Colorado Camping Weekend is here!

[falcon409]

Vertical Studios has just released Part 1 of 4 in the series and if you flew the Switzerland package you know that it's first rate. Glad to see this one come out and as soon as I get my cash (a few weeks away yet) I'll be grabbing this one up for sure.

Go take a look!
http://www.vertical-studios.net/products

:salute:

 

[Navy Chief]

Vertical Studios has just released Part 1 of 4 in the series and if you flew the Switzerland package you know that it's first rate. Glad to see this one come out and as soon as I get my cash (a few weeks away yet) I'll be grabbing this one up for sure.

Go take a look!
http://www.vertical-studios.net/products

:salute:

Thanks for the tip. Excellent price too! Still waiting for a download link, but hopefully that will arrive soon in email. NC

UPDATE: link arrived, installing now

 

[falcon409]

Thanks for the tip. Excellent price too! Still waiting for a download link, but hopefully that will arrive soon in email. NC

UPDATE: link arrived, installing now

Excellent. . .I know it's under $2.00, but I don't even have that right now, lol.:salute:

 

[Navy Chief]

I tried the mission earlier. Pretty impressive. But later in the flight, the accompanying voice/directions seemed to slack off. As I got close to the destination (not within visual yet), there wasn't any direction given to turn, etc.... I finally did see the airport, and landed, but kept getting directions to maintain altitude....and those directions were repeated at the same time I was getting "congratulations" for completing the flight! Weird.

NC

 

[Vertical Studios]

Here are some of the instructions that you should be hearing:

"...from here we can fly a heading of about 240 degrees. The valley turns a little to the right so just follow the valley all the way to Lake Dillon. That’s our destination. Camp Vertical is right along the lake, on this of the lake so we’ll be setting up to land very soon. The runway at the camp is oriented to the south and we need to land in that direction because of obstacles around the airport. So, the runway we’ll be landing on is runway 17, but it’s just a grass strip so you won’t see any numbers or anything. Actually, we’ll fly over the airport first so you can see what it looks like. Also, this will let other people know that you’re coming in to land. Go ahead and start a gradual descent now. No rush, keep us above the terrain, but descend so that you can see a bit more over the nose."​

"I can see Lake Dillon now. It’s just ahead at 240 degrees. You won’t really see the airport until you’re almost over it so you may want to look at the GPS to see where it is. Try to be at 10,500 when you fly over it. Also, to make it easier for you, fly just to the right of it so that you can see it out your window."​

"We’re almost over the camp so try to fly at about 80 knots now. We’ll fly over it and then enter right downwind."​

"Alright, there’s the camp. See the grass runway? That’s where we need to land, heading southbound. So fly over the airport and make right traffic for that runway, which is runway 17. The runway is at 9,100 feet so you can lose some altitude if you want to, but I like to stay a bit higher because it’s really easy to lose sight of the runway. I would highly recommend that you extend your downwind leg so that you have a nice, long final. Go ahead and turn now to the right to get on downwind. A heading of 350 degrees is perfect."​

I hope this helps. Regardless, I'm glad you made it to Camp Vertical. Don't forget to enjoy your stay!!!

 

[falcon409]

So Chris, if you don't extend the landing as mentioned and just do a straight in approach, the touchdown triggers a congratulations message but the script still thinks you should be in the air so it continues to give you flight instructions as well?

 

[Vertical Studios]

Not sure how it's possible to do a straight in approach since you approach the airport from the East and the runway is heading South. The only way to do this safely is to overfly the airport (per the instructor's instructions!), which also includes making sure the runway is safe. Then, enter right pattern on the downwind, right base, then final.

If you follow these instructions, then you will succeed ... be safe ... and not hear additional instructions. If you cut corners, not follow instructions, then the game gets upset

I did build in some FAILURES, like if you take off from the taxiway in Boulder, enter the runway not at the very end, etc. Basically, if you don't follow instructions. But these take so much extra time to program that I ended up not putting in additional failures near Camp Vertical.

I just reflew the mission and it works perfectly if you follow the instructions. I can see how one may not hear the instructions - if one sets the time to be 2x or 4x to speed things up. If one does this, then the instructions are easily missed. Why anyone would want to speed up the game, after paying for it, is beyond me, but I've heard some customers say that they miss instructions because they play it at 2x speed.

Mountain Flying is about enjoying the scenery ... and it is dangerous. Follow the instructor's advice, be safe, and enjoy the flight. You will be alright

Kind regards,
Chris

 

[Dimus]

I did this last evening and thoroughly enjoyed it.

The voice instructions were spot on and got you exactly where you needed to be if you followed them. I did the route with the Carenado C182RG, thinking it might give me a bit of an edge in climb performance through all those mountains. Here are a few shots taken along the way. UTX and GEX NA are installed:

After take off from Boulder, climbing, early morning:

Turning over Rollins Pass:

Approaching Berthoud Pass:

Great mountain scenery over Berthoud Pass:

Embracing the peak (great moment):

Turning towards Lake Dillon after passing Loveland Pass:

Descending towards Lake Dillon:

 

[Dimus]

CONTINUED:

Reached Camp Vertical field:

Turning final after following downwind and base:

On final from inside:

Short final:

Almost there, pretty tight!:

Touchdown:

Great camping scenery:

If you like GA flying try it!
Really looking forward to the next parts. Thanks Chris!

 

[grunau_baby]

I tried out their free switzerland mission and I am impressed. No "realistic" blinking waypoints, no cheesy storylines or voices, just plain flying and the navigation is spot on! Moreover the price is right!

Only downside IMHO, when on final some dramtic music starts off in the background: this scared me sh...less, cause I kept expecting some nasty engine failure all the time and did not really enjoy my cramped landing ...honestly great stuff for almost free!!!

Alex

 

[Vertical Studios]

Wow ... thanks so much for uploading all those great photos. I must admit that it looks even better on your screen than on mine. I'm jealous

 

[falcon409]

Yep, great job Dimus. . . .I'll be picking this one up in a few weeks. . .looking forward to it.:salute:

 

[Dimus]

You're more than welcome Chris! GEX NA textures help a lot.

When is the rest of it due? Can't wait now.

 

[Vertical Studios]

Enjoy your stay at Camp ... go hiking, fishing, swimming

 

[Vertical Studios]

Hello all,

Just thought you might like to know that the design phase is now complete for DAY 2 . We have moved on to Alpha testing, which involves flying the mission ourselves to find/fix any bugs. We can't give an exact release date yet, but it won't be too long now.

Kind regards,
Chris