mutley 4,487 Posted January 5, 2011 Report Share Posted January 5, 2011 Welcome to the first part of our final leg for ATWCIII It was late afternoon, from the quay at Stornoway, Brian spies a large dark vessel breaking through the swirling mists... With no air taxi available we arrived in Stornoway on the car ferry “Isle of Lewis” from Ullapool. Sharon and I spent most of our crossing on deck at the pointed end re-enacting scenes from Titanic. It was a choppy crossing with the waves often breaking over the bow. Now we were within the protective arms of the harbour. At times like this you dream of having wings and escaping to the freedom of the air….. We drifted into port almost silently, luckily this was a straight in approach, the pilot had done it a thousand times before ... then.. “LEFT HAND DOWN A BIT! Came a cry from the bridge then CRUNCH..BANG! The ship had just “docked” at Stornoway and moved the quay two foot to the right. Luckily the Mutley's Hangar credit card would not have to foot the bill..... this time As we disembarked, jumping over the gap, a dark stranger emerged from the fog. There was something very long and tubular shaped in his pocket, as he reached and started to pull it out Sharon gasped and fainted, little did she realise it was only the baton. As the strangers face emerged from under his fedora it became illuminated by the dim street light, I recognised it as a friendly face. Brian! I yelped, am I pleased to see you! Brian then squared his shoulders and said “Hi Joe, I see Sharon is in the gutter again, has she been drinking those Harvey Wallbangers again?” With this Sharon comes-to, rises to her full height (At least 6 inches taller than me and Brian), pats Brian on the head and says “Needles, my hero” “Sorry Shaz, we’re history, I don't know you (Honestly wifey!)” was his reply. We dined in the Digby Chick that evening, a lot of laughs and back-slapping went on as we recalled previous ATWC PIREPS. Sharon was strangely quiet wondering if this would be her last ATWC flight, obviously remembering other things about the challenge as her eyes were focussed in the far distance. Morning Drawing back the curtain I blinked to adjust to the bright light. Brian was right, the fog did lift, local knowledge paid dividends here, I was going to postpone my flight but Brian insisted it would be ok, Whatta guy! My aircraft was already fuelled and on the apron ready, Brian's good like that, when you are talking to him it seems like he is in another world, but he knows every word you are saying and files it away somewhere! So there she is.. easily recognisable as a Twin Ott.. Er.. BN2 Islander from AlphaSim/F1! After settling up the refuelling and landing fees we file our flight plan we would soon be on our way. I am a bit rusty on the old Islander, perhaps I should have taken that check flight, "CLEAR PROP" nearly made me jump out of my seat! I forgot Sharon was doing the honours. Taxiing to the active, I notice what an open and windswept place this is. The guys at Eastern were getting their Jetstream ready. After a 10 minute taxi we had reached the hold (Try out the link sometime) All checks done, we're spooling up the Lycoming engines Lesson 1, don't set too much trim on a STOL aircraft if you have a long runway! We shot up and left our stomachs on the ground. Sharp left orbit looking back down to the apron. Having set the course we are off to the STN VOR Right turn, heading for the mainland. Now we are well under-way, it's time to inspect the baton,looking closely I noticed it is getting very battered, this was her 3rd time around the world. There were specks of sand from the outback, tarmac scrapes and slight rippling of the surface where once she had been left in jet blast. I could be re-ordering a re-build and paint from our agent in FL. Keep an eye out John! Ah, default scenery, it must be the mainland! Heading over the Lochs I set my season to winter (Whoops) Now you can see why, real world weather, the snow is still falling in the north east. Oh boy! Please excuse the continuity! Back to non-seasonal photo scenery. We left George in charge for an hour, I noticed we had picked up the localiser. Approach hold on. Taking us through the blanket of cloud. Bingo! A welcoming site, the PAPI is spot on but we are a bit to the left. A big, watery sun gives away the time of year. As we are descending a snap and buzzing sound comes from the bulkhead? Seems ok but airspeed zero?!! ATC have a look and confirm there is nothing visually wrong. Cleared the ILS antennae, we should be ok A real greaser, Sharon just comments "Fluke!" Pleased we are holding EasyJet and KLM Running through shut down checks. Wae'aye man! welcome to Newcastle and the end of our first part Hope you enjoyed, next up EGNT > EGHI Link to post Share on other sites
ddavid 149 Posted January 5, 2011 Report Share Posted January 5, 2011 Well, what a professional job - you haven't lost the Master's touch, Boss! And the narrative - just right - especially papering over the cracks between photo-default-photo scenery. That weather forecast came in handy. By the way, did you forget the pitot tube heater?!? With the last part coming up, I'm starting to get blurred vision (Must be the Newcastle Brown! - Ed) - Go for it, Joe! Cheers - Dai. P.S. Thanks for the 10-Minute Taxi H.U. - excellent stuff... Link to post Share on other sites
IcedUpPitotTube 0 Posted January 5, 2011 Report Share Posted January 5, 2011 Top notch commentary, scenery, and aircraft! Thanks for the 10 minutes taxi link. Looking forward eagerly to the part 2. Link to post Share on other sites
Aidan 1 Posted January 5, 2011 Report Share Posted January 5, 2011 Ohh, im excited now Joe! Post Part 2 Link to post Share on other sites
ehunyadi 0 Posted January 6, 2011 Report Share Posted January 6, 2011 Ohh, im excited now Joe! Post Part 2 Very cool! Well done! Link to post Share on other sites
rob16584 42 Posted January 7, 2011 Report Share Posted January 7, 2011 Great leg Joe. Is that the horizon VFR scenery? I might have to save up for it and trade in my JF VFR Scenery Link to post Share on other sites
mutley 4,487 Posted January 7, 2011 Author Report Share Posted January 7, 2011 Yes Rob and with Treescapes it is fantastic, see pt 2 for more shots Link to post Share on other sites
SEATAC 400 Posted January 8, 2011 Report Share Posted January 8, 2011 Loved it! Great story telling, Joe. :gtfl: I think we should present Sharon with some sort of award, as she is actually present on a greater portion of the ATWC than any of us. That girl really likes to travel, and she puts up with a lot of rude comments from all of us pilots. Link to post Share on other sites
mutley 4,487 Posted January 8, 2011 Author Report Share Posted January 8, 2011 That'a a good point point Rich, let's hear it for Sharon!!!! :dance2: Link to post Share on other sites
hurricanemk1c 195 Posted January 8, 2011 Report Share Posted January 8, 2011 Just catching up after a short holiday - and what a leg Joe! Loved these shots! Link to post Share on other sites
stu7708 244 Posted January 9, 2011 Report Share Posted January 9, 2011 Great stuff Joe.. Like Kieran I've been away for a few days and are trying to catch up wiht things, and the final leg of the ATWC comes high up on the priorities :icon_thumbup: Love the Islander, but it's so slow... takes ages to get me any where... and those approach/landing shots looks stunning... Link to post Share on other sites
Kevin Firth 114 Posted November 16, 2013 Report Share Posted November 16, 2013 Can anyone tell me what scenery for Stornoway was used in this please? Cheers k Link to post Share on other sites
needles 1,010 Posted November 16, 2013 Report Share Posted November 16, 2013 Hi Kevin, It was Generation X Photographic scenery Western Isles, from Playsims / Horizon. http://www.playsimspublishing.com/titles/v4fsx.html Hope this helps. With treescapes and Scotflight scenery, it really comes alive. Cheers Link to post Share on other sites
Kevin Firth 114 Posted November 16, 2013 Report Share Posted November 16, 2013 Cheers for that Brian Had a look for screenshots of the scotflight scenery but couldn't find any that matched the screenshots here, so wondered if it was something different. k Link to post Share on other sites
mutley 4,487 Posted November 17, 2013 Author Report Share Posted November 17, 2013 Kevin, I am pretty sure that this was Scotflight, it was so long ago and my memory is so poor! Link to post Share on other sites
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