My Summer-2019 Round-The-World Trip Summary

So it looks like I visited somewhere on the order of 47 cities and 30 countries, on my "around-the-world westbound" adventure. I flew the X-Plane simulator's version of the Cirrus Vision SF-50 personal jet. The biggest challenge with that little aircraft, is the limited range, which in a few cases, severely limited my flight planning options. I had a few semi-harrowing experiences, but the worst part occurred in my head, as I was thinking through what was happening, and how to deal with it. I used the TripHappy.com trip planning website, to create this image, which shows my complete itinerary. They only allow 30 cities in one trip, so I had to break it up into the first part of the trip and the last part of the trip. I created the image by manually stitching snapshots of the two TripHappy itinerary pages together, using the very capable GIMP image editor. It's just a static image, though, so if you want to get some information about each city where I stopped, follow the TripHappy links above, and click on the popup that appears, when you move your cursor over each of the stops.

If you want to follow my trip from the beginning, click here to go to the original post. At the end of that post, you'll find links to "Previous Post" and "Older Post", which you can use to navigate from one flight to the next.

Omaha to Denver - Finally Home

Today's flight is the last leg on my round-the-world westbound trip! I'm heading from Omaha to Centennial airport, in the southeast Denver metropolitan area. I got started late, so this will be entirely a night flight, with some cold moist weather expected in the Denver area. Here are some things to do in the Denver area.

It wasn't trivial getting everything started this evening, with the cockpit so dark, I couldn't find the switches. I discovered the "Aviation Flashlight" option on the X-Plane View menu, and it saved the day, by gently highlighting everything around the mouse cursor in a dim red glow, not unlike the red-lens flashlight that I would really use, when flying at night. With that help, I found the BAT 1 and 2 switches, the avionics sprang to life, I found the engine start switch, brought the generators online, turned on the exterior lights, and life was good.

Taxiing out to runway 32L at night was much easier than in real life, with X-Plane painting my assigned taxi route in yellow.

Cleared for takeoff on Omaha's runway 32L.

Wheels and flaps up, and climbing above the runway.

Climbing out over the city of Omaha, Nebraska, and up into the very dark night sky.

Climbing through 15,700 feet, and leaving Omaha behind. The enroute portion was a routine night flight at 26,000 feet, with nothing much to report. I could see the lights of the larger towns I was passing, and the occasional airport.

Descending through 11,300 feet towards Centennial airport, at first being vectored by ATC for the ILS 35R approach, which suddenly was switched to an ILS 17L approach, as the real-world weather got updated with opposite direction winds. I dimmed the instrument lights, to make it easier to see outside, but there wasn't much to see, besides a few stars, since a low layer of clouds had formed below me.

After a few vectors, the simulated ATC folks had me intercepting the final approach course to runway 17L. There is no ILS 17 approach at Centennial, so to go with the flow, and accommodate the simulator's clearance, I pulled up the GPS 17L approach, which worked even better, as it gave me the option to get a few feet lower at the missed approach point. The missed approached wasn't necessary, as I broke out of the overcast at around 6,600 feet, which is about 500 feet above the airport. You might notice in the debug data block to the upper left, that I had turned on the deicing equipment, when I started picking up ice during the descent through the clouds. I also had to turn off the strobe lights, as they were reflecting madly off the clouds, making it difficult to concentrate on the approach.

On the ramp at Centennial airport, parked in front of the Jet Center, and The Perfect Landing restaurant. It was a little too late for their delicious dinners, though, so I just left the aircraft there, and headed on home! Good night to all! Looking forward to getting into my nice warm comfortable bed!

Chicago to Omaha

This flight is from Chicago O'Hare to Eppley Airfield, in Omaha, Nebraska. A few years after we moved to Colorado, we drove out to Omaha, to attend the wedding of two friends who had both been coworkers of mine in San Diego, many years before. We wanted to fly ourselves there, but the weather was awful, and forecast to get even worst, so we braved the nearly 12 hour drive instead. After experiencing the truly nasty weather from the highway perspective, I was tempted to say I'd rather have flown, because even with a huge detour for the weather, we'd have gotten there in half the time. Here are some things to do in Omaha.

Following ground control's instructions to taxi out for takeoff on runway 22L at O'Hare would've been a challenging task, except that the simulator made it easy, by drawing the cleared taxi route on the ground with a big yellow line.

Departing O'Hare, with most of the airport sprawling out in the background. Such a large expanse of runways, taxiways, and other airport infrastructure!

The enroute portion of the flight was uneventful, with nothing much to look at, except miles and miles of farm fields, spread out between Chicago and Omaha. So here we are, descending into the Omaha area, flying a vector to intercept the ILS approach to runway 32R.

Turning to intercept the localizer for the ILS 32R approach. I tried using the extra little light blue pointer on the primary flight display, tuned to the Omaha VOR, to see if it would give me some horizontal situation awareness during the approach, and I think it was quite helpful. At this moment, it shows that the VOR is 1 mile ahead of me and to the right, so I'm basically turning right around it.

On final approach to runway 32R at Eppley Airfield, with the Missouri River just ahead, between me and the airport.

Parked on the ramp at Signature Flight Services, which has a small facility on the other side of the runways, from the passenger terminal buildings.

Here's the Omaha airport taxiway diagram. I love that it overlays my current position on the chart, to help me find my way around unfamiliar airports.

Zooming way out in spot view, the Omaha airport fills the image, with my position in the center. You can correlate this picture with the taxiway diagram, to figure out my location, but it's made more difficult by the fact that the small rectangular building that houses the Signature FBO is also blocking your view of me. It's sort of an interesting perspective, though.

Toronto to Chicago

This next flight is heading more westerly again, from Toronto, to Chicago's O'Hare International Airport - back in the USA, after months away! We spent a few days in Chicago, visiting the University of Chicago Medical Center, to talk about Kristan's eligibility for a Kidney-Pancreas transplant. Interestingly enough, the first thing they mentioned, was that she didn't really need to be on supplemental oxygen at their altitude, near sea level. Here are some things to do in Chicago.

Departing Toronto's Lester B. Pearson International airport. The view looking back, provides a good sense of the size of this airport, which serves a major metropolitan area.

Climbing through 10,000 feet, into the afternoon sun.

Cruising at 26,000 feet toward Chicago O'Hare. The weird thing on this flight, is that ATC gave me a 240 degree heading to fly, when leaving Toronto, and never gave me the usual "Resume own navigation" instruction, which would have allowed me to intercept my planned track. The heading vector they gave me, roughly (but not exactly) paralleled my 249 degree planned course, so I slowly drifted off the course line. I kept waiting for them to give me a right turn to a heading that would put me back on course, but it never came. I was ready to abandon using the ATC services, but I wasn't far off course, so I stayed with them, to see what they would do, when I got close to Chicago.

Sure enough, and a little to my surprise, at the last minute, ATC gave me a 90 degree right turn, toward my planned course, and also toward the approach path I had requested, when filing my simulated flight plan.

After I got really close to my desired approach path, then ATC finally gave me that long-awaited "Resume own navigation" instruction.

The curvy approach path I'm following, is courtesy of the WATSN THREE ARRIVAL (they used to be called STARs) with the ZANLA transition that I chose to fly, since a jet arriving in the Chicago area from Toronto would be likely to be assigned such an arrival route.

Following the curvy arrival route toward the ILS approach to runway 27R.

Established on the ILS localizer and glideslope, with the airport lights just becoming visible in the haze.

Catching a quick glimpse of downtown Chicago, and the shoreline of Lake Michigan, to my left.

O'Hare airport is huge, as evidenced by the widespread groups of lights of the various runways, that fill up my windshield, even at this distance.

I'm amazed at this little jet, that was able to make the first turnoff, without working hard. That's mostly due to the low approach speed, the excellent brakes, and maybe I should get a little credit for cutting the power expeditiously, getting the wheels on the runway as quickly as possible, and applying the brakes right away. Woo hoo, it feels good to have something work out so well.

Taxiing toward the Signature Flight Support building, which is at the far left end of the long building ahead.

All settled in, at the Signature FBO, with tanks full of jet fuel, and ready for the next flight.

Saguenay-Bagotville to Toronto

This next flight is from Saguenay-Bagotville airport, to Toronto Pearson airport, Canada's busiest airport, and the second-busiest international airport in the Americas. Here are some things to do in Toronto.

Departing Bagotville airport. Looking back down into the dusk, the airport lights stand out against the dark background.

Turning towards Toronto, with the setting sun already below the horizon.

Chasing the sunset westward. As I use superfast groundspeed, I'm catching the setting sun.

Passing the moon.

Descending into the Toronto area.

Setting up for the ILS approach to runway 24L at Toronto.

On short final for runway 24L. Night fell, while I paused the simulator to eat dinner.

On the ground at Toronto, trying to decide where on the vast airport grounds to park.

Found a spot to park, at the end of the terminal building. Hoping nobody decides they need to use the nearby jetway..

As I was sitting there, planning my next flight, I noticed another SF-50 parked ahead of me, and also saw the twin landing lights of an MD-82 landing on runway 24L.

Schefferville to Saguenay-Bagotville

As I head generally back in the Denver direction (southwest), my limited range takes me next to Saguenay-Bagotville airport, in Alouette, Quebec. Here are some fun things to do, in the Saguenay-Bagotville area.

Taxiing out for takeoff at Schefferville airport, I see that the ubiquitous L-5 Sentinel aircraft is taxiing out ahead of me. I often see this Artificial Intelligence (AI) generated aircraft moving semi-randomly around the ramps and runways, doing what appear to be ground-loops, at almost every airport I visit. On many occasions, I've had to wait awhile, sometimes several minutes, for ATC clearance to take off, while this AI aircraft repeatedly loops its way down the runway, until it's finally found its way to a place on the airport that doesn't interfere with a takeoff clearance. Sigh...

Climbing out from Schefferville, and turning left onto my flight planned southerly course toward Saguenay-Bagotville airport.

So once again, I'm passing over this interesting circular lake in Quebec province, with a huge island in the middle, named Manicougan Reservoir. I learned earlier, from researching it during a previous flight in this area, that this annular lake was formed 214 million years ago, by the impact of a 3 mile diameter meteorite. Also known as the Eye of Quebec, this lake can be seen from space.

There's so much water up here in Canada! Think of the boating, swimming, fishing! And the mosquitoes! In this snapshot, I'm passing over a beautiful lake, which I think is "Lac Pipmuacan," or Pipmuacan Reservoir, about 90 miles from my destination. At this point, I'm focusing my attention on beginning my descent into Bagotville.

Another snapshot, this time from inside the aircraft, while still over Lac Pipmuacan, about 2 nautical miles from the Top Of Descent (TOD) point depicted on the moving map display. I setup the G1000's Vertical Navigation (VNV) profile in this aircraft for a 2.5 degree descent slope, so it advises me when I need to start down, and gives me a recommended descent path all the way down to the altitude at the initial approach fix (IAF). Very cool stuff. In the past, none of the aircraft I used to fly a lot, had any of this avionics sophistication, so I would always have to make a mental calculation, based on the airport elevation, my calculated groundspeed (GS, by timing waypoint crossings along my route), my desired vertical speed (VS), and my cruising altitude, and estimate about where I would be along my route of flight, when I needed to start down. I occasionally miscalculated what my GS would be when descending, or didn't exactly achieve my planned descent VS, and ended up arriving near my destination, way too high, and needing to dive to the airport. The sooner I recognized what was happening, the less of a dive it needed to be. The G1000 VNV capability makes this descent process so much easier!

I like to fly the instrument approach when I can, even in clear weather, since it gives me more familiarity with the avionics, and especially at unfamiliar airports, it can reduce the number of surprises when nearing the airport. Coming into radio range of the airport, and picking up the Automated Weather Observation Service (AWOS), it becomes obvious that I guessed wrong, when setting up for the runway 11 approach at the airport, since the opposite-direction runway 29 is currently in use.

Now I've setup the G1000 for the ILS runway 29 approach. This approach is a little more complex than the runway 11 approach, which was basically straight-in after a left turn. This one requires a left turn away from the airport, to turn onto the final approach course outbound, then a procedure turn to reverse course, and then tracking straight-in to runway 29, intercepting the localizer and glideslope along the way.

Tracking the segment of the approach to intersect the outbound course, with the airport ahead and to the right.

Descending through 8,200 feet, with the moving map showing the airport off to the right, and the turn to the outbound course about 14 miles ahead, or about 3 minutes, at my current speed.

Peeking out the starboard-side cockpit window, to spot the airport off to the right.

Finishing up the procedure turn, and turning onto the final approach course, inbound to the airport.

Tracking the localizer and glideslope, with higher terrain depicted along both sides of the approach course, about 10-15 miles off either wing. Slightly high on the glideslope, as the aircraft initially balloons up, after applying full flaps.

On short final to Saguenay-Bagotville airport. I guess it's not all that surprising, that there is yet another stand of tall trees, off the approach end of the runway.

Parked on the ramp at Saguenay-Bagotville airport, with a collection of what appear to be rescue helicopters and some F-4 fighters, parked in the distance.