Bear Strike!

Sad to hear of this bear strike by a B-737-300 at Yakutat airport on Saturday evening. Crew and passengers were fine; aircraft damaged; bear didn't make it. This real-world incident immediately reminded me of a Microsoft Flight Simulator X expert challenge that I attempted, quite a few years ago. It started as a simple short night hop over the hills from an inland valley airport to Yakutat, in the Beechcraft King Air, a twin-turboprop. It rapidly degenerated into a nightmarish scenario, first with loss of airspeed indication. Next came a critical (left) engine failure, then a vacuum pump failure, with the associated attitude and directional gyro flight instruments slowly going belly-up. That was followed by a challenging night low-ceiling instrument approach to Yakutat, with the failed engine catching on fire in the procedure turn. After handling all those challenges successfully, I found myself touching down on the snow-covered runway, with limited braking, but thinking, "I did it!" Suddenly a bear comes running across the runway, illuminated by my landing lights at the last moment. I eased in a little rudder to drift left behind the bear on the slippery runway, steered slowly back to the centerline, and came to a stop. After taking a deep breath. I thought, “That would never happen in real life, would it?“ ;-)

Colorado Air and Space Port

Caught me by surprise! I thought I was flying into Front Range Airport (KFTG) from Las Vegas in my (simulated) Daher TBM 930, but got frustrated when I couldn't find the official Airport and Approach charts. It turns out, they've renamed it to Colorado Air and Space Port, with a new identifier KCFO. I knew of the effort to become a landlocked spaceport, but not that they were going to officially rename the airport, and give it a new identifier.

On the ground at KCFO, taxiing off runway 26, with the fuel pumps and hangars to my left. 

First Flight in MSFS2020

I just finished my first flight using Microsoft Flight Simulator 2020!  The scenery and aircraft are as detailed and beautiful as promised! 

I was very uncomfortable for the entire flight from Centennial (KAPA) to Aspen (KASE), since aside from the primary flight controls, everything (notably keyboard and joystick shortcuts) is different than it was in earlier versions of Microsoft Flight Simulator X that I've used for almost thirty years, and of course also different than X-Plane 11, that I've been using for the past 21 months. Hopefully, I'll get the hang of identifying and customizing the shortcuts soon. I'll lean on the side of optimism, and say I really enjoyed it. Looking forward to many more fun flights. 

Enroute from Centennial to Aspen. Nice rendering of the Rocky Mountains along the way!

Entering downwind at Aspen. I've flown in here before, in real life, and this feels pretty realistic.

Taxiing off the runway at Aspen. Cool detail, even some of the ground workers are walking around.

Pulling into my tiedown spot at Aspen. Some great detail in the airport clutter, and the hills in the distance to the east.

Anchorage to Denver in a C-130

I found an interesting X-Plane model of the C-130 four-engine turboprop transport, and decided to feel it out, by flying the same route from Elmendorf AFB in Anchorage, to Buckley AFB in the Denver area. I didn't have any aircraft operating documentation when I started, but I later found a Flight Manual, Performance Manual, and Pocket Guide online - maybe too much information. Ground handling was intuitive and straight-forward, as long as I kept my speed down. The landing gear stance is very narrow, so this aircraft has a tendency to lean away from a turn at higher taxiing speeds. I took a guess at a rotation speed in the 120 knot range, with flaps at 20 degrees, and that worked out well, as the aircraft quickly lifted off and transitioned to climbing quickly. Gear up with positive rate of climb, and flaps up at about 140 knots also seemed to work well.

Here are some operating notes I made for myself:

Climb at 180 knots to 10,000 feet

Climb at 170 knots to 15,000 feet

Climb at 160 knots to 25,000 feet

Props want to run over 100% RPM so back them down after takeoff

Initial approach speed 170 knots

Final approach speed 150-140 knots

Avoid full flaps until landing is assured

Thrust reverse is crucial for stopping quickly on the runway

Autopilot works well for holding heading, rate of climb/descent, and altitude. It looks like Approach mode is also available.

Approaching the local mountains, and climbing into a broken cloud layer, at the same time, raises the pucker factor. The main question is, am I climbing fast enough to clear the hills, without seeing them?

The answer to the above question is yes, without a doubt. Of course, I was taking advantage of Foreflight's Hazard display, which shows close underlying terrain in yellow, and any terrain near or above my altitude in bright red, so it was easy to tell, even in the clouds, if I was above or below the terrain in front of me, and I had a plan to turn toward lower terrain, if it looked like I wasn't going to clear the terrain in my climb.

Climbing away from my initial cruise altitude of 22,000 feet. I wasn't sure what a good cruise altitude would be, for this aircraft, as I didn't have any kind of operating manual for it (I do now!), but 22,000 seemed intuitively to be well within the capability of this powerful turboprop transport. Once I'd leveled off at 22,000, and the airspeed had increased, I decided to see if I could climb higher.

Beautiful view of the Chugach Mountains behind me.

Passing Horsefly Lake, British Columbia. That sounds like a well chosen name, for a place to avoid, especially in summer clothes!

Approaching Lake Koocanusa, Montana.

Passing Canyon Ferry Lake, Montana.

Passing Yellowstone Lake, off to the right under the broken clouds.

I know it's Yellowstone Lake, and I know right where it is, because I'm using Foreflight to follow my flight path. I'm also trying the Synthetic Vision capability of Foreflight on the iPad. This shows me the equivalent of a Primary Flight Display on the split screen, and includes a portrayal of what the terrain in front of me might look like, on a generic day. In this case, it shows rolling green hills, which is a lot like the view out the windscreen.

Descending toward Buckley AFB in Denver, with the intent of intercepting the runway 32 ILS approach, which should help me get aligned with the glidepath to the runway.

On short final approach to Buckley AFB. I had "gotten behind the airplane" during the descent, so I was pleased to have things under control at this point. Not an impressive showing, but not awful, for my first time in this airplane.

Taxiing off the runway at Buckley AFB, with the Rocky Mountains in the background.

ATC Zero events

Things sure are different out there. Since we’re laying low most of the time, we don’t get to personally experience all the weirdness. I just ran across this writeup on ATC Zero events (unexpected total closures of Air Traffic Control facilities, when COVID-19 gets into them), and some tips for how a pilot can minimize the impact to their flying.

Anchorage to Denver in SR-71

For the last leg of my SR-71 Blackbird flying adventure, I'm departing Elmendorf AFB in Anchorage, Alaska, for Buckley AFB in Denver, Colorado - heading back home! It looks like this adventure will have covered flights to Seattle, Denver, Honolulu, Okinawa, Anchorage, and back to Denver. Here are some things to do in the Denver area. 

The Anchorage weather is reported as winds calm, visibility 10, with a broken layer at 4,700 feet, a temperature of 12C and dewpoint of 7C. Should be an easy departure.

The Denver weather is reported as wind from 320 degrees at 4 knots, visibility 10, a few clouds at 9,000 feet, a temperature of 21C and a dewpoint of 1C. Looks to be a straightforward arrival.

The Denver winds are favoring Buckley's runway 32, which is nice, since it also has an ILS instrument approach to guide me in.

Lined up for departure on Elmendorf's runway 24, engines spooled up, and ready to release the brakes.

Climbing away from Elmendorf, on a 240 degree heading. It's hard to make out the Elmendorf runway straight behind me in the Anchorage mist, but it's there if you look hard. The small private airport "Sleepers Strip" off my right wing, is easier to see here.

Turning toward my initial on-course heading of 090 degrees. That heading will change significantly toward to the right, as I get farther south.

Heading eastward along the coast, maybe just offshore from Yakutat, with Glacier Bay ahead on the left.

Passing over a big lake... maybe Flathead Lake in Wyoming? Funny how it's a little tricky keeping track of geography, when cruising so fast, as things on the ground go by quickly.

Crossing the Rocky Mountains and the Continental Divide, near Nederland, a little northwest of the Denver area, while descending toward Buckley AFB. Trying not to descend too low, too soon, I've slowed my descent rate, planning to level off at 16,000 if I'm not past the Rockies by then. I should really be flying an instrument route, or at least an arrival procedure, which would protect my altitude, but with VFR conditions, I'm OK with maintaining my own clearance from the terrain.

On a wide downwind for Buckley's ILS to runway 32, with Chatfield Lake between me and the airport.

On the ramp at Buckley AFB. A B-747 was just starting up and taxiing out, as I arrived. I find it entertaining, to see the automated aircraft in X-Plane every once in awhile.

Okinawa to Anchorage

Heading northeast from Kadena AFB in Okinawa, to Elmendorf AFB in Anchorage, Alaska, a flight of 3,819 nautical miles. My flight-planned route takes me over the tip of the Kamchatka peninsula. In real life, that would be a gigantic no-no (remembering the KAL 007 shoot-down disaster), but in the simulator I'll hope I'm safe from those threats, so I'm going for it. Here are some things to do in Anchorage.

Engines spooled up to 99%, and ready to release brakes for takeoff on Kadena's runway 23R. Planning a right turn of just about 180 degrees after departure, to climb northeast-bound. 

Releasing brakes and starting the takeoff roll, for a departure into low overcast. It doesn't look that low, but in this aircraft, I'll be into it just a few seconds after takeoff.

Turning on course, after departing Kadena, with the airport visible below me. Already climbing through the broken cloud layer.

Climbing to the northeast, over the island of Japan.

Climbing toward the higher altitudes. I've been having trouble getting much above 60,000 feet on previous flights, but since cruise altitudes much higher should be possible, and other people have talked about accomplishing it, my plan is to get as high as this simulated Blackbird will let me go.

Cruising at Flight Level 700 (70,000 feet)! I had to be very light on the controls, mostly using the trim to control roll and pitch, and that helped me avoid losing speed and energy to drag. I suspect it also took me way too long to get here, because now I'm over halfway to my destination, and it appears I will need to start back down soon.

Planning my approach into Elmendorf AFB, the light winds favor the west-aligned runway 24, but it has no instrument approaches, so I'll be flying the ILS approach to runway 06. I'm not even a little excited about trying to fly a circling approach to runway 24 in this beast, so I'll just plan a downwind landing. That's usually a bad idea, but this plane's drag chute is very effective, and I've got 10,000 feet of runway to get stopped, so it shouldn't be a problem. I was curious about the need for the dogleg in this approach, between the HYSON, the Initial Approach Fix (IAF), and SSNOW, the Intermediate Fix (IF). Then I remembered a recent article I read in AOPA magazine, written by a private pilot who was departing Merrill Field, who had a near miss with a military transport departing Elmendorf.

Approaching Elmendorf from the West, just above the Tordrillo mountains West of Anchorage. Since I'm doing my own thing with altitude control, I had initially planned a constant descent into the Anchorage area. However, I realized there was high terrain in front of me, so I stopped my long gradual descent at 13,600 feet, to remain clear of this mountain range. I should have taken a look at the

After crossing the Tordrillo range, I've started a 2,000 ft/min descent toward HYSON IAF (the ILS-06 Initial Approach Fix), which has a published altitude of 3,000 feet.

Descending at 2,000 ft/min, the Tordrillo mountains behind me are now well above my altitude.

Now flying beneath the clouds, I've got mediocre visibility due to the moist air, and am continuing to follow the ILS-06 approach guidance, including the dogleg between the HYSON IAF and SSNOW IF.

On the ground at Elmendorf! Whew. That dogleg made the approach quite a bit more difficult, as I was busy switching my attention from checking attitude, heading, airspeed, altitude, and vertical speed inside the cockpit, to checking position relative to fixes on the iPad, to looking out the window for the airport. And everything was happening at more than twice the speed as the many approaches I've flown in the past, in slower aircraft. I had no problem getting stopped on the runway, though, once I got lined up properly and touched down.

I saved an X-Plane situation while inbound to the HYSON IAF at 3,000 feet, probably because of how uncomfortable I felt with the approach. I'm glad I did, as it gave me an opportunity to re-fly the approach a couple of times. I realize I should've taken it off autopilot much earlier, as there's just not enough time, at 250 knots, to be messing with autopilot heading and rate of descent, while trying to intercept the ILS from that dogleg, and follow it down to the airport.

Flying the approach by hand, it went much smoother, and I was able to grease the landing every time.

Honolulu to Okinawa

Preparing to depart Honolulu for Okinawa, JP. I've been reading about the SR-71 missions, and they talked about flying out of Kadena AFB on Okinawa Island, so we'll call this next flight a "Glowing Heat" positioning flight to Okinawa. This is a long 4,043 nautical mile flight, so I expect I'll be refueling enroute. I don't think X-Plane supports simulated midair refueling, so I'll cheat and add some fuel when I'm halfway there, if the tanks are less than half full at that time. Here are some things to do in Okinawa.

Taxiing out for departure at Honolulu. A Boeing 747 decided to push back at the same time I started moving, so I chose the courteous option of waiting for them to taxi past me.

Climbing away from Honolulu, heading up as high as I can get this beast to climb. I love the well-done sunlight reflection portrayed by X-Plane.

As shown on the Foreflight map, I'm a little more than halfway to my destination, and as I expected, I need more fuel, with total fuel at about one-third capacity. The X-Plane designers conveniently placed the fuel loading controls on the Configuration menu, so I've added about 30,000 pounds of fuel for the rest of this long trip.

After checking Foreflight for the Kadena weather, I've decided to fly the ILS approach to runway 05L. I found this old Kadena ILS 05L instrument approach plate on the Japanese civil aviation website. Hopefully it'll be good enough. All I really need is the ILS frequency for tuning my NAV radio. If X-Plane knows about that ILS, I'll be in good shape for flying the approach.

Still some way from Okinawa, and suddenly the threat screen started lighting up with white dots. I wonder what that's about? 

Looking down, I discovered that Kitajaito Jima Island, with Kitadaito Airport and other structures and signs of civilization, is down there below me. Clever. So the "threats" were probably simulated indications of radio and radar signals emanating from the island.

Descending into a broken cloud layer at 12,000 feet.

Established on the ILS to runway 05L (the ILS frequency worked!), and breaking out of the broken layer at about 1,900 feet, as forecast.

Here's a photo I found on the web, of a real "Habu" taking off at Kadena. The locals named the SR-71 after the local Habu Cobra snake that they thought it resembled.