Flight 19 European Vacation

Taco and I left J-berg and headed southwestish to Kimberly where Trek wanted me to drop off the Connie. I had already had Merc Air HQ to pre-position the Boeing Stratocruiser there for me so that I wouldn't have to catch a commercial flight. Already have the Krugerrands that Trek paid me stashed in the secret safe onboard the 377.
 
Like Willy noted we left Johannesburg for Kimberley all by ourselves, think the rest of flight 19 is some where back up around Victoria Falls enjoying a cool one! hehe. Todays flight will be from Kimberley to Durban (FAKM to FADN). Getting a little worried, no signs of Achmed, maybe that rascal gave up trying to out guess the CNs, thinking about that...NAH...I don't think he will ever forget the wool being pulled over his eyes by the CNs. A few snaps of us setting at the airports, and one through the windscreen during climb out.
 
von Wrecktoften joined us again tonight for the flight to Durban. As usual when vW is along, a great time was had by all.

I did discover that the Stratocruiser doesn't land very well with the landing gear in the up position.
 
Hi Willy,

Here's a small modification I did a while back that slightly improves the Strat's landing characteristics with retracted gear:

[contact_points]

//0 Class
//1 Longitudinal Position (feet)
//2 Lateral Position (feet)
//3 Vertical Position (feet)
//4 Impact Damage Threshold (Feet Per Minute)
//5 Brake Map (0=None, 1=Left, 2=Right)
//6 Wheel Radius (feet)
//7 Steer Angle (degrees)
//8 Static Compression (feet) (0 if rigid)
//9 Max/Static Compression Ratio
//10 Damping Ratio (0=Undamped, 1=Critically Damped)
//11 Extension Time (seconds)
//12 Retraction Time (seconds)
//13 Sound Type

point.0=1.000, 30 , 0, -11.9, 1320, 0, 1.5, 30, 0.5, 2.5, 0.9, 5, 5, 0, 200,200
point.1=1.000, -2 , -15, -11.1, 1500, 1, 1.5, 0 , 0.75, 1.25, 0.9, 4, 7, 2, 200,200
point.2=1.000, -2 , 15 , -11.1, 1500, 2, 1.5, 0 , 0.75, 1.25, 0.9, 4, 6, 3, 200,200
point.3=2.000, -6.417, -69.167, 10.583, 1574.803, 0.000, 0.000, 0.000, 0.000, 0.000, 0.000, 0.000, 0.000, 5.000, 0.000, 0.000
point.4=2.000, -6.417, 69.167, 10.583, 1574.803, 0.000, 0.000, 0.000, 0.000, 0.000, 0.000, 0.000, 0.000, 6.000, 0.000, 0.000
point.5=2.000, -24.000, 0.000, 0.167, 1574.803, 0.000, 0.000, 0.000, 0.000, 0.000, 0.000, 0.000, 0.000, 9.000, 0.000, 0.000
point.6=2.000, 29.667, 0.000, -4.083, 1574.803, 0.000, 0.000, 0.000, 0.000, 0.000, 0.000, 0.000, 0.000, 4.000, 0.000, 0.000
point.7=5, -30.90, -5.250, -7.300, 1600, 0, 0.00, 50.0, 0.0, 0.0, 1.00, 3.0, 3.2, 0, 0.0, 0.0
point.8=5, -30.90, 5.250, -7.300, 1600, 0, 0.00, 50.0, 0.0, 0.0, 1.00, 3.1, 3.5, 0, 0.0, 0.0
point.9=2.000, 25 , 0, -7.4, 800, 0, 0, 0, 0, 0, 0, 0, 0, 0, 0, 0
point.10=2.000, 2 , 0, -7.1, 800, 0, 0, 0, 0, 0, 0, 0, 0, 0, 0, 0
point.11=2.000, -15, 0, -6.9, 800, 0, 0, 0, 0, 0, 0, 0, 0, 0, 0, 0
point.12=2.000, 2, -15, -6.05, 800, 0, 0, 0, 0, 0, 0, 0, 0, 0, 0, 0
point.13=2.000, 2, 15 , -6.05, 800, 0, 0, 0, 0, 0, 0, 0, 0, 0, 0, 0

static_pitch=1.5
static_cg_height=10.5
gear_system_type=1
Click to expand...

... not that I would recommend such a landing, though, being rather costly and embarrassing and all...:



Nikko
 
:wavey:Again, a very nice flight from Kimberley to Durban even with some of those hills we needed to cross over. Nice to have MM back with his narrations of points of interest during our flights, Thanks MM. A welcome to vW who again has brought his wit to our flights. And a big welcome aboard to Sky who has joined our flights for a week or so, and has been able to put up with some of the crazyest of flight 19.
 
Hi Willy,

You're welcome! ^^

I actually did an entire series on scrape-points some while ago on the Calclassic forum. I covered quite a number of propliners on it, but not many jetliners as I hadn't learnt to fly most of them back then.

Here's a link to the entire series: http://calclassic.proboards.com/index.cgi?board=tips&action=display&thread=2671

The Manfred Jahn C-47 has the same scrape-points as the default DC-3; the recently released L-49 Constellation in turn has the same scrape-points as the L-749 Constellation...

Regards,

Nikko
 
We put Durban behind us and headed on to Port Elizabeth. Nice flight even if I did manage to botch up the landing again. At least I had my wheels down this time.

Going to try and see what our options are beyond Cape Town.
 
We made it on into Cape Town. Nice flight even if I did fold up the left main on touchdown. Trying to figure which way from here.
 
Here are a couple of photos from last nights flight. Had a lot of cloud cover on the first part of the flight, then the sky cleared and we had a nice view of the mountians just before Cape Town.
 
We headed north out of Cape Town to FAUP. Nice flight even with the perpetual South African headwinds. I knocked the left main out from under the Stratocruiser again and decided that it was time to leave it at the airport. Snagged up an unattended BOAC Constellation while the crew wasn't looking....
 
Taco, Sky and I headed out to Bloemfontein (FABL). Nice flight and I got some formation flying practice in.
 
:applause:Yep, it sure was a nice flight with Sky and Willy, but now Willy, shucks, I thought he was trying to come aboard the TWA L-749 during his formation flying, and the worst part he didn't even have a ticket! Any way a few snaps of the flight.
 
We traveled farther east to FDMS. The next couple of legs are going to be a bit longer so we're going to try to get an earlier start.
 
:running:Willy and I were off and running. Had a nice tail wind and the flight seemed to move along real fast. Sky joined us a little late. Hopefully we can get an earlier start on these longer flights. Here are a few random photos. of course they are not in order.
 
More ramdon photos from last nights flight from FDMS to FQBR. Next flight will be over water from FQBR to FMMV.
 
Nice longish flight. I was on point, but decided to loop around to the rear and try to get some screenshots of the others. I didn't get very close to vW, but almost ran over Sky (also in a BOAC Connie) when he suddenly slowed down as I was closing in on him. Then it was time to descend to set up for approach to FQBR.

As Taco said, next is a long overwater leg.
 
Hi Willy,

I didn't think inflight refuelling was an option on the BOAC Connies (or any civvy Connie...?):icon_lol:

Anyway, lovely pictures! ^_^

Cheers,

Nikko
 
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