Your most difficult, scary flight in FS!

[Lionheart]

What is your most difficult, scary flight in FS?


Here is mine.


I am in FS9, online via VATSIM system, on a Virtual Airlines flight. I am a member of British Airways Virtual, BAV738, Captain rank. I am in a very nice 777, and had just flown from Boston to London. We were allowed to run 4X over the ocean, so it was only about a 2 hour flight. By the time I was over England, in my descent, the sun had gone down, it was actually getting late, and the weather was overcast. I set up for approach vectors and ILS into Heathrow, coming in towards the castle on the RH runway, (sorry, I havent flown there in ages, I have forgotten the runway number).

So, as I am landing, I am waiting to pop through the clouds.. Waiting, descending, riding the ILS beam, in thick, white fog illuminated by the landing lights. 1,000 feet, 700 feet, 500 feet, 400 feet, 300 feet.... Sweating.. I just did a long flight, I do not want to wreck this one. Several witnesses are here online, 3 pilots in flight or waiting to take off, 2 tower operators.. I pass through 100 feet, still nothing. BING!!!! Runway, I pull up, but not fast enough. I had made my descent as shallow as possible, but it is the ILS beam.

I panthered....


I had thought it was clouds and I would break through at some point, but the clouds had blended in with ground fog and there was no real weather to find this out, so.... I lost my bird, crashed.. arrgh.

That always sticks in the back of my mind.

I did get to keep my BAV738 rank and position. Just an FS crash. But for me, it was a long flight and a real bummer to miss the landing at the last point.



Bill

 

[Tom Clayton]

Sion during bad visibility is always hairy - especially if you're having trouble seeing the mountains. I've come in from the East like that a couple of times. I had to use the GPS terrain function to know when I was past the peaks and could dive into the valley to catch the ILS beacon.

 

[wombat666]

All of them .........

 

[Henry]

as soon as i start the engines
happens all the time
H

 

[cheezyflier]

hahaha fog is killer! i did the same thing coming into yyz once. a shorter flight, but it didn't feel anybetter when i crashed

 

[Chacha]

as soon as i start the engines
happens all the time
H

Especially when my daughter is looking over my shoulder and hear her say: "Mommy, you crashed again!" well sometimes mountains popped out without warning on my screen... and even with out fog, the airport runway seems too short and the tarmac tends to elevate without warning. Goodness, I need more practice! Otherwise I am a good pilot, if not very good...

Eli

 

[CG_1976]

Everytime im taking off from the North Pole or McMurdo Station.

 

[Wing_Z]

When Fly Tampa released their Kai Tak scenery, I invited my neighbour (retired B747 Captain) to come over and see how good it was.
He brought a mate (retired flight engineer) and reminisced about this and that low dive they had spent an evening in, those years ago.
They then asked for a demo, following the route they had flown themselves, a clockwise circuit from Junk Bay following the coast of Hong Kong Island, over Victoria Bay, and then the checkerboard Rwy 13 approach over Kowloon.

(This was some time ago, but after a little digging, I found some screenshots)

The hardest part was to act as if you actually knew what you were doing.
No GPS thank you, all NDB and VOR, and a vintage aircraft.
With these two at my shoulder, watching every move, I could feel a light sweat building.
Every time a I made a mistake I could tell they were looking at each other, knowingly.

I eventually bumbled in to a somewhat bouncy landing...I had a cramp in the joystick hand, and realised I hadn't breathed properly for some time.
Perhaps not the scariest flight, but certainly one of the most difficult because there was no disguising it; it left me in a state of exhaustion

 

[Drake]

I don't remember where I was at but it was late in real time. I was cleared on final almost ready to touch down and an airlner buzzed over top of me and landed right in front. Didn't need that late at night. LOL.

 

[Drzook]

Got a couple of them:
There was the time I took off in an Aeronca Champ in a blizzard, got about 200 feet up and lost sight of the ground (and everything else for that matter). By the time I got my bearings I hit the Grand River at a 45 degree angle at about 85 mph. Not pretty.
The other time was when I re-enacted John F Kennedy Jr's last flight for the first time. I didn't have a Saratoga so I went with what was more comfortable for me at the time--a Piper Pacer. There were a few times where you couldn't see past your prop. When I got to where I thought Martha's Vineyard was I couldn't see anything; I then looked around and turned out the fully lit runway was directly under me; at that point I knew everything was going to be all right but for a few moments I was feeling a bit stressed.

 

[Lionheart]

Got a couple of them:
There was the time I took off in an Aeronca Champ in a blizzard, got about 200 feet up and lost sight of the ground (and everything else for that matter). By the time I got my bearings I hit the Grand River at a 45 degree angle at about 85 mph. Not pretty.
The other time was when I re-enacted John F Kennedy Jr's last flight for the first time. I didn't have a Saratoga so I went with what was more comfortable for me at the time--a Piper Pacer. There were a few times where you couldn't see past your prop. When I got to where I thought Martha's Vineyard was I couldn't see anything; I then looked around and turned out the fully lit runway was directly under me; at that point I knew everything was going to be all right but for a few moments I was feeling a bit stressed.

Thats one awesome aspect of FS is the ability to train you to go by instruments without looking outside for references of where you are. I hear stories from actual pilots that freaked when they had to do instrument training, flying without visual. I do it so much in FS, that I cant imagine freaking (too badly) in real life. I have been flying at night though with family and friends (in real planes). If you dont watch your instrumentation, you are gone... Especially if there are mountains nearby and no city lights below and you arent navigating safely.. Like being in Red Oktober, at the bottom of the sea, with no sonar... lol..

 

[Willy]

Every time I've had the baton in the RTW race and it's been dark or the weather is terrible. That's when the pressure comes on.

 

[Astoroth]

Don't remember where I was for sure, but I took off on an FSPassengers flight and inadvertently flew into a war zone! I was all set up on approach when the next thing I knew I started taking small arms fire! You could hear the bullets pinging and whining off the skin of the plane! Then they took out my hydraulics, and 1 engine, had to make an emergency belly landing with no gear! Didn't lose any passengers, but totalled the Beech 18 I was flying. The repairs were going to be more than I had paid for the plane, so I just sold it for scrap metal. Nothing gets your heart hammering quite like an in-flight emergency, lol!

 

[LonelyplanetXO]

yep Lionheart, thats called learning curve. remember we dont have professional instructors coaching us so we have to figure it out by ourselves. Three learning flights come to mind ~ C-130 into some desert field at night, no horizon (too dark) spot an airfield light and focused on that so much didnt notice the -VSI & airspeeed +++ ...crashed on threshold but luckily managed to hit replay to assess what went wrong. CASA assessment:Trying to fly vfr in ifr conditions...nasty mistake.lesson: no horizon even in clear conditions = IFR (has occurred a few times subsequently - good lesson). 2. Eaglesoft cirrus...dont bother ****, went Auckland NZ to wellington. partway through getting low on fuel - didnt check preflight, can alomst understand the aviadyne flight data, try to find a diversion airfield due to fuel, cloud to 800'...watching the displays and trying to figure out wot thy're telling me...impacted water 13* down & 25*left turn.... pilot overload.Lesson : **** & practice it. Third one similar to second, Kingair on approach ifr ILS to Wellington impacts Wellington harbour 3 miles out...cause: pilot overload due to drunkenness lol.Lesson: dont drink & fly hehehehe

 

[stansdds]

I hate fog, so any flight that includes foggy conditions is scary and generally not fun. I'm not too thrilled with rain or snow either. High cross winds, both during flight and landing, always tighten my sphincter.

 

[Cazzie]

Got a couple of them:
There was the time I took off in an Aeronca Champ in a blizzard, got about 200 feet up and lost sight of the ground (and everything else for that matter). By the time I got my bearings I hit the Grand River at a 45 degree angle at about 85 mph. Not pretty.
The other time was when I re-enacted John F Kennedy Jr's last flight for the first time. I didn't have a Saratoga so I went with what was more comfortable for me at the time--a Piper Pacer. There were a few times where you couldn't see past your prop. When I got to where I thought Martha's Vineyard was I couldn't see anything; I then looked around and turned out the fully lit runway was directly under me; at that point I knew everything was going to be all right but for a few moments I was feeling a bit stressed.

No you didn't!

If it's below 40 degrees F. "Charlie Brown" will refuse to start! Plain and simple, he don't do cold flights!

Too many to name, but always involve full overcast and often bad storms, want something strong to fly above that crap, but you always have to land.

Caz

 

[Ashaman]

There was that time I decided to try a flight with the Avro 100 (at the time I still flew jets) from somewhere in the Philippines to another island thereabout (I think it was Manila, though I'm not sure, it's been a while). The Avro I was piloting was a new plane for me, and mistook quite grossly the fuel calculation... I managed to get to the destination airport anyway... on fumes... but what was WAY WORSE was that it was night, there was a CAT III visibility on the airport and the plane I was using was not CAT III compliant, was unable to autoland and did not even had a radio-altimeter... and I did not have the fuel to divert to the alternate... correction, I didn't even had the fuel for a single go-around...

Result was a hard three point landing made by the autopilot all alone... the gear did not fold and made the plane crash only for a miracle, but in protest of the rough landing, while I was taxiing, trying to reach the parking, the engines decided to flame out on me... completely out of fuel. :redf:

 

[Volker Böhme]

Hi,

2 flights come to my mind.

The first one was in Lionheart's Bücker, a flight from Berlin Tempelhof to Wilhelmshaven. The sun was about to set when I was turning north over Bremen, and at that precise point, I lost my electricity. I still don't know what I did wrong, but I decided to just live with it, I had to do without, just like in real life.
The safe way would have been to descend and land in Bremen right away while there was still enough light. However, my destination wasn't that far away either, and I could already see the location of the bay where the Mariensiel airfield is located.
It was getting dark faster than anticipated and by the time I arrived at the (unlit) field, was really having a hard time making out anything on the ground. I am not sure about the fuel reserves I had, but I was certainly running low on nerves. The terrain is quite flat there, though, so I nudged the plane closer and closer to the ground to check out that brighter patch.
I was scared as hell when I realized that this patch was the hangar roof, just a few feet below me!
I climbed out at full throttle, thinking about alternatives. A bit to the west is Jever airbase, brightly lit, and I was able to land there in pitch darkness.

Something less random, but certainly demanding: The checkerboard approach at Kai Tak, using a Super Constellation. When I watched the replay, my wife asked: You almost clipped that billboard, did you notice?

Best regards,
Volker

 

[Thunderbolt]

I try a flight with the X-15, a ballistic parable above Nevada and back to Edwards.
The approach and landing are very tricky.

Edit: another flight near the vacuum

 

[fliger747]

Ummmm When I ran out of fuel in a 737-400 at night during the round the world race, at night in Africa, 20 miles from the field and deadsticked it to land in the first 300 ft of the runway.....