Around the globe in a Beechcraft baron.

bandit197

Ive started a round the world trip in FSX flying East to West from EIKN. It will take a while but Im doing the legs bit by bit. I flew to the Faroe Islands via Stornoway last night and am currently en-route to Iceland. Im doing all the flights with full realism and in real time with real world weather. Did anyone here ever try it? Its gonna take me a while but Im in no rush. Im logging all the flight times etc to have a record of how long it takes.

highlydebased

I've thought about doing it in an ATR

Did a tour of europe during the summer. Good fun.

FlutterinBantam

bandit197 wrote: »

Ive started a round the world trip in FSX flying East to West from EIKN. It will take a while but Im doing the legs bit by bit. I flew to the Faroe Islands via Stornoway last night and am currently en-route to Iceland. Im doing all the flights with full realism and in real time with real world weather. Did anyone here ever try it? Its gonna take me a while but Im in no rush. Im logging all the flight times etc to have a record of how long it takes.

Gonna take you a while in a Baron...West coast of the States to Russia would seem to be your only option or have you another routing?

bandit197

FlutterinBantam wrote: »

Gonna take you a while in a Baron...West coast of the States to Russia would seem to be your only option or have you another routing?

Yes I think that really my only option. Im going to fly down the east coast of the US then across to the west and up to Alaska.
I landed in Greenland last night from Iceland (BIRK-BGBW) with only 4% fuel.
I was on fumes. I had a heavy headwind all the way.
Its a great project. Would recommend it:D

andy_g

yeah i started on it last night from dublin to farnbourgh then to orly going to start south toward spain into africa going to be good fun see what happens lol all in real wx and realtime should be fun

bandit197

andy_g wrote: »

yeah i started on it last night from dublin to farnbourgh then to orly going to start south toward spain into africa going to be good fun see what happens lol all in real wx and realtime should be fun

Yeah that will be good. I think Ill go that direction too when I get this one done. What are you flying?

Edit: Arrived in JFK tonight.

Carsinian Thau

bandit197 wrote: »

Ive started a round the world trip in FSX flying East to West from EIKN. It will take a while but Im doing the legs bit by bit. I flew to the Faroe Islands via Stornoway last night and am currently en-route to Iceland. Im doing all the flights with full realism and in real time with real world weather. Did anyone here ever try it? Its gonna take me a while but Im in no rush. Im logging all the flight times etc to have a record of how long it takes.

This sounds really cool tbh.

I'm thinking of doing a quick tour of europe over the Christmas break in a Cessna Skyhawk G1000.

Do you fly online or are you only using the flight simulator itself?

bandit197

Carsinian Thau wrote: »

This sounds really cool tbh.

I'm thinking of doing a quick tour of europe over the Christmas break in a Cessna Skyhawk G1000.

Do you fly online or are you only using the flight simulator itself?

Its very addictive. I find myself looking forward to getting a few more hours further on my journey. I can only imagine what an experience it would be to do it for real. Im doing most of the flights in the sim itself although I do the odd one with VATSIM or Gamespy. Ill be timing the return to Knock for a Sunday evening so hopefully one of the lads here who do ATC with VATSIM can guide me home:D

ch252

bandit197 wrote: »

Ill be timing the return to Knock for a Sunday evening so hopefully one of the lads here who do ATC with VATSIM can guide me home:D

Ah we'll sort you out don't worry:) What time do you reckon you'll be in at? Sure you can let us know closer to the time and Ill endevour to be online on Knock.

andy_g

bandit197 wrote: »

What are you flying?

Edit: Arrived in JFK tonight.

im using the atr 72-500

Carsinian Thau

bandit197 wrote: »

Its very addictive. I find myself looking forward to getting a few more hours further on my journey. I can only imagine what an experience it would be to do it for real. Im doing most of the flights in the sim itself although I do the odd one with VATSIM or Gamespy. Ill be timing the return to Knock for a Sunday evening so hopefully one of the lads here who do ATC with VATSIM can guide me home:D

I can agree with that. I've only been flying since the start of the summer but it's actually been really hard to go without a flight for the past five weeks (I left my joystick at home so I couldn't get to it during exam season, however, exams are over in a week and a half or so and I'm already planning the flights I want to make).

I also intend to fly on VATSIM over the break (I think I'll practice the route a couple of times in the sim first and take a small route. Perhaps Galway to Knock or something along those lines).

Speaking of VATSIM, could anyone recommend a good time for a first experience? I've heard Sundays can get pretty busy and I'll be available for most of the day, any day of the week so I'd like to go at a time when I wouldn't be dealing with an over taxed ATC or risk getting in someone's way, especially considering that even with small planes I'm still very much a novice pilot.

Hope your flying continues to go well.

Carsinian Thau

bandit197 wrote: »

Arrived in JFK tonight.

Congrats.

Any more excitement after your 4% fuel experience?

bandit197

darragh-k wrote: »

Ah we'll sort you out don't worry:) What time do you reckon you'll be in at? Sure you can let us know closer to the time and Ill endevour to be online on Knock.

Cheers Darragh, It will probably be in a week or two or over xmas. Ive a long way to go yet. Ill keep ye posted.

bandit197

Carsinian Thau wrote: »

Speaking of VATSIM, could anyone recommend a good time for a first experience? I've heard Sundays can get pretty busy and I'll be available for most of the day, any day of the week so I'd like to go at a time when I wouldn't be dealing with an over taxed ATC or risk getting in someone's way, especially considering that even with small planes I'm still very much a novice pilot.

Hope your flying continues to go well.

Anytime there is someone on ATC is a good time. Download VATSPY to keep an eye on it. Its never really too busy on a Sunday especially in the west but there is normally a few aircraft in the region. Dublin can be quite busy from time to time tho. Im the same as you, just getting grips with procedures etc. I normally try to get on for a few VFR flights hopping to and from Sligo, Knock, Galway, Shannon etc.
There's some great advice given in the stickies in this forum and the lads in ATC are friendly and helpful.
Try a circuit or two around a controlled airport to get started. If there is traffic keep an eye on it in VATSPY and wait untill it is quieter.
Once you get confident with that you will be flying. (pun intended...sorry:D)

bandit197

Carsinian Thau wrote: »

Congrats.

Any more excitement after your 4% fuel experience?

All fairly normal after that but my last flight from KJFK to North Carolina(cant remember the airport) was rough to say the least. Very windy and low cloud.

Steyr

Pictures/screenies please.

bandit197

Somewhere over the North Atlantic en-route to Iceland.


Frosty day over Logan Intl. Boston


Ready for takeoff at KCHS


Climbing out of KCHS


Ill upload a few more when I catch some interesting sights

Edit: Flying over the state of Georgia at the moment, heading due west.

PeakOutput

your graphics look good man have you a nice machine?

bandit197

PeakOutput wrote: »

your graphics look good man have you a nice machine?

Yeah it runs it well. Its one I built myself. Its an intel q6700 quad @ 3.2Ghz,
4 GB Ram, Nvidia 8800gs, running Vista Ultimate 64bit.

PeakOutput

dont want to hijack your thread but do you mind me asking how long ago and how much it cost?

i love to get a good one together to see if i like this vflying lark but im a student

Carsinian Thau

PeakOutput wrote: »

dont want to hijack your thread but do you mind me asking how long ago and how much it cost?

i love to get a good one together to see if i like this vflying lark but im a student

You wouldn't need something that would break the bank. I use a Dell Precision M64 with 2GB of RAM and it works pretty well for me.

This is a photo of me flying over Paris (sorry about the cockpit view but I wanted to keep a close eye on what was going on). I think the quality is alright.




http://s398.photobucket.com/albums/pp64/icy-dead-people/?action=view&current=2008-12-10_19-34-2-453.jpg link because the file isn't showing up.

bandit197

PeakOutput wrote: »

dont want to hijack your thread but do you mind me asking how long ago and how much it cost?

i love to get a good one together to see if i like this vflying lark but im a student

It cost me about €700 at the beginning of the year. I bought some secondhand parts. The cpu and graphics card.
The main thing to look for is processing power and Ram. The more the better for flight sim. The graphics card, while important, is'nt used as heavily as in other games. I got mine for 50ish euro secondhand.
Ask the lads in the building and upgrading forum in this site as they would be more up to date than me with components available now.
Id be confident that 500-600 would build a pc capable of running FSX very well.
(not including monitor)

Carsinian Thau

Hey bandit197, just wondering if there was any chance of a couple more screenshots please?

Also, only about six days or so until I begin my trans europe thing. I'm now thinking of doing it in a Grumman Goose. Advisable?

bandit197

Here's a few more,
Tenessee River

Wright Patman lake Texas

Dallas Forth Worth (KDFW)

Taxiing at Dallas

New Mexico Desert

New Mexico

Phoenix Arizona (KPHX)

Approaching KPGA, Grand Canyon country

bandit197

Carsinian Thau wrote: »

Hey bandit197, just wondering if there was any chance of a couple more screenshots please?

Also, only about six days or so until I begin my trans europe thing. I'm now thinking of doing it in a Grumman Goose. Advisable?

If ya like flying them then why not. Where did you get the Grumman?
I wouldnt mind trying that out myself.

have you a route planned for Europe or are you just going to play it by ear?

bandit197

Some more pics.

The Grand Canyon.









Leaving the Canyon



Vegas



Leaving Vegas at dawn (as ya do!)



En-route to San Fran.


En-route to San Fran.


Leaving San Fran.


Has to be done.

Delphi91

Bandit,

Have you used just the standard scenery or have you got add-ons - love the details in the "en-route to San Fran" shot.

Gotta say, I'm tempted by this trans-global thingy. I've done the Trans-Atlantic run (kinda boring!), but hopping from country to country sounds better.

Mike

bandit197

Delphi91 wrote: »

Bandit,

Have you used just the standard scenery or have you got add-ons - love the details in the "en-route to San Fran" shot.

Gotta say, I'm tempted by this trans-global thingy. I've done the Trans-Atlantic run (kinda boring!), but hopping from country to country sounds better.

Mike

Its all standard scenery except for the Grand canyon shots. I have an add-on for that area. Available here http://www.aussiex.org/index/download.php?view.217

I have the scenery turned down to med-high in most screenies because I am using the pc for other tasks while flying.

I got as far as PAJN, Alaska over the weekend. http://www.airnav.com/airport/PAJN

Its going to get difficult again now with bad weather and sparse location of Airports.;)

I dunno what happened the screenshots earlier on in this thread. Ill try and sort them out.

Carsinian Thau

bandit197 wrote: »

If ya like flying them then why not. Where did you get the Grumman?
I wouldnt mind trying that out myself.

have you a route planned for Europe or are you just going to play it by ear?

Good point. I just hope its not too heavy on fuel to make it.
It came with game. I was fortunate to get it as a gift so I was given the deluxe version. I'm sure there's a download out there somewhere though.

I still have to work out exactly where I'm going to stop (for fuel purposes) but the general plan would be:

Ireland (probably Cork) to England (most likely Plymouth) before going to France (landing in Nantes). Then down the west coast of France until I reach Spain. Then I'll head along the Northern Coast of Spain until I can't go any further. From that corner of Spain, I'll head for Malaga (possibly landing once or twice either in Portugal or on the border with Spain). I'll go from Malaga to Barcelona.
Then I'd like to head for Marseille before going on to Genoa. Then it's down the western coast of Italy until I reach Rome or Naples. Then across to Sicily (going to Palermo) before turning around and heading up along the eastern coast of Italy.
From there, up into Northern Italy and east to Austria. Then the Czech Republic and Poland.
Then into Germany, going through Berlin and Hannover before the Netherlands. Then it's on to Belgium and back into France via Lille. Then to Paris and le Harve before I go back to England via Portsmouth and London. Then Cardiff, Birmingham, Manchester, Dublin and back to Cork.

How's that sound? Anything you'd change?

Btw, those screen shots are amazing.

bandit197

That looks like a good route. There's a good bit of flying in it. You will need to keep close to the coasts in northern Italy to stay over the foothills of the alps. Should be some good scenery there too. When are you starting?

bandit197

A few more screenshots from the PAJN (Juneau Alaska) to PAMC (Mcgrath Alaska) section of the trip.