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The Staff of SOH
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Please see the most recent updates in the "Where did the .com name go?" thread. Posts number 16 and 17.
**The OFFICIAL All Sims Air Tour Thread**
- Thread starter ViperPilot2
- Start date
falcon409
SOH-CM-2025
I flew this thinking the Autocrat was a "thirties" airplane. . . .nope!! Oh well. . .I shant fly that one again. . . .on to Shreveport!
Screenshot 2026-01-02 124904 by Ed Wells, on Flickr
Screenshot 2026-01-02 130341 by Ed Wells, on Flickr
Screenshot 2026-01-02 140852 by Ed Wells, on Flickr
Screenshot 2026-01-02 141302 by Ed Wells, on Flickr
Screenshot 2026-01-02 141654 by Ed Wells, on Flickr
Screenshot 2026-01-02 124904 by Ed Wells, on FlickrScreenshot 2026-01-02 130341 by Ed Wells, on FlickrScreenshot 2026-01-02 140852 by Ed Wells, on FlickrScreenshot 2026-01-02 141302 by Ed Wells, on FlickrScreenshot 2026-01-02 141654 by Ed Wells, on Flickr
bosspecops
Members +
What BIG wheels you've got! 
Understandable. This basic design has been used by several manufacturers from the thirties to the present - Taylorcraft, Piper Cub, etc. Your plane could believably be labeled 1935 or 2025.
falcon409
SOH-CM-2025
Departed Shreveport in the early morning hours and couldn't find the switches for the nav lights and landing lights (seriously, who RTM, lol). So once I was at altitude and on course I went looking for said manual. BINGO, an illustrated layout of everything a Sim Pilot needs to know.
On with the flight!!
Screenshot 2026-01-03 064751 by Ed Wells, on Flickr
Screenshot 2026-01-03 070342 by Ed Wells, on Flickr
Screenshot 2026-01-03 065522 by Ed Wells, on Flickr
Screenshot 2026-01-03 073315 by Ed Wells, on Flickr
Screenshot 2026-01-03 074843 by Ed Wells, on Flickr
Screenshot 2026-01-03 075515 by Ed Wells, on Flickr
On with the flight!!
Screenshot 2026-01-03 064751 by Ed Wells, on FlickrScreenshot 2026-01-03 070342 by Ed Wells, on FlickrScreenshot 2026-01-03 065522 by Ed Wells, on FlickrScreenshot 2026-01-03 073315 by Ed Wells, on FlickrScreenshot 2026-01-03 074843 by Ed Wells, on FlickrScreenshot 2026-01-03 075515 by Ed Wells, on Flickr
I flew this thinking the Autocrat was a "thirties" airplane. . . .nope!! Oh well. . .I shant fly that one again. . . .on to Shreveport!
As stated in the 'Rules'... you can fly whatever you want!
bosspecops
Members +
As stated in the 'Rules'... you can fly whatever you want!
Hmmm, gives me thoughts of doing the entire Tour at 80,000 ft and M 3.0 in an SR-71.
It'd be just one long left hand turn, but it'd maybe go outside the perimeter of the original Tour at that speed.
Hah! If a landing/take-off at all the designated airports is required I'd like to see you get a Blackbird in and out of 'First Field'! 
You might be able to 'lawn-dart' it in but it ain't comin' out again!
You might be able to 'lawn-dart' it in but it ain't comin' out again!
bosspecops
Members +
Ah yes, while the Blackbird may able to do a 'touch and go' at all the designated fields, but the problem would be slowing it down quick enough for it to stop flying and then using up all its fuel climbing back up to 80K. We'd probably need a tanker to sort that out.
I may give some if a try, just to see how it WOULDN'T work.
I may give some if a try, just to see how it WOULDN'T work.
falcon409
SOH-CM-2025
A bit of FSX flying for the leg from Little Rock to Memphis!
KLIT-KMEM-001 by Ed Wells, on Flickr
KLIT-KMEM-002 by Ed Wells, on Flickr
KLIT-KMEM-003 by Ed Wells, on Flickr
KLIT-KMEM-004 by Ed Wells, on Flickr
KLIT-KMEM-005 by Ed Wells, on Flickr
KLIT-KMEM-001 by Ed Wells, on FlickrKLIT-KMEM-002 by Ed Wells, on FlickrKLIT-KMEM-003 by Ed Wells, on FlickrKLIT-KMEM-004 by Ed Wells, on FlickrKLIT-KMEM-005 by Ed Wells, on Flickr
bosspecops
Members +
If you thought my HP42 was a trifle bizarre on my last Tour flight, you ain't seen NOTHING yet!
This is a Farman F.121 Jabiru, a 1920s period airliner that has no less than FOUR engines, but only carried seven passengers, plus the two intrepid crew sitting outdoors, some feet above them! Shades of a 747 eh? As you'll see in the pics later it has an IMMENESE wing, as well as its immense fuselage, but it flies very nicely in FSX, albeit being a trifle gust prone due to its low wing loading.
The panel isn't very clever as for some reason it's not setup properly and NONE of the gauges appeared originally, so I spent 2-3 hours getting it right, and downloading the other four types that it uses for gauges. But once it's corrected it looks OK, albeit a trifle sparse!
Just for once taxi-ing out was a joy, the Jabiru turns nice and sharply and I made it to the 36 runway without any problems. Only when I checked it from Tower View did I notice the tiny wind powered generator on the port wing root. Neat, eh?
The flight plan was pretty much a straight line, and while FST added a few beacons to check it was a waste of time as the Jabiru doesn't have a radio that can 'hear' them, let alone get a bearing, so it was all dead reckoning again. Some of that Kansas/Missouri/Whatever scenery was pretty sparse still.
I was keeping pretty well to track, with a just a few tweaks required now and then. Mostly I was flying on my own, while FST could see quite a bit of traffic nearby none of it came near enough to pick up visually, except for this guy MILES above my 5000 ft cruise altitude. I was managing 100 kts now and then and he was making maybe six times my speed! You can see what a bizarre shape the Jabiru is from this view too, and enough wing area to cover half a US city!
With the aid of Google Maps I discovered that this distinctively shaped lake was Skiatiook Lake, and a very odd shape it was too.
Further on there was a lot more water, but it seems that was the Arkansas River, and it seemed to have spread a long way out of its banks. But at least it showed me I was on track.
I started my descent a little way north of Tulsa and was soon turning onto the base leg for my approach to the non-ILS runway at KTUL. There was no point in going for the other runway as I had no radio that could 'see' the ILS anyway!
Slowing down for landing was just a matter of shutting the throttle, there was no other way of doing so, but I started a long way out, just in case. Just for once there were no trees on the runway centre line but the slight cross winds buffeted the Jabiru about quite bit.
However I did make it down onto the numbers, just a little to port of the centre line, so I was pretty pleased with that. Taxi-ing to the FBO ramp went fine, except there wasn't an FBO, or any other structures on this side of the field at all, and it's a downloaded scenery for this place as well.
So here I am in Oklahoma, and ready for the next leg.
I managed a 109 kt average speed on this one, with only 1 hr 11 mins in the air, but I had a hefty tailwind the whole way.
I think I'll leave the Jabiru here and fly something more 'British' next time, but you can be sure it won't be 'conventional' in the slightest.
This is a Farman F.121 Jabiru, a 1920s period airliner that has no less than FOUR engines, but only carried seven passengers, plus the two intrepid crew sitting outdoors, some feet above them! Shades of a 747 eh? As you'll see in the pics later it has an IMMENESE wing, as well as its immense fuselage, but it flies very nicely in FSX, albeit being a trifle gust prone due to its low wing loading.
The panel isn't very clever as for some reason it's not setup properly and NONE of the gauges appeared originally, so I spent 2-3 hours getting it right, and downloading the other four types that it uses for gauges.
But once it's corrected it looks OK, albeit a trifle sparse!Just for once taxi-ing out was a joy, the Jabiru turns nice and sharply and I made it to the 36 runway without any problems. Only when I checked it from Tower View did I notice the tiny wind powered generator on the port wing root. Neat, eh?
The flight plan was pretty much a straight line, and while FST added a few beacons to check it was a waste of time as the Jabiru doesn't have a radio that can 'hear' them, let alone get a bearing, so it was all dead reckoning again. Some of that Kansas/Missouri/Whatever scenery was pretty sparse still.
I was keeping pretty well to track, with a just a few tweaks required now and then. Mostly I was flying on my own, while FST could see quite a bit of traffic nearby none of it came near enough to pick up visually, except for this guy MILES above my 5000 ft cruise altitude. I was managing 100 kts now and then and he was making maybe six times my speed! You can see what a bizarre shape the Jabiru is from this view too, and enough wing area to cover half a US city!
With the aid of Google Maps I discovered that this distinctively shaped lake was Skiatiook Lake, and a very odd shape it was too.
Further on there was a lot more water, but it seems that was the Arkansas River, and it seemed to have spread a long way out of its banks. But at least it showed me I was on track.
I started my descent a little way north of Tulsa and was soon turning onto the base leg for my approach to the non-ILS runway at KTUL. There was no point in going for the other runway as I had no radio that could 'see' the ILS anyway!
Slowing down for landing was just a matter of shutting the throttle, there was no other way of doing so, but I started a long way out, just in case. Just for once there were no trees on the runway centre line but the slight cross winds buffeted the Jabiru about quite bit.
However I did make it down onto the numbers, just a little to port of the centre line, so I was pretty pleased with that. Taxi-ing to the FBO ramp went fine, except there wasn't an FBO, or any other structures on this side of the field at all, and it's a downloaded scenery for this place as well.
So here I am in Oklahoma, and ready for the next leg.
I managed a 109 kt average speed on this one, with only 1 hr 11 mins in the air, but I had a hefty tailwind the whole way.
I think I'll leave the Jabiru here and fly something more 'British' next time, but you can be sure it won't be 'conventional' in the slightest.
With that slab-sided fuselage it's like having a sail; crosswind landings must have been ....interesting.
bosspecops
Members +
Melo965
Members +
Leg 8: Mason City Municipal (KMCW) to Des Moines International (KDSM) (Part 1)
Flying the Percival Mew Gull in MSFS 2020. Using Active Sky FS for weather and Little Navmap for navigation.
My original plan was to do a touch and go at Des Moines International (KDSM), followed by a full stop landing at Charles B. Wheeler Downtown (KMKC) in Kansas City, Missouri. As you will see in part 2 of my report below, things did NOT go as originally planned!
Engine started on the quiet ramp and ready to taxi. 47% fuel on board. Looks like excellent weather today finally.
Lined up for takeoff on runway 36.
Climbing out and on the way.
Flying over the Iowa river below. One of the few variations in the scenery below. Just hundreds of rectangular fields for the most part as far as the eye can see.
Half way there on a beautiful day to be flying.
Some forests and a river below.
Following the main highway toward town.
Green fields below now, left the snowy landscape behind.
Flying over the suburbs now.
Des Moines International (KDSM) is in sight ahead. Up to this point in the flight all was still going according to plan.
To be continued in Part 2.
Flying the Percival Mew Gull in MSFS 2020. Using Active Sky FS for weather and Little Navmap for navigation.
My original plan was to do a touch and go at Des Moines International (KDSM), followed by a full stop landing at Charles B. Wheeler Downtown (KMKC) in Kansas City, Missouri. As you will see in part 2 of my report below, things did NOT go as originally planned!
Engine started on the quiet ramp and ready to taxi. 47% fuel on board. Looks like excellent weather today finally.
Lined up for takeoff on runway 36.
Climbing out and on the way.
Flying over the Iowa river below. One of the few variations in the scenery below. Just hundreds of rectangular fields for the most part as far as the eye can see.
Half way there on a beautiful day to be flying.
Some forests and a river below.
Following the main highway toward town.
Green fields below now, left the snowy landscape behind.
Flying over the suburbs now.
Des Moines International (KDSM) is in sight ahead. Up to this point in the flight all was still going according to plan.
To be continued in Part 2.
Melo965
Members +
Leg 8: Mason City Municipal (KMCW) to Des Moines International (KDSM) (Part 2)
Flying the Percival Mew Gull in MSFS 2020. Using Active Sky FS for weather and Little Navmap for navigation.
The one thing that I have not mentioned yet is that in MSFS 2020 I set Multiplayer Off for these flights. And for Air Traffic the setting is set to Live Traffic. ("Air Traffic specifics such as aircraft type, location, and behavior will be based on live data.") This way I occasionally see other aircraft also flying nearby during these flights.
So to bring us up to date, the last picture from Part 1 was "Des Moines International (KDSM) is in sight ahead."
Wind direction indicated that I should land on runway 05, so I banked left to get established on downwind.
Downwind leg for runway 05.
A tad low on Base leg for runway 05.
On final for runway 05. I did notice the Orange jet up ahead on the taxiway. His nose seemed very close to the runway edge, but he was not moving so I continued my final approach for landing.
Luckily I was lined up just a bit left of centerline for runway 05. All of a sudden a green and gray 737 passed me on final approach for runway 05. Our wingtips literally were less than a foot apart when it blew by me!
This picture was snapped when I had recovered from the inevitable wake turbulence. By this point the green jet was already down on the runway ahead.
The green jet was finally off the runway so I continued my landing approach.
Next thing I knew, the orange jet had taxied out onto the runway. Luckily it was also headed away from me. So I stopped descending and maintained my altitude over the runway to wait and see what would happen next!
So finally the orange jet was off the runway too, and I touched down. Hopefully, you can excuse the not so precise one wheel then two landing after all the unwanted excitement on my final approach to runway 05 at Des Moines International.
Safely shut down after a flight that I will not soon forget.
Parked with other small planes nearby. Staying far away from those big jets. 40% fuel on board, so still no need to refuel.
After all the excitement of this flight I decided to just stay on the ground for now, rather than continue on today to Charles B. Wheeler Downtown airport as was originally planned.
Flying the Percival Mew Gull in MSFS 2020. Using Active Sky FS for weather and Little Navmap for navigation.
The one thing that I have not mentioned yet is that in MSFS 2020 I set Multiplayer Off for these flights. And for Air Traffic the setting is set to Live Traffic. ("Air Traffic specifics such as aircraft type, location, and behavior will be based on live data.") This way I occasionally see other aircraft also flying nearby during these flights.
So to bring us up to date, the last picture from Part 1 was "Des Moines International (KDSM) is in sight ahead."
Wind direction indicated that I should land on runway 05, so I banked left to get established on downwind.
Downwind leg for runway 05.
A tad low on Base leg for runway 05.
On final for runway 05. I did notice the Orange jet up ahead on the taxiway. His nose seemed very close to the runway edge, but he was not moving so I continued my final approach for landing.
Luckily I was lined up just a bit left of centerline for runway 05. All of a sudden a green and gray 737 passed me on final approach for runway 05. Our wingtips literally were less than a foot apart when it blew by me!
This picture was snapped when I had recovered from the inevitable wake turbulence. By this point the green jet was already down on the runway ahead.
The green jet was finally off the runway so I continued my landing approach.
Next thing I knew, the orange jet had taxied out onto the runway. Luckily it was also headed away from me. So I stopped descending and maintained my altitude over the runway to wait and see what would happen next!
So finally the orange jet was off the runway too, and I touched down. Hopefully, you can excuse the not so precise one wheel then two landing after all the unwanted excitement on my final approach to runway 05 at Des Moines International.
Safely shut down after a flight that I will not soon forget.
Parked with other small planes nearby. Staying far away from those big jets. 40% fuel on board, so still no need to refuel.
After all the excitement of this flight I decided to just stay on the ground for now, rather than continue on today to Charles B. Wheeler Downtown airport as was originally planned.
Well, since the Festive Season has just ended, a big tickup in activity on this site, good to see. Interesting reading.
Melo, a very eventful landing (perhaps your underware was white before the flight, brown afterwards, eh?), makes me think, in RW, how do aircraft without a radio navigate into airports with radio-equipped traffic, including commercial planes? Or are they not allowed. Unless they see you, they don't even know you're there. I suppose ATC radar can see you, but wouldn't know who or what you are, but at least I suppose they could warn other planes of your presence. (Even gliders and little microlights have radios these days, is flying an aircraft without a radio prohibited?)
Anyone got any knowledge of this subject, please explain?
falcoln409, love the Couzinet 71.
bosspecops, love the Heracles. Also, funny you should mention the SR71. I've had an idea to do a tribute flight in the Concorde around the entire course, at say 55k ft and mach 2. Have never been able to program in waypoints into the Flight Planner, but am now going to attempt to do so. Context: MAD1 has returned to Denver International to rejoin the Concorde entourage, who have cooked up the tribute flight idea in his absence. The plan is to fly the route to Richmond. The entourage will then get to Kittyhawk whilst MAD1 goes to KMQI Dare County Manteo, to pick up the Sopwith Camel. The entourage will watch him arrive into KFFA Kittyhawk. This might not eventuate yet, it's just a plan ('all plans of mice and men ...' anyone got some cheese?), wait and see ...
Melo, a very eventful landing (perhaps your underware was white before the flight, brown afterwards, eh?), makes me think, in RW, how do aircraft without a radio navigate into airports with radio-equipped traffic, including commercial planes? Or are they not allowed. Unless they see you, they don't even know you're there. I suppose ATC radar can see you, but wouldn't know who or what you are, but at least I suppose they could warn other planes of your presence. (Even gliders and little microlights have radios these days, is flying an aircraft without a radio prohibited?)
Anyone got any knowledge of this subject, please explain?
falcoln409, love the Couzinet 71.
bosspecops, love the Heracles. Also, funny you should mention the SR71. I've had an idea to do a tribute flight in the Concorde around the entire course, at say 55k ft and mach 2. Have never been able to program in waypoints into the Flight Planner, but am now going to attempt to do so. Context: MAD1 has returned to Denver International to rejoin the Concorde entourage, who have cooked up the tribute flight idea in his absence. The plan is to fly the route to Richmond. The entourage will then get to Kittyhawk whilst MAD1 goes to KMQI Dare County Manteo, to pick up the Sopwith Camel. The entourage will watch him arrive into KFFA Kittyhawk. This might not eventuate yet, it's just a plan ('all plans of mice and men ...' anyone got some cheese?), wait and see ...
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I see after all these years MS still hasn't come to grips with the concept of landing clearance. My eternal gratitude to the person who told me of the AI Separation utility for FS2004; I was so tired of AI flying through me on finals, my aircraft would blow apart in flames while the AI continued unscathed to a perfect landing ...I wanted the AI scathed as well! lol (utility doesn't do that, just backs the AI off so they wait their turn).
bosspecops
Members +
Melo, the Captain of that 737 needs his FAA licence revoked! And so should the controller at Des Moines too!
I'm pretty sure in FS09 that conflicting traffic in such a situation would do a go around, or occasionally would just vanish totally.
bosspecops
Members +
Re the SR-71 idea, I had a quick try-out of that last night and it'd NEVER work! The darned aircraft is almost impossible to fly anyway, let alone in a M 3.0 constant left hand turn! And as for descending for touch and goes at every field, forget it!
Flying a Concorde o'head all the fields in turn is much more likely I reckon, she's a sweet bird to fly, and I've 'flown' the RW Concorde simulator at Brooklands, into Kai Tak, of all places...................
Flying a Concorde o'head all the fields in turn is much more likely I reckon, she's a sweet bird to fly, and I've 'flown' the RW Concorde simulator at Brooklands, into Kai Tak, of all places...................
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