Not a Short Flight. (51* images, not phone friendly)

[Captain Coffee 2,030]

Since winter and a hangar collision incident put a stop to my long Water bomber ferry mission to Yellowknife from Venezuela ( until both the weather and Uncle Joe thaw out),...I am taking on a Ferry Mission for another Air hauler company. I flew nearly this same leg in a C5 last year hauling/ferrying a couple ATWC planes for an ill-fated attempted Vintage Amphibian channel crossing. This time I'm in a North American F-100 Super Sabre. A plane that was nearly obsolete by the time it was put into service. It's loud, sort of fast being able to just get above mach 1, and sucks fuel prolifically...but it is fun as heck, like flying an inefficient but loud "look at Me" Harley...this one in Camo paint: "Thor's Hammer". Hopefully it won't take a beating in my hands.

 

I am picking the plane up at KRBL, Red Bluff, California, and I am to deliver it to LSMF - Mollin, Switzerland, hopefully in 3 legs, but  after leg one I'm sure that I'll need a Greenland pit stop on the longest 2,000 mile leg #2 ahead to Iceland, then 1000 miles to a possible pitstop in England at EGYC - Manchester if necessary, or if not, straight on to a final 450 leg to Mollin...that's the flight plan anyhow.

 

 

Leg #1:

Locked and loaded at KRBL with full tanks including 325 gallon external ferry tanks. Taxi clearance is Go, and my Push Back is disconnecting.

 

 

AB on and accelerating after getting take off clearance from the tower.

 

 

AB off soon after take off as I'm worried about winds aloft and may need every drop in those tanks...this is a Ferry, not an Intercept Mission.

 

 

Taking a gentle climb rate to FL300 at 2,000 fpm...well below it's VS capability, again, saving fuel.

 

 

Nevertheless it isn't long before I am at 30,000 feet...deciding that I'll be climbing to FL400 for the thinner air, maybe as high as FL500, its ceiling, if winds are better up higher.

 

 

Pretty sure this is over Idaho or Montana.

 

 

Well into Canada now...I believe Calgary is way off in the distance beyond the mountains ranges below.

 

Racing that sun to Manitoba now.

 

It may be catching up to us...

 

Nightfall definitely beat us to Churchill. dropping through the cloud cover at dusk wasn't fun, but got through it.

 

Turning onto final

 

Cheers, off to bed in VL and RL. Thanks for looking. BTW...I shut Thor's Hammer down with 52.5 gallons left in the tanks. Prudence paid off.

 

~Coff.

 

 

Edited February 7, 2017 by Captain Coffee

[rosariomanzo 545]

Great shots, enjoyed your flight!

[mutley 4,487]

Nice selection Coff, I didn't realise you are a thrill seeker too!

 

Those are unusual format shots, what screen res are you running, or are they cropped?

[brett 2,285]

Nice work on the fuel savings and great start to the ferry flight, well done.

[Captain Coffee 2,030]

9 hours ago, mutley said:

Nice selection Coff, I didn't realise you are a thrill seeker too!

 

Those are unusual format shots, what screen res are you running, or are they cropped?

 

 

Regarding Point #1...see my "For Brett" video on Youtube, and My "c46 into Tapini" landing...yes, Indeed I seek thrills....just not usually with cargo on board.

 

Point #2:

I am using a dual monitor setup at the moment. total res is 3840x1080...I may have shrunk a couple of these to make them possible to upload on FSsnaps...it had a file size limit.

On my screen they are all displaying the same size...do any of these look "different" on your monitors/setups?

I tend to Push the Aircraft closer to me in the screens (ctrl+-) in dual screen mode, otherwise they look tiny in the screenshots, that might be making them look cropped.

Edited January 16, 2017 by Captain Coffee

[brett 2,285]

Thrill seeker or bent on suicide, we are not sure yet.

[dodgy-alan 1,587]

Great Pics, The letter box format seems to work although the actual aircraft appears quite small in the frame.

[J G 927]

I like the pics the way they are, very nice. 

I am guessing that it's the Milviz add on,  a great addition to anyone's FS. I really enjoyed reviewing it a while back.

I tend to race about the skies when flying fast jets, so note to self, try a delivery flight some time and see how far I can get on a full Tank! 

[Captain Coffee 2,030]

Yep, MilViz's F100 Super Saber.

Ferry range seems to be a bit over 1400 miles.

 

I'll add pics to this post later, right now my butt is sore after a double Not Short leg fromChrchill, CYYQ to Iqaluit,Greenland- CYFB to refuel, then to BIKF, Rykjanesbaer, Iceland for the night.

 

 

Start of Leg 2, Churchill Manitoba to Iqaluit, Greenland for a hopefully fast refuel, then continue to BIKF, Rykjanesbaer, Iceland for the night.

 

I am fighting the short Northern Winter Daylight hours, so I'm getting an early start an hour before light. I am glad I didn't start earlier as I had an interior lighting issue preventing me from seeing the indicators well in the pre-dusk glow, any earlier and I'd have had to wait for light anyhow.

 

Trying a new fuel strategy, get to altitude as fast as possible.

I found during the last leg my best fuel/speed ratio seems to be between FL 420 and FL450, at that altitude full throttle and Mach .95-ish still gives 3,000 lb per hour burn or a bit less. Dropping out of afterburner at that height increases flight time too much as the speed drops by quite a bit more than the fuel savings are worth, and dropping altitude increases fuel burn for no speed savings. Going much higher increases AOA causing increasing instability for No fuel or speed gain...so FULL AB to 30,000 feet, at which point the climb rate starts to suffer, and I drop from 9000 FPM climb to "economy AB" and a 2000 and decreasing VS till at the point that the fuel flow has me at full throttle to stay at the "Cruise" setting EPR guage...about 140 indicated.

 

 

I break above the high wispy cloud cover just as the sun breaks cover.

 

Long way to go:

 

Daylight

 

That is Coats Island Greenland in the distance.

 

And I am so bored now that I start fiddling with the weapons controls, safe in the knowledge their are none on board, and taking care to not hit anything labeled "jettison" lest I lose my fuel tanks.

 

Before too long fuel is getting lowish and after recalculating fuel burn, speed and remaining miles to Iceland, the planned pit stop is in order. Speed brake deployed on the belly.

 

Have my approach from tower...im on a long base.

 

I hold my breath while landing this...it takes a very gentle hand and steady approach to avoid bunging it up...more on that later.

 

Glad it has a chute because the brakes are not impressive.

 

Fuel was at the far end of the airfield...I started to get concerned..."they DO HAVE gas don't they?".

 

Checking gauges, all look full.

 

And with little fanfare right back up to catch the rest of the daylight airborne.

 

Almost at the wispy stuff again out of Iqaluit.

 

And then the light shifts color and the countdown to nightfall and Iceland begins...we're pretty certain we have a night landing ahead of us.

 

We are Quite Certain.

 

No Question...Black Iceland Ahead.

 

Eventually we descend into it...FYI...I am Not 100% confident on this plane. It took me 3 tries to get my Type Rating in the F-100 to qualify for this ferry mission... (I totaled an F-100 on my second try :(....not a mission plane though. Nope I wrecked a Mission Plane on my First TR try and bashed it down to 15% integrity. So I cancelled the mission rather than fly an un-repairable plane bound to fail the mission...sigh...) <That is going through my head as I land At Night with Zero interior lights on the dash...Sharp eyes may notice a glow in the cockpit, that is me flicking the Zippo I keep in my flight suit pocket...I am flicking it at the dash once in a while to check the instruments.

 

Sparing us all the impossible to see landing shots, as well because it was nerve wracking enough without trying to take screenshots during :D...(it was a Smooth landing...phew), It's time to put us to bed again.

 

Cheers, One more Leg/flight to go...possibly a two legger depeding on how the fuel/wind looks over the SE of England tomorrow.

 

Oh shit...I actually work RL tomorrow (semi unemployed these days). Looks like I need to put the Sabre into a hangar in case it freezes up.

 

~Coff.
 

Edited January 17, 2017 by Captain Coffee

[mutley 4,487]

15 hours ago, Captain Coffee said:

 

 

Regarding Point #1...see my "For Brett" video on Youtube, and My "c46 into Tapini" landing...yes, Indeed I seek thrills....just not usually with cargo on board.

 

Point #2:

I am using a dual monitor setup at the moment. total res is 3840x1080...I may have shrunk a couple of these to make them possible to upload on FSsnaps...it had a file size limit.

On my screen they are all displaying the same size...do any of these look "different" on your monitors/setups?

I tend to Push the Aircraft closer to me in the screens (ctrl+-) in dual screen mode, otherwise they look tiny in the screenshots, that might be making them look cropped.

 

The images look fine on my 34" display @ 3440 * 1440.

 

FS-Snaps individual file size limit is 2MB even using .jpg these big images can easily exceed that. Unfortunately I cannot increase that as size is money, and it looks like the storage is filling ahead of schedule.

 

Another great flight, you must be really tired, a day at work will give you the rest you need 

[J G 927]

12 hours ago, Captain Coffee said:

 

..... Cheers, One more Leg/flight to go...possibly a two legger depeding on how the fuel/wind looks over the SE of England tomorrow.

 

......
 

 

SE England! Give me a wave as you pass over Guildford.

[wain 879]

nice one Matt, so glad of the warning about volume of shots, like the format too it looks really good....

[brett 2,285]

Great flight Matt, looks like you are coming to terms with this fine aircraft.  

[dolf8857 640]

Amazing shots these Matt, been a nice trip either!

[Captain Coffee 2,030]

Back to Iceland to finish the ferry job!

 

I had barely a week to spare for this delivery, and my schedule and the weather schedule finally peaked at the same time, permitting another cold and early departure.

The plan this leg is to head straight for LSMF, Mollis Swiss overflying the South Eastern UK for a potential fuel pit stop.

Since one does not simply pleasure fly a mach 1 vintage fighter jet without letting folks along the way have a heads up, my flight plan is scheduled a day in advance and I have reserved a 'tentative' hangar spot at Norwich EGSH in case any weather issues ahead, or mechanics along the way are amiss upon arrival for my pit stop.

 

All is set, clearances are given, and I'm taxiing to position for departure.

 

Up and cleaning up..

 

AB to altitude...planned for 35,000 to start...might increase it along the way if necessary.

 

At this height the weather is less an issue than the glare...

 

It seems like no time at all, but it was actually about an hour and a half to land fall, and fuel is looking iffy...fuel flow was pretty high on the way so far.

 

And thus, welcome to Nor'Itch, UK...which I only know how to pronounce/butcher due to a lovely pair of dogs my folks used to have, RIP Rosie and Hoagie, our Norwich Terriers.

 

As usual landing is two and a half handfulls in this thing, so no "Touchdown" shots are likely to be forthcoming for a while in this, but here is the tale of the Airhauler Green tape proving I'm not Slewing this very hard to fly airplane to locations and taking pretty screen shots...I can actually land this bird with great difficulty...but "OK" is best I can hope for thus far.

 

Yes please, make it a double Jack!

 

And back at it in short order. There were no issues on walk around, the machine has been purring like a loud nearly indestructible Hoover vacuum cleaner of the same vintage...and the resemblance is uncanny.

 

Still climbing as I clear the UK coast.

 

And a shot of the famous Channel so wide that people are actually able to swim across it...with great difficulty (Props to those hardy souls! )

 

And in short order climb rate is reduced as I cross the coast near Middelburg, Netherlands.

 

Approaching my Switzerland Destination, and the cloud cover is daunting...reports are of low cloud cover along the approach to Mollis...a rational person would find an open airbase nearby to land instead, like the one directly below me, as an alternate and await for a clearing at LSMF.... ...

 

But I turned Active Sky Next OFF instead. 

Because my ass hurt (I only ever fly in Normal Speed mode), it was late at night, and it's a game. hahaha.

 

Cleaning up and heading to the ramp.

 

Buttoned up and heading to Bed. Tomorrow is a long commercial flight home, with 120+ grand delivery in my account affording a first class ride.

Maybe a cuppa of Swiss Chocolate before nap time.

 

Thanks for being wing persons for the flight.

Coff.

 

 

 

 

Edited February 7, 2017 by Captain Coffee

[J G 927]

Great flight Matt!

 

You passed about 120 miles north of my place so no wave from me , I do have relatives in Norfolk, but not in Norwich itself.

 

The Hun is a great aircraft, and I have enjoyed your delivery flights a lot.  It makes me think I should do an historic flight and perhaps deliver a RAF Tornado. I should probably fly from Kandahar AB to RAF Marham in Norfolk, with a stop at RAF Akrotiri in Cyprus to mimic the withdrawal from Afghanistan.  Leg 1: 2500 Miles, leg 2: 2,750 miles. If anything these numbers are too high for the ferry range of the aircraft, which is said to be 2,400 miles. So a mid-air fuel top up will be needed on each leg. 

 

All I have to do is to find a good FSX rendition of Kandahar AB and RAF Akrotiri

 

J      

[wain 879]

nice one Matt, love the 3rd one of this set, climbing into the sun, superb, I bet every pilot sometimes wishes they could turn Active sky off...lol...dont want the fuel bill...

[Captain Coffee 2,030]

Thanks guys. I wasn't actually hot to hop in it last night, but seeing 6 days, 12 hours, 34 minutes to expiration of the ferry mission motivated enough to get the job done. Trouble is I accidentally accepted another F100 ferry mission which also has 6 days (5 now) left on it...going the other way to some Vxxx airport...probably somewhere near Everest with my luck. I doubt I'll have the time and weather to get that one done. ie..this mission rep I just earned is probably going to flush right away again.

 

J.G. in my experience you should plan for roughly Double the in flight refuels based on the way this thing sucks down the J4, good luck at pulling that off! I would love to see video of it, or at least a screen shot with the probe in the hose. I have tried practicing inflght refueling and do not have the "steadies" for it. I'd need a refuel hose that self grapples by guiding itself to a lazer on my probe...hey, I bet that tech is possible to invent...wait for it!

 

I'll look forward to your trip if/when you get round to it. One thing for sure, if you have to spend 5000+ miles in a FS jet cockpit, it should be a Very Well Modeled one like MilViz's F-100...stunning job on this addon.

 

Wayne...I rarely turn off ASNext, and rarely fly without it. I was quite embarrassed to do so, but given the Pass/Fail nature of the AirHauler Ferry Mish, short time frame to get back to it, late night, sore butt, extreme difficulty putting this bird down in Good Weather, contemplation of a second F100 to deliver Very Soon: ... .... "Fark it...Land and finish, put this and Me to bed" were my main thoughts as I realized I was heading for a cliff via GPS terrain, in dense cloud cover. Pause, ASN OFF "...oh, hey...big cold snow covered cliff too!, hard to port, and now I see the base".

 

Cheers.

Matt.