F5Chaser

Hello everyone, Like @Quintao my flight also began in a location famous for racing. Given the short runway length and distance to cover, the Phenom 300 was the best choice this week. On the ramp at Le Mans Arnage. Unfortunately @MerlinEng was not able to join this week due to his simulator crashing on startup. On departure there were some threatening cloud layers to the East. Climbing and cruising through it was not to bad however. Paris was not visible due to a thick haze but skies were clear to the North. Even though the distance required a jet this week, there was barely enough time to reach cruise altitude (FL390) before top of descent. During the descent I encountered some patches of light to moderate rain. Soon I was on the RNAV approach to runway 11 with @gp4tom just ahead. The approach took me right over the city for a great photo opportunity. Short final with @Kumiankka holding short in a Belgian Air Force aircraft. Great landing and exiting at the last turnoff. Parked at the gate with @ghun1 and @Quintao. Most everyone already had to go or was off touring the area. @rajo was on downwind to runway 11 in a PC-6 and brought it in for a successful landing. See you next week!

No disappointment here! This is actually one of the reasons I prefer your aircraft. You guys put quality first.

Hello everyone, I was back in the 737 again this week setting off from Mexico City in local livery. The sun began to rise just as I departed. The departure from runway 5L went out over the city and then turned back for a great view in the morning sun. After many step climbs on the departure, I finally reached my planned cruise altitude of FL340. Cruise was relatively uneventful and provided some nice views of the mountain ranges. Soon came the descent into Guadalajara. Here passing over Lake Chapala on the STAR to runway 28 which led me around a sort of quarter circle. It was reminiscent of the DME arc approaches which are becoming rare now. I was set up for the ILS to runway 28, but for some reason when I activated the approach mode, the autopilot disengaged all mode and commanded a steep descending right turn. I took manual control to avoid the mountain it was heading for and tried to recover the autopilot from there. None of the modes (LNAV, VNAV, APP) would engage until I cycled both flight directors. Once in LNAV/VNAV again, I tried switching to approach mode and got the same result. Some very odd behavior this time, but at least it was VFR conditions! On short final to runway 28. I don't usually notice my shadow on approach but this week there was a perfect view of it following me to touchdown. Great landing according to the plugin and better than last week in spite of the technical issue on approach. @DrTuro, @CHASMAN2014, and @Big-IN were already parked at the gate. @Vega66 was preparing to depart in his M346 which doesn't have a CSL yet. I really like how swift got the Volaris and Aeromexico liveries right on 2ST and Chas! See you next week in Antwerp!

Hello everyone, Nice PIREPs this week from some great locations! I started out in George Town in the Cayman Islands with a Caribbean Airlines 737. Overcast skies from takeoff to descent didn't provide many photo opportunities this time. Reaching the coast of Jamaica was a different story however. I set up for the RNAV to runway 9 as that seemed to work with the wind. There were still some patches of clouds on the island to contend with on final. It is a good thing the RNAV was available as it sounds like @Kumiankka has some sabotage on his aircraft just ahead of me. Finally I had the runway in sight, with only one more obstacle to clear. There seems to be quite a hillside on the short final to runway 9. I guess that is why the approach course is offset from the runway. The landing felt good although it was a little rough according to the plugin. I may have misjudged the ramp space available here. The only spot I could find to accommodate the 737 wingspan was on the east side by @ghun1. Samen took off also in an airliner just afterwards. See you next week in Guadalajara!

Hello everyone, Since this airport was not on any of my maps I started about 70nm away in Kerema (AYKM). This way there would be some extra time in case I got lost. Departing Kerema in a Grand Caravan with @gp4tom and @MerlinEng. There was a low cloud layer forming as we got closer to the airport. Nothing bad enough to prevent VFR flight. About half way there, I ran across @Kumiankka, @Vega66, and @CHASMAN2014 flying in a loose formation up the Purari river. Once there was a break in the clouds, I decided to follow behind towards the airport. Wabo was right on the shoreline where we expected to find it. Everyone settled on a left downwind pattern to land on runway 14. My first approach was way too high forcing me to go around. Much better on the second attempt although the landing could have been better. Got a hard landing rating from the plugin. Ouch! We were close enough that there was no time for anyone to backtaxi. By the time I finally landed we had five aircraft taxiing back to parking. Here's one last group shot with everyone on the ground safely. Another fun flight! See you next week in Ocho Rios!

Hello everyone, I like the sunrise picture you got @Quintao. It is amazing! And the shot of the Immelmann turn over runway 05 making it look like 50 is perfect @Kumiankka! Right away you could tell this was going to be a fun flight with the NOTAM procedures to follow. I flew in from Gainesville with a Cessna Grand Caravan. @Fatherofsam met up with me while cruising south along I-75 around Ocala. We eventually got close enough to see each other just before starting our approaches into Lakeland. I still had the custom scenery in from the Fantasy of Flight fly-in which provided a great view to start the Lake Parker arrival. The SUNTRAX Test Facility was not visible in my scenery, so some of this route relied on the GPS waypoints. Here approaching Lake Parker. \\ Following I-4, Lakeland visible on the left with the Cake tower and water tower just ahead. Winds were calm and runway 10 was in use. Here on the left base to runway 10L aiming for the green dot. The only trouble with this direction was the morning glare making it difficult to see the dots. A little bit of a hard landing but not terrible. I parked on the south side of the airport after following the flagmen. Just a few minutes later @CHASMAN2014 landed in his Sun Country 737. Swift got the plane and livery spot on this time! Looks great! Shortly after Chas, @DrTuro landed in what appeared to be an A320. Meanwhile, @Vega66 was putting on a show in a Spitfire. Although swift didn't do as well with the model matching on that one. And @MerlinEng arrived in a Cessna Skyhawk on runway 10L a few minutes later. He is barely visible above the yellow taxi signs in the middle of the photo. Then Kumi departed in a B-25 to join the airshow. Humorously, swift got the number of engines right with a Beech Baron. Great fun this week! Thanks @TheMaverickMike for the awesome scenery of the airport area! See you next weekend in Wabo!

Hello everyone, I picked up where I left off in Baghdad a few weeks ago with the Dash 8. And this time with the scenery installed properly. Some light rain on departure giving way to clear skies for the cruise to Batman. However, descending into Batman the overcast returned. A lot of us ended up close to turning final for runway 2 at the same time, so being in the slower aircraft I diverted to the west to increase separation. All worked out well except for the FMS losing track of which waypoint it was on. @Kumiankka and @MerlinEng were ahead of me and @DrTuro was right behind. I am very happy with how this landing turned out. Butter rating from the plugin at around 50 fpm and near the thousand foot markers. Fast taxi to the end of the runway just in time for DrTuro. Thanks @CHASMAN2014 for pointing out a free parking space amongst the crowded terminal! Parking got tight very quickly at this one. See you this weekend in Lakeland!

Hello everyone, Late one for me this week. I started off from Milan in a Phenom 300. Unfortunately most of the trip and beautiful scenery was obscured by clouds. For the first leg the plan was to arrive in Ciampino to switch to a helicopter. I miscalculated the descent timing and ended up 6,000 feet too high and ended up making an improvised pattern. The good part was the skies had cleared up right around the airport allowing me to continue on a visual approach. Number three on approach. Merlin was number two and I forget who was ahead of him. The Phenom is such a joy to land. It's flare is so smooth it feels like a butter landing every time. I joined @MerlinEng over on the ramp to switch to an S-76. While I was doing that, @Kumiankka, @Quintao, @rajo and @CHASMAN2014 came by to visit. In a short time, I departed from Ciampino headed for the Vatican. Some pilots were already on their way or arriving there as well. I circled around the west side to check the wind and decided on a southward approach. The wall and sloped terrain in my scenery made it a real challenge to land. Don't want to have a tail strike! Landed safely! @Big-IN was already there observing the others come and go. I departed again and flew around the VAtican to admire the scenery. Kumi's flyby over St. Peter's square was perfectly timed to end up in this shot. @ostkamp made a successful landing on the helipad. Afterwards, I formed up with Chas for a bit before heading back to Ciampino to call it a day. Landed safe and sound at Ciampino. Thanks for another great flight everyone and Happy Easter! See you this weekend in Batman!

Hello everyone, I flew from Mosul this week. Although the airport is listed in X-Plane and Simbrief the airport still appears to be closed in real life after the recent conflicts. Following the Tigris river south to Baghdad. Near the end of my descent there was a small patch of rain right over the airport. An odd sight to see in the desert I bet! X-Plane ATIS indicated runway 33L or R was the preference but this put me opposite of everyone else coming in on runway 15L. Here I am on the right downwind for runway 33R and simultaneously @CHASMAN2014 and samen were on the instrument approach for 15L. I extended my downwind leg a few miles and eventually switched to landing on runway 33L. It took most of the runway to get stopped as I let the plane float too long and the reverse did not operate as expected. Otherwise not a bad landing. Group shot with everyone parked at the terminal as I taxi down to join @MerlinEng and @gp4tom on the other ramp. Parked to call it a day.

Hello everyone! That was one of if not our best fly-in yet! Thank you @Kumiankka for putting these together every week and to all of you who fly to make them so much fun! My first fly-in was to Ljubljana years ago and the good times with you all is what brings me back week after week. The group flight this week from Toulouse sounded perfect to me. I was not daring enough to fly an Airbus for the first time although I thought about the default A330. Instead the trusty ZIBO 737 was ready for me on the ramp in a Air France livery by @TeamFranky. The clock change for the US flyers this week meant we were a little bit earlier than usual. Soon we were all lined up on the runway and ready to go. Much to the fright of the onlooking engineers probably! Clouds soon became an issue and I spent a lot of time in them changing altitudes and popping in and out. Eventually I settled on FL260 which seemed pretty clear compared to the surrounding altitudes. X-Plane 12 seemed to give us all different weather, from wind speed to barometer settings and cloud cover. After descent I ended up ahead of the formation and entered a hold around MLN to rejoin. One formation flight done with flying colors and then it was on to the grand 1000th formation! About a half hour after the first group landed everyone was heading back to the runway. I jumped into a C172 and started following @Big-IN I believe. Looks like we had 12 planes and one helicopter at the takeoff. It would be 14 in the photo but unfortunately @ManofMac had to leave on short notice. Hope everything is okay with the family member who needed to go to quick care! I made the first turn later than I should have and ended up a few miles behind. The livery looks amazing though! Thanks @Vega66 for making and sharing this one! Passing the Notre Dame. And flying under the Eiffel Tower. I do not have the terrain fixed so the climb out was very steep. And luckily I also made it through the Arc de Triomphe. There is very little room for the Skyhawk's wingspan in there! Through La Grand Arche de la Défense. Kumi paused to take a photo here and swift thought he was underground so it placed his aircraft on top of the monument. LOL Kumi had a nasty encounter with a bridge and some of us decided to "hold" under the Eiffel Tower until he got up and running again. I think @Quintao, @CHASMAN2014 and @Vega66 were also in the improvised pattern. A couple more group photos to conclude the celebration. Dino, Kumi, @ostkamp, @rajo, Chas, Vega, @marpilot, @ghun1, Quintao, @Fatherofsam, MrMac, @gp4tom, @MerlinEng and @172MC. Thank you all for the great time! Here's hoping for another 1000 fly-ins like this! See you this weekend for the next one in Baghdad!

Looks great on 11 too!

Hello everyone, Great PIREPs for this one. I like the videos, @Quintao and @CHASMAN2014. I started out in Salina, Kansas about an hour west of our destination. Given the runway length and parking space, the Cessna 208 seemed like a good fit for the flight. Departing Salina regional on a left downwind runway 17. Following the flight plan eastward on V4 with the I-70 interstate and Kansas river visible below. Topeka was in the distance hiding in the morning glare. I left the V4 airway at Topeka and proceeded north to Atchison looking for the field visually. It is difficult to spot amongst all of the other fields. The wind was blowing strong this week and favored runway 16. I overflew the airport and joined the pattern a bit too tightly, requiring a very tight turn to final at the last minute. The wind sock was standing straight out and it felt like there was an extra gust during the flare. I set the plane down being careful not to repeat my performance in Kodiak a few weeks ago and made the second turn off. @gp4tom, @MerlinEng and Quintao followed close behind. Above is Quintao making a perfect landing in his Phenom 300 getting stopped just in time for the taxiway. Nice landing! See you all this weekend for the biggest Fly-In yet!

Hello everyone, Today I started from Bartow Executive airport in central Florida. Since ramp space was going to be limited at the destination the Phenom seemed like a good choice. Takeoff to landing was perfectly clear skies. The flight and landing were smooth. After arriving I switched to the Sikorsky S76 for a quick visit to the racetrack. @Kumiankka was just driving back to the ramp in his Camero. Swift didn't do bad picking an ultralight for the CSL. The scenery here really takes this airport to the next level with the full speedway modeled. I had enough time to make a quick landing on the front stretch and then return to the airport to call it a day. See you all next week!

Hello everyone, I started my flight in Conakry flying a Boeing 767. Departing on runway 24 is a little bit tricky since there is no taxiway going down there. It takes some time to get multiple aircraft off the ground. Otherwise, that was a beautifully clear day we had for flying this week! The 767 quickly got up to FL370 for the hop to Banjul. Here flying over Catió, Guinea-Bissau. By the time I got to the airport, most everyone was headed out or returning from other local adventures. My approach took me out and around the airport to join the final with @MerlinEng, @CHASMAN2014 and @Vega66 right behind. I had a good landing and speedily raced down to the other end to vacate the runway for the others on short final. Above, Chas appearing as an SR22 and Vega in his F-15. (An F-18 is close enough for swift.) Once everyone landed there was an opening to taxi back to the ramp. @Big-IN landed shortly after to join us. See you this weekend in Georgia!

Hello everyone, I started out in Tivat (LYTV) flying a Citation X to cover the ground a bit faster this week. Hard to argue with mach .86 unless you are supersonic or flying a Longitude. @MerlinEng and I taxiing to runway 14 for departure while @gp4tom is on his takeoff roll. Most of the flight was above overcast skies, so there were not many opportunities to see the beautiful Adriatic coastlines. The STARs at Venice added considerable distance to the route this week. I followed BASO2E which led me out about 30 nm southwest before turning back in. By this point I was number three in the line up behind gp4tom and @ghun1. Butter landing and happy passengers. The only tricky part was avoiding the closed taxiway while finding my way to the ramp. I parked next to @CHASMAN2014 in his Ryanair 737. @Quintao and @Fatherofsam were already heading out in helicopters at this point. Fatherofsam is the silhouette in the foreground. @Kumiankka, @Vega66 and @surfintucson also joined the ramp party. Great destination this week! See you next week in Gambia!

Hello everyone! I started out in Bengaluru at HAL airport with a Boeing 767 this week. There was just barely enough room for this plane on the north ramp. Across the runway @gp4tom was setting up in a Citation Longitude. A few minutes before I was ready to taxi, @CHASMAN2014 flew right overhead in his Emirates 737. The sun set shortly after takeoff with clear and ice-free skies all the way to Colombo. I came in slightly high on the approach but managed to recover it before short final. The landing was much better than last week with a 150 fpm descent! Parked next to Chas and @Quintao on the apron. Raheel took off in an Emirates 777 I think shortly afterwards and then @ostkamp and @MerlinEng arrived. I got antimicrox setup after the flight and hope to try that out next time. Clever setup for PTT @Fatherofsam ! And the best part is it doesn't require any programming. See you all next week!

Very nice pictures everyone! This is a late one for me this week. Speaking of XP11, I decided this week I could not miss the opportunity to fly a Kodiak into Kodiak. I only have the XP11 version at the moment so having a compatible scenery was perfect. I began my flight at Homer (PAHO). The weather was clear enough to allow for a VFR departure and then transitioning to IFR enroute. I got above the clouds prior to reaching overcast and was able to avoid icing conditions for most of the trip. Although there was not much scenery to see until getting close to Kodiak. ' It is amazing how much of a difference the snow makes in XP12. The view in 11 looked like a summer scene but still very impressive. I flew the RNAV approach to runway 26 which, like the localizer, is offset by 19 degrees from final! The airport is difficult to spot until you are almost reaching the final approach fix. I had a northern crosswind with strong gusts. It has been a long time since my last flight in the Kodiak and when the gust abruptly ended during my flare my plane slammed down onto the pavement at about 350 fpm. Ouch! I taxied up to the commercial ramp with some of the others and parked next to the other GA planes. This scenery by @LPNils is amazing! I had high expectations coming from the quality of his Oshkosh scenery and Kodiak does not disappoint! Thank you @Quintao for the plugin and utilities suggestions this week! For anyone who was not on at the time, we got into a conversation about trying to use our joystick buttons for PTT on TeamSpeak (which currently is not a feature on macOS or Linux). Quintao suggested a program called antimicro which can translate button presses into keystrokes that TeamSpeak can understand. Looks like it was open source and a generous person is maintaining a version for Linux called antimicrox. I'm eager to hear how it works out for you @CHASMAN2014. Think I will probably try this myself when I get a chance. That is exciting news @Fatherofsam that your finding some success with making joystick PTT work on macOS! @ghun1 very cool you got to go on set! Will they let you be an extra do you think? See you all tomorrow in Colombo!

Hello everyone! It nice to see the bridge stunts back again! I wonder, do you think the follow me car could make it across? I began my flight in Boston with the American Airlines 737 I left there from the First Night celebrations. (Also this time with the scenery working!) It was about an hour flight up to Québec in mixed weather. The clouds gradually improved as I got closer to the destination. I set up for the RNAV approach to runway 24 based on the wind and PIREPs from others in the sky at the time. An interesting thing with this approach is it has you at 5,000 feet on the "downwind" with what felt like a pretty steep descent to final. The 737 almost needed speed brakes but managed to pull it off. I landed softly on runway 24 and stopped before the LAHSO line, which was important as @Quintao was simultaneously on approach to runway 29! Since there were not any turnoffs nearby I turned around to backtrack the runway and take a taxiway near the terminal. It is hard to tell in the small photo but from back to front we have Quintao, @ostkamp, @CHASMAN2014, @Vega66, @DrTuro, myself, and @gp4tom. See you next week in Alaska! Hopefully without too much ice!

Hello everyone, I started from Riga, but quickly decided to turn off real weather due to ice and that Panevėžys does not have any instrument approaches. Weather stations were reporting less than a mile visibility at Riga with a 3000-foot ceiling descending to a 500-foot ceiling near Siauliai. With better weather came a wider selection of aircraft. I eventually settled on the Piper Arrow since I have not brought that to a Fly-In in a while. Departing runway 18 at Riga right behind @MerlinEng. I left some scattered clouds in which created a beautiful sunset with this orange fog. Not quite as dangerous as @ghun1's red screen of death though! EYPI was not in the G530 for some reason so I had to plan on EYPP and start searching for EYPI at around 6 nm left on the route. Fortunately the ramp area stood out amongst the surrounding fields. I set up for an approach to runway 30R right behind @Vega66 who is clearing the runway in this shot. Parked on the ramp with Vega and @CHASMAN2014. I was able to stay around since this flight was shorter to watch and listen to the others flying in. This was a deadly one this week. I'm glad we are only doing this in a simulator, haha! The scenery here looks great and add a lot of character to this small airfield. And judging by your comparison photos @Kumiankka, it does look very close to the real thing! I've been getting into American Truck Simulator recently, but I'll definitely have to Drive-In here if I get to Euro Truck Simulator. See you all next week!

Hello everyone, I began my flight in Bucharest (LROP), flying the 737 again this week. Although there is no real world flight between these airports I did find a Polish Airlines livery which operates flights at Skopje. Like we all encountered, the weather was not great at Bucharest or enroute either. I found it ironic with this route that my FMC was leading me to SIN VOR on a Sunday. Without planning it, @Quintao and I perfectly timed our flights so we were both calling 10 miles out from opposite directions at the same time. Fortunately our aircraft allowed enough difference in approach speeds that he was able to slow and I was able to speed up to maintain good separation during the approach. @ostkamp also joined the approach about this time. I broke out of the clouds at about 1000 feet AGL over a nearby hill and proceeded down to the runway for a great landing. No complaints from the passengers on this one. I cleared the runway just in time for Quintao and joined @Vega66, @CHASMAN2014 , @ghun1 and @MerlinEng at the gate. @ostkamp and @gp4tom made it safely in shortly after. During shutdown I heard @Kumiankka radio that he was caught between terrain and the cloud ceiling. I started providing vectors from the X-Plane map to help avoid terrain and with some good luck he was able to escape the mountains heading back to Skopje. See you next week in Lithuania!

Happy New Year everyone! Pittsburgh was close enough I could pack up an entire party into an American Airlines 737 for the trip to Boston. We've been getting a warm spell this week in Pennsylvania but that may be ending as temperatures were below freezing again this morning with overcast skies. The overcast extended through most of New England from what I could tell on the 400 nm flight. Most of the cruise looked like the screenshot above. On descent icing was a factor this time but the 737 is very well equipped to handle it. I broke out of the clouds around 2,000 ft MSL and continued on the ILS approach to runway 33L. The landing was good but there seems to be something off with my scenery again. I thought I brought the MisterX package over from XP11 but this scenery was missing some of the object and even had some taxiways which no longer exist. I was a little behind the pack this week and quickly caught up at the ramp. All of the passengers were eager to start exploring the First Night celebrations. Here with @CHASMAN2014, @Quintao, @Vega66, @MerlinEng, @gp4tom and @Fatherofsam. I hope you all had a great time today. See you again in the New Year!

Merry Christmas everyone! I also started at Steamboat Springs to pick up the Phenom I left there from the 972nd Fly-In. It was pitch black out at the time and a little difficult to find the runway. Visibility was less than 50 feet as well with severe icing conditions on the ground. The anti-ice slowed the rate of icing but it could not deice the plane. With that I had to cheat the weather for takeoff. Once above the clouds and heading east I caught the first glimmers of sunlight. Here approaching Denver already on my descent. I also experienced the low clouds and icing conditions during the arrival to Colorado Springs. Fortunately these conditions were better than in Steamboat Springs. I set up for the RNAV approach to runway 35R with @gp4tom parallel on runway 35L. Bit of a hard landing this time. @CHASMAN2014 and @Vega66 made their opposing landing without issue (nothing to see here!) while I was taxiing to the terminal. I was able to get one quick group shot with us while @rajo and @Quintao were preparing to depart. @ghun1 was up above on patrol with his Starfighter. Which looks amazing by the way! If only we had a CSL that looked so good. Have a great trip @rajo! We will miss you these couple of weeks. I'll hopefully see the rest of you in Boston this weekend. Have a good one!

Hello all, In keeping with the vintage theme, a flight with the default Piper Cub from Middle Peninsula Regional seemed perfect. With the great cockpit visibility I also could not pass up the opportunity for photo scenery and made sure all of the scenery was installed and working properly before the flight this time. The only thing I did not plan for when plotting this flight was the chance of winter weather. The Cub does not even know the meaning of the phrase "anti-ice" so keeping low and out of clouds was paramount this week. Also, watch out for the skydivers on departure! Passing Norfolk the rain was really coming down, but the ceiling continued to rise. Eventually approaching Elizabeth City the skies cleared to broken and a nice sunny day. Passing Elizabeth City Coast Guard Station. From there I followed shores and bridges to Kitty Hawk. And shortly after, joined the pattern for runway 21 at First Flight Airport. My final approach was a bit high but the landing was butter according to the plugin. I taxied down to the end to allow @gp4tom and @ManofMac time to land before backtracking to the ramp. From here I got a good view of the Wright Brother Monument and Hangar. Safely at the ramp to conclude a successful flight. Happy 120th Anniversary of Flight everyone! See you next week in Colorado!

Yes I downloaded it but did not get around to unpacking it in my scenery folder apparently. Judging by the others' screenshots though, it looks very good! Got it installed now.

Hello all, I had a difficult time finding a good map of nearby airbases to start from this week so I began at Phoenix Field with the Virtavia C-17. This was my first time flying the XP12 version and I am very happy with how well it is still running in 12. I departed on what I thought was runway 27 but due to magnetic variation, turns out that was actually runway 15! Flying past Mount Erebus on my way north to intercept @CHASMAN2014. And following Chas back to McMurdo Station. For some reason swift placed his aircraft on the ground while he was actually a few thousand feet AGL. Probably something to do with the option to clamp floating planes to the ground. I flew around for a little longer and then entered the pattern at Phoenix Field to land. Good thing this has reverse because brakes do not work at all. After landing I taxied a couple of miles to where @Quintao and Chas were parked. I did not get the other custom scenery installed before this flight. It appears the scenery package and the default scenery have the airports in different locations. @Fatherofsam joined us shortly after I slid into a parking spot. Kind of funny how we go to one of the coldest locations on Earth and we get less icing than the warmer latitudes, haha. Great to see Antarctica again and with better weather this time! See you next this weekend at First Flight Airport!