Captain Coffee 2,030 Posted November 6, 2016 Report Share Posted November 6, 2016 (edited) Well...Maybe I'll get it all the way there. I suspect that you suspect I know you know me well enough by now to put money on me only doing a few legs and forgetting about this venture...hahaha. But, for now, inspired by Ice Pilots episodes where they find a long lost water bomber located at a military base in Venezuala, and plan to fly it back to Yellowknife (still not sure if Venezuala found the paperwork for the plane yet...no spoilers please...) and thought it sounded like a hella interesting trip for the variety...if my patience can stand the distance...over 4500 miles total for the delivery. I decided to route myself up the Caribbean chain, up over Haiti/Cuba, then jump up to Florida and up it's coastline for a while...then pretty much GPS straight to Yellowknife once the long water crossings are behind us. Leaving Puerto Ordaz Venezuala in the dead of predawn...to maximize our daylight for the carib section of the flight. Just cruising towards the coastline...can't see anything hardly below. We are cruising along at 8500 feet. There was quite a bit of lightning flashing going on through this stage, but as luck and Vskill would have it...didn't catch a single darn fork despite dozens of tries....sigh. Still over the mainland...getting a bit lighter on the horizon. Dawn is peaking up behind Chacachacare island, part of the peninsula island chain at the straights of Bocas Del Dragon (Dragon's Mouths) between the Caribean sea and the Gulf of Paria, Venezuala. Crossing the Venezualan coast line and just ahead... We are out over the Carib...crusing comfortably at 205 kts IAS. I have aproximately 6.5 hours or range left in my tanks, 1 hour into the flight...should see me most of the way if not all the way up the Carib chain...if not, plenty of refuel spot ahead...we are playing it by ear. Autopilot is on, but we are adjusting heading and altitude constantly to avoid clouds...this is a VFR trip as the bomber is not rated for IFR flight, or high altitudes. We are pushing our limits at 9500 - 10,000 feet at times. Grenada and it's northern islands recede behind us. Approaching Carriacou...and the end of this first section for "tonight"... My real world time jumped ahead to 2:30 AM with the time change here...so I saved the flight at this point and will return to it later. To be continued... Edited November 6, 2016 by Captain Coffee Link to post Share on other sites
SEATAC 400 Posted November 6, 2016 Report Share Posted November 6, 2016 Great flight Captain! Looking forward to the next leg Link to post Share on other sites
brett 2,316 Posted November 6, 2016 Report Share Posted November 6, 2016 Great PIREP Matt, looking forward to the full trip. Link to post Share on other sites
UKJim 502 Posted November 7, 2016 Report Share Posted November 7, 2016 Nice pics mate Link to post Share on other sites
wain 879 Posted November 7, 2016 Report Share Posted November 7, 2016 nice one, best of luck with this one... looking forward to the rest of the journey..... Link to post Share on other sites
Captain Coffee 2,030 Posted November 8, 2016 Author Report Share Posted November 8, 2016 Hello again from the Caribbean. I actually changed up the flight plan just a bit...in the first set of pics, I was only flying in FSX. I decided to make a simulated Buffalo Airhauler Company, and opened an Easy Level company, sold the 737, leased a DC-3, a Beech Baron, and an Electra, hired pilots for all of the above, and have them in TR's for the various aircraft. Meanwhile, I ATM'd "My'Key" a few million dollars to purchase a Cl-415 water bomber and have it delivered to Venezuala, there to be Discovered by My'Key. After doing the TR for it down in Venlund, I stiched together a series of long commodity hauls up the Carib Chain...and put on a few AdHoc pax for the Rep and a few extra bucks for gas money...and restarted the flight...at 4x speed to get caught up to the spot where we were in the Former Screenshots. So here we are again, still fighting our way throught the clouds now on our way to TJSJ - Lous Munoz Marin International Airport, Puerto Rico....all the way from SVPR - Manuel Carlos Piar Guayana Airport in Venezuala...where this plane has sat for some 20 - 30 years prior to a crack Buffalo crew getting it reconditioned for the flight home to Yellowknife...and hopefully make a few bucks now on the way there. Passing over St. Lucia, Hewanorra International Airport is just below Aéroport international Martinique Aimé Césaire Cruising past the island of Dominica. Guadeloupe is in the distance. St. Thomas Vieques just before P. Rico. Over Puerto Rico now...ATC has me vectoring around for runway 8 On final, with about 1/2 hour of gas to spare...just above our minimums. A most unusual visitor to the gates. Our Commodities are medicines, so Customs will be visiting the aircraft to ensure all our paperwork is up to snuff, and the customer should be on hand to take control of their controlled substances. We are taking a short break in Puerto Rico to enjoy the sun and have some fun. All work and no play makes us into Boss Joe...F that. Margarita time! Link to post Share on other sites
dolf8857 640 Posted November 10, 2016 Report Share Posted November 10, 2016 Stunning shots Matt! Link to post Share on other sites
wain 879 Posted November 10, 2016 Report Share Posted November 10, 2016 great shots, enjoy the break....... Link to post Share on other sites
brett 2,316 Posted November 10, 2016 Report Share Posted November 10, 2016 Love that shot over St Thomas. Can't beat the visuals when island hopping. Link to post Share on other sites
Captain Coffee 2,030 Posted November 15, 2016 Author Report Share Posted November 15, 2016 (edited) Moving on again. We spent a few days soaking in the delights of Puerto Rico...and by soaking in I mean RUM...not naughty stuff. We are all good ol Canucks on this trip afterall...and representing for Bufauxlow Air based in Yellowknife Alaska. While at the hotel bar, we ran into and "clicked" with a couple fellows from the Johnson Space Center down on a working vaccay themselves. They flew commercial down here to pick up a supply of Medicines, not sure why they are picking them up in person...furtive looks made us not inquire further. But as it transpires they are heading back our way, have 7,000 pounds of medications to bring back with them, and we have spare jump seats and enough room between the water tanks to fit their Medicines. Looks like another very very early morning push-back from TJSJ , with Medicines and Pax aboard for a nearly 1500 mile flight to the Johnson Space Center, Florida ofc. A refueling stop will be required this trip...as we only have enough fuel for approximately 800 miles of the trip...maybe better as we will have nice tailwinds most of the way up to 28kts. Shots on the way out of P.Rico...Dealing with some weather again...but not for long. And dodging clouds as well as weather again... Grand Turk Island is just ahead...first landfall after the 350 miles or so from P.Rico. Pressing on...I didn't get any snapshots of our refueling spot...MYLS, Stella Maris, Long Island Samana Cays I can't match this up to a google image...Mystery Cay? Approaching Florida. Johnson Space Center "Skid Pad" (KXMR) just ahead...no way we would be able to land here without the JSC employees aboard and their Mystery Meds...we are very very happy for the close look. On Finals Job and Leg complete. Our new friends have promised us a VIP tour of the facilities. Afterwards we will probably bunk down in the plane tonight as we don't want to leave the facility and try to get back in without our friends in close tow, and hope to head out again tomorrow...weather permitting. Cheers, see ya next leg. Edited November 15, 2016 by Captain Coffee Link to post Share on other sites
dodgy-alan 1,587 Posted November 15, 2016 Report Share Posted November 15, 2016 Fantastic work, really well done, great captures along the way. 1 Link to post Share on other sites
Captain Coffee 2,030 Posted November 15, 2016 Author Report Share Posted November 15, 2016 (edited) Thanks Alan, I may get this one done actually. I was sick from work yesterday (thanks, I feel better now) and had time to run another leg up as far as Kentucky...will post more later tonight after work . The distances involved are way farther than I normally fly, so I have had to resort to flying at 4x speed between screenshots, to save my sanity and evening time available. I have to say, the North America ORBx upgrade has done very well around the carolinas/kentucky/middle America areas...quite a bit more impressed than when I video'd the Hughes H1 Transcontinental flight some time ago. Edited November 15, 2016 by Captain Coffee Link to post Share on other sites
Captain Coffee 2,030 Posted November 16, 2016 Author Report Share Posted November 16, 2016 (edited) Well, we found out what the Mystery Medicine was for, several communities in the Carolinas, Tennesee, and Kentucky...where our friends from the Johnson Space Center originate from...this Rocket Scientists are donating medicines to the rural communities nearby where they themselves were raised, as a way to give back to their homes. Those "furtive glances" were really just Modesty. Really swell guys, and we volunteered to shuttle the load bound for Kentucky for them as we were planning on routing up near that way anyhow. One of the JSC guys is accompanying this trip to see that the Meds make it home to their contacts at the local health centers. We are hauling a bit over 2,000 lbs of the 7,000 we hualed up from Puerto Rico...and stuffing it back into the hold between the water tanks. (Happy Airhauler accident...there was a mission to haul 2000 lbs of medicine to 70KY and that is how I ended up setting this as the leg destination...totaly worked with the story so far, thus Happy Accident...we jumped on it for 55,000 dollars worth of Gas Money :D) Starting right where we left off...ready to start up at the JSC "Skid Ramp" - KXMR Cleared to Kentucky and taxi to runway 31. We have opportunity, and permission, to fly between the launch pads on our way out to get a great arial view...ofc we took lots of snapshots like gawky tourists...here's just a couple. Hauling up the Florida coastline. A look at the VC in this freeware waterbomber. It's not lovely, but it is functional and does the job. Also a look over our waypoints entered into the Popup GPS I install into every aircraft I own...it's easy, complete, and simple to use...and I forget which addon it came with. We are over the mainland/out of Florida and barreling northish westish. We didn't get much view of Tennessee and the Carolinas, as cloud cover kept the scenery pretty socked in through a couple states. Once we got up into Kentucky it was clear and...I am pretty impressed with the terrain improvements in this part of the country after the ORBx NA-LC upgrades. As I said in a post above, I was very underwhelmed with this whole part of the country when I blasted over it on my H1-B Transcontinental flight. Kudos ORBx. This is the last image from the flight. 70KY is about 12 miles north under the right wing somewhere. 70KY turned out to be rather shorter than I thought it would be, and we put the plane into a hangar at the end of the runway...at a bit above normal taxi speed, and we will be remaining in Kentucky for a week or so while we do some sheetmetal work on the banged up nose and right wing, and hangar door. Repairs may run as high as 70,000 dollars, will eat up all of the Adhoc and cargo money made thus far on the trip...but we aren't in the red thankfully. I'm sure time dilation will get us up and flying virtualy before the week is up however Airhauling aint for Sissys. Edited November 16, 2016 by Captain Coffee Link to post Share on other sites
wain 879 Posted November 16, 2016 Report Share Posted November 16, 2016 nice one Matt, shame about the little bump you had though, been a good trip thus far.... Link to post Share on other sites
brett 2,316 Posted November 16, 2016 Report Share Posted November 16, 2016 Enjoying all these wonderful shots and narration Matt, agreed North America is looking good. Link to post Share on other sites
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