The Windsor's Watering Hole

Even more Mew Gull pictures

These are from Malaysia, Indonesia, and then into Darwin.
  • Staying low under the weather
  • On course over a coastal airport
  • Clag right down to sea level in places
  • Nice sunrise for a dawn departure
  • Indonesian islands
  • Warm enough for shorts today!
  • Indoneasian extinct volcanoes
  • Getting cloudy and wet on approach to Darwin
  • Welcome to Australia - lightning everywhere!!
  • A bumpy ride in to Darwin
 
Love the lightning shot! I've tried many time to capture a lightning bolt in FS, and have managed to do it once, by accident!
 
It was truly satisfying to complete the final leg. Naturally, I planned for the forecast headwinds--having faced headwinds in 13 or 14 previous legs, flying into the breeze had become second nature. Gave an extra five minutes to the ETE.

Oops...

I decided to stay low, nearly on the deck, to avoid the double digit headwinds projected as low as 6,000 feet. (The Mew Gull just doesn't like to fly a lot higher than 9,000.) Started out at 2,000' and wandered up to 3,000' and back down to 2,000' where I managed to catch a tailwind. (!) That was a very pleasant surprise.

Made for a good Race Time on the leg--and decided to sacrifice the Precision Time in the interest of speed.

One advantage of flying low is that I got a beautiful view of FTX's great scenery. We should give these guys credit for making for FSX a wonderful "low-n-slow" environment--a full continent of spectacular vistas.

  • Starting out low on the deck. Could see ABC on the local television sets.
  • The Mew Gull passing overhead from (nearly) ground level.
  • The farms of NSW's agricultural heartland.
  • And then the settlements become denser as one moves southward into Victoria.
  • Mangalore's terrific airport (done up by OZx).
  • Approaching the outskirts of Melbourne--they come up suddenly.
  • Short final into Essendon with the tall towers of the city off in the distance.
  • Touchdown from the cockpit's perspective.
  • A long race completed. Phew!
Thanks to Michel Migaud for the delightful E3H Mew Gull of Edgar Percival. Lots of fun flying this little quicksilver of a plane through the weather and over the continents. Loved it. :cool:
 
Welcome to Melbourne, Mike. :wavey:
Congratulations for getting through the race, :applause: and love the pics.
I think one day I have to get FSX - there's really some neat stuff for it.
 
Good show Mike!
Guess with all that practice I'm not going to suggest a "Cape and Back" event any time soon:icon_lol:

It is a nice plane and one I'll enjoy when I have time

Rob
 
Made it to the Australian Continent

Headwinds really picked up into flight. Course was pretty good. Sighted land just to the west of darwin and adjusted course accordingly.

The Elapsed time kept going up and ground speed dropped what seemed like a precipitous amount. I wanted to keep as much altitude as possible, as I could see the coast and if I ran dry, I wanted as much altitude as possible.

Landed with 1 % fuel remaining.
 
MM said:
Guess that the manufacturer was not planning on routine trips at record air pressures...
Click to expand...
:)

Fwiw, I think this is an Industry Standard... that the Kollsman scale range is from 28.00" to 31.00". I spent several hours googling but I couldn't find a TSO or whatever that mandates this.

From the Airman's Information Manual Chapter 7. Safety of Flight / Section 2. Altimeter Setting Procedures:

7-2-5. Low Barometric Pressure - When abnormally low barometric pressure conditions occur (below 28.00), flight operations by aircraft unable to set the actual altimeter setting are not recommended.

NOTE-
The true altitude of the aircraft is lower than the indicated altitude if the pilot is unable to set the actual altimeter setting.
-----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
I was flying along with Bry today to OPTU and another one of those extremely low pressure settings in ASA (22.47" / 761mb) which I failed to appreciate. "Hi to Low - Look out Below" should have been my "mantra of the moment." I checked the field elevation of Turbat prior to descent... it is approx. 500'. Did a chop and drop in the PC-12 and somewhere around 5000' on the Altimeter I notice the ground is coming up "pretty quick." Autopilot off and level-off at around 4000' to see the Radar Altimeter reporting ~ 500'AGL. It would have been "catastrophic" had it been Low IFR.
 
Great Ozzie said:
:)

Fwiw, I think this is an Industry Standard... that the Kollsman scale range is from 28.00" to 31.00". I spent several hours googling but I couldn't find a TSO or whatever that mandates this.

From the Airman's Information Manual Chapter 7. Safety of Flight / Section 2. Altimeter Setting Procedures:

7-2-5. Low Barometric Pressure - When abnormally low barometric pressure conditions occur (below 28.00), flight operations by aircraft unable to set the actual altimeter setting are not recommended.

NOTE-
The true altitude of the aircraft is lower than the indicated altitude if the pilot is unable to set the actual altimeter setting.
-----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
I was flying along with Bry today to OPTU and another one of those extremely low pressure settings in ASA (22.47" / 761mb) which I failed to appreciate.
Click to expand...

Without a lot of digging, you're right about the Alt. Setting card on an altimeter. There are severa; reasons, but mostly stem from historical knowledge and shipping history (later confirmed).

The lowest baro. pressure I could find recorded by a hurricane hunter in the eye of a hurricane/trop. depression is 26.04". Since 1" Hg is equivalent at sealevel to an altitude difference of 1000 ft, and with standard pressure being 29.92, you can see the significance of a 26" pressure - and that's in the bottom of a severe atmospheric "low". The reason for the AIM section is that pressures below 28.00 may completely erode 1000 ft separations with a/c in adjacent sectors or transitioning through FL180.

22.47" would probably result in the barometer being sucked rapidly up into the vortex of the F5 tornado holding position directly above the reporting station and then dropped several miles away in a cornfield (this doesn't look like Kansas, Toto...)

Since the beginning of the MacR I've noticed several anomalies like this one (one over EGLL was only 1300 ft 'deep' but it was only 13 miles wide...).

It's likely that they are caused by data errors when the wx reports are disseminated via the internet, collected by the various servers or occasionally dyslexia on the part of the recorder (which would trigger an alert in the data system). Could also be something unwell in the FS engine, but it's so far out of range it seems miraculous (and ridiculous, too).

Sure you guys weren't flying using FS XIII ?

Rob
 
Hehe, I've had the same problem.. takeoff with pressure of 29.30" and while flying pressure drops to 21.23", but since not actively watching the aircraft and the autopilot slowly drops the plane into the ground.

Its terrible, pressure that low and we wouldn't be able to live.
 
The Beech has landed!

Comes in the door dragging a large crate marked "nitroglycerine" and opens it up....

Here's a crate full of whiskey from Oban Scotland for all the finishers!

:ernae:


Now to go back up to Allahabad and fetch the Cessna down under......
 
Congrats!!

Willy said:
Comes in the door dragging a large crate marked "nitroglycerine" and opens it up....

Here's a crate full of whiskey from Oban Scotland for all the finishers!

:ernae:


Now to go back up to Allahabad and fetch the Cessna down under......
Click to expand...

Ah yes,,,,now I'll drag out the qt pitcher fill it full of "nitro" and ice, sit back and let everyone think I'm having tea....:icon_lol:

Great job jockeying the Beech to Melbourne! :wiggle:
 
A few Kodaks taken over Europe and then the Middle East. The Beech is a beautiful aircraft and provides a luxurious ride...nothing like the Mew Gull's racing machine.

  • Early morning runway at Mildenhall as darkness starts to fade away.
  • Dawn over Channel gives promise for a splendid new day.
  • The mighty Rhine below with the towers of Cologne marking the city.
  • High over the Czech Republic and Central Europe.
  • Finals into Budapest with its 23kts crosswind to make things interesting.
  • Another early morning departure, this time out of Budapest.
  • Climbout from Budapest leaving the darkness behind.
  • FSX REX can certainly do sunrise.
  • High over the Black Sea.
  • Clouds cleared away a the last minute to reveal moutains encircling Ankara.
 
Continuing from Ankara over the Middle East to Pakistan's Khuzdar.

  • Leaving Ankara necessitates quick climb.
  • Icing over Turkey made for a quick scramble to find fuel flow heaters before disaster struck.
  • Over Mount Erciyes (12,851ft), massive stratovolcano from which Romans said one could see Black Sea and Mediterrean.
  • Into Baghdad over Lake Tharthar, a landmark which we all now know so well.
  • Mesopotamian Sun dazzles the Tigris and Euphrates.
  • Over the Gulf and into Bushere.
  • Morning departure passes the Bushere reactors.
  • Heading toward the sunrise over Iran.
  • Iran's rugged country shows as the shadows ripple below.
  • High over the mountains of an Iranian morning.
  • Deserts of Baluchostan in western Pakistan.
  • Touchdown on the the centerline of Khuzdar.
 
Very, very nice pictures Mike. A Classic Airplane with gorgeous lines. First picture sunrise throttle-up looking down a runway over the standard six panel appears so real... my gosh what a beauty. Makes me want to purchase it this moment.
 
Anyone sitting around Raffles might want to get a camera and keep an eye on the northern sky.. could be some good photos of a Staggering Staggerwing gliding to the airport .. 1+20ish to go and maybe a cuppa 80 Octane left.... if the thunderstorms don't force something untoward
 
Some pics from my ill-fated last leg into Melbourne. In the first three shots I am only about 600' off the ground. The last shot is when I barely spotted the tower and tried to swoop in. First just missing a building and then crashing into a hangar right after that. Didn't grab the flight analysis in time but it would have showed several circles around the airport.
 
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