dgor 0 Posted August 30, 2007 Report Share Posted August 30, 2007 Hi all, Just completed this flight in the B737-200 (yes, the MutleysMobile has returned :mrhappy:). Really enjoyable flight although the approach was a bit of a hassle. Nice to get back to the really hands-on flying once in a while, with an INS and steam gauges - certainly makes a nice change. If you have the fantastic, and free, payware-quality Tinmouse II 737-200 (and if not, why not? ) I'll send you the livery if you want, just drop me a mail :-) Preflight checks on the corporate/cargo ramp at Bogota. The CIVA INS took a good 20 minutes to align, so plenty of time to chat with Sharon and the baton carrier! The 737 has had a bit of a spring-clean too, it's just flown in from Kingston, Jamaica after some repairs. Our route for today. Cruising at 28,000ft, it should take us around an hour and fifteen minutes. We have 6.2 tonnes of fuel on board for the trip, by my estimate we'll burn about 4 tonnes of that. I busy myself with loading the co-ordinates into the INS whilst it is aligning. At last the green Ready Nav light comes on on the overhead, and we close up, get our clearance, and commence our pushback. We had to taxi the entire length of the runway which took a while. Some departing traffic passing to our left as we go. At last we reach the holding point and wait for our clearance to line up. The Continental 757 has just arrived from Houston, TX. Lined up, and starting to advance the throttles to an EPR of 1.77 each - it's a long runway so we're using plenty of de-rate. Joe's just given the 80kts call. Note the plume of black smoke in our wake - the calling card of G-MUTH! V1, Rotate! Lifting up into the warm, humid air. Off we go. Hand-flying to the first waypoint, but due to ATC instructions we overshoot. No worries though, the INS can handle it. Not many digital readouts here. The wonderful cockpit of the 732. Our original plan was for FL260 but it was a bit cloudy, so I got Joe to request a slightly higher altitude from ATC. Climbing nicely, and a look at the brilliant INS. Luckily we only had 9 waypoints on the trip so no in-flight reprogramming of the unit was necessary (it can only hold 9 waypoints). Thanks to Fred for pointing the INS out to me by the way. Settled down in the cruise now, with Sharon serving coffee to the flightcrew. Turning at the EJA (Barrancabermeja - what a name!) VOR. Blue on blue Getting cloudier underneath us now, I'm glad we asked for the higher cruise alt. Descending. The 737 is quite easy to climb and descend but the altitude capture part can be a little tricky. The ALT HOLD mode can do some pretty nasty things if you haven't slowed the descent enough beforehand. 4,000ft. ATC have given me the visual approach for runway 2R. This is a bit of a problem as you will see... Visibility is dodgy below cloud level. And with no ILS and only a vague heading from ATC, we have to search around for a bit before we find our runway. Here we go. The 732 is a bit of a dog to fly at these slow speeds but I'm sure I'll find it easier as I build up hours in this bird. Over the numbers. Look at those engines - the fins on the back are straight out of a Batman cartoon. Whoa, baby. Woah. Beginning the short taxi in to our stand. The only delay was a bit of a wait at the holding point for 2L for some landing traffic. Engines shutting down, and the APU taking over the electrics. Cold and dark in Maracaibo. Welcome to Venezuela! Hope you enjoyed. Comments welcome and as I said if you want the repaint just give me a bell. Next up is Reef if I'm not mistaken :-) Dave Link to post Share on other sites
wisemanp 0 Posted August 30, 2007 Report Share Posted August 30, 2007 Great work Dave, great livery aswell! Looked like you handled that approach almost perfectly! Link to post Share on other sites
allardjd 1,853 Posted August 30, 2007 Report Share Posted August 30, 2007 Very cool flight, my friend. Really liked the cockpit and the INS. John Link to post Share on other sites
B77W 0 Posted August 30, 2007 Report Share Posted August 30, 2007 That livery is, very, erm.... :mrhappy: Lovely Shots Dave! Link to post Share on other sites
simi_av8r 0 Posted August 30, 2007 Report Share Posted August 30, 2007 great storyline there Dave, Loved the shots, and the livery!... and i'm sure i've seen that Gemini Cargo MD-11F at the realworld EGNX the other day! Link to post Share on other sites
reef 3 Posted August 30, 2007 Report Share Posted August 30, 2007 Whoa that was fast, thought wisemanP only posted his yesterday! I best get my flying head on and go find an aeroplane to fly. A very enjoyable flight. I tried the tinmouse 737 once but had lots of issues with it. Probably my inability to install correctly. Good stuff. steve Link to post Share on other sites
mutley 4,495 Posted August 30, 2007 Report Share Posted August 30, 2007 Hey Dave, :good Glad you found that runway, I nearly lost sight if the 732 in the 15th shot almost identical to the sky colour :mrhappy: We are really getting through the legs at the moments. Thanks for a great flight. Cheers Link to post Share on other sites
A320cap 0 Posted August 31, 2007 Report Share Posted August 31, 2007 Very nice shots. It must be really nice to fly this old Boeing Link to post Share on other sites
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