bosspecops
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I made it as far as Meigs Field, but was it ever COLD! 
Luckily the Audax has a decent enough generator to power my Sidcot flying suit as the temps above Minnesota, Wisconsin and Illinois were never above -15C!
Ready for start-up at Flying Clouds felt a bit strange as the only flying I'd done there before was in a Cessna 182 or a Lake LA4, and being aboard a 1930s biplane was decidedly 'different'.
With the wind from the North Flying Cloud's 36 runway was the obvious one to use, and I soon had K2006's tail up and we were off and away.
Bizarrely the FSTramp flight path took me almost directly over my old employer's (MTS Systems Inc.) main plant in Eden Prairie, just south of Highway 5, but FSX seems to have missed the plant in their scenery package.
The Audax had a nicely equipped cockpit and panel, with all the information needed apart from the status of the main fuel tank! It showed me how much the auxiliary tank held, but I had to go back to FSX basics to find the main tank's status, so I used most of the aux. tank early in the flight, giving me more piece of mind over my fuel state as I approached the Windy City.
Heading steadily south east I passed south of Minneapolis St. Paul International Airport KMSP, much to the consternation of their Air Traffic who hadn't a CLUE what an Audax was! At my passing range they could see me with a decent pair of binoculars and apparently there was a mad rush to one side of the Tower to catch a glimpse of '.... that crazy Brit flying an open cockpit bi-plane in December......'
Turning more southwards I paralleled the path of the Mississippi for quite a distance, but eventually I parted company with that monster of a river and headed further into Wisconsin. My next major waypoint was Wisconsin Dells, a place I've visited a couple of times back in the 80s. It's very much an inland version of Blackpool for any other Brits reading this, and I had the pleasure of a ride in an amphibious DUKW vehicle there once.
Crossing Wisconsin from one side to the other, and south of Milwaukee, I just caught site of Lake Michigan over to my left.
And a little further south I passed east of O'Hare International, KORD, which has more runways than you could shake a stick at, and at one time was the busiest airport in the world. It looked like it still was to me, and ATC held a couple of inbound flights as I trundled past. They couldn't believe what I was flying either.
Soon I started my descent from my 5000 ft cruise altitude and almost immediately had to switch to IFR as I sank into the Chicago Clag, but luckily that didn't last too long and I was suddenly on familiar FSX territory as Meigs Field came into view as I passed south of downtown Chicago.
I was almost on automatic now, having followed this flight path so many times aboard many aircraft types and using many versions of FS too! Finals on Meigs were routine to me and I greased K2006 down on that oh so familiar runway one more time.
Taxiing to the parking area was also routine, but I couldn't post any pics of my arrival as apparently I can only attach 10 pics here. Maybe there's an alternative method as well?
So that's the first half of my approach flight to Willow Run done and dusted, the flight was 328 nm stage length and it took me 2.6 hrs and I burned 92 galls of AVGAS en route, which is about what I expected for this vintage aeroplane.
So I'll overnight in Chicago and head off across the Lake and Upper Michigan tomorrow maybe.
Luckily the Audax has a decent enough generator to power my Sidcot flying suit as the temps above Minnesota, Wisconsin and Illinois were never above -15C!
Ready for start-up at Flying Clouds felt a bit strange as the only flying I'd done there before was in a Cessna 182 or a Lake LA4, and being aboard a 1930s biplane was decidedly 'different'.
With the wind from the North Flying Cloud's 36 runway was the obvious one to use, and I soon had K2006's tail up and we were off and away.
Bizarrely the FSTramp flight path took me almost directly over my old employer's (MTS Systems Inc.) main plant in Eden Prairie, just south of Highway 5, but FSX seems to have missed the plant in their scenery package.
The Audax had a nicely equipped cockpit and panel, with all the information needed apart from the status of the main fuel tank!
It showed me how much the auxiliary tank held, but I had to go back to FSX basics to find the main tank's status, so I used most of the aux. tank early in the flight, giving me more piece of mind over my fuel state as I approached the Windy City.Heading steadily south east I passed south of Minneapolis St. Paul International Airport KMSP, much to the consternation of their Air Traffic who hadn't a CLUE what an Audax was! At my passing range they could see me with a decent pair of binoculars and apparently there was a mad rush to one side of the Tower to catch a glimpse of '.... that crazy Brit flying an open cockpit bi-plane in December......'
Turning more southwards I paralleled the path of the Mississippi for quite a distance, but eventually I parted company with that monster of a river and headed further into Wisconsin. My next major waypoint was Wisconsin Dells, a place I've visited a couple of times back in the 80s. It's very much an inland version of Blackpool for any other Brits reading this, and I had the pleasure of a ride in an amphibious DUKW vehicle there once.
Crossing Wisconsin from one side to the other, and south of Milwaukee, I just caught site of Lake Michigan over to my left.
And a little further south I passed east of O'Hare International, KORD, which has more runways than you could shake a stick at, and at one time was the busiest airport in the world. It looked like it still was to me, and ATC held a couple of inbound flights as I trundled past. They couldn't believe what I was flying either.
Soon I started my descent from my 5000 ft cruise altitude and almost immediately had to switch to IFR as I sank into the Chicago Clag, but luckily that didn't last too long and I was suddenly on familiar FSX territory as Meigs Field came into view as I passed south of downtown Chicago.
I was almost on automatic now, having followed this flight path so many times aboard many aircraft types and using many versions of FS too! Finals on Meigs were routine to me and I greased K2006 down on that oh so familiar runway one more time.
Taxiing to the parking area was also routine, but I couldn't post any pics of my arrival as apparently I can only attach 10 pics here. Maybe there's an alternative method as well?
So that's the first half of my approach flight to Willow Run done and dusted, the flight was 328 nm stage length and it took me 2.6 hrs and I burned 92 galls of AVGAS en route, which is about what I expected for this vintage aeroplane.
So I'll overnight in Chicago and head off across the Lake and Upper Michigan tomorrow maybe.