Idleline86 Tribute and Memorial Flight

[Storm]

Idleline86, known to his friends as Doug, passed away on September 24th. Please read these event details carefully and reserve Friday evening for his memorial flight.

The banner picture (clickable) shows a US Army Piper L-21 Super Cub as flown by Doug.

Scenery
Special freeware scenery is essential for this event. Download it from here. To install, unzip it and copy into Addon Scenery\scenery (7 files) and Addon Scenery\texture (1 file), and restart FSX. This will add helicopter parking to KHUA, and add scenery and landing areas for EASY and REST. Many thanks to Lazerbolt for creating this scenery at short notice.

Note also that FS Genesis US landclass (payware) greatly improves the accuracy of the Huntsville area. Doug found that without it Huntsville was barely recognizable.

KHSV, 3M5 and KMDQ are Orbx freeware airports. If you have FTX Global, you can download the NA/EU freeware airport pack here.

Flight Plans
This flight is in two phases:

1. The flight plan for Phase 1 you create yourself (see Flight Schedule below).
2. Download the flight plan (PLN file) for Phase 2 from here (see maps below).

Flight Schedule

1. Phase 1 (individual and small groups) Your home to KHUA
   • US and Canada residents:
     • Please fly from the airport nearest to your home* to Redstone Army Airfield KHUA at Redstone Arsenal, Huntsville, Alabama. *Use the nearest airport to your home that is suitable for your chosen airplane.
     • Time your arrival at Redstone for no later than 9:45 pm eastern. Arriving earlier is fine.
     • Choose an aircraft that can easily make the journey.
     • The speed is your choice.
     • Calculate your departure time from your home airport according to your chosen aircraft and speed. Allow extra time for the journey if needed.
     • Break up the journey into several parts on different days if needed. Plan ahead!
     • If you are flying a military aircraft, please choose US Army livery if it's available.
     • Note: There is no ILS at KHUA. If you need ILS please arrive instead at KHSV, 5 nmi away.
   • Pilots living outside US and Canada: Choose a port of entry on the US coastline and fly from there, according to the guidelines for US and Canadian pilots above.
   
   On arriving at Redstone please switch to a helicopter for the remainder of the memorial flight. US Army livery is preferred if you have the choice.
   .
2. Phase 2 (altogether) Around Huntsville
   At 10 pm eastern we will fly around the Huntsville area in helicopters, according to the flight plan (see above for download link). We will be visiting:
   • The site of Easy Money, the Chinook that Doug flew in while serving in Vietnam and that is currently displayed at Redstone Arsenal (landing).
   • Doug's Huntsville home (overflight).
   • The place where he was laid to rest on September 29th (landing at the northern edge only where there are no monuments).
   • In addition we'll visit some other local airports that he frequented (depending on how much time we have).

Helicopter choice for Phase 2
We will not exceed 100 knots and the distances are short. Therefore fly anything you like. US Army livery is preferred if you have the choice. However...
Small helicopters (like the OH-6 Loach) preferred because of final landing area size!
(See final diagram in this thread.)

Simulator: Whichever suits you! Doug always flew in Classic/Boxed; flight lead will therefore be in Classic/Boxed. Our Boxed server and NA and Aus Steam servers will be set to -7 hours offset. We will not be running cross-platform applications such as FSCloud, FSHost or DAFSIM for this flight.

Weather: Server weathers have been set to "fair" (Boxed server, NA and Aus Steam servers). This is because the live forecast for Huntsville is for low cloud and showers. Moreover, inbound pilots from the East Coast may already be experiencing the effects of hurricane Joaquin.

ATC: None. Please make only essential traffic calls.

Teamspeak: The Teamspeak group flight channel will be manned from around 2:00 pm EDT onward with pilots flying their individual Phase 1 flights. (Flight lead will be inbound from Colorado at that time.) All inbound traffic is invited to converse during their flights.

THIS IS A MEMORIAL FLIGHT.
PLEASE MAINTAIN RESPECTFUL TEAMSPEAK BEHAVIOR AT ALL TIMES.

Maps and charts

[N85988]

My deepest condolences for the loss of a fellow pilot. I don't think I had a chance to speak or fly with him, but I feel like I have known him from the posts I have read on here. As a personal tribute to him, I have planned out a route for me to fly in an A2A Army Cub from Santa Ana, CA to Huntsville (KSNA ELB HDF KBNG PSP V370 TNP KEED V208 EED V12 DRK KPRC INW KINW ACH KTCC TCC KAMA V140 SYO KCSM V272 IRW KOKC KMLC KFSM FSM KLIT V74 LIT V54 UJM HLI KMSL MSL KHUA). I will be flying these legs over the next several days on the boxed server, and look forward to the group flight(s) when I get there. RIP Idleline86.

[Storm]

My own plan is to make a 5 hour direct flight in a Beech C-45 Expeditor, the military version of the Beech 18 or Twin Beech, from KAPA to KHUA on the afternoon of the memorial flight, starting at 2:30 pm eastern. I'm choosing this aircraft as it's one of several Doug and I used to fly together, and it's one he worked on and flew in while stationed on Ford Island serving as an inspector.

As for the helicopter section of the flight, I'm tempted to fly the Shawnee (Piasecki H-21 Workhorse), for the simple reason that it was Doug who in the first place encouraged me to fly helicopters, and this was the first I was able to fly. The Flying Banana served with the US Army, including in Vietnam before it was replaced with the Huey and Doug's beloved Chinook. This Rikoooo freeware does include a US Army livery.

[ak416]

I unfortunately won't have time during the week or on Friday to fly from Toronto, but would love to fly in from somewhere near Hunstville in an L-21, if that's alright with you.

[Storm]

I unfortunately won't have time during the week or on Friday to fly from Toronto, but would love to fly in from somewhere near Hunstville in an L-21, if that's alright with you.

I tried this route today, CYYZ Toronto to KHUA Redstone AAF, in a Convair F-106A Delta Dart (available here, next to last entry in page), cruising at 35,000ft and Mach 2.1. It took me just 37 minutes, brakes off to brakes on, on half a tank of gas.

[ak416]

To be honest I find flying at that speed and altitude quite boring and for a flight that is as special as this, I'd prefer to be flying something I'm more comfortable with and at a slower pace, as I find that much more enjoyable. I understand it's not what the flight plan calls for so if it's a concern I'd be more than happy to tag a long in single player and join up for the helicopter portion of the flight.

[Storm]

Download essential freeware scenery and phase 2 flight plan here. To install the scenery, unzip it and copy into Addon Scenery\scenery (7 files) and Addon Scenery\texture (1 file), and restart FSX to rebuild the scenery libraries. This will add helicopter parking to KHUA, and add scenery and landing areas for EASY and REST.

Maps and charts are now included in the opening post of this thread.

IMPORTANT NOTE: The final destination "REST" is a cemetery. To avoid landing on any graves, please touchdown only at the extreme north of the site in the orange area indicated in the final map of the opening post. Because of the narrowness of the landing and parking area and the number of pilots expected to attend, you will need to exercise your best flying skills in landing here.

Opening post updated with links and maps.

[ROBERT DUNN 2]

Thank you Storm and Lazerbolt for the considerable effort evidently expended in planning and configuring this memorial group flight. I have installed the required phase 2 scenery in FSX classic and briefly test flown the added scenery without any problems. I'll pre-fly the phase 2 flight plan later tonight for my own familiarization. The scenery looks wonderful Lazerbolt. The flight theme and plan are commensurate with your usual high standards, Storm.

[Kidpilot]

Hey Storm! First off, I am very sorry for this unfortunate passing of Doug. I am a friend of YukiOkami from FsFlyboys. Im also the owner of the FsFlyboys Angels Aerobatic Team. I talked to Robert Dunn about this and he told me to talk to you. My team would like to contribute to this event by doing a flyover and a break, to show that our community a well as yours are coming together to show remembrance. If you could please respond or talk to me via Team Speak, i would be very grateful!

[Novawing24]

My Journey to pay tribute to Doug is taking several days and I wanted to share some of that journey with you all.

Doug in his work with Easy Money supported US and allied ground troops in many operations in the RVN theatre including supporting missions to extract downed pilots. I wanted to do something to demonstrate that the lives he saved and supported were not just from the Army.

I have chosen the F-4 Phantom II in the colours of the Linebacker II raids to fulfil the cross country leg of the flight. Beginning at Los Alamitos AAF California with stops along the way at Albuquerque and Memphis.

Here are a couple of photos from the first leg. Please head over to the Story Book for the whole set as it expands.

















Safe Skies

Novawing24

[Storm]

Hey Storm! First off, I am very sorry for this unfortunate passing of Doug. I am a friend of YukiOkami from FsFlyboys. Im also the owner of the FsFlyboys Angels Aerobatic Team. I talked to Robert Dunn about this and he told me to talk to you. My team would like to contribute to this event by doing a flyover and a break, to show that our community a well as yours are coming together to show remembrance. If you could please respond or talk to me via Team Speak, i would be very grateful!

Kidpilot, kind of you to offer. However, I'm going to say no and decline. You and your colleagues are of course welcome to take part in the tribute by flying to Redstone from your individual home airports and then switching to helicopters to join the muster and the group part of the flight.

[Storm]

Server weather will be set to "fair" for the event, as the live forecast is for significant low cloud. The change to fair will be made around 24 hours before the Phase 2 flight (i.e. on Thursday evening, eastern time) so as not to interfere with Phase 1 pilots inbound during the day on Friday.

[Novawing24]

Continuing my journey Eastwards. A small selection of pictures. Please see the others as part of the growing story book.

This flight I encountered a technical glitch as I approached Oklahoma, forcing me to land for a spot of repair. It did give a beautiful night take off.

Safe Skies

Novawing24

[Karl]

Storm,

I'm at work. There are people on the server at present, including a group that has been using the server for flights for the past several afternoons. We have a scheduled event to attend later here at work. I won't be back until 21:00 EDT or so. In other words, it looks like somebody else will have to reset it if it is to be done before Lazer's flight.

To whoever resets it, please don't disable to slew function.

[ROBERT DUNN 2]

Storm,

I'm at work. There are people on the server at present, including a group that has been using the server for flights for the past several afternoons. We have a scheduled event to attend later here at work. I won't be back until 21:00 EDT or so. In other words, it looks like somebody else will have to reset it if it is to be done before Lazer's flight.

To whoever resets it, please don't disable to slew function.

I will either coordinate with Karl upon his TS log on late tonight after Thursday night group flight or, in Karl's absence, coordinate with Storm for the required weather and time-of-day setting for RedBox FSX classic server. In conversation on Wednesday night, Novawing, Storm and I agreed to coordinate the configurations of RedBox, Australian and North American FSX Steam servers to all present the same server weather and time. All servers will be reset at approximately the same time and not be changed back to normal settings until after the memorial has concluded and the pilots have dispersed.

Storm indicated that he may request a fair weather theme depending on Alabama local real world weather forecasts. Storm indicated he'd request sunset in Alabama occur on the servers at 23:15 EDT. Slewing will continue to be enabled on all servers. In-game voice will be disabled on all servers. All of these settings will be again confirmed late tonight. In Karl's absence, expect a server desktop notepad entry detailing server settings.