17th anniversary fly-in: Calgary/Edmonton, Alberta, Canada (CYYC/CYEG)

[Kumiankka]

link to fly-in index thread

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Without further ado, here's the plan for the 17th anniversary flight next Sunday, October 24th. As promised, a special formation flight is scheduled for 1600Z, which will be 10 o'clock in the morning at our starting point of Calgary International Airport, Alberta, Canada (CYYC). As some of our fly-in veterans may know, Calgary was one of the sites of our very first official weekly fly-in, on October 24th 2004 back in the days of X-Plane version 7 and the blocky old .env-based scenery. And the destination of that formation flight, after a brief victory lap around Calgary and the airport and a detour to the Rockies, is the other airport of that first fly-in, Edmonton Int'l (CYEG). Scenery packages (by @Canada4XPlane) and route plans are available below. As usual, any aircraft joining the formation will be expected to be able to maintain an airspeed of 200 knots, and being able to speed up to 250 knots for the hop to Edmonton will cut down on the travel time a bit but isn't strictly mandatory.

Remember to check that your scenery works and install those Swift upgrades ahead of time. I can happily say I was able to sort out the latter while making the fly-in banner, while on the scenery end there were a few duplicated objects around Calgary from a "landmarks xpx" package that I needed to disable. (forgot where I even got that one from) I also recommend making sure if your computer can handle the Edmonton package, at least on my already aging iMac there was a noticeable reduction in framerate in that region.

Happy 17th anniversary!

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

New pilots are always welcome, read the guide below by @bootsie to get started:
How to connect to X-Flightserver

Or to connect using the new Swift client, see this tutorial by @ostkamp:
Swift client quick reference guide (pdf)

Be considerate towards your fellow pilots, and above all, have fun!

 

 

[rajo]

Hi Kumi, did you update swift to 0.9.6.91? Got message "Connection to XSwiftBus successful, but could not initialize XSwiftBus. Check X-Plane Log.txt." I've been trying everything again for 3 hours, ! Log.txt is meaningless, google search didn't help either ... I went back to 0.9.5.151. I put this at Discord Swift macos support, no answer yet

[Kumiankka]

Yes, I'm on Swift 0.9.6.91 as of this week and it does appear to be working for me, in fact I just took off to intercept someone on the server to give it one more test run and make sure the CSLs show up right. Or at least as right as they ever did 😅

Hope you get yours sorted out soon, but for now I agree that the downgrade does seem like a prudent move.

[cyl8]

I am upgrading swift to 0.9.6.61, but now it kept saying wrong user id, passed, or inactive act, I am able to login to x-flightserver.net just fine, however... I'll dig around... 

[durian]

I got the same error ("inactive account"), made a new one, but I cannot get it to work. My previous version expired and won't run. Sigh, I have been programming and using computers since the 1980s, this is the single most confusing piece of software I have ever used 😕

edit: progress, I seem to be online, but the others are invisible (label only)

edit2: got it to work by hand-editing config files! 🙂 

[cyl8]

Totally agree. Say what did you edit to get it working again? Thanks!!

[durian]

@cyl8I'm on Linux, I had to edit modelsetxp.json in ~/.local/share/org.swift-project/home%2Fpberck%2Fswift-0.9.6-64bit%2Fbin.

I had changed my model directory, and I did not manage to change it using the GUI. In the end, this worked!

[Quintao]

Happy 17th anniversary to all! I have never needed an excuse for posting many pictures, today was no exception!

I started my flight at 0100z departing from Gdansk on the FF777-200 LR with the BBJ livery.

All 17 VIP passengers on board and 99,349 kg of fuel loaded, more than I really needed, but I wanted to be sure no surprises would take place. Taxied to RWY 29 following the EFB.

Took-off EPGD RWY 29 for a 9h flight to CYYC.

Waited until I was at FL340 to leave the commands with the FO and go rest until it was about 1h for landing. It was an entire evening flight in good company of the moon.

Fast-forwarded the clock (but no warping) to land at CYYC close to sunrise. Moon was still visible when I returned to the flight deck after a good rest.

 

Initiated my descent and checked which RWY to land at CYYC, went for RWY 29, although RWY 35L and 25R would be more appropriated for the BBJ772.

Arrived at Calgary CYYC as the moon was setting and the sun was raising (not real time though)

 

Landed RWY 29 with a little runway excursion (should have picked 35 L or R). But arrived well with the BBJ772 at the gate.

Switched to a Piper Saratoga on the other side of the airport, the GA ramp, for a scenic flight around Calgary city center departing from RWY 26 and landing back at the same RWY.

 

Switched to a PC-12, which would be my aircraft for the formation, parked at the de-ice ramp and waited for others to join. Field was getting busy! Here is a proof I could see @Vega66 prior to the formation.

Formation time, runway got crowded!

 

In the air it looked like a swarm of yellow bees given the callsign lables.

  

Landed at CYEG RWY 20 well-spaced between @Kumiankka and @durian.

 

Here is my group photo, you will need to imagine Vega66 B2 at the other end, I am guessing that my swift decided to represent the B2 in "stealth" mode . I counted 13 planes in formation today, from left to right: Vega (stealth B2) , myself, Kumi, @CHASMAN2014, @rajo, @bootsie, @surfintucson, @ostkamp, Mr Mac, @ghun1 (not on the picture), Chaser, AAL335 and Dino5.   

To wrap, here is my entire route from 0100z to 1700z, in all 3 planes.

Great anniversary celebration to all!

 

Edited October 24, 2021 by Quintao

[Kumiankka]

Great anniversary celebration once again, thanks to everyone for showing up, we had quite a turnout for the Calgary-Edmonton formation flight. Was lucky enough not to have any significant technical problems even though my net connection has been acting up all week, hope to get it sorted out soon to avoid any inconvenient mid-fly-in outages.

 

Started my first flight a bit further out in San Bernardino - although once again it was a short hop compared to @Quintao's epic transatlantic journey. Departed runway 24 before dawn in the old 787 Dreamliner by Heinz Dziurowitz.

 

The sun came up (real-time) as I arrived in Canadian airspace and started my descent. @Vega66 pulled up alongside in an F-16 in a reversal of my intercept of his Tu-154 just a couple of days ago while testing the Swift client.

 

The two of us executed simultaneous approaches to runways 35L and R.

 

An impromptu group photo op had formed outside one of the cargo terminals. I had to taxi very carefully to avoid clipping the 787's wingtips on the airport light masts.

 

There was still a little less than an hour to go until the planned formation start time. Enough time to take off in a CT-114 by Jacques Brault (upgraded by Sean McLeod), featuring the livery of Canada's famous Snowbirds.

 

I first took a spin around the Calgary city center, before heading back for the airport for some aerobatics.

 

As soon as I reached the part where I was going to make an inverted flyby of 17R, something went very, very wrong. I could hear the engine just cut out completely, and was barely able to roll back upright before the hydraulics gave out too.

 

Without engine power or controls, there was barely enough time to eject and watch the CT-114 plummet into a nearby forest. Although this particular incident was probably caused by X-Plane's simplistic default systems modeling not accounting for the fact that the Snowbirds' CT-114s should be able to fly inverted, I did run into an interesting detail: apparently the real-world Snowbirds lost one of their CT-114s (fortunately with no loss of life involved) in a very similar fashion! So I was probably tempting fate by attempting this stunt in a Snowbirds plane of all things…

 

Finally it was time for the big 17th anniversary formation. We lined up for an "elephant walk" photo op on runway 17R while waiting for everyone to taxi into position.

 

After a few minutes delay (including my only computer glitch for tonight when my Teamspeak client froze up for a few minutes), we were off in a formation takeoff as uncoordinated as you can expect from the high-lag environment.

 

The circuit round the city center gave everyone ample time to catch up and admire the views. Unlike many of the past few weeks, we were lucky enough to have some great weather for the occasion too.

 

The formation passed above CYYC as planned before heading off on its detour into the Rockies. Visible in the background are @Vega66, @CHASMAN2014, @Big-IN, @ghun1, @ScubaCruiser and @surfintucson, as well as one other unidentified aircraft whose callsign didn't get rendered in the other reference screenshot I took.

 

The altitude and airspeed differences caused the formation to stretch out quite a bit by the time we got to the Rockies and started our turn towards Edmonton. At least one aircraft briefly strayed off course too, maybe the course could use simplifying for the next time we go formation flying.

 

The count on the server map showed a total of 14 aircraft in the formation altogether.

 

Arriving in Edmonton, the airspace was incredibly chaotic with everyone going for different approaches to the available runways. I tried my hand at the back course localizer approach to 20, but soon found out I need a lot more practice with those back course approaches and had to fall back on visual instead.

 

Since there was plenty of traffic following close behind, I waited until over the runway to drop the flaps to full, landing at the very end of the runway and using the Evenblade's ample beta range to slow down very quickly.

 

Finally, my version of the big group photo outside the main terminal of Edmonton Int'l. Unfortunately technical issues and real life commitments got in the way and we weren't quite able to gather all 14 aircraft there, but it was an impressive lineup nonetheless. Hopefully we'll get to go group flying again soon, I actually have some ideas on that subject and more for the 900th fly-in coming up next spring…

 

…and one last thing, the screenshot slideshow for the past year (2020-2021) is now up! Sorry to any of our fly-in regulars who may have been left out of the credits at the end, I have simply counted every unique username who has posted in any the fly-in threads during the last year so if your name isn't there, either you haven't made any posts or I may have simply missed them. Anyway, enjoy!

 

[ScubaCruiser]

A few pics from the anniversary fly-in.  Pic 2 I have MrMac just outside my window & pics 3 & 4 also with MrMac as I see him. Some reason I can't see aircraft on TCAS.  Fun formation flight.

[surfintucson]

Happy Fly-in Pilots!

@ghun1, @Kumiankka, @marpilot

A short PIREP from me today as I overslept and barely got X-Plane started in time for the formation flight. Thanks for waiting on 17R for me to get off the gate and taxi over.

Here I am at the back of the line:

The formation flight was fun, as always--that's the real fun for me in these fly-ins: being around other flights and having to coordinate. Here on leg four about to cross CYYC Calgary at 5000 feet:

Nice weather today and climbed over the mountains east of Banff, then the turn toward Edmonton:

As KUMI mentioned it did get a little crazy with 14 or so of us landing at CYEG Edmonton at roughly the same time. I took a straight-in for runway 02 as that was what I heard others deciding on the radio. I think I misheard as I turned out to be the first one down and lots of pilots going for runway 20 instead:

Worked out remarkably well and then there was the gathering on the ramp for the group photo:

Odd, I saw the Tupolev correctly but most others as a suspicious line up of A320s. I haven't yet switched to Swift given all the hassle it sounds like so maybe that's why.

Since my day was just starting, I decided to log some hours taking the 777 back to home airport KTUS Tucson. Taxied out to 20 and GHUN and MARPILOT were online arriving. Fists is GHUN, second is MARPILOT:

Lined up, took off, and settled in at FL380 for cruise. A couple hours later had a nice smooth touchdown in Tucson and parked up at the usual gate:

Thanks for the formation flight, KUMI and all!
--Surf, out.

 

[surfintucson]

1 hour ago, Kumiankka said:

the screenshot slideshow for the past year (2020-2021) is now up!

Excellent! THANK YOU @Kumiankka for the video and for organizing these fly-ins every weekend! 🌐

[rajo]

Departed PAJN, from where there was the best opportunity to earn some FSEconomy money by transporting 5 passengers to CYYC.

Date	From	To	Aircraft	Type	Duration	Distance	Earnings	Action
2021/10/24 14:34:33	PAJN	CYYC	N-242EF	LearJet LJ25D	02:22	831	$9,147.70	View

Neither passengers nor cargo were waiting for the Flyin flight in FSE.

Vega66z rose to accompany my approach

GHUN, QUINTAO, CHAS, DURIAN were already there

more than 1 hour to begin of flyin, so parked and made a little walk in the near forest

in the meanwhile KUMI arrived

all waiting, while sun rises

then, all taxi to rwy 17R

lines up

and departed, when everybody has entered the rwy

I then had some problems to keep up, because I had forgotten to prepare or to make a flight plan

on final approach then crash to desktop (CTD, "THREAD FATAL ASSERT: Encountered Metal device loss error!"), and again after restart, only after reducing the number of objects was it possible for me to line up for the group photo,

again and again: great!

 

[cyl8]

16 hours ago, durian said:

@cyl8I'm on Linux, I had to edit modelsetxp.json in ~/.local/share/org.swift-project/home%2Fpberck%2Fswift-0.9.6-64bit%2Fbin.

I had changed my model directory, and I did not manage to change it using the GUI. In the end, this worked!

Thanks durian, indeed I did not find a similarly named .json config file. I thought Mac version would be similar, oh well. I might have to wipe it clean and setup manually again

[Vega66]

Another amazing anniversary Fly-In, thanks to everyone that joined and specially  @Kumiankka for keeping up these weekly Fly-Ins around such magnificent locations.

For this week's report I prepared a video of some of the flights performed yesterday (I found the amount of pictures simply unmanegeable), taken the action live.  The weather was great, something which did not happened in the past few days around those locations, which helped to get the best out  of it.

 

Planes used:

- Freeware Northrop B2 Spirit (version found here)

 

- Alabeo Sukhoi SU-26 (payware) with the Spanish aerobatic team "BRAVO3-REPSOL" Red livery

 

- DeltaWing Simulations F-16C Block-52 airshow edition (also payware).

 

Thank you all great pilots, wish you wonderful week

 

   

Edited October 25, 2021 by Vega66

[durian]

6 hours ago, cyl8 said:

Thanks durian, indeed I did not find a similarly named .json config file. I thought Mac version would be similar, oh well. I might have to wipe it clean and setup manually again

Strange, I would also expect it to be similar. maybe the config files are inside the App, or under Library/Preferences or something.

[durian]

Great FlyIn by the way, thanks @Kumiankka. I crashed on landing in Edmonton, so I missed the group shot  (also, dinner was ready by the time we landed).

[Skylark2992]

Great PIREPs everybody, thanks for sharing!

Also thanks @Kumiankka for sharing the Fly-in slideshow - some interesting highlights, and some inspiring locations to visit. I'm grateful for the mention too, although I've really been a vicarious participant/spectator for the past 3 years. Following these PIREPs is giving me all the motivation I need to eventually get in the virtual skies again.

[ostkamp]

Hi pilots,

thanks everyone for the great shots and especially to @Kumiankka for organization and the fly-in video as well as to @Vega66 for spending the time to assemble one especially for this event. 👍

@Big-IN and I arrived late since this was becoming a late afternoon / early evening event for us due to the planned formation flight. I managed to start at Vancouver airport (CYVR) just in time to reach Calgary, change aircraft and get ready. @Big-IN joined later in his Tupolev Tu-144 supersonic to join the formation in flight.

When I started up at Vancouver it was early morning there when I entered the X-Crafts Embraer Legacy 650. The engine allowed for a taxi without getting pushed back.

Ready for takeoff!

After darkness had vanished I quickly reached the mountain area.

Did the flight without much programming, just VOR based and some dead reckoning.

Near Calgaray I went heading 350 until North of the airport then turned in for ILS on runway 17L.

Landing went fine.

I rolled over to the apron where most of the gang had shown up.

Then switched planes and logged off and on again to make sure ICAO code got correctly updated at x-fllightserver. For the formation flights I tend to use the Aerobask Viperjet.

Taxiing into position. Sorry I accidentally caused a problem here passing through some aircraft of someone who just turned up left of me.

Departure went chaotic due to sync issues, as @Kumiankka already outlined. When he announced to apply power, the others in front of me were not really moving so I overtook quite a few.

Onwards to scratch the tower ... 🙂 I don´t know how the English wording is in the Top Gun movie, however these fighters are targeting the tower quite a few times. I think in German he said he needs to cough towards the tower or so. 😉

When we had passed the airport I made a mistake. I misread the instructions and turned North about 10 nm but it should have been 55 nm. The instruction with 10 nm was just for climbing up to 14000 ft. Sorry if I caused any confusion. When I recognized I was wrong I returned to formation as soon as possible.

Below we can see @Big-INs Tupolev Tu-144 in flight.

A view from the rear seat of my Viperjet.

At the end I went for the RNAV-Y approach to runway 20 at Edmonton (CYEG).

For whatever reason the landing was extremly bumpy and I nearly crashed the aircraft. Finally got it under control.

Got parked next to @rajo.

I had even a correct CSL installed for @Kumiankkas Evenblade.

Final group short, I think some had already logged off or crashed on landing.

Looking forward for more events to come in the future.

Until next time ... 🙂

 

Edited October 25, 2021 by ostkamp

[ghun1]

I set off from Vancouver (CYVR) in the FF B752 in Air Canada livery. All went smoothly, touched down, parked near  fellow pilots (Quintao and Vega66). SOme shots of the line up for take off plus a few in flight moments. I think we are getting much better at this, and now make the Red Arrows look like professionals 🤪. Seriously, well done everyone and thanks for the screenshots. The videos are amazing - great soundtrack from Vega (oh the glorious ninth).

I am sad that I could not make the last few minutes. As Kumi said, family, and in Malta, family meals especially 🙄, take precedence sometimes. I missed the final photo but I was with you in spirit.

I did finish the flight in the presence of Marpilot and Surf, but then ran fowl of something only encountered once before: An AI Q400, form where I know not where, blocked the taxi way so I ignored it. When we touched, it caused an accident, so it was made as an object with hard surfaces. Where did it come from? Not world traffic or traffic global (which I have). Was it part of the scenery? I must investigate. Anyone else seen this?