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Post by kronzky on Nov 16, 2013 19:15:26 GMT -5
Finally was able to make it all the way to Alaska, and what a gorgeous scenery it is again! Teson should become a travel guide — he's always picking the nicest spots! Unfortunately, while the Talkeetna Village strip is quite scenic, it somehow wasn't compatible with my plane... I tried about 10 times to take off from that strip, and FSX kept telling me I crashed. I tried both directions, even tried all the way to the South, to hop over the lake right away, and I was definitely in the middle of the runway, but each and every time my plane crashed after moving a few meters (even though there were no visible obstacles I might've hit). So — rather than have Teson re-route the race, I started from the village road instead, and that worked out ok...
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Post by kronzky on Nov 16, 2013 19:20:34 GMT -5
The second leg went a lot smoother, and, considering we were over the glacier most of the leg, trying to stay low wasn't really that problematic — after all, what's the worst that's gonna happen? Your wheels will briefly touch the ground? Getting the plane to stop on the glacier was a whole different story though. I guess I should've brought my snow tires, because I was sliding around on that slope forever. But I guess that turned out to be a good thing after all, as I barely made it over the minimum elevation threshold (by FIVE feet!). If I would've stopped any earlier, I guess I would've been screwed...
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Post by kronzky on Nov 16, 2013 19:25:17 GMT -5
Before calling it a day, I always like to rescue some climbers in distress, so off to Mt. McKinley! I had good faith in the horsepower of my C185, so I took the short route straight up. It did get a bit close though, as I was nearing stalling speed at the last hump, but I did arrive in time, to pick her up, and bring her down (again — forever sliding around on the landing).
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Post by kronzky on Nov 17, 2013 16:37:05 GMT -5
These last legs got a bit tricky, as I was never quite sure whether I was at the right place (so many glaciers, so few signs...) So, hopefully I did hit the right spots after all. (Unfortunately, no pictures, even though there were nice very photogenic spots, as I had my hands full with with other stuff!)
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Post by kronzky on Nov 17, 2013 16:45:56 GMT -5
While the C185 is a great racing plane, I doubt it's gonna win any medals in the STOL competition... On top of its fairly high stall speed came the fact that (at least in FSX) you had some pretty high trees right in front of the runway, so that added a bit of extra challenge (and speed). No idea how long it took me to come to a stop — I'll let Teson do the math...
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teson1
Commercial Pilot
Posts: 243
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Post by teson1 on Nov 17, 2013 17:12:27 GMT -5
Flying straigt up to 14000 ft... that C185 is a beast (and so are you )! Well done. I really have to get a more powerful machine and switch to FSX some day. Thet scenery just looks so much more nice. And sorry about your problems with Talkeetna Village strip. I'm sure that's not the first time people in Talkeetna have seen pilots take off from their roads though. I didn't have any issue in my sim, but then I have to run FSX with almost no autogen. (Any reasonable solution to such problems that is within the spirit of bush flying and that doesn't give an advantage is of course ok.)
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teson1
Commercial Pilot
Posts: 243
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Post by teson1 on Nov 17, 2013 19:13:28 GMT -5
Awesome flying ! Great job. Landing distance 250 ft (touchdown 73 ft from RW threshold, stopping distance after touchdown 177 ft) Don't you want to give the Valdez fly-in a shot next year ? That compares pretty favorably with the STOL competition's Heavy Touring Class (C185) results. www.valdezalaska.org/documents/2013_Competition_Results.pdf
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Post by kronzky on Nov 17, 2013 20:21:30 GMT -5
Hehe, ok, if you sponsor my trip to Alaska, then I'll go! And thanks for posting those official result sheets! Pretty interesting, for comparing those to FSX. I guess the C185 is simulated pretty well after all, with my results pretty much the same they got in the competition. The 153ft T/O results looks pretty close to what I'm probably getting in FSX as well, so that's some nice data! Of course, if you look at the experimental aircraft, with a record landing of FIFTY-FOUR FEET — that's just unbelievable. But I doubt they'd make it up Mt. McKinley in a straight line with that plane, so I guess I'll stick with what I have after all!
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teson1
Commercial Pilot
Posts: 243
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Post by teson1 on Nov 18, 2013 5:41:40 GMT -5
Of course, if you look at the experimental aircraft, with a record landing of FIFTY-FOUR FEET — that's just unbelievable. You have to look at the videos. They're essentially coming in as helicopters, hanging onto their props
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Post by kronzky on Nov 18, 2013 8:43:49 GMT -5
Yeah, I do have those videos, and I've watched them many times — but I still find the accuracy of some of those guys absolutely incredible. BTW - in case you haven't already, you may also want to search for the following titles: " Big Rocks and Long Props" & " Got Rocks", for some very extreme real, extreme bush-flying (as opposed to doing STOL landings at an airport). Those were sort-of my inspiration for our racing...
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teson1
Commercial Pilot
Posts: 243
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Post by teson1 on Nov 18, 2013 15:43:36 GMT -5
;D Very cool. Hadn't seen most of the videos these searches led to. Thanks.
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