered clouds.

Takeoff from Pago
Radio went Pago Tower, handing off to Pago Departure, then to Nadi Center, then Oakland Center.

Cruised at 275kias at FL350, pushed back from the gate at 11:20am with a full tank, landed with about 45% fuel remaining, so I came in at 175kts, and misjudged the flare a little bit. Put it down right on the center line tho, which I was particularly proud of because this airport does not have an ILS. In fact, it doesn't even have an approach lighting system, so you really have to judge the line by eye. Plenty of runway to roll out & stop tho. Approach was via GPS, with the center handing off to the local advisory frequency (there's no tower, either) about 15 miles out.

Nearing Cassidy

Touching Down

Kiritimati (Christmas Island)

Leg The Second, With Photos!

The second leg was a short hop from Nadi International to Pago Pago International in American Samoa. Just getting in position for the next leg, really. Fligh path was 720 nautical miles, but because of the silly vectoring, it worked out to about 800, cruising at 280kts at FL330. This time, I flew using jetways. The route was almost a straight shot. Pushed back from the gate at 2:20pm, was #2 for departure. Nadi has a turnaround at the other end of runway 2, so had to wait for the traffic to taxi out & take off before taxiing into position. Control tower handed off to Nadi departure, then to Nadi center, which controlled the remainder of the flight. Started descent into Pago at 100 nautical miles out, and was given a visual approach to runway 5. Vectors put me a bit to the left of the runway, and I finally put it down a bit off to the left of the stripe. Ewps. Not my best landing ever. Pulled up on the tarmac at 7:30pm- time zone change and crossed the date line, so it was 7:30 pm the previous day.

Taxiing Out at Nadi


On Approach at Pago Pago Int'l


On the tarmac


Pago Pago International

Leg The First

I decided to start in Wellington, New Zealand. Why New Zealand? It's the country farthest left on my wall map. Why Wellington? Well, it's the capital, and like, dude- Wellington Boots! Never mind.

So, first leg, Wellington International, to Nadi International. Nadi International is on the west side of Fiji, and the GPS says it's 1440kts from Wellington.

Weather in Wellington, partly coudy, broken at 3000, winds from the north at 5. Flight plan a couple of degrees to the right of due north, 354 magnetic (true course offset seems to be about 10 degrees at that location). 3rd in line for departure, took of at 10:34am local time. Full load of fuel. Cruised at FL320 at 280kts IAS, .76M. Handed off from tower to Wellington departure, then to New Zealand center, then Auckland center, to Nadi center, to Nadi approach. Started descent about 150kts out, descended to 7000. Usual bizarre vectors. Descended to 2500 to line up with the ILS, but there was a Cessna Skyhawk ahead, and as a result, I had a run-in with the tower controller AI. About 10 miles from the runway, I had got ahead of the Cessna, but the tower cleared the Cessna for landing first. The limited AI of the program couldn't figure out that a 737 comes in just a tad faster than a Skyhawk, I guess. So get a call from the tower, "cleared to land, follow the aircraft on final." What aircraft? The only one else up here is that Cessna I passed... so when I get to decision height, I get the call to go around. Pinheads. So I go around. Only now, there's a Piper in the pattern, so I'm thinking, "same problem." Only this time, I got cleared to land first. Which I did, with no further incident, on runway 2. At Nadi, the terminal is at the far north end of the airport, so I flared late for minimum taxi, and got out of the way of the Piper, who landed about 4 minutes later.

Wellington International



















Nadi International

A New Direction

I'm off to see the world. Virtually. I wanted to log my time in Flight Simulator, and here's as good a place as any, especially since no one reads it besides me anyway.

Here's the premise: I'm going to fly my virtual Boeing 737-400 around the world in relatively short hops. (Flight Simulator 2004, no add-ons. I haven't got FSX yet. Maybe for X-Mas.) It's gonna take a long time, and be very boring overall, but ther's going to be a couple of challenges, such as figuring out how to get over oceans. I know I can make it across the Pacific, 'cause I've done the hops, just not in sequence. In FS2004, the 737 has a max range of about 2200 nautical miles, if you don't get much headwind. 2200 kts is way out on the edge tho, and you might not make it if you have to go around.

More rules- I'm using the autopilot a lot, so I can wash the dishes or tidy up while the plane flies itself. All legs are IFR flight plans, and I'm going to follow controller's instructions even when they're absurd (if anyone's done vectors to final on an ILS in FS2004, you know what I'm talking about- the wierd tendancy to vector way off course, only to get vectored back to almost right where you were...) I will occasionally use a GPS or ILS via transition approach, but generally only where I'm familiar with the airport. FLight plans are going to by direct GPS, unless I feel like following the airways. No cheating on fuel. If I can't use real world weather, I'm considering the airport closed, and waiting until the internet works again.

Well. Off to it then.