Tinkicker Posted February 16 Author Posted February 16 I told the missus about my new copilot. Under no circumstances, am I allowed to share a cockpit with her ever again.. Apparently, sharing a cockpit with a fun loving aviation expert , who enjoys a laugh, and happens to be very pretty is not a good thing... 2 Quote
Tinkicker Posted February 16 Author Posted February 16 (edited) Well how we were going top get back to blighty has been unceremoniously resolved. It nearly killed the both of us. I have not had an in flight emergency of such epic proportions since I was in combat over the Euphrates Dam and got stitched real good by a ZSU 23.... Met Debs in the hotel breakfast room and it transpires that she had a conversation with James last night. It transpires that an elderly Cessna 404 needed ferrying back to the UK. So not quite the little mini break I thought it was, devious bugger. Debs needs to get home for her airline schedule, so it is going to be a very long flight.. So we trundle up to have a look at this page of ancient history. The engineer approaches us and tells the sorry tale. It has been parked on the ramp, unused for the last five years and has just been sold to a UK aerial survey company and needs ferrying back to the UK. I ask if it will fly? Oh yes, I have changed the oil and run up both engines and checked the essential systems. Fuel, electrical power and props all fine. Are you going to accompany me on the test flight? Oh no, I cannot, I get terribly air sick. Hmm. Look, I will start the engines for you. In he jumps and both engines start up immediately. Well it sounds reasonably healthy... He jumps out and looks at me expectantly. Well, I suppose I ought to give it a chance. Debs jumps straight in. " Cmon, it is an adventure". Manly pride comprehensively dented, i reluctantly climb in. Man, what a shed. Only the very best in 1970s technology in here. OK, here we go, I advance the throttles and gallop down the runway. She sounds fit enough and the gauges are steady. We climb up to 4000ft and i start checking the systems. Autopilot. Inop apparently. Not good. I am liking this less and less. I switch on the deicing system and look out the window to watch the de icing boots pulse. Nothing. De ice inop. I look to the gauges and find that number two prop has fallen out of sync a little. I pull it back into sync. It falls out of sink again. I look to the manifold pressure gauge, that too is out of sync, we are losing the engine. Fuel pressure looks good, so it is not a cracked injector pipe, it must be eating its turbo. I start the turn back from whence we came. The engine suddenly gave a few backfires and the manifold pressure dropped like a rock. No choice but to cut the ignition and feather the prop. I advance the throttle on the left engine and run the prop right to the top of the non emergency max allowable setting and hope she stays within the single engine control speed. We gingerly continue our turn into the live engine, all the while keeping well away from the edge of the single engine min speed envelope. If we cross it, I will have to pull the power on the good engine, dive to increase sufficient speed and increase power again, or failing that, ditch into the sea. Thankfully I have a few knots to play with. I pull out of the turn and we start to pick up a little airspeed, then I find a biggie.. A HUGE bug. Asymmetric thrust is not modelled. Instead of burying my foot deep into the left rudder pedal to maintain course, nothing. It flies along as innocently at 130kts as on two engines. That is one hell of a miss. Right engine stopped and prop feathered. She behaves as if nothing happened. No rudder trim required. She will not spin out of the sky, no matter how the speed drops. That is a HUGE miss by the devs. Coming down the pipe towards the field again, I find another lovely failure waiting in the wings. Barrelling down the pipe at 140kts, I pull back on the left throttle to slow down. No change in sound from the left engine. I look to the manifold pressure gauge. 35 inches as before. I pull the throttle all the way back, the gear horn blares. I look at the gauge - 35 inches. The throttle is jammed almost wide open. I glance over at Debs and see her eyes are getting wider and wider, she is clearly terrified. I wish I stopped her from coming along. I feel very saddened for her. I have one more trick in my bag of experience.. As we approach the runway threshold, still at 140kts, I cut the mags on the left engine, drop the gear and flaps and cross control her to shed as much speed as possible. I fear those probably dry rotted tyres will blow, and if so, I will not be able to keep her on the runway. Since there are large bodies of water either side of the runway, that means going for a swim. She touches down with a large puff of tyre smoke and I stand on the brakes, We floated a long way down the runway and the end is fast approaching. And down. Left engine is ticking and clicking furiously as it cools down. We used over 3/4 of the runway to get down and stopped. A frightened and very tearful Debs. She got out of the aircraft, and from what I can gather from her very sweary phone call to her husband, James will be sleeping in the spare room for quite a while. So now we wait for a scheduled flight to get us home. Edited February 16 by Tinkicker Quote
Simon Davey Posted February 16 Posted February 16 That's brilliant! What a thrill..... She has amazing eyes.. Quote
Tinkicker Posted February 16 Author Posted February 16 (edited) 5 hours ago, Simon Davey said: That's brilliant! What a thrill..... She has amazing eyes.. When I saw the autopilot was glitched, I confess that I engineered the "engine failure". I was not going to sit for 12 hours, hand flying an old crate back to blighty. However, the rest, including the stuck open throttle was genuine. I sense that you are rather taken with Debs. I call her Debs because she looks very much like my Debs, my very best mate ever, we were inseparable when we were young. Everyone thought we would marry one day. Sadly her parents split up and she moved away. I bumped into her again about 20 years later, married with kids. She looked very much like the digital "Debs". Told you, all my tales carry a large element of truth about them. Edited February 16 by Tinkicker 1 Quote
Tinkicker Posted February 22 Author Posted February 22 Nothing crazy to report. The comanche just had a 100hr inspection and I conducted an engineering test flight in her. So. A where am I. Three places within a 20 min flight from Leeds and all within 5 mins flight time of each other. All are well known landmarks. 1. The hardest one. 2. A big clue to number 1. 3. Some on here may have spent the weekend.. Quote
Simon Davey Posted February 22 Posted February 22 I'm stumped, and I've even spent 20 minutes staring at Google maps Quote
Tinkicker Posted February 22 Author Posted February 22 (edited) Well Done Yorky. But as Meatloaf once sang... Two out of three aint bad. I need specifics... Think one of my of my personal mentors, and role model, Mick Grant. Also Barry Sheene, also of course mr slippery himself, stavros aka steve parish... Edited February 22 by Tinkicker Quote
Ian Frog Posted February 23 Posted February 23 Would you be alluding to Oliver`s Mount perchance? Cheers Ian Quote
Tinkicker Posted February 23 Author Posted February 23 (edited) Indeed. Olivers Mount Road Racing Circuit. Just five minutes away from Scarborough town centre. A very atmospheric place. You can almost smell the Castrol R from the 1950s racers on the wind... The best riders in the world have raced on the narrow, winding track over the years. Hailwood, Agostini, Granty, Sheene, Parish, Ivy..... This pic would have been taken at the esses, at the top of the hill where the track climbs up through the trees, then turns 90 degrees right, straight across the cultivated field. They are ordinary public roads and you can ride the circuit yourself on non race days. Just head for the mount and you suddenly find yourself on a road with blue and white checkered kerbs... When I was a young hooligan, I rode it on my CB900 at speed. Scared myself silly. Edited February 23 by Tinkicker Quote
Yorky Posted February 23 Posted February 23 10 hours ago, Tinkicker said: Well Done Yorky. But as Meatloaf once sang... Two out of three aint bad. I need specifics... Think one of my of my personal mentors, and role model, Mick Grant. Also Barry Sheene, also of course mr slippery himself, stavros aka steve parish... Yes, I knew Olivers Mount because of the Mere in the foreground. I was there on the fateful day in 1968 that claimed the life of John Hartle. 1 Quote
Tinkicker Posted February 23 Author Posted February 23 Well. About to fire up the old sim and go flying. No idea where yet. If you ever want me to fly somewhere, just tell me where you want your parts delivered. Must be somewhere in Europe and must have an airfield nearby. Oh and no long over water legs. Those are just boring and this is supposed to be fun. I will do my best to get your parts delivered... Quote
Tinkicker Posted February 23 Author Posted February 23 (edited) Mike comes out to greet me. Hi Mark, I have another trip for you. James has asked me to brief you, for some reason he seems to be keeping a low profile.. I know, every time he sees me approaching, he scuttles away in the other direction. I gather that things are still a bit frosty in the James household? Debs still not speaking to him? I gather not. She blames him for nearly getting her killed by insisting on flying a clearly, completely un airworthy aircraft home. So wither are we bound? Stockholm. Stockholm? Hells bells. Weather is going to be crap and over mountains too. Should I send the parts by Fedex instead? Ah no, I'll do it. I pull the weather for Brussels. Not too bad Scattered low cloud 1000ft ceiling, 12 degrees, so no icing. Pull the weather for Stockholm. Broken cloud, ceiling 300ft, 3 degrees. light wind 6kts. A bit problematic, but it may improve with age. I make my flight plan. six legs in total. Climbing out into a showery 7 octas , ceiling 300 ft, over the moorland just to the west of Leeds, We are treated to a double rainbow. Once I turn onto heading, I expect the weather to clear a lot by the time I reach the Nottingham area. One of the most fascinating things for me is looking down at open farmland. Often you can see the outlines of buidings, long since demolished still visible from the air, yet nothing to be seen at ground level. I once saw the outline of what looked to be a roman fort, complete with perimeter wall, foundations of buildings and even the streets. Here you can see the remains of a long torn up WW2 airfield still imprinted on the landscape. You can see the runway intersection where they cross, and over to the left, a little bit of concrete hardstanding still remains This airfield seems to be a likely candidate: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/RAF_Little_Walden Pretty much a flight from hell so far. Holland and Germany were fine, flying in and out of broken cloud. However Scandinavia is covered by a huge fog bank. Nothing to see. I will press on... Malmo below under the fog, just turned for Stockholm. 288 miles to run... Edited February 23 by Tinkicker 1 Quote
Tinkicker Posted February 23 Author Posted February 23 (edited) 18:00 local time and the sun has set. I should arrive in Stockholm at 19:30 local, a quick count on my fingers shows I should have enough of a fuel reserve for 1.5 hrs flying (18 gallons) on arrival, so all good. The wind has got up, giving me a useful 10 knot tailwind and it is also shredding the fog bank. Even better, that fog was depressing. Unlike the UK, Sweden has very few streetlamps compared to the overcrowded UK. Large patches with no polution light at all. Looked up out of the side window and saw the milky way. Have not seen that in the UK since I was very small. Breathtaking. Just over an hour left to run.. 40 miles left to run and the lights of Stockholm are already filling the windshield. Taxying in at Stockholm after a gruelling 7hr 6min flight. I need a beer.. Edited February 23 by Tinkicker 1 Quote
Simon Davey Posted February 24 Posted February 24 Fascinating that you saw the remains of Little Walden, I live not far at all from there. Also, absolutely superb that the SIM can provide the Milky Way on a clear flight. Happy flying. Quote
Tinkicker Posted February 24 Author Posted February 24 Indeed. The sim can be very surprising and breathtakingly realistic. At other times, it can be a disappointment. Depends on server capacity ect. In its present form it is a tad unstable and very power hungry. To get it to perform, you need an absolute beast of a PC to run it, esp in VR. I think my time with the comanche is nearing the end. I have 112hrs in it now and I am wanting to do things it clearly is not designed to do. It is far too slow for one, is not safe for long water crossings and is very range limited. The light twin I alluded to ferrying back from Florida earlier in the tale is 100mph faster, has a pressurised cabin and can fly at 30,000ft. It is just as detailed and true to life handling wise as the commanche. However, it is not yet available for fs2024. Needs some alterations to make it work in the new sim due to the way the new physics model calculates the pressure differentials over the flying surfaces ect to provide lift. In the old sim i'm told there were maybe five calculation points on each flying surface. On the new sim, there are hundreds of calculation points, all taking into account airfoil shape at that particular point, surface area, air density, airspeed, angle of attack, induced and parasitic drag ect. The aircraft really do "fly". Still relatively simple though, compared to the far more complex DCS physics engine. The parameters that DCS computes is mind boggling. Right down to the material and thickness of the flying surface skins and how much they need to deform in flight due to the pressure under and over the skin to give absolutely realistic handling qualities. 1 Quote
Tinkicker Posted March 2 Author Posted March 2 (edited) One of the problems of a 7 hr long flight is that you suddenly find the prospect of having to get the aircraft home again a bit daunting. I think I will do it in stages. Meanwhile, have a vid about a major theme in my flying stories. Ryan is a shit hot bush pilot. Edited March 2 by Tinkicker 1 Quote
Tinkicker Posted March 2 Author Posted March 2 (edited) Metar for Stockholm is pretty good. 12kt crosswind from the right, and unlimited visibility, no cloud. Time to fly.. filed my flightplan. To avoid overflying places again that I flew over on my way here, my route home is: Stockholm Gothenberg. Copenhagen. Olstrup. Hamburg. Lille. Calais Leeds. Edited March 2 by Tinkicker 1 Quote
Simon Davey Posted March 2 Posted March 2 10 hours ago, Tinkicker said: One of the problems of a 7 hr long flight is that you suddenly find the prospect of having to get the aircraft home again a bit daunting. I think I will do it in stages. Meanwhile, have a vid about a major theme in my flying stories. Ryan is a shit hot bush pilot. Enjoyed that, cheers. Looks like a comfy aircraft, he's got more cameras than the BBC!! Quote
Tinkicker Posted March 2 Author Posted March 2 (edited) Flew 200 odd miles in a very stiff headwind to gothenburg. Gave up. Extreme demand on the servers made major cities look like construction sites and all the terrain very blurry. Waste of time today.. It was obviously a very busy day..... Sometimes the sim is stunning, and yet other times, completely crap. Edited March 2 by Tinkicker 1 Quote
Simon Davey Posted March 3 Posted March 3 7 hours ago, Tinkicker said: Flew 200 odd miles in a very stiff headwind to gothenburg. Gave up. Extreme demand on the servers made major cities look like construction sites and all the terrain very blurry. Waste of time today.. It was obviously a very busy day..... Sometimes the sim is stunning, and yet other times, completely crap. You must ordinarily, have very good bandwidth. I don't think our measly 67 megabits would cut it. Quote
Tinkicker Posted March 7 Author Posted March 7 (edited) Well. No flying tales for the foreseeable future. Asobo released a major update to rectify many of the broken parts and squash many of the bugs present in the sim yesterday. It completely broke it. Unplayable. Edited March 7 by Tinkicker 2 Quote
Simon Davey Posted March 7 Posted March 7 Jeeeeeeez, I sincerely feel bad for you, I know how passionate you are about flying. Quote
Tinkicker Posted March 7 Author Posted March 7 I still have DCS... Very much more realistic, but less pretty to look at. 1 Quote
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