It's happened to you...

[Ralf Roggeveen]

From the Gulf of St Lawrence to the Gulf of Mexico

So the time has now come to take the Carters on the final stretch of their epic trip, CYUL - KHOU:

This takes the DC-7C 5 hours 24 minutes cruising at 270 knots. Here's a more detailed northern half of the map:

Crossing the Canadian/US border into the State of New York, past Lake Ontario on our right, then all the way across Pennsylvania and into West Virginia, down the Cumberland Plateau with the Appalachians to our left, through Kentucky, a corner of Georgia, Tennessee, Alabama, then into Mississippi...

...west through Mississippi and Louisiana, over the Sabine (which is the stateline), across Galveston Bay and down into Houston.

We had an 08.00 start, aiming to be in Texas in time for lunch:

Spot the foreigner(s) amongst those Canadian locals...

Most Canadian civil airfields begin CY or CZ, so I guess CNN8 may be a military one? (CYHU is St Hubert which we overflew before).

This isn't a very good shot, but you can see that remarkable stadium that looks exactly like an enormous computer joystick. It was originally built for Expo 67 (which I can just remember!), also used when they had the Montreal Olympics (and possibly still not yet paid for):

We will now exit this harmless row of 1950s Canadian airliners:
http://img412.imageshack.us/img412/7369/arowx.jpg

I always got excited whenever ATC said 'De Havilland' and of course it was always a Beaver (you need to hear 'Speedbird' to spot Comets, or maybe 'Empress' hereabouts?):

This one's off to Trenton (Ontario, not New Jersey or any of the other five Trentons in the USA). Nice Nordair DC-3:

Dorval was their HQ of course, plenty more of their fleet to be seen round here. And here is an Empress, but she's a Britannia, not a Comet:

Don't remember seeing a Canadian Pacific Comet in AI, though there's a flyable version.

 

[Ralf Roggeveen]

That thumbnail was accidental, but still.

And maybe the Canadian Pacific Comet was a figment of my imagination! was planning to do some interesting flights in a big CP aircraft of this era, but perhaps it was only a DC-6?

Get some Ralf! More Carterflight soon...

 

[Sunny9850]

Did you pick that relatively low 6000' cruise to avoid the effects of the Jetstream or for some other reason ?? I would think that for a 5h plus flight the DC-7 would be more at home in the mid to high teens.

Stefan

 

[Ralf Roggeveen]

The computer chose the (very low) 6000, which I stuck to in order to enjoy scenery. As you'll see, we did fly perfectly well at that altitude, but I slightly regretted not adding another 3000 or so. It was the official 'Low Altitude Airways' height for that route, but clearly unrealistic for such an aircraft. But we didn't collide with any of those doctors in their Cessnas!

Quick look round the AI at Dorval before we part company with Mother Earth:

A Transair DC-4 (above: the Winnipeg-based Transair, not to be confused with the Swedish company of the same name) and a Viscount from Eagle Airways:

Not sure about the VR registration, Channel Islands or something? (Tom may have to explain; I only have a list of Eagle's UK mainland-registered aircraft). Here's that DHC Beaver off to visit his Tante Marie-Claire:

And an American Viscount (in the country America, not the airline, sense), pretty Eastern livery:

Foreign visitor from next door to home:

Tower shot in which you can just make out an airplane or two:

We go by the line, passing the only other non-Canadian, the DC-3s at the end being Quebecairs:

Runway 6L:

No hanging about, we get our permission and line up:

Set takeoff configuration including opening the cowl flaps:

And we're away. (That arrival KHVN is from Tweed, New Haven).

 

[Willy]

Ralf, back in the day Newfoundland used a V something registration instead of the normal Canadian C-F something. Could be a Newfie.

Kind of sorry to see this adventure come to a close.

ETA: Just checked my references and according to what I've got until 1958 Newfoundland used a VO-AAA to ZZZ registration code. Most of the VR registrations were in Asia. There were some VP registrations in the Caribbean. Could that R be a P?

 

[myles]

Apparently VR-BAY served with Eagle Airways (Bermuda) until 1960, when it was sold to Aer Lingus.

Hence VR-B** is likely to belong to Bermuda.

Hope this clarifies things!

Myles

 

[Ralf Roggeveen]

Myles must be right - note the flag on that aircraft's tail. VP is still used by British dependencies, e.g. VP-F Falklands and VP-G Gibraltar. So this must be the Bermuda Eagle Airways.

Sorry you're sorry to see this end (though there are more than 100 screenies still to post) - your turn next, Willy!

Up we go:

Montreal Downtown view:

And here's some of the shipping from Leon Louis' scenery enhancement:

(And the Joystick Stadium). We continue up the St Lawrence:

The main problem with flying such a low altitude was that I failed to hold it at the right moment and shot through by about 1500! So this was a very poor takeoff, as the somewhat wobbly climb map shows:

(Only did that once before with the Comet 4 out of Bangkok I think it was). But I quickly managed to get her back down to 6000 without overstressing and got on course too.

I have installed the NE US/NY mesh (which includes some of Ontario), but this may not have been a very good altitude for it. With airliners flying at normal heights - anything above about 12000 - default scenery is often OK in many places. This mesh took an hour to download (with WinZip!) and must take up a lot of space in fs9. Are airstrips like this really on their own little plateaux?

Weird. Nice Speedbird just arriving from Prestwick:

We cross the border into the USA = Ultimate State for Airplanes!

Funny mesh continues the other side of the line:

Hmm. The jury's out on this...

 

[Ralf Roggeveen]

Plenty of airports Municipal, Regional, County and even a few International spotted on this flight:

And plenty of aircraft of course. At this height ATC often told us to look out for them, like this Beaver going from Lawrence Municipal to Emmet County Regional:

And lots & lots of small airfields:

I think this Mohawk Convair was at Syracuse:

Their HQ was at Utica, Oneida County. By 1973 they had moved into BAC 1-11s in a big way, with 23 of them. Don't know if Native Americans ever objected, but all that 'Route of the Chiefs' stuff seems very Don Draper and politically-incorrect from up here in the 21st Century! Lovely Eastern DC-7B:

And is this an American DC-7?

With his own airline's steps. Nice. Capital Viscount round the corner:

And a Glenn Martin from TWA; a 4-0-4 I think:

This map shows how we skirt the eastern end of Lake Ontario:

Those are the Finger Lakes we're over on that map. I believe this is KBGM Binghampton, Edwin A. Link Field:

We'll take a look down there with TT Explorer later. Please write in and correct any mistakes (aviation or geographical), or say if you've been to (or even live in?) any of the places we fly by. I have travelled the Eastern USA from Vermont to Louisiana in reality, but more along the seaboard, not this far inland. Believe we'll be passing quite close to Willy country?

 

[Ralf Roggeveen]

Here's that NEUSA Mesh again, as seen from the VC:

I thought these cliffs looked quite good with their shadows:

A Mohawk DC-3 still at Binghampton:

And Allegheny ones showing different liveries further south at Pittsburgh...

...the Connie was off to Cleveland, Hopkins International. Here's a Capital Gooneybird at KPIT:

Allegheny Martin:

And (another) from TWA, like the one we saw at Binghampton:

Good row there! American Convair next to it:

We didn't actually overfly KPIT, but Explorer managed to pick it up.

Now I'm off to do some real flying at EGSP this afternoon, which will be reported in due course... (Don't worry, I've got plenty of camera film and it's a classic aircraft!)

 

[Sunny9850]

When flying this low you need to watch your power settings to remain in a suitable pitch configuration. Too much power (and that low the 3350s have plenty of power left over) will leave you with an undesirable nose low deckangle. The airplane is basically straining to fly that low at that speed.

The other issue when flying this low with the DC-7 is that you end up burning more gas than you would higher up. Though not as bad as a kerosene burner would.

Finally in real life you would also want to get higher to a hopefully smoother ride...at 6000ft you are still very much in the air layers that have to deal with most of the rising air as the sun warms the ground and adjacent air.

Stefan

 

[Ralf Roggeveen]

Throttle was at about 75% on the peripheral, though I didn't check on screen what the computer was calling it. Of course I closed the cowl flaps and thinned mixture a bit (till landing), making exactly 269/270 kias all the way, as you'll see in the screenies. Didn't check fuel levels, but timing was spot on: 5 hrs 24 mins.

Anyway, got some reality low-level flying this week!

Here we are about to cross the stateline from Pennsylvania into West Virginia:

We pass another small remote airfield:

This spotted aircraft was flying from Cleveland, Hopkins to Norfolk International:

A power station. They are generally there as default in fs9 (in the USA at least); you do tend to notice them when flying:

In fact there are two free samples, and an airfield, right here:

A good view from so low:

This is Clarksburg (KCKB):

Rick Connolly has done several WV scenery enhancements, especially of dams around the Kanawha River:

Again, the power station may be default, but I have installed some Connolly improvements round here:

 

[Ralf Roggeveen]

That's Yeager WV to Tupelo Regional MS below us:

And here you can see the Allegheny Mountains in the distance:

Another airfield...

...and we're entering Tennessee:

Another airport below:

With a pretty long runway which the DC-7 could probably have landed on:

Maybe military? Olney-Noble, Illinois to Hickory Regional, North Carolina going by:

It could have been, like this DC-3 below, from Piedmont, their HQ being at Smith Reynolds, Winston-Salem NC:

I i/d'ed this as the Cumberland River:

And here's Knoxville:

 

[Ralf Roggeveen]

Big airport of Knoxville:

A closer look:

And a smaller strip nearby (they do have KDKX, Downtown Island and KTYS, McGhee Tyson there, the latter being the biggest one) :

Plus a medium-sized one:

It's not quite as boring as flying over the ocean, is it?

I was using TT Explorer to look around and tried to get pictures of any airline liveries or types that appeared for the first time. Anyway, here we are crossing yet another stateline into Mississippi:

A couple of Southern DC-3s at Birmingham, Alabama (KBHM):

Annoyingly Explorer picked up this big airport full off juicy AI which I'd just started getting screenies of when we flew out of range! KCOS is City of Colorado Springs (CO) Municipal; looks like they were flying some sort of squadron over:

I hope they weren't sending in National Guard reinforcements to supress the Birmingham Civil Rights movement (a 1960s possibility!). Something spotted below us at 4500:

Then I noticed Mrs Putnam in her Lockheed Vega going from Phoenix Sky Harbor International (dam' silly name for an airport) to Middle Georgia Regional:

This is topical, as we just saw that movie Amelia with Hilary Swank doing a reasonable impression. The idea that she had an affair with Gene Vidal is entirely made up by the scriptwriters (who included Gore Vidal, a winsome child in the film). The Electra takeoff failure at Honolulu is quite well done and at least they are sensible about her disappearance. There is far more room inside that Electra than there ever was in reality and radio communications of the quality shown in the movie did NOT exist in the 1930s! But it's generally OK.

 

[Ralf Roggeveen]

Here we see ourselves spotting...

...Natchitches Regional LA to West Georgia Regional. And this one, being warned about us, is quite easy to guess:

Mobile Regional to Kenosha Regional WI. A medium-sized airport, still in MI accoring to the co-ordinates:

Another one from the VC, possibly Meridian (atlas lat & longitudes don't always seem to tally perfectly with Microsoft ones, as you may know):

National Convair spotted:

And a nice Southern DC-3 at Mobile, state capital of AL, picked up by Explorer, though it was well to our east:

This was the first Braniff spotted which would have told even Sarah Elizabeth Carter, with her limited interest in aircraft, that she was getting near her Texas home:

Louis Armstrong International, New Orleans to Shreveport Regional. Easterns at a nice airport which has had the '60s makeover, Baton Rouge:

A British newspaper recently named New Orleans as state capital of Louisiana (it was an elderly columnist describing his holiday, not a major article about Katrina, BP, or any other disaster that has hit that unlucky city). I wrote in to correct them, but never saw any correction published. If they possibly can, journalists will usually get something wrong.

The terminal building at Baton Rouge, state capital of LA:

James Dean weighing up his chances with Julia Roberts there: is she waiting for her husband/boyfriend? Or is she just another lonely planespotter?

I was in New Orleans with my late father in December 1980 and he never stopped reminding the 20-year old me that it wasn't the capital! On that occasion we saw Air Force One at KMSY; that was President Carter going on a farewell tour of places that had supported him the election he'd just lost to President Reagan (much to my father's joy). Here's the Mississippi to Louisiana map:

Texas in sight...

 

[Ralf Roggeveen]

Time to look at the airplanes of Louisiana circa 1960, including a couple of real exotic airlines...

This is just a Delta DC7 going from Dallas to New Orleans:

And a Trans Texas down at Lafayette to make the Carters feel even closer to home:

That good ol' boy looks just like Hong Kong Phooey from last year's Comet round the world flight, but it can't be him, can it? Excellent local advertising:

I always want to eat a big plate of shellfish after surviving a flight in a 1950s propliner, don't you? (Ecrevisse = Crayfish, or Crawfish as they call them down here).

OK, here's the first of the funnies:

A TACA from San Salvador (Quick! look at the map, Mr President). It must be back at Louis Armstrong, judging from the co-ordinates. Yes, that second Delta DC-7 in the background is going from there to Hawkins Field MS:

(Or is that Delta a DC-6? Not sure). And here's the other South American, an Aviateca C-46...

...from Guatemala (OK, Central American). We overfly this star-shaped runway layout, possibly a military base?

Right below us in this shot:

Where do they park? And here's a smaller airport nearby:

Pretty Waco going from Monroe Regional to Lafayette:

The Carters will be quickly wolfing down the last of KLM's cheese supplies now...

 

[tgibson]

Hi,

Those are both Delta DC-6's. The DC-7's can be distinguished by the gold crown on the vertical tail (advertising their Golden Crown Service - corsages for the ladies, and steaks on the menu).

Hope this helps,

 

[Willy]

Try getting that on a Delta flight today! I'm thoroughly convinced that the service on airliners has become steadily worse since they quit using piston engined propliners

 

[Sunny9850]

We can only dream of that kind of service today. Even if some of the Delta FAs seem old enough to have been around in those days :d

A 2" bagel with a tube of cream chease = $6.00 is what they "offer" today

Stefan

 

[Ralf Roggeveen]

Ha! Suspected they might be DC-6s when posting it. Best onboard service I ever had was with JAL in the '80s. Traditional Japanese food, things like tempura, miso and sushi, travels much better than western-style 'meat & 2 veg' which most airlines seem to feel obliged to serve. So good Japanese fare began the moment we were on the 747 (the other side of the planet from Japan itself). The stewardesses were beautiful and highly efficient, wearing a slightly sinister black uniform - 'geishas' were only for Top First Class. We requested whisky top-ups so often that in the end one stewardess simply left the bottle! It was a 24-hour flight. On a modern airliner you have to cough up $7.00 for a wretched SOFT drink, take out a mortgage for alcohol and pay for revolting sandwiches.

That's got that off my chest. Back to '59...

The coastal plain ahead:

I've i/d'ed this as KCWF, Lake Charles Airport:

And there's the Gulf of Mexico:

Map showing progress of most of this flight:

The close-up map:

We now get good news from ATC:

KLVJ is Pearland Regional TX, but I'm afraid Tom may have to explain 17J below - military? industrial?:

This is Galveston Bay, Houston is only just the other side of it:

Map to show our approach for RW4:

We overfly some of the industrial sprawl around there:

I have installed Houston 2009 scenery, but was hoping to see the San Jacinto monument (mentioned by Mrs Carter travelling in both directions), rather than this ugly stuff!

 

[Ralf Roggeveen]

The Houston skyline ahead:

Hope to see the San Jacinto Monument next time I'm here, either in fs9 or reality. The whole flight:

And we've arrived, exactly on time:

Back on Texan tarmac!

We go to our parking space:

And get the steps into position for the passengers:

I'm not sure exactly what time the Carters arrived, though Sarah Elizabeth tells us that Thelma's husband Leonard had been there since eleven that morning, not knowing that we were delayed by the return to Schiphol. (p.174) They must have been at least three hours late, since it took an hour to get back after the engine failure and she mentioned that they had to wait two at EHAM.

Here's an unusual interior shot showing the crew door open:

So we can now disembark too:

Chocks in position, neatly parked:

And another view walking away from the Caribbean Sea before we take a final look round Houston Hobby: