881st fly-in: Tocumen Int'l, Panama City (MPTO)

[Kumiankka]

link to fly-in index thread

Quote

This upcoming weekend's fly-in, on Sunday, November 28th will be at Tocumen International Airport, Panama City (MPTO) coinciding with the 200th anniversary of Panama's independence. This will be our second visit to Panama's main airport, and the scenery has definitely improved since last time with both a detailed freeware scenery by @ruifo as well as a payware alternative by FSimstudios available. In addition to the famous canal, the skyline of Panama City is also something of a sight to see, with lots of high-rise buildings having sprung up in the last few decades. These tall buildings of course affect approach procedures to runways 03L/R, but on the other side of the airport we also have some mountainous terrain, calling for some special approach routes to runways 21L/R there.

Remember to keep posting those PIREPs to qualify for the upcoming Home Base Tour next year, consider donating to X-Flightserver.net and/or the scenery author if you wish to support them - and have a nice trip - ¡buen viaje!

 

 

 

Payware option: MPTO Tocumen International Panama by FSimstudios

 

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!

 

[ghun1]

Definitely going to miss this one, so good luck and happy landings everyone. Ill see you next time.

Gary

 

[SmilenJack1]

I was fortunate to be a member of the Oklahoma ANG in the 80s and the  90s.. We had a mission about every year to Howard AFB in the Zone.  I got to see a lot of Panama City, the Zone, the Canal Railroad and the Canal from a  US Army Huey.. The country was just about another State..Same currency, most folks spoke English, the Canal Commission ran the Canal at that time, however, it was getting ready to hand over control to the Panamanians due to the Treaty.  We fished on the Lake, visited the Dam that fed the Canal, walked across the Locks when they were closed and a lot of "touristias" stuff. I would like to go back some day.  Nice rendering of the City..

[bootsie]

Too lazy for screenshots this week, so you get a video instead:

I needed a go-around so ended up with quite a messy approach.

Edited November 28, 2021 by bootsie

[Quintao]

Greetings all! This PIREP goes across 3 days and 3 aircrafts.

Took off from Hakodate RJCH last Thursday aboard the FF 777-200 LR on a stormy afternoon en-route to MROC in Costa Rica.

At about 9,000ft broke through the clouds and had a pleasant flight all the way through!

It was another 14hr+ flight coming back home to the America's. Most of it was overnight climbing through the steps FL350, FL370, FL390 and then FL410. Beautiful morning while on Mexico's airspace over Cancun, getting ready to start my descent to arrive at Costa Rica.

Less than an hour later was landing on RWY 07 at MROC on a Friday afternoon. 

After that long flight, took a mandatory break from the skies on Saturday to enjoy the Pura Vida life in Costa Rica. Resumed my flights this morning at MROC on the Phenom 300.

Taxied to RWY 07 which luckily did not require a long taxing.

Took off from the same rwy I had landed the day before.

About an hour later was arriving in Panama City, had planned to land on RWY 03, but had to fly past it (see below) and landed visual on RWY 21R due to more favorable winds.

Cleared MPTO RWY 21R at F.

By this time, many were already en-route to MPTO.

Switched to the King Air 350 parked on a remote area, with the main terminal as background, great scenery work by @ruifo!

Taxied to RWY 21R behind a traffic global Copa 737 while @CHASMAN2014 was on final for the same runway.

Held short the rwy while Chas landed on his 737 with Copa livery.

As soon as he cleared the RWY, lined up and took off on the King Air 350.

Nice view of the city center while climbing to 15,500ft.

This last flight of the day was to the Colombian island of Providencia, SKPV. Beautiful location! By this time more pilots had joined.

About an hour later landed at SKPV RWY 35.

Floated a little to land after the threshhold!

Cleared the rwy at the only ramp available and parked by the small terminal at SKPV.

Enjoy the La Providencia island view!

[Quintao]

2 hours ago, bootsie said:

Too lazy for screenshots this week, so you get a video instead:

I needed a go-around so ended up with quite a messy approach.

Nice cloud layers,  is that a plug-in?

[Vega66]

Greetings all great pilots.

To represent the Copa Panama airlines there weren't many alternatives, but the ones available were great, so this week maintained the B738 Zibo dressed with one of the beautiful liveries available on the comunity (thanks to @captainscott for this nice work) , to recreate one of the company's regular flights, the CMP237 connecting Cancun to Tocumen:

 

 

The flight that took me to Cancun was a little bit delayed by unfavourable winds, which barely left me time for a short breakfast before open the flight.

After start procedures and clearances obtained, started to taxi right at planned time,  

Climb steadily and swiftly left behind the Mexican shores.

The forecast for today presented some favourable winds which shortened the trip in about 20 minutes. However due to wind changes the initial filled ILS 03R approach was changed to a RNAV approach to the opposite 21R.

The approach from that side is a little mor trickier, due the nearby mountains, having to perform a close turn just on top of the short final. The Zibo did a great job, and the final couple of miles were assumed manually, just to keep it more under control. Touched down right on schedule and let it quietly roll to the last exit leading to the terminal, right at the same time as another Copa flight commanded by @Kumiankka was also touching down on the opposite 03R. Very nice scenery.

Crossed to the southern side of the airport and parked at the gates, not far from @CHASMAN2014

 

Time was getting tight for me today, due to other duties around here, so rushed by to a long missed DC-3 to perform a quick VFR around the premises.

To taxi this bird is always a funny adventure, but now I got more familiar, and able to make it on a stunnig 5 minutes, without spinning or drifting   

Once airborne, it is a real pleasure to fly it, it has very nice details that really makes you travel back in time...

Initally planned to land at Scarlet Martinez (MPSM), but finally decided to point to the nearby airfield at Isla del Rey.

 

Good visibility and relatively calm winds led to a fair landing, As of today, the airfield has only the RWY, so picked a spot to park at the grass and call it a day.

Thanks for another great destination. Wish you all great week.

[CHASMAN2014]

Greetings fellow pilots.

I started my flight at Jose Maria Cordova International, Kumi  @Kumiankkaoperating Copa flight CMP81KA was parked next to me at the gate.  We both stared taxing to RWY 01, but Kumi's flight was delayed due to electrical issues with his B737. 

I followed the STAR TUM.VDM 21L arrival into Tocumen International for the visual to RWY 21lL this required overflying the airport and looping around for final approach. I was able to spot Quintao @Quintao as I overflew the airport.

Quintao had been holding for departure, as I exited the runway Quintao started his roll out on 21L. A few minutes later Copa flights CMP81KA and CMP237 operated by  @Kumiankka and @Vega66 arrived.

Have a great week everyone hope to see you all next Sunday.

All the best,

Chas @CHASMAN2014

[bootsie]

12 hours ago, Quintao said:

Nice cloud layers,  is that a plug-in?

Yes, it's Enhanced Skyscapes.

Enhanced Skyscapes – Threshold Store (thresholdx.net)

[Kumiankka]

Great PIREPs everyone, interesting to see a video PIREP for a change too @bootsie! Got a lot of those "terrain" call outs myself too, particularly during my last flight to San José, Costa Rica. And I'll second @Quintao's comment that the custom cloud add-on looked amazing!

 

We had not one but two Copa 737s starting out from Medellín, myself and @CHASMAN2014. Turns out the issues that delayed my takeoff weren't electrical after all, I had just forgotten to align the IRS since that feature seems to be a relatively recent addition to the freeware x737. As with these more complex X-Plane models there were some compatibility issues with the external panels, but the Copa livery available for this one was one of the more accurate ones, and I was positively surprised that even the IRS issue was just a matter of that much more extra realism - I couldn't find any info on how to solve this on the x737 specifically, but what I did run into was a post detailing how to perform the "fast align" procedure on a real 737-800, and that procedure worked perfectly in the sim too!

 

Once the navigation systems were set up and the instruments were working, I took off into the cloudy skies above Medellín, by now far behind @CHASMAN2014.

 

Reaching Panama City it was nice to have the extra separation in any case, as the airspace was getting very busy with arrivals - many more of them Copa 737s in fact!

 

As I vacated runway 03R, @Vega66 was just taxiing past in a familiar looking plane.

 

Lots of pilots were going for scenic tours of the canal in various slower aircraft and I was no exception. Loaded up this colorful Aero Boero AB-115 complete with editable tail code, preparing to start up just as @rajo was arriving in a DA-62.

 

The first item on the tour was a close look at the Panama City skyline. The generic buildings didn't look too bad, but the famous Gherkin from London was maybe a bit out of place! Although I can imagine that there wasn't really a better generic match available for the real-life building in that location, the also rather distinctive JW Marriott Panama hotel.

 

Toured the canal for a while, and I have to admit that rather embarrassingly I managed to get lost briefly above Gatun Lake, despite having one of the world's clearest and most distinctive landmarks to follow! Once I figured out it was my own navigation that was in error and not my only navigation instrument, the magnetic compass, it was a relatively simple matter to get back to Panama City and luckily I still had enough fuel left to make the trip.

 

People were already logging off left and right by the time I got back, so I returned to an almost empty airport.

 

@rajo was still heading out from 21L while I taxiied a DHL Aero Expreso 757 freighter to 21R.

 

Departing Tocumen and taking one last look at the Panama City skyline, I set course for nearby San José, Costa Rica for the evening's last flight.

 

Terrain warnings were blaring as I made the turn to final despite staying on the published ILS procedures. Not much margin for error here!

 

Touched down safely (if not very smoothly) at MROC and taxiied to the cargo ramp to finally log off.

[ostkamp]

Hello pilots,

thank you for the PIREPs  and video. 👍

I did some small trips starting off at Enrique Malek Intl. (MPDA) after undusting and polishing the Mitsubishi Marquise MU-2.

The model felt as wobbly as ever and I even had trouble to move to the runway. Not sure whether the props were not properly aligned, but I sometimes had the feeling of pushing back when it should have been a forward thrust. @Big-IN aka Din05 also joined here spooling up for takeoff.

Our first leg went to Cap Scarlet Martinez (MPSM).

When approaching the airport I made a right turn and headed for the ocean to come back and align after a 180 turn to runway 34.

ILS was planned but the glideslope seemed to lead in for a water landing, so had to go manual in the end.

There I changed aircraft to Aerobask Eclipse 550 NG for the next leg to Tocumen Intl. (MPTA).

The flight was uneventful.

Got parked and waited for others. @rajo was heading for GAT near the woods, where somebody else was already waiting.

Merlin landed in some kind of military transporter.

For the last sightseeing tour I took the Aerobask Pipistrel Panthera in Pink Panther livery.

Had a look at the skyline (fog_be_gone set to 0.0 as usual).

And explored the canal.

At the very end I landed at Sherman (MPFS), but I guess the rendition here is not correct since a lot looks like surrounded by the water. @rajo also appeared there and landed. @Big-IN had to circle around since he did not have the airport with XP 11 standard scenery.

Later I went over to the nearby Enrice Adolfo Jimenez (MPEJ) on the other side of the river to have a group short with @Big-IN aka Din05.

This was most likely my last fly-in within this year since I want to return home for Christmas holiday and relax a bit. Of course will continue to read forum and maybe add some comments. While I am away I have only an ancient notebook build in 2006 with FS 2004 stock on it and better not burn down the graphics card again (already lost one that got replaced by maintenance contract as well as the display), the machine is still ok for some private office work and watching some movies.

I plan to be back in mid January and may then return in the little racing aircraft I bought yesterday before the fly-in on the Black Friday sale for 20 bucks (see below), it is called "Pocket Rocket" and capable to speed up to 300 kias (about Mach 0.6). Even the tail number could be set. Now I just need an ICAO code for which a suitable CSL exists (not sure if this is possible at all 😉).

Have some nice fly-ins in the next time and hope to join you again in January 2022. 😀

 

Edited November 30, 2021 by ostkamp

[rajo]

18 hours ago, bootsie said:

Yes, it's Enhanced Skyscapes.

Enhanced Skyscapes – Threshold Store (thresholdx.net)

so, mac users and unvaxxed are keep out ;-)

[rajo]

6 hours ago, ostkamp said:

Hello pilots,

thank you for the PIREPs  and video. 👍

I did some small trips starting off at Enrique Malek Intl. (MPDA) after undusting and polishing the Mitsubishi Marquise MU-2.

The model felt as wobbly as ever and I even had trouble to move to the runway. Not sure whether the props were not properly aligned, but I sometimes had the feeling of pushing back when it should have been a forward thrust. @Big-IN aka Din05 also joined here spooling up for takeoff.

Our first leg went to Cap Scarlet Martinez (MPSM).

When approaching the airport I made a right turn and headed for the ocean to come and align after a 180 turn to runway 34.

ILS was planned but the glideslope seemed to lead in for a water landing, so had to go manual in the end.

There I changed aircraft to Aerobask Eclipse 550 NG for the next leg to Tocumen Intl. (MPTA).

The flight was uneventful.

Got parked and waited for others. @rajo was heading for GAT near the woods, where somebody else was already waiting.

Merlin landed in some kind of military transporter.

For the last sightseeing tour I took the Aerobask Pipistrel Panthera in Pink Panther livery.

Had a look at the skyline (fog_be_gone set to 0.0 as usual).

And explored the canal.

At the very end I landed at Sherman (MPFS), but I guess the rendition here is not correct since a lot looks like surrounded by the water. @rajo also appeared there and landed. @Big-IN had to circle around since he did not have the airport with XP 11 standard scenery.

Later I went over to the nearby Enrice Adolfo Jimenez (MPEJ) on the other side of the river to have a group short with @Big-IN aka Din05.

This was most likely my last fly-in within this year since I want to return home for Christmas holiday and relax a bit. Of course will continue to read forum and maybe add some comments. While I am away I have only an ancient notebook build in 2006 with FS 2004 stock on it and better not burn down the graphics card again (already lost one that got replaced by maintenance contract as well as the display), the machine is still ok for some private office work and watching some movies.

I plan to be back in mid January and may then return in the little racing aircraft I bought yesterday before the fly-in on the Black Friday sale for 20 bucks (see below), it is called "Pocket Rocket" and capable to speed up to 300 kias (about Mach 0.6). Even the tail number could be set. Now I just need an ICAO code for which a suitable CSL exists (not sure if this is possible at all 😉).

Have some nice fly-ins in the next time and hope to join you again in January 2022. 😀

 

Frohe Weihnachten, Guten Rutsch und Gute Erholung / Merry Christmas, Happy New Year and Good Rest

[rajo]

All flights for pilot rajo

Date	From	To	Aircraft	Type	Duration	Distance	Earnings	Action
2021/11/28 20:46:31	MPTO	MTPP	PT-ATE	Diamond DA62	04:28	705	$13,237.05	View
2021/11/28 14:28:44	SKSP	MPTO	PT-ATE	Diamond DA62	01:41	252	$710.93	View
2021/11/28 02:26:35	SKPV	SKSP	PT-ATE	Diamond DA62	00:37	51	$406.91	View
2021/11/27 23:30:34	MKJP	SKPV	PT-ATE	Diamond DA62	02:21	382	$2,078.28	View
2021/11/27 20:55:36	MKTP	MKJP	PT-ATE	Diamond DA62	00:08	4	-$57.10	View
2021/11/27 18:30:35	MUCU	MKTP	PT-ATE	Diamond DA62	01:02	132	$1,465.47

the order above and below are "newest above". The v2 of the aerobask DA62 is an essential progress. Was fun!

[ghun1]

Well I obviously did make it this week, mainly due to some very inclement weather (gale force 10 winds that took the top off my roof water tank) 😟

Took off for a real-life flight from one of my favourite spots, Tegucigalpa (MHTG) in an E-195. All good, clouds as high as 37,000 feet, some of them a bit odd looking. Thanks to Bootsie and Quintao I am trying out Enhanced Skyscapes. Clouds look great but some artifacts with aircraft seen against the clouds is disappointing.

see you next time

Gary

[Skylark2992]

On 11/26/2021 at 12:56 AM, SmilenJack1 said:

I was fortunate to be a member of the Oklahoma ANG in the 80s and the  90s.. We had a mission about every year to Howard AFB in the Zone.  I got to see a lot of Panama City, the Zone, the Canal Railroad and the Canal from a  US Army Huey.. The country was just about another State..Same currency, most folks spoke English, the Canal Commission ran the Canal at that time, however, it was getting ready to hand over control to the Panamanians due to the Treaty.  We fished on the Lake, visited the Dam that fed the Canal, walked across the Locks when they were closed and a lot of "touristias" stuff. I would like to go back some day.  Nice rendering of the City..

What an interesting and varied career - in fact life - you have had. I also read your 'bio' on the left-side next to your profile picture. It sounds like you've got a very caring attitude to a very noble cause. I hope that you are enjoying your retirement together.

Thanks everybody for your interesting PIREPs!

Nice camera views @bootsie, I've never seen that kind of camera in an X-Plane aircraft other than the Verticopter. I bet that it comes in handy when taxiing and parking.

On 11/29/2021 at 6:23 AM, bootsie said:

Yes, it's Enhanced Skyscapes.

Enhanced Skyscapes – Threshold Store (thresholdx.net)

I never did get that cloud mod to work with X-P11.55r2 - I need to upgrade my AMD GPU drivers to v21.10.2 to see if they fix the issue as advised at the Threshold forum.

Thanks for visiting Providencia (SKPV) @Quintao and @rajo - I've not been there in many years, it's actually a deceivingly-short runway so well done for landing with distance to spare. I agree that the views are worth the tricky approach - in fact, those beautiful views contribute to my tricky approaches, as I always find something else to stare at other than the runway ahead and my instruments!

I hope that you all enjoy tomorrow's fly-in.

Edited December 4, 2021 by Skylark2992

[F5Chaser]

Late one for me this week. My flight began just outside Santiago de Cali, Columbia at SKCL. Overall the flight was smooth with overcast skies. Things started going very quickly on approach. I got the usual terrain warning before the turn to final. The onboard systems automatically enabled the terrain radar to show me the error of my flight path haha!

I ended up too high and fast and had to go around with a right pattern. I managed to slip back in and get it down with barely enough time to clear the runway for @rajo who was on approach right behind me! In hindsight it probably would've been better to fly the published go around or extend my downwind to increase the spacing.

I found a parking space on the ramp where the 767 could fit into. On the left Merlin is taxing to the ramp with @Big-IN in the background and @ostkamp parked on the apron behind me. On the right @Kumiankka overflying the airport in his AB-115 I believe.

See you all next week!