Oz And Beyond!

We took off for Kunming to finish the Hump flight. I got most of the way there, then something took me out. Fortunately, I didn't have to walk far.

We're getting ready to head a bit south for some "bidness" with an independent contractor. Got my "light twin" ready to go.

Pics are backwards, again...
 
We put Kunming behind us and headed south to Dien Bien VietNam. Nice flight over some pretty rough country. Due to rain and low visibility, the approach into VVDB was rather interesting, but nothing unfortunate happened. I think this is the first plank runway I've ran into in FS.
 
We left VietNam for now and headed on down into Laos. Nice flight with a couple of flyovers on the way. The first one I kind of committed myself into doing a touch n go and the darn runway was in the bottom of a pit. I almost wasn't able to climb my way back out of it. The next one, I just did a somewhat lowish pass over the airport.

To be contd...
 
Contd..

From there it was on to VLVT. It was actually looking good on approach until I got to final and the fog came in with a vengance. I got to looking around after we'd parked and I remembered this one as I'd stopped here once before on an around the world flight in the Howard 500. Any way, I got some more shots of the airport, the people and the local traffic. I did notice a Boeing 307 Stratoliner in the back of the last shot that I'm thinking about seeing what kind of deal I can make on. This part of the world was the last area where Stratoliners were operated in the 1960s and 70s (although there's rumors of one being spotted in the mid 80s)
 
Operating on the theory that bigger is better and size does matter, I traded up to a Boeing.
 
Howdy All,:salute:

Darn Willy, I was thinking about going smaller hehe! This was a very nice flight and fun one. But, need to pickup some more cargo here for shipment to any where. The coins in my war chest is getting real low, and fuel prices are increasing all over the bloodly place. Maybe Willy is right, bigger is better!
 
:ichile::wavey: Just a few more snaps, Hehe I just had to put in the Western's DC-6B for old times sakes.


Taco with green chili
 
In Vientiane, I met a hardened older gentleman who needed a new pilot. Apparently the last fellow caught a lethal dose of lead poisoning. (How do you get lead poisoning in Laos?)

The company, registered in Taipei but with some sort of American connection, wishes me to pilot the aircraft through parts of Southeast Asia. It seems that they are exploring new routes. Odd, though. The list of destinations seems somewhat mysterious.
 
Typical steamy day on the road to Bangkok.

2vbu7o7.jpg


29z8vhd.jpg


2aj7sdl.jpg
 
Nice flight to Bangkok, although I had my time set to dusk. Which was okay, as I'm working on a scheme for doing instrument landings without ILS and VTBD was perfect for the first test (The big Boeing isn't equipped for ILS). It's not perfect, but based on tonights flight, it's doable. Now to wait for the next Flt 19 weather to crop up on approach.
 
Nice flight from Bangkok to Phenom Penn, Cambodia. Still working on my non-ILS instrument approaches and this one wasn't that pretty, but that's part of the learning curve I guess. Only had one NDB to work with and I overshot my pre-selected turning point on the Mekong river which got me off course. It sure looked different on the map beforehand.
 
We left Saigon and headed up the Mekong river to Pakse Laos. We're crossing so many borders, I'd be surprised if Interpol wasn't looking at us for smuggling. Not that we'd do such a thing of course.
 
Picked up this old DC-7 freighter. It looks a little rough, but flies good. Just the thing for smuggl... er.... the import/export trade. Anyway, we left Laos and headed back to VietNam, DaNang this time. It got a little dark on me enroute (again). Anyway, as always, a good time was had by all.
 
Like Willy did a little horse swaping with a airline company from the USA. Anyway, we ended up with a DC-6A cargo plane. Looks pretty good, but she does have a lot of hours on her. Low engine hours though which helps. The flight between VLPS and YYDN was uneventful pertaining to the aircraft, flew great! Hehe, we did some minor alterations in the cargo area where the average custom agent wouldn't be looking for any contraband items. Darn, Dudley is clever! hehe.

Taco, with green :ichile:
 
The O-2 was needed in DaNang so I left it there. Hitched a ride with a RAF crew doing some SAR off the coast of China. We stopped on the northern tip of Hainan Island. Into Hong Kong next.

64m93k.jpg


nv61k9.jpg


ipsbbd.jpg
 
I got hung up with Customs who were insisting on a thorough inspection of the DC-7 and finally got out of there today to catch up with the others at Meilan (wasn't that a Disney cartoon?). Nice flight and I was able to stretch the -7's legs a bit. Now, where did the guys get off to?
 
Got to feeling a bit Lockheedish and found a deal on a L749 with a new paintjob so I switched aircraft to the Connie. Guess I must have remembered more about flying one than I thought I did as I didn't have any engines quit on me on the way to Hong Kong Kai Tak. Of course, once you get to Kai Tak it's in the pilot's union rules book that you must take the Runway 13 approach through town. And I do mean through. Any lower and you'd be having to stop at the red lights.

Anyway it was a fun flight and we're getting a rather eclectic collection of aircraft here... Avro, Boeing, Curtiss, Douglas and Lockheed.
 
While taxiing to the active, I got sidetracked looking at billboards :d. Anyway, we left Hong Kong for Xiamen (ZSAM). Nice leisurely flight over mainland China.
 
You must log in or register to reply here.
Back
Top