GREAT 48! Grand tour of US states. Week #01: Maine

[Storm]

The Great 48! is a grand tour of the lower 48 US states. Each week we will travel across a state in several hops, with the last hop taking us just over the border into the next state. The following week we'll pick up where we left off. As the states are all different sizes, we'll vary our aircraft type to fit each state into our 2 hour allotted session.

We start our GREAT 48! tour at the easternmost airport in the United States: Eastport, Maine, and so Maine will be our first state. (Next week we'll tour New Hampshire.)

Week 01: Maine KEPM > KBHB > KIWI > KPSM FLIGHT PLAN Leg #1: KEPM > MVM (NDB) > BH (NDB) > KBHB Leg #2: KBHB > BST (NDB) > ISS (NDB) > KIWI Leg #3: KIWI > PW (NDB) > ESG (NDB) > KPSM Tabular form with runways and NAV frequencies here. Download the PLN flight plan file here. CRUISE Speed: 130 knots Altitude: 1,500 ft asl AIRCRAFT Fixed wing and helicopters OK, capable of steady 130 kts, straight and level. RESTRICTIONS No jets. No aircraft capable of more than 160 kts indicated, straight and level. OK FIXED WING Default: Maule Orion and Grumman Goose (though not the AussieX HP variant). Storm's OneDrive: Monomail, Rapide, Snipe, Ercoupe retractable, Riviera, Annushka. msFlights Vault: none. OK ROTARY WING Default: none. Storm's OneDrive: none. msFlights Vault: SCA Bell 430. Various: Piasecki H21-C Shawnee (freeware), Bell 212 (payware) and others. SCENERY Default OK. Highly recommended: FSgenesis US landclass (inexpensive payware). RECOMMENDED SCENERY ADDITIONS FOR FTX GLOBAL USERS Download and install the following, which are free to FTX Global users: FTX Global Freeware Airports NA Pack 5 which greatly improves our first stop at KBHB, Hancock County, Bar Harbor airport. FTX Global Freeware Airports NA Pack 8 which greatly improves our final stop at KPSM, Pease Intl Tradeport, Portsmouth.

[ROBERT DUNN 2]

I'm personally very excited to embark on this ambitious episodic tour. Let us support the quality of the experience of sequentially touring the Great 48 by being contributors to as well as consumers of the theme and flight plan with which Storm will frame his tour. Planning and coordination have become a hallmark of the group flights presented by Storm as well as the other iconic themed group flights we enjoy weekly. Present what ideas and contributions you may have to our flight lead well in advance of flight time for consideration and incorporation. Vow to come to these group flights informed and prepared. Adhere to the aircraft type, theme, navigation and communications discipline you will surely read in Storm's timely published flight plans. If Storm's style of themed group flights appeals to you, do all you can to attend regularly, abide by the flight protocols and contribute.


Happy flying and I hope to see you all each week here.

[Storm]

Download the PLN flight plan file here.

Flight plan in tabular form, with runways and NAV frequencies:



And thank you Bob for your support. I'm hoping to make these flights fun and interesting, but their success depends on all you wonderful pilots who attend. That was the case for the Monday Mail Run, and I'm hoping that will be repeated for the Great 48! :eagerness:

[Storm]

RECOMMENDED SCENERY ADDITION FOR FTX GLOBAL USERS: If you don't yet have it, you may wish to download and install FTX Global Freeware Airports NA Pack 5, which is free to FTX Global users. It greatly improves our first stop at KBHB, Hancock County, Bar Harbor airport.

[Storm]

FURTHER RECOMMENDED SCENERY ADDITION FOR FTX GLOBAL USERS: Also FTX Global Freeware Airports NA Pack 8 greatly improves our final stop at KPSM, Pease Intl Tradeport, Portsmouth.

[Coast]

RECOMMENDED SCENERY ADDITION FOR FTX GLOBAL USERS: If you don't yet have it, you may wish to download and install FTX Global Freeware Airports NA Pack 5, which is free to FTX Global users. It greatly improves our first stop at KBHB, Hancock County, Bar Harbor airport.

Great suggestion Storm, I finally got around to it. I would also recommend anyone else who has Orbx Global to do the same.

-Coast

[Coast]

Please also note that the Appalachian Trail which is about 2000 miles long starts in Maine.

Here is a good source of information about it. appalachiantrail.org

-Coast

[Storm]

Thank you Coast. I have to say that I will not be considering information about entire states on Great 48! flights. That's not my intended style. Instead I will only be considering information about my chosen route and things that are nearby (perhaps within 10 miles max and usually closer). In that way these flights will be much more like the Monday Mail Runs and less like WarHawk's old state hops.

And the route each week will be chosen from an aviation route point of view, not chosen to take in particular landmarks. The information will be dependent on the route, not the route on the information. There's always something interesting to discover, so we shan't be short of material, and there will always be more left out than put in. After all, it would otherwise take at least three months to cover each state to do it justice.

Therefore - since the closest that the Appalachian Trail gets to this week's route is more than 50 miles - I'll not be mentioning it at all on our Maine flight, interesting though it might be. That said, we will be crossing the Trail more than once in the next few weeks, so no doubt it will have its day.

[Storm]

Some flight maps and airport diagrams, if you need them. Click for full-size and clarity.

[Storm]

Reminder! Meet at KEPM at 9pm ET. OK aircraft types listed above.
Trivia question: What are "The Piglets", and what do they have to do with tonight's flight? Answer during the flight!

[BuugedFSX]

Hello Storm, Would the A2A Cherokee 180 Work for this flight?

[Storm]

Hello Storm, Would the A2A Cherokee 180 Work for this flight?

Test it and find out yourself! Will it fly faster than 160 knots when straight and level? If so, no - bring something else. If it can't reach 160 knots straight and level, can it cruise comfortably at 130 knots? If not, then no - bring something else. Since, however, it seems you don't know your aircraft well anyway, I would say no - bring something you're much more familiar with.

[Lazerbolt]

A few snaps from tonight's Great 48 first flight!

[WarHawK]

I like the paint Lazer, what does it say on the side?

[Lazerbolt]

It says "Alaska Coastal Airways". I'm not sure but I think it was added to my liveries when I downloaded a mission involving taking tourists on a fishing expedition.