Leg The Tenth

Lima to Santiago
Uneventful flight- mostly over water. Cruised FL310 at 280KIAS. Pushed back from the gate at 12:30, climb to 12,000, good weather the whole way. Next stop, Patagonia.

On the tarmac at Lima


Climbing out


A view out the front of the Andes descending into Santiago, Chile


The most, erm, suggestive parking slot, er space I've ever run in to.


Satellite view of the mountain to the west of the airport- I'm not sure how faithful the reproduction is in FS, but it's definitely there.

Leg The Ninth

Guatemala to Lima
Pushed back from the gate at 6:30, had clear skies, visibility greater than 50 miles. Beautiful day for flying. IFR clearance was to an initial altitude of 13,000ft. Total trip was about 1790NM. Radio passed from clearance to ground, to tower, then to Aurora departure. Set a heading of 151, and kept it pretty much the whole way. Cruised at FL310, 290KIAS (Mach .76). Departure passed to Central American Center, then to another frequency at Central American Center, on to Guayaquil Center, and after passing the equator, handed off to Lima Center. I chose to approach via the LIM intersection, then realized that is right at the end of the runway- so the approach was a bit of a problem, since the AI wasn't too keen to let me descend to the beam at the right time. Finally got the call to get on the localizer when I was about 9 miles out, and 2000 ft too high. Rather than go around, I hit the brakes, and had a rather steep descent to the runway, but only about 2100 fpm, so no need for the barf bags. Leveld out and let it float over the runway to settle in, landing about 1/2 way down. Plenty of stopping space, as I was light coming in w/only about 20% fuel left, and 12,000 ft of runway overall.

Sorry, but Google Earth & MS Virtual Earth both have the same coudy sat photo of the airport.



Pushing back at La Aurora



Climbing out past the Volcanoes



Flying near the Andes



On Final at Lima

Speaking of Flight Simulator 10

Here's a couple of screen shots from my test flights in FSX- and yes, I spend way too much time doing it. Since Jan 4, I've already logged 65 hours, and landings at more than 25 airports. The program's nice, even though I don't have anywhere near the hardware I need to really make the graphics shine. With my onboard lame-o graphics carg, I still get pretty decent reflections and lighting effects.


Beech King Air in the sunset over southern Oregon




Learjet near Mt. Shasta, CA




Sunrise from the 747 cockpit at 41,000 feet over Brazil




On final at Sao Paulo

Guate Side Trip

One of the things I did while stopped in Virtual Guatemala was to fly a side trip to lake Atitlan using a Cessna Caravan Amphibian. The Amphibian has pontoons with retractable wheels, so it can land on a runway or on water. La Aurora International airport is at about 5,000 ft above sea level, and so is the lake, but the lake is surrounded by mountains, so you have to climb to 12,500 fairly quickly on a direct route, then once over the valley that the lake's in, I used a spiral descent to lose the 7,000 feet to the water. Landing was toward Panajachel. The day wasn't the greatest for visibility, but that added interest.




On the Ramp at La Aurora- General Aviation is on the south side of the airport, away from the terminal.





Climbing Out- turing left toward the lake (north)




On Course Cross Country, Volcan de Agua in background




Approaching the cliffs around the lake




Descending... descending... descending...




Landing in the fog

Long Time No Blog

Not that anyone cares, particularly, but the trip 'round the world has been on hiatus because of 1) the holiday season 2) financial year end and, most importantly, 3) Flight Simulator 10.

Since no one actually reads this blog, there's no one to apologize to, apart from those I could apologize to in person anyway. So I won't. Nyah.

Leg The Eighth

MIA to La Aurora International, Guatemala

A relatively short hop of about 950 NM (using high altitude airways- direct via GPS would be shorter.) Pushed back about 9:00am, taxied to and took off from 9R, the longest runway at MIA. I was number 2 for takeoff, after following a 747 out to the runway. There was another 737 waiting behind me- so more traffic at this airport than even at DFW.

Looking back over downtown Miami Radio went from Clearance Delivery to ground, tower, then Miami departure. Flight path took me south near homestead, so I got passed off to Homestead approach. After that, then to Miami center, Havana center, Merida center, Central American center, Aurora approach, then tower.

Over Key West Takeoff & climbout was uneventful, weather not bad in Miami, just some spotty coulds. Got above pretty quick. Nearing La Aurora, however, it became obvious that there was low lying cloud cover, which is not unusual for this time of year. Closer in, it got thick- not quite pea soup, but definitely low visibility. Got vectored in from the south, and after control tried to run me into a mountain, got on the beam and put it down into a very stiff headwind.

Volcanoes on the horizon- appr to La Aurora

*Very* windy at La Aurora

Leg The Seventh

DFW to MIA
More boring. Pushed back at 7:20 am. 1005 NM from DFW to MIA, using high altitude airways. Picked up a 99kt tailwind over the gulf, and carried a groundspeed of 556 kts for about 350NM. Cruised at FL 330, but changed to FL350 because of turbulence. Radio went: Clearance delivery, ground, tower, Regional departure, Ft Worth Center, Houston Center, Jacksonville Center, Miami Center, Miami approach, tower, ground. Ho frikkity hum. Next leg we're off to more interesting parts.

Pushing Back from the Gate at DFW











Climbing out of Dallas
















On Final at MIA

Leg the Sixth

SFO to DFW

Boooooring.

Pushing Back from the Gate at SFO












Climbing out of SFO, Downtown in the background
















Over The Middle Marker at DFW













After all that gadding about over the pacific, this is kind of a letdown. Just a typical commuter air route between big hubs. Pushed back from the gate at 5:30 ish (trying to make it more interesting by flying at night), was #2 for takeoff. Cruised at FL330, 285kts, picked up a 50kt tailwind over Arizona, and made real good time into DFW. Total distance was 1269nm. Passed just on the north side of the China Lake Weapons Center airspace. Nothing went boom.

Radio went from Clearance Delivery at SFO to ground, to tower, to Bay Departure, handing off to Oakland Center. Passed between controllers at Oakland several times, then passed to LA center. LA center passed off to Denver center, then to Albuquerque, where I made a shallow left turn (no- not really), then to Ft Worth center, Regional approach, then DFW tower. And that's kinda how boring the flight was. Landed runway 18R, ILS approach, on the beam, easy rollout.

Next leg's gonna be kinda boring too.

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.

Delightfully Loopy

Lou Dobbs was on the Today Show today with Matt Lauer. He (Dobbs) advocated changing party affiliation to independent, because both Democrats and Republicans are not responsive to the public, but only to corporations and special interests. Which is fair enough, I suppose. Some of what he (Dobbs again) advocated makes a lot of sense: getting involved in local politics, working with the school board, and his (still Dobbs) diatribe about public education made sense (mostly). On the other hand, Lauer took the opportunity to characterize Dobbs' 'war against the middle class' as a war between the middle class and globalization. I suppose if we can have wars against nouns, we can have wars against verbs. But if what he (Lauer this time) means is that offshoring of jobs is bad for the middle class, shouldn't he (still Lauer) just say that?

Other thing- wouldn't having everyone become an independent kinda throw a monkey wrench into the primary process? I'm just sayin.

I had an idea about a monkey/typewriter remark to insert here, but it didn't work out.

Flailing About For Clarity

Hmm. I'm gonna try to hash out an idea. Careful- this won't be pretty.

Here's a sort of counterintuitive conclusion I've been thinking on:
An increase in the curve or progressive tax rates would have the effect of increasing investment, and therefore improving the economy and increasing GDP.

The reasoning's not too hard, it involves greed.

Postulate 1: There is a high correlation between rich persons and greed.
Opinions differ. But I think this is true. Common experience shows that persons with money tend to want to a) hang on to it and b) increase their holding, which leads to:

Postulate 2: Most wealthy persons are risk averse.
This kinda dovetails with item 1 above- but it also kinda hits human nature in general. Most people won't take a risk that they don't have to, which brings us to the reasoning:

If a person has sufficient personal funds to maintain their lifestyle without taking on further financial risk, they won't take on that risk. Lower progressive tax rates, extending to no tax at all on dividends makes it easier to have sufficient return with little or no risk. So, there's no incentive to invest. So, lots of money sits on the sidelines. Conversely, if the easy return gets taxed, then the individual needs to invest more and in higher risk/return investments to get the eventual return that they need or want.

That's the idea anyway. As exhibit A, look to the average Libertarian businessman.