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| Turbo Duke at Fort Morgan |
I may do a bunch of flights at once. Or long periods may pass between flights. But since most of the flights are taking me to places I have not visited very often, I am hoping the novelty of these flights will keep me interested.
However, since I already have done over 30 flights before even starting this blog, I do have something to write home about.
I don't have any special scenery for my home airport. Maybe I should make some. I do have some experience with 3d modeling, although what I have done is pretty basic. But then again, the Ft. Morgan airport is pretty basic, too. And I do have easy access to it. But for this trip, I am just using the default Fort Mogan which comes with Flight Simulator. It is hopelessly unrealistic. But it will do for my starting point.
I started this flight several times. Part of it was because I was trying to use a modified Electra L10, like the one Emilia Earhart used. But, the flight dynamics were pretty wonky. More on that later.
My first stop is Kansas City International. This scenery, by Tropical Sim, is actually my second KMCI addon. Several years, I purchased a KMCI by Imagine Sim. This is when they were a fairly new developer, and their early efforts were not that good. So when the new KMCI came out I snatched it up.
This is a useful airport for me. Living in Fort Morgan, DIA - Denver International Airport - KDEN is the closest major airport. In one of those strange twists, DIA is actually closer to Morgan County than it is to Denver. Go figure.
In any case, if one is flying a tubeliner to or from Denver and wants a short flight from another major airport, there are really only two choices: Kansas City and Salt Lake City. Although the flight from Denver (KDEN) to Salt Lake City (KSLC) is more scenic, by far, at the time of this writing, the only KSLC scenery worth mentioning is a freeware scenery. This is such a shame because KSLC has one of the most interesting approaches, anywhere. It's fun to fly into. Fortunately, Pacific Sim is working on a payware KSLC, which I hope is finished long before I get that way. After all, KSLC will be one of the stops near the end of my world tour.
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| Kansas City Flyby |
As far as Kansas City (KMCI) it's a pretty uninteresting flight. Kansas is flat. Very flat. I have driven across Kansas to Kansas City many times. Kansas City also hosts a number of good gaming conventions. Yes, I also play miniature wargames. More on that as my adventures progress. Actually, these conventions are largely taking place in a suburb of Kansas City, Missouri: Lee's Summit.
There is an ORBX global world scenery for Lee's Summit, and it would not be a destination. But my KMCI scenery is new and relatively unused, so KMCI it is.
I still use the default FSX air traffic control (ATC). The ATC takes me in from the north. But I was having a lot of trouble with the ILS approach. I did this trip several times, first with the Electra, then with the Duke. Neither appeared to be capturing the ILS signal. The landings were borked largely because of this.
It's not that I cannot do a visual approach and landing, it's just that I am not good at switching gears all that fast. I was planning on doing an ILS landing and approach, because I am still learning how to use the Duke. When the ILS signal is not captured, I spent time fiddling with the damn thing, meaning that I took my eyes off of the rest of the flight. This would lead to crashes. I know, I know, this violates the first rule of flying: fly the plane.
This was a big reason for abandoning the Electra. I figured the problem was with the plane, which I had made some major revisions to. But now, I suspect it really is with the scenery. I'll have to keep my eyes out for patches.
I finally pulled out the FSI panel to make the landing. I did not want to refly the flight from Fort Morgan again. Kansas is simply not that interesting. In fact, when I drive across Kansas, I usually take caffine pills just to stay awake. Yes, it is that boring.
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