Friday Trip to find a drink

[Karl]

WarHawK has asked me to host the Friday Night Flight this week. So where and what to fly? My first choice was easy, the Pacific Northwest. With so many of us using the default FSX scenery and so many others using the Orbx scenery for the area I thought the area would be problematic.

Then I considered what the two have in common and the answer was obvious. Water…wasser… agua! So Friday evening we will fill the skies around Seattle, WA and Vancouver, B.C. with our favorite float capable aircraft.

When aviation enthusiasts in North America think seaplanes, many undoubtedly think Alaska and the Pacific Northwest. There are more than a few pilots who make their living simply flying floatplanes around the cities of Seattle and Vancouver. So let’s plan on an hour and a half or two of getting to know the area better!

Time-zone BreakDown: Friday, March 21th, 2014 at:
9PM Eastern
8PM Central
7PM Mountain
6PM Pacific

Flight Plan:
Starting Airport: W39
Stops: Check flight plan in replies to this post
Ending Airport: S60

Target Airspeed: [110kias - 150kias]
Average Cruising Altitude: 1,000 FT.

Preferred Aircraft: Any aircraft capable of using seaplane bases, fixed or rotor wing.

[Coast]

WarHawK has asked me to host the Friday Night Flight this week. So where and what to fly? My first choice was easy, the Pacific Northwest. With so many of us using the default FSX scenery and so many others using the Orbx scenery for the area I thought the area would be problematic.

Then I considered what the two have in common and the answer was obvious. Water…wasser… agua! So Friday evening we will fill the skies around Seattle, WA and Vancouver, B.C. with our favorite float capable aircraft.

When aviation enthusiasts in North America think seaplanes, many undoubtedly think Alaska and the Pacific Northwest. There are more than a few pilots who make their living simply flying floatplanes around the cities of Seattle and Vancouver. So let’s plan on an hour and a half or two of getting to know the area better!

Time-zone BreakDown: Friday, March 21th, 2014 at:
9PM Eastern
8PM Central
7PM Mountain
6PM Pacific

Flight Plan:
Starting Airport: S60 (Kenmore Air Inc.)
Stops: To be determined (I’ll try to post these before Coast’s Gooney Bird flight)
Ending Airport: To be determined (I’ll try to post these before Coast’s Gooney Bird flight)

Target Airspeed: [110kias - 150kias]
Average Cruising Altitude: 2,500 FT.

Preferred Aircraft: Any aircraft capable of using seaplane bases, fixed or rotor wing.

Well it looks like Karl is going to "get his feet wet" in the "world" of group flight hosting. Does this mean you will be doing more group flights in the future Karl?

-Coast

[Gimpy]

Trip to find a drink? I wonder if I can fly to my fridge and back...
Joking aside, I look forward to seaing you all Friday night. MSFlights float trip anybody? haha.

[Storm]

Some ideas for freeware planes to fly (a non-exhaustive list from my own hangar, ordered by fast cruise speed):

Airplane	Type	Fast cruise (knots)	Download from
Dornier Libelle	Water only	71 (too slow)	Future addition to Storm's Vintage Hangar
ERCO Seacoupe	Water only variant	71 (too slow)	Storm's Vintage Hangar
Luscombe 8 Silvaire	Water only variant	86 (too slow)	Storm's Vintage Hangar
Junkers F.13	Water only variant	93 (too slow)	Storm's Vintage Hangar
de Havilland DHC-2 Beaver	Water only	115	Default
de Havilland DH-89a Dragon Rapide	Water only variant	119	Storm's Vintage Hangar
Dornier Do28 B-1S	Water only variant	124	Classic Wings
Grumman Goose	Amphibian	131	Default
Dornier Do28 A-1S	Water only variant	140	Classic Wings
Nardi/SIAI-Marchetti FN.333 Riviera	Amphibian	143	Storm's Vintage Hangar
PBY-5/5A Catalina (Alphasim)	Amphibian	149	Simviation
Grumman Goose HD	Amphibian	151	AussieX
Cessna 208 Amphibian	Amphibian	156	FS-freeware
Beech model 18	Amphibian	180 (too fast)	Storm's Vintage Hangar
Dornier Seastar	Amphibian	185 (too fast)	Premaircraft
Smeiman Stingray	Amphibian	230 (too fast)	Storm's Modern Oddities

Water only = Floatplane/seaplane/flyingboat only. No wheeled version included in the download.
Water only variant = Floatplane/seaplane/flyingboat only, but wheeled versions also included in the download.
Amphibian = Airplane is maneuverable in water and on land.

Sadly, I'll probably miss the flight, as family are visiting from out-of-town. But this is an excellent idea for a group flight. :eagerness:

[Karl]

Well this flight will be different for those using default and those using Orbx's PNW. With the default scenery, almost every seaplane base is just trees and ground. Orbx's scenery has some marina items but nothing spectacular for most part. We should still have some fun and challenges with navigation, enjoying the scenery and perhaps weather.

This evening we will each be chartered by competing fishing boat captains. All are on the prowl for evidence of large schools of tasty species of fish that have recently been found in the area. These species are of varieties that haven't been seen since 1699,1812, 1853, and 9,000 B.C. Nobody is quite sure why they've suddenly reappeared in the area, but the market is hot!

So stay reasonably low and slow. The captains need to see the schools of these rare treats and make notes about where they want to drop their nets at when they get back to their boats.








A printable version:

[Derp4125]

Shots from tonight

[Mulderpilot13]

It was a great flight. Thanks for hosting it, Karl!

[WarHawK]

Fantastic! It's been a while since we did a seaplane flight, great pictures