Milford Sound...

[petermcleland]

I've parked my C47 at Milford Sound with a full fuel load and a reduced weight...Here are a few pics of how it looks:-





















Nigel, you can clearly see the way out in the last picture

BTW...I have got my real live weather working with OpusFSI...It was a nightmare to get it to work but it is fine now

[Nigel H-J]

Nigel, you can clearly see the way out in the last picture

Hi Peter yes, it looks a lot better than I initially thought but guess you still have to be aware of possible turbulence from the mountains after take-off and landing.

Had a look at Milford Sound but nothing like yours, you must have Orbx New Zealand installed whereas I have North America areas plus UK Scotland and Wales. The Milford Sound that Orbx Global has is not a patch on yours.

BTW, found this on YouTube, take off from Milford Sound in a Cessna, the film is speeded up on some parts but I was a little more than suprised to see how close he flew to the mountains at one point.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Sm5ut3b887A

Regards
Nigel.

[petermcleland]

Hi Nigel...I had a little practice with the C47 today with reduced load but full fuel and real weather which was very misty in the vicinity of the airfield...I thought that taxying out would be just too hazardous so I pushed it out to the threshold with the "Y" key. The runway looked very small from the cockpit and I got most of the power on before I released the brakes...I need not have worried as I was airborne well before the end of the runway and the vis in the fiord was fine. I flew out and up the coast a few miles before turning back and trying the landing...I should have been more worried about that!...I flew quite a nice approach path and got through the mist and nicely in sight of the runway. Then I got a bit sloppy and got a bit high and a bit fast, with the result of touching down nearly halfway down the runway and really struggling to stop before the end...The last bit I put on just a bit too much brake and tipped it onto the nose just short of the end.

I got out and surveyed the sad sight of my lovely aeroplane resting on the main wheels and the nose, but not actually crashed YET! Then I thought I would push it back a bit with Shift+P and then gave a touch of brake...OOPS! that really crashed it when it tipped back onto its tailwheel with a very loud thump

Well I now know I can get it out of here for my RTW trip...BUT I will be worrying all the way round, about getting it back in here at the end

[cstorey]

Peter : I was most interested to see some of the real world approaches to Milford on youtube , which come down the fjord and then go round the back of some of those hillocks before approaching the runway towards the SW . Although I have been there twice, it has been by road and I had not realised just what a dicey proposition the flight from Queenstown was . Which R/W did you use for your troublesome approach ?

[Nigel H-J]

Then I got a bit sloppy and got a bit high and a bit fast, with the result of touching down nearly halfway down the runway and really struggling to stop before the end...The last bit I put on just a bit too much brake and tipped it onto the nose just short of the end.

Hi Peter, could not reply earlier as the library was closed on Thursday, re: above, I have to admit that has happened to me when flying into one airfield at Hawaii, initially my approach was good until the latter stages when I became too high but stupidly continued in the false knowledge that I would be able to stop before the threshold end due to the fact that it touches down at around 85kts and I would have plenty of time to stop, how wrong I was!!

It is a challenging aircraft to fly and even the landings can be tricky if your're not careful.

Looking forward to your reports regarding RTW trip and of the challenges you face, with a cruising speed of 150 -160kts when it comes to crossing large expanses of water are you going for height to something like FL150 to conserve fuel or just keep below 10,000ft?

Regards
NIgel.

[petermcleland]

Chris, I landed to the NE as it is the only way I've landed there before. I took Off to the SW.

Nigel, when I did my Pacific Circuit in the R4D, if the weather was reasonably clear I did my long ocean crossings down at 2000 feet and I quite enjoyed that so I will probably do the same this time. BTW all those years ago I left the R4D at Milford Sound!

The trailer video of the Mosquito on my channel here:-

https://www.youtube.com/user/petermcleland?feature=mhee

It should start running as you get there...It was taken in P3D v2 a few years ago.