Spookster67 - Golden Age - Mew Gull E2H, G-AEXF

Safely down at Allahabad (actually about an hour ago, but the forum has been offline. I posted on the AspireFSX.com forum at the time, but am now repeating the post here).

Every tailwind I found was quickly followed by a headwind, so in the end it wasn't as quick as I had hoped. Like many others have found, India is often fogged in, so there was not much to see. It was clear at Allahabad though, so the approach was easy. :icon_lol:
 
NDB Navigation is more fun than I realised!

Until this event, I had thought that NDB navigation was just a case of "joining up the dots", with the flight plan consisting of overflying every beacon. Having read about the navigation techniques on some of the websites linked from this forum, I've learnt that there's much more to it than that! Being able to quickly establish "distance from station" means that you can plot and fly a much straighter course, but still be confident of knowing whether you are drifting to the left or right of the line.

My first couple of hops in Europe included overflying some NDBs, and checking distance to others. This most recent flight from Karachi to Allahabad is I think the longest hop I have done without actually crossing any NDB, until the final one a couple of miles from the field. En-route I had 6 NDBs to monitor, ranging from 24 miles left of my track to 59 miles right. According to my calcs I was occasionally up to 5 miles off track, but on a leg of 800nm length that really wasn't a problem.

I've learnt a new skill, and am having a lot of fun practicing it...! :jump:
 
I was telling Ozzie (Rob) the other night we should dump this GPS stuff and go back to NDB it's so much fun!

But seriously, the technique you described is exactly what I've done in all my races. Using Super Flight Planner (SFP) I determine the compass headings at both fields to determine my course. I then plot the straight line route between the two airports and take NDB readings as they pass 90 degrees to my flight path. I then check the calculated distance to the station with the distance that SFP shows, if I were on the ideal flight track. If I’m off by more than a mile or two, I’ll adjust my path by a few degrees and fly on the new heading until my trig shows me I should be back on the flight path.

What’s even more fun that NDB is dead reckoning. I plot the ideal flight path in Google Maps and then use the terrain map as a guide for the various landmarks. The Google terrain map matches very well with the terrain in FS9, so it’s easy to find large landmarks like lakes and cities, but I’ve even been able to navigate by roads and rivers.

Enjoy!
 
Safely down at Rangoon, VYYY. A nice flight, good weather the whole way, with a mixture of head and tail winds. I missed a couple of NDBs (too far off my track to receive them I guess), but my speed and heading calcs had me in about the right place most of the time. :mixedsmi:

Flight time: 4:33:02
Cumulative: 25:26:29
 
Way to go Martin!! 3rd place thus far and the first outing in that airplane!! Is that a little bead of sweat on Mr Vicious's brow??

Well maybe not but the pressures on you now, may your wings be light!

:applause:
 
Thanks Stuart. Vicious has set some very challenging times, no doubt. But I am hoping to be 40 minutes up on handicap at Singapore, and 60 up at Darwin, if I get good winds, good weather, I find the airports and avoid any crashes.

Still a long way to go to Melbourne, in fact I'm only just half way. Lots can happen... :icon_lol:
 
Yep, I watching Spookster very closely. If he can catch the right winds I think he has a good shot. :jump:
 
OK, time to head to Singapore. I'll be looking to find some tailwinds, and duck under any headwinds. A coastal route will help me keep low if I need to.

VYYY to WSSL, in a little under 5 hours.
 
Down at Singapore (WSSL). I never found the tail winds I hoped for, but at least I managed to avoid the headwinds, so the flight time was about what I aimed for. Plenty of NDBs, and a coastline, so no problems with navigation. Ran into a few thunderstorms off the east coast of Malaysia, but flew under them no problem.

Just 3 gallons of fuel left on arrival - my estimates are getting better, albeit more risky!

This little Mew Gull is purring long nicely. :mixedsmi:

Flight time: 4:55:39
Cumulative: 30:22:08
 
Nice job getting to Singapore and making up time on your handicap. :applause:

It looks like it could be a close finish.
 
Vicious said:
Nice job getting to Singapore and making up time on your handicap. :applause:

It looks like it could be a close finish.
Click to expand...
Yep, great job that Martin ... my headwinds were screwy and I had no respite this afternoon ... 10,000ft and upwards :(
 
This time I'm heading for Selaparang, WADA (WRRA). The plan is to fly direct over the sea rather than stay closer to NDBs on the islands to the south. Headwinds may be an issue, so I may be staying low to get under them. I have sufficient fuel for the extra burn rate at low altitudes.

Target is 4:30.
 
At WADA (WRRA). Wow, what a flight! I picked up a 6 knot tailwind as I climbed out of Singapore, and it just got stronger and stronger as time went on. At one stage it was 14 knots directly behind me.:jump:
It got a bit turbulent at times, and I had a scary moment when taking some pictures of the volcanoes over the last few miles. I hit Z rather than C (for capture). Z disengages the autopilot and the turbulence flipped me 90 degrees over before I knew what was happening :icon_eek:. Anyway, I got the picture... and grabbed the flight yoke in time to level things out.

Flight time: 4:22:32
Cumulative: 34:44:40
 
The westerly winds still look good over Indonesia, so I'm heading over to Kupang, WATT (WRKK). Only a couple of hours, with under half fuel load.
 
Down at WATT(WRKK). Sure enough, the tailwinds were good. Another fast flight, with plenty of turbulence to keep me watching. Not much to see, just lots of water, and occasional islands. One more hop to go to Oz. :mixedsmi:

Flight time 2:07:12
Cumulative 36:51:52
 
If you keep catching those tail winds you're going to blow me away in the handicap. Excellent run so far!

Good Luck
 
Thanks, let's see what happens, and how we compare at Port Darwin.

Next hop coming up, WATT to YPDN. About 2:10 is the estimate.
 
Well I had a feeling my luck might change, and it did. The first half of the flight was great, lots more tailwind, and not too much turbulence. Then the winds swung round, but I dropped down to stay underneath the headwinds. The Darwin NDB popped up straight ahead with 75nm to run, but at about the same time the clear skies started to change to cloud. As I got closer to Darwin it was clear I was going to arrive during a storm.

I spent the next 10 minutes getting thrown around in thundery and blustery conditions, but pushed on. Lightning was flashing all around me. Visibility was now 3nm in rain, so I could just see the main runway 11/29 ok, but the winds were now out of the north, and although they were getting less as I descended, I think I still had a 16 knot crosswind on finals.

Of course I should have gone around and set up for the much shorter runway 36, where I would have had much less of a crosswind. Hmmm...

Anyway I tried to put the Mew Gull down on runway 11. One bounce, no problem, airspeed a little high but reducing, but the second contact with the tarmac was a little hard and I broke the undercarriage. Crash, Red Duenna. :frown:

So, it's a crash landing, 1 hour penalty, and my challenge for the handicap race may have been scuppered by the Ozzie weather.

Flight time: 2:04:40
Penalties: 1:00:00
Cumulative: 39:56:32
 
Never mind, Martin.
Nothing ventured, nothing gained. I guess it's all or nothing.
Cautious people come second place.

Looks like some nice cosy weather down there. :d
 
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