Friday hops: Northwest Territories- Ice pilots run

[Lazerbolt]

Hi pilots,

Tonights Friday hop takes us to the wilderness of the Northwest Territories of Canada.

Some of you may recognize this area as the setting for the television show "Ice pilots" so you may see some familiar sights along the way.
In keeping with the tone of the show we will be flying DC3's and C46's like they use at Buffalo Airways based out of Yellowknife.

Our flight will start at CYSM (Fort Smith) and take us to CYFR (Fort Resolution) then on to CYHY (Hay River) and then finally CYZF (Yellowknife). A word of warning: The runway at our first destination is only 3,900 ft. so you will really have to be on your toes to avoid ending up in the drink.
CYSM > CYFR > CYHY > CYZF

Aircraft to be used: C46 or the default DC3.
We will be cruising at 5000 ft and around 170 knots IAS.

Expect some cold, wintery weather for this northern flight so dont forget to turn on your pilot heat ect. or you will have trouble with your guages.

Hope to see everyone for tonights flight, and as always have fun and try to be prepaired. Please make use of the flightplan and kneeboard posted below.

Happy landings,
Lazer

[Lazerbolt]

Heres the flight plan and Kneeboard for tonights flight:

drop this .pln into your "documents/flight simulator x files folder.


Simply click open on this file and you will have all the information you need in your notepad:



Happy landings,
Lazer

[Coast]

Hi Lazur.

I resurrected the freeware C46 moded with Storms's mixture control and my autopilot changes for tonight's flight. I also fixed the prop spin graphic on the Buffalo airways texture and its thumbnail file, and tweaked the engine horsepower from 2000 hp to 2100 hp based on some specs I found.

Base C-46 freeware package and other texture files: http://simviation.com/fsxvintage7.htm
Buffalo airways texture file: http://simviation.com/fsxvintage9.htm

I will working on making Storm's and my changes available as soon as I can, but I need to verify a number of things first.

-Coast

PS: When/if I can get a the moded C-46 properly zipped and uploaded to a skydrive, the other freeware downloads will be unnecessary, but I need to check the restrictions on redistribution first.

[Storm]

A word of warning: The runway at our first destination is only 3,900 ft. so you will really have to be on your toes to avoid ending up in the drink.

To increase your chances of being able to land this successfully, I suggest pilots do two things:
1. Practice the landing in Free Flight beforehand!
2. Activate your ABS (Anti-locking Braking System)/Anti-skid brakes.

Most pilots do not seem to realize that all FSX aircraft are equipped with an anti-skid system, but that by default this is turned off. The effect of this being off is whenever you use digital brakes (on/off like on a joystick) rather than proportional brakes (variable like on rudder pedals) - in other words, most of the time - your wheels will lock when you brake. This will happen on both taxiing and on landing. And the net effect is that your stopping distance will be longer than it could be.

To check this effect is happening for yourself, use an F11 outside view from the side of your aircraft, focusing on the wheels, taxi to say 20 kts, and hit the brakes. You'll see the wheels lock and your airplane will skid to a stop.

On most aircraft there is no way of switching on ABS from the cockpit. (Exceptions are the Riviera, the Annushka and the Tupolev, all available from my Skydrive!) However, you can still switch it on if you map a keyboard key to toggling it...
a. In FSX go either to Settings > Controls > Buttons/Keys (out of game) or Options > Settings > Controls > Buttons/Keys (in game).
b. Scroll down to "Brakes anti-skid (on/off)". You will probably see no key assignment next to it.
c. Click new/change assignment and assign a keyboard key to it. I suggest your comma key as it's normally previously unassigned and it's very similar to the period used for braking.
d. When in game, just toggle the ABS on and off with that key. Do the F11 test above and check out the dramatic difference.
Note: Whenever you load in a new aircraft, it will come in with ABS off. You'll have to reactivate it each time. And there's no visual indication apart from the effects of skidding or not skidding, unless you have a panel light as in the above three aircraft.

If you have ABS switched on during landing, your stopping distance will be dramatically reduced when you brake. (This also works well in conjunction with autobrakes on airliners.) Try a carrier landing in a jet without an arrestor!

Warning: If you have your weight and balance screwed up and your center of gravity too far forward, you are more likely to nose over with anti-skid switched on than off! The deceleration is more abrupt.

Please remember that aircraft following you on approach in group flights may not have ABS activated, and may not expect you to stop so quickly. So please turn off runways promptly to avoid their crashing into your tail!

Sadly, a last minute change to my schedule means I'll miss the flight tonight. Happy non-skid landings!

[Lazerbolt]

Thanks Storm, thats solid advice.
Wish you were able to attend.

[Coast]

Thanks Storm, thats solid advice.
Wish you were able to attend.

A. I mapped anti-skid brakes to a "," key located with the "<", and it helps quite a bit for short field landings. Just one more suggestion. Since the fields are short we will need to exit the runway ASAP, so to make things go better for everyone we could (1) keep good separation on approach (2) exit quickly and (3) alternate exits left/right/left/... to give us extra room. On exit do the 180 degree turn (unless getting gas) proceed back to the landing point and line up on each side of the runway for takeoff.

B. Takeoffs seem to take the WHOLE runway so I suggest we DO NOT line up together, BUT turn on the runway in some sequence left line first or right line first, or card shuffle order, whatever makes sense, and takeoff immediately. These runways are at the short takeoff limit for the C46, and I will need all the length I can get.

C. I will probably lighten the payload to make my aircraft easier to fly.

D. Land on the LONGEST runway you can see with the best head wind you can find!

E. Don't forget the HEAT, especially carburator heat if its cold, and pilot heat if you have a cold cockpit.

-Coast

[Lazerbolt]

Heres an episode of ICE PILOTS to get everyone in the mood to fly these birds in the snowy Northwest.

Enjoy.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=eZSFIW6njuE

[ak416]

Flight Ontario has some really good freeware scenery for Hay River, great on the frame rates too. It can be downloaded here if anyone is interested

http://flightontario.com/dl_fsx.html