A Shorter Short

[Captain Coffee 2,030]

SC7 Skyvan rocking it in the PNW. The Alaska livery implied rugged, this trip was good evidence it is well suited to inclement ops.

 

I had a bulky cargo of tools for a fairly Short haul from my new base at 16S - Myrtle Creek Municipal, Oregon down to KSIY - Siskiyou Co, Montague, California...about 75 miles, a great check out of my new Shed, after I get checked out in it of course.

First I had to get my TR...which went smoothly early in the day during perfectly clear blue skies, I was itching to load up the tools and get my first paying job in the new Short SC7 Skyvan. No pictures during the TR though...examiners don't like us taking selfies during check rides...sigh.

 

Here she is in Alaska Air Taxi livery on the ramp prior to the TR. I'll be mixing it up between Pax and Cargo though...lots of seat changes in this bird's immediate future.

 

Later that afternoon after my TR paperwork was completed, the weather rolled in like 9 pins...and my itch turned into prickles...but I went for it...ILS of course.

 

I was very glad for a rather complete Icing Equipment panel that had working switches for Pitot, engine inlets, props and surface....the clouds blanketed us fast, clouds full of Snow!!!

 

Thankfully the snow cloud layer was thin and I popped out of it fairly quickly, but I turned the icing systems on a few more times during  the flight as we popped in and out of layers due to sticking to our ILS course.

 

Humming along in clear air...doing a conservative 150 kts at the moment. These skyvans realllly don't like to overspeed, they pitch and shudder very close to their Max Speed marks.

 

I'm on the way out of the higher mountains and ATC has directed me to below the clouds in prep for arrival to KSIY.

 

There is a bit of crosswind, about 12 kts, Skyvan didn't seem to mind, I hardly noticed till I popped out for an external view.

 

And like it's cousins the longer Shorts, it stops short of the taxiway without trouble...and taxis quite well.

 

Cheers, thanks for looking!

Coff.

Edited December 24, 2016 by Captain Coffee

[wain 879]

nice one Matt, its a strange looking beast but does look like fun...I am waiting for the DO228 to come to xplane, thats another weird looking one....love your wintry scenery, ORBX?....

[dodgy-alan 1,587]

Always had a soft spot for the "Five ton budgie". They are superb aircraft a great trash haulers. Always delightful to fly in FS as well. These shots capture the rugged nature of these aircraft. Nicely done Matt.

 

[ShrewsburyFC 215]

Nice shots Matt, looks like an interesting plane!

 

Sam.

[dolf8857 640]

Must be the "Mini" Version Matt, nice shots!

Edited January 7, 2017 by dolf8857

[Captain Coffee 2,030]

Thanks Dolf, still having a blast in this circumnavigating the western US states.