The Mighty Howard II

Too hot outside to do much, so I thought I'd do a little flying.

Left Italy and headed back into Switzerland with my first stop at Samedan (LSZS) and then it was on to Ambri (LSPM). Ambri kind of snuck up on me and I had to "dive bomb it" down a mountainside to make it in there.

Off again here in a few minutes...
 
I've added an extra stop that's not on Milton's list. I left Ambri and flew into Interlaken (LSMI). Stopped for a minute then made the "interesting" take off towards the mountain. Good thing the Howard is not underpowered. Then it was on to Bern (LSZB) which after all this mountain hopping was about as easy as getting into bed. The airport was a bit deserted when I got there, but it started filling up after I parked, so I stuck around and watched all the traffic come in.
 
Great stuff Willy. Ambri will indeed be a surprise if you are not expecting it, or have never been there. Nice traffic you have there too. :)))
 
I thought I would drop by and say hello... been following your flight in the Howard. Very cool!

I've only flown the Howard around South America for the long hauls... mostly in Brazil... particular near the coastline.

That peak just above the right rudder is the Christ the Redeemer statue location, and heading south to Sao Paulo in my private 500. Flown last year around December.

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Milton, one thing I have found about your aircraft is that not only are they great as user flyable, but work well as AI too.
 
The Swiss Air Force mountain airbases are amazing IRL as well as FS and of course best in FSX if you have it. Try also Saanen and my favorite, St Stephan, where they have a summer airshow and fly in Hunters and Vampires.

Willy - re AI, I see like me you make your own "designer" custom GA AI. I have a few traffic routes around selected favorite airports - nothing too extensive to save on FPS. I do it all manually using TTools rather than a package. You seem to have all the great classic aircraft absolutely everywhere you fly. How do you do that?
 
The California Classics Propliner AI sets would be the quick, easy and accurate way to do it. They've used older version FS aircraft for AI and wrote up the flight plans based on flight time tables from the period. If I had to do it all over again, I'd just go that route.

As it was, I did things the hard way (as usual). I took the default AI flight plans and re-wrote them for every AI propliner I could find or convert. I did them one flight at a time using YRoute and Traffic Tools.
 
Took off from Bern and headed on to Sion (LSGS). After stopping there for a few minutes (never shut the engines off), it was off again for Geneva (LSGG).
 
howard 500 brakes

This is a great plane!! Just one question (so far...)

After landing safely and rolling, I applied brakes and got stood on my nose!

Is that normal for this plane? Or do I let her roll out to a near stop before applying brakes?
 
You have to be gentle with the brakes on the Howard... they are quite good :icon_eek:. After touchdown, back off the throttles and let the tail wheel touch down. Put the yoke in your lap, and tap the brakes gently until she slows down to about 30 MPH or so, then you can apply them as normal.

BB686:USA-flag:
 
You may also not be aware that the tailwheel locks automatically when you pull the yoke back more than 3 degrees.

So when you have slowed to taxi speed, you will want to push the yoke forward to neutral or more to allow the tailwheel to castor for parking manuevers.
 
Milton Shupe said:
Great shots Willy. Thanks for sharing the adventures.

Well, if it were me, I'd head to the Africa coast, then up to Casablanca.

From there, since I prefer mountainous scenery, to Lisbon, then North to Spain following the Pyrenees across Spain catching Santillano, Santander, Bilbao, then on to the catch the French Alps,


Alternatively, from Lisbon, you could head East to Seville, then down to Malaga, then follow the coast up to Cartagena, Valencia, and Barcelona as you head to the French Mediterranean. :)
Click to expand...


....and proceed 100-150Nm to the SE over Italy and u are about to arrive direct to me on one bear.... (ZDA/LDZD) :salute:
 
I've got a couple more stops to make on the Alps tour and I'm working on which way to go from there. I'm trying to go places that I don't usually go on these trips. Although if I do head north, a stop by Merc Air HQ will almost be mandatory.
 
Left Geneva for St Crepin, France (LFNC). Nice flight through the mountains to finish up the Alps.
 
Decided it was time to head on north, flying before dawn over France and the Channel to England. Which means a stop at the Merc Air HQ.
 
Milton Shupe said:
You may also not be aware that the tailwheel locks automatically when you pull the yoke back more than 3 degrees.

So when you have slowed to taxi speed, you will want to push the yoke forward to neutral or more to allow the tailwheel to castor for parking manuevers.
Click to expand...

That's also good to know. Thanks Milton for another great plane.

I have now landed a couple of times and avoided scraping my nose or flipping the aftmost passengers onto the ceiling!
 
Scapa Flow

Took off from Rochford and headed on north to check out the Royal Navy at Scapa Flow. Ran into some overspeed issues enroute that I'm going to have to sort out, but I did catch the fleet in the harbor.

(Old fleet sailors like myself can't resist checking out a bunch of ships)
 
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