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Leg #56 SAWH - YSRN

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EHM-2097 Andrei:
I have started the world tour a few weeks ago.

As I am writing this I have flown 7 legs, and already feel like I have a lot of ideas, route and sightseeing suggestions, to share. This is my reason to start writing this series – partly to help others fly the tour, partly to explain what one misses by not flying it (and therefore tempting some undecided pilots).

OK, my other reason is to get some extra motivation in order to actually complete the tour :)

Warning 1: This is by no means THE way to fly the world tour, just one way among many others. Though I intend to set my "rules" and "modus operandi" (see below) and stick to these for as long as possible, feel free to follow my advices for one leg while totally ignoring these for the next one.

Just fly the way you like as long as it goes within the tour rules.

Warning 2: People flying the tour may expect - and get - various types of excitement from this endeavor. For me, the interest stays in VFR orientation and sightseeing (more than challenging landings, for instance).

While reading this, if you feel we don't share the same kind of interest in the tour, then this series is probably not for you.

Warning 3: At this time I will start writing about my "current" leg flown, but I intend to come back and "document" the first tour legs too. Just have a little patience…

VFR tactics
While flying this tour I try to fly 100% VFR, which is: no navaids, no peek at the GPS, and, most important, no looking at the internal FS map to check the actual aircraft position. For some legs this is easy, for others it will get tougher, but it could (should?) be feasible, I already did it one year ago while reenacting the 1924 London – Melbourne race route.

This method requires good maps, and while lots of printed maps exist, I warmly recommend GoogleEarth. Basically, it's possible to choose landmarks on GoogleEarth and actually follow these as waypoints in FS, even with the default terrain mesh (and it only gets better in regions one has finer terrain mesh for).

As a general tactics, these landmarks should be big terrain features. Shorelines are generally good, isolated mountains are too; rivers are trickier because FS does not differentiate very well large rivers from smaller ones. There may be exceptions but, as a general rule, railroads are closer to reality than roads.

And of course, the best landmarks one can find in FS are airports, especially those with particular layouts.

If you like this approach, I recommend avoiding too nasty weather because in thick fog or clouds it gets too easy to miss important landmarks and get lost. "Clear skies" is a little unrealistic but "Fair weather" looks like a… fair choice (take my word for it, this gives just enough clouds to make visual orientation a challenge without making it impossible).

Aircraft
Throughout this tour, I intend to use two types: the Fokker 70 for legs ending on runways with at least PAPI lights, and the Beechcraft 1900D for the more challenging landings.
This matches my present landing skills, so be sure to choose the aircraft according to your own skills - not mine.

To make things easier, some legs are within the range of a Cessna 172; to make these tougher, I have seen some people even used the Boeing 747.

(to be continued soon)

EHM-2097 Andrei:

EHM-2097 Andrei:

EHM-2097 Andrei:

EHM-2097 Andrei:

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