Mutley's Hangar Big VFR Adventure

LEG 7: EGCK-EGGP (Caernafon-Liverpool) (Continued)
We continued our flight around this small area of Wales and passed over Holyhead harbour, the starting point for many people’s journeys to Ireland by ferry.

Comparing the scenery to Google Maps showed that the harbour was perfectly recreated in FSX. After passing Holyhead it was time to turn and head of Liverpool, unfortunately it looked like I was going to be assigned runway 9 to land; I was hoping for runway 27 so that I could fly over Ellesmere Port.

As I approached the coast of England the green fields of Wales gave way to a sea of lights as we approached the European Capital of Culture. Final approach took me over the areas of Heswall and Bebbington before landing with a gentle thump at Liverpool John Lennon International.

So what have I learned from this volume of Just Flight’s Real Scenery?  Firstly, Wales is a beautiful place to fly over and this scenery is fantastic for doing so.

Each flight has been immensely enjoyable and this is mainly down to the massive improvement that this scenery makes over the bland default scenery.

Secondly, with careful planning it is possible to fly flights completely VFR without the use of the GPS, although this does depend on the cloud cover at the time! The only downside to this scenery is that it takes up 12GB on your hard drive, but the amount of detail included in the scenery is jaw dropping at times. This volume (3) is now available for under £20 from the Just Flight website, and if you are unsure about buying it, you can always download the video and demo first!

I hope you have enjoyed the adventure so far, there is a still lot more to come. I have only included a handful of the pictures taken during trip so far, for the full set of shots, please visit this slideshow
 

LEG 8: EGGP-EGGB (Liverpool-Birmingham)

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What had been a nice, easy and uneventful flight on a calm Saturday afternoon, quickly descended into mayhem as I approach Birmingham... The first flight around Volume 2 of Just Flight’s Real Scenery would take me down the middle of England to Birmingham International Airport. The area of Birmingham, Coventry and Wolverhampton is available as a standalone download, you can read that review here After taking off from Liverpool we flew outbound on runway heading until we reached 5 miles from the airport, then started a gentle right turn to bring us on course for Birmingham.

The weather was good today and visibility OK, so this should be a good flight. Unfortunately our route did not take us along any major roads, so I played it safe and used the GPS for guidance, whilst taking in the picturesque scenery en-route. Cruising along at 3,500 we had a fantastic view of the ground below us as we passed over the M6 and many A-roads.

After a short 20 minute cruise it was time to contact Birmingham tower and request permission to land. We were assigned runway 15, which was a straight in approach, so we began our descent whilst still taking in the pin sharp scenery around Birmingham. This was going to be a nice easy landing before heading to the pilots lounge for a drink.

Then all hell broke loose! Just before we began to descend to the runway the approach controllers swapped shifts, and it would appear that the new guy had drunk one too many orange juices on his break. Maybe for his own sick amusement, or through stupidity, he decided to open up both runways 15 and 33 for arrivals and departures.

The first aircraft to leave from runway 33 was an A321 which sailed way overhead without too much trouble, and then I was hit by the jet wash and had a real struggle to keep my little Cessna the right way up. Next up a 737 left from runway 15 without too much hassle and I was given my landing clearance, and just as I touched down an Ethiopian A-300 lifted off just in front of me and screamed overhead, missing me by inches.