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.

Denver to Honolulu

This next flight in the SR-71 leaves Denver for Daniel K Inouye International Airport in Honolulu, O'ahu, Hawaii. I've visited this island several times in my early lifetime, and always enjoyed my stay. Love their sunsets! I caught a picture a lot like this one, on my last trip there. Here are some things to do in Honolulu.

This destination is farther than most of my recent flights, at 2,958 nautical miles (NM). I've read that the SR-71 needs in-flight refueling to accomplish its missions, so I don't have a lot of confidence that it has the range to make it to Hawaii from Colorado. However, based on its performance getting to Seattle and back, I think I've got a chance of making it all the way, without having to do any mid-air refueling.

Lined up for takeoff from Denver's runway 34L.

I did the dipsy-doodle maneuver at 30,000 feet, and it worked perfectly - the Blackbird accelerated through the high-drag airspeed range, and started climbing rapidly. In this pic, it's climbing through 39,000 feet at 500 knots, at about 2,600 feet per minute.

Climbing into the dark sky.

Cruising at 75,000 feet.

Descending into the Honolulu area, passing through 17,000 feet.

Descending through 10,000 feet, into the broken cloud layer.

First sight of Oahu.

Nearing the east coast of Oahu.

Approaching the center of the island.

Crossing over Honolulu International Airport, westbound.

Flying the downwind for the ILS approach to runway 08L.

On the ground in Honolulu! Rolling out after touching down on runway 08L.

Stopped on the ramp, in front of a passenger terminal at Honolulu airport, just for fun.

Seattle to Denver

For this next flight, I'm heading from Seattle back to Denver in the SR-71. In this pic of the front panel, before moving from parking, you can see it's 9:30, we're about 250 feet above sea level, the engines are idling at 55% RPM, and there is about 37,000 pounds of fuel in the tank. Well, that fuel level turns out to be bogus, because that needle is stuck there forever - the simulation doesn't move it. That would be cool - if the tank didn't run out, I could fly forever without refueling - but the fuel quantity is actually simulated without being displayed, so I have to check fuel level, by going into a simulator menu to display weight and balance information, which includes pounds of fuel aboard.

Taxiing out for takeoff. The low overcast means it'll be an IFR during climbout, but the METAR (Seattle weather) tells me the skies are clear above, with no significant weather for the flight.

Rolling for takeoff, with the afterburners (figuratively) kicking me back in my seat.

Passing through 40,000 feet, and still climbing like a rocket. Before this flight, I got online and read about the SR-71 some more, during which time I discovered the "Dipsy Doodle" maneuver: "The transition from subsonic to supersonic speeds happens at around 35,000 feet and incorporates a manoeuvre called 'the dipsy doodle.' In this manoeuvre, the pilot starts a descent of about 2,500fpm until Mach 1 is reached. At Mach 1.25 the pilot pitches up slightly to resume the climb while maintaining or increasing the speed." I tried this maneuver, and was so happy to find that it did indeed allow me to continue climbing through 40,000 feet, at a respectable speed and climb rate.

Climbing through 65,000 feet, slowing down a little, but still ascending at a respectable rate. Shortly after this snapshot was taken, something happened to adversely affect my speed and climb rates. Not sure what it was, but this was about as high as I could get on this flight.

Cruising along with a very dark blue sky above.

Starting my descent toward the Denver area, passing through 55,000 feet and heading down fast.

Checking the weather for Denver, and wanting the long runway, it looks like runway 16R will be my choice today. I'll use the ILS 16R instrument approach, to help me get aligned with the runway on a stabilized approach. This airplane, even more than most, needs a stabilized approach!

Descending through a cloud layer over the Rocky Mountains, while approaching Denver from the northwest.

External view of being IFR over the Rockies. Looks a lot the same, as being IFR anywhere else.

Breaking out of the clouds at 14,000 feet, while flying toward the TSHNR initial approach fix (IAF) for the ILS 16R approach to Denver International.

Scooting along between the clouds and the mountains.

Rolling out after landing at Denver. Too bad the simulator doesn't show the drag chute behind me very well, but it's there, or else I'd never have gotten stopped on the runway.