But very cool, nonetheless.
I’m not sure I could be that pilot though, three days from Hawaii to the Bay Area, allowed only 20 minute catnaps, and then that whole bathroom thing.
I wonder if anyone is working on the X-Plane model. I might pick it up, at least if I get tired of flying my new BD-100!
Primary Flight Display (left) and Multi-Function Display (right). En-route to Lewiston, Idaho to ‘pick up the dog handler’. Just about to cross over the border south of Lethbridge. Flying M0.8 at 33,000ft.
Sure, taking a Challenger 300 on a hop to pick-up dogs might seem frivolous to you, but for me, it’s a wonderful way to spend a Sunday morning. It’s also a whole lot faster than taking the PA-32 Cherokee.
Have a safe flight!
13 months ago they left..hmm!Someone has a way too much money. But do we have enough money to make this practical? I doubt it..Someone in the article said this will be ho-hum in 20 years. That will be 18.4 flights in 20 years. Also it will be $2.B at this rate. Sounds practical..
So it’s only taken them 13 months to go from Dubai to California? A viking long boat would have made the trip in less time and that’s allowing time for re-provisioning and raiding. That is not progress.
It almost wasn’t.
On ATC vectored approach to KLWS Rwy 26, lining up for an ILS approach.
Seatac Area ATC cancels (after I got clearance from Twr) and throws me into a heading vector away for a visual landing on 30. This is my second flight with this bird.
I follow ATC instructions, disregarding all the nasty low level and land warnings, which to be honest the ATC allowed me to miss as long as I was heads up with the headings and altitude adjustments.
So I line up as directed….or so I thought. It flies like a brick. High, to the left, completely botch it.
I abort that one, pull up the plate and go into missed approach procedures.
I’ll try it again, this time though, I’m going to use the plate procedures for RNAV Rwy 30.
Nearly the same result.
Back into missed approach.
Frig this I say, ILS 26, screw ATC. About an extra 300 feet past the LZ but I think it’s because I wasn’t close enough with the proper speed on Vref for my weight and I drifted.
Oh look, the Rwy is a slope and I didn’t have enough at the stall to pull the nose up more.
A hard landing.
I need more practise on manual landings, this airplane isn’t nearly as forgiving as the small planes I’m used to.
My great grandfather emigrated to Canada in 1898. The first year, he hand dug a hole
in the ground, covered it with sod. Then, spend ten days walking to Regina and back
to pick up a sack of free flour to feed the family that winter. He must be turning
in his grave, delighted with the entitlements and freedom which his courage and those
like him has given us.
You can pick up the BD-100 for only $29.95! No bloody wonder Bombardier keeps coming back to the taxpayers for a handout!
I always wanted a Mig-29, but my wife’s too damned cheap to get me one for Christmas. I don’t think they’re solar powered,though.
Does KLWS have customs?
Umm, flight simulator, we don’t need no stinking customs.
Sorry I didn’t make that clear. (But you know, a $5-6k/hour plane that costs about $13M used….)
Assuming it was a legitimate question and I’ve gone and let my sarcasm take the better of me, no.
I’ve no experience but I’d assume (at least on this flight) you’d get pre-clearance at Calgary (YYC) or stop in at Spokane (KGEG)or Billings (KBIL)(depending on your route) before continuing on.
Interestingly enough, KGEG was the alternate on this route.
As I said on another site and was chopped, “A $170 million worth of renewable egos.”
Well, you and Kate, with pooches, are still alive….That’s the main thing. (Plane “flies like a brick” was not a good sign.:)
I want my solar powered flying car and i want it now.
I thought you were talking about a simulator, but then in the comments you mentioned ATC clearances – though your approach/tower frequency flip flop and cancellation sounded a bit suspect as to how it should have happened – so I thought “nope, he actually flew down there.” Didn’t know desktop simulators talked to you. The reason I asked is because I was down there last fall for work and cleared in Boise, recall KLWS not having Customs when initially planning routes to avoid both the RFZs and the areas of severe turbulence forecast in the Rockies. Ended up working out of Montana as the plans changed while en route.
The only thing that makes this sound better than regular econo flights is the food. But 62 hrs from Hawaii makes it kind of impractical for those with just a two week vacation.
Yeah the ATC screw up was definitely sub-optimal, especially as I had ILS lock. XPlane says the 10.50 version is focusing on that aspect (there are a couple of issues regarding what the AI thinks and what you really want) so it should be better in the future. Having said that, assuming I virtually file a good flight plan, it’s pretty solid. This is the first non-user caused wave off I’ve run into.
Today’s FS’s are +very+ good, way different from the late 80’s when I started playing with MS FlightSim.
FSX is pretty much done, but still has a tonne of players but X-Plane, Prepar3D and one other I can’t think of the name of are all excellent regarding the ‘simulation’ part.
Besides, I’m pretty sure if I did in real life what I described above, I’d lose whatever license I had. 🙂 That whole, screw the ATC part….
I love real sims. I am also an addict of Train Simulator. Between X-Plane and TS2016 you can spend a pile of money. For X-Plane it’s airports and airplanes, for TS2016 it’s engines and routes. It’s like having a proper model train setup (and I know of at least one reader who can relate to this) there is way too much stuff for the budget.
The advantage between sims and models is that I can virtually run them. The advantage to models over sims is that modellers can more easily customize them.
Train Simulator is actually more engaging than the flight sims. You have to constantly watch for signals in train sims. FS’s are like, set route, get clearances, follow instructions, take-off, auto-pilot…then the real fun begins.
The other thing about train sims is that you have to think about half a mile down-track. The speeds in Europe and/or the weight of the trains in N.A. make signals very important to know. Especially if you’re into historical and running steam engines. There’s just so much going on that you have to control. Mucho respect to those engies going over the Rockies.
Silly me, I thought the Gossamer Albatross was the plane of the future.
“We have demonstrated it is feasible to fly many days, many nights, that the technology works”
28 MPH cruising speed in a tarted up glider; the whole point of airplanes, other than sport or military aircraft, is to get somewhere fast, so no the technology doesn’t work.
An addendum to my last – Piccard is the same guy that flew a balloon (the Breitling Orbiter) around the world in a hair under just 20 days at speeds, “…up to 123 knots…”.
When your plane can’t beat your balloon, you might need to rethink the whole concept.
Why not go back to air ships -helium, natch