The kettle has boiled, was it Bombay Chai, Earl Grey or Lapsang Souchong?

..Biggles

I say Earl Grey, the missus adds ''decaf.''  Don't tell her I brought lemon biscuits.

All,

2 amazingly splendid and smooth flights across Brisbane on this fine Thursday morn.  For a change.  Smitty is feeling rather cocksure that his instructions are sinking in.

I offer that smooth and straight winds, an ILS approach, and a dead-on-centerline landing at redcliffe made it pretty, pretty, pretty easy.

For now, a shot of Team Fenric resting on laurels.

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FS² v3.0 w/172 Detail - FSX SP2 - CH yoke & pedals - GoFlight / Saitek / MPanel - TrackIR 3 w/VE

i7-920 airclocked to 166, Vista 64 Prem, GTX 260, 9GB 1300 DRAM, 1TB OS / 200GB s/s FSX drive

"Geronimo"

After about 15 minutes in the air, ATIS confirms that rwy18 is in use as I had planned - slight wind from 220.  A quick hello to Maroochy tower gives us clearance.  Downwind, base, then line up on final.  Smitty is comfortably quiet.  I guess he noticed this friendly grove of trees in the way and was wondering how to vector us through them.... 

I call a go-around with Smits and a reassignment for rwy36.  It didn't look as crowded.

Well, not as.... 

"No sweat," I thinks to m'self.  "Just hit those green lights slow and square with at least one wing intact."

Whatever happened, the flying gods approved.  I'm going walkaround the field, looking for what's left of my nerves.... 

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FS² v3.0 w/172 Detail - FSX SP2 - CH yoke & pedals - GoFlight / Saitek / MPanel - TrackIR 3 w/VE

i7-920 airclocked to 166, Vista 64 Prem, GTX 260, 9GB 1300 DRAM, 1TB OS / 200GB s/s FSX drive

"Geronimo"

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FS² v3.0 w/172 Detail - FSX SP2 - CH yoke & pedals - GoFlight / Saitek / MPanel - TrackIR 3 w/VE

i7-920 airclocked to 166, Vista 64 Prem, GTX 260, 9GB 1300 DRAM, 1TB OS / 200GB s/s FSX drive

"Geronimo"

Fenric (10/30/2009)

---

Charlie Brown has his kite-eating tree, and Team Fenric has their Austrailian plane-eating trees.  Still, not a bad day all around - got the total landing average over 70.  We'll stretch our bones at Bundy, grab a bite and a flick and a toddy of rum, and hand out candy to the kiddies after dark.  Smitt's already dashed off to go see an exhibition of old tractors and chain saws.  He's a real wild one.

..

Good to see you and Smithy getting along. Well it takes all sorts  they say.

Had a spot of bother yesterday, what.

Ran into a swarm of dunny flies & had to put it down quick on the beach

Fortunately we met some nice people who were off crock hunting in the Yani river. They said we could join them if we wished. One look at Henrietta's face which was displaying a look of horror and my mind was made up. Well, it's not everyday that you get the chance to go crock hunting, is it? Come along H. it will be a new experience for you!

Biggles

Oh bother.  Hope you and H were able to make a day of it.  If croc is similar to gator, as I expect it would be, do save some of the tail for us when we catch up with the two of you at the end of phase 1. 

If, on the other hand, you're well out of ice then grill and enjoy.

Toodles,

--Fenric

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FS² v3.0 w/172 Detail - FSX SP2 - CH yoke & pedals - GoFlight / Saitek / MPanel - TrackIR 3 w/VE

i7-920 airclocked to 166, Vista 64 Prem, GTX 260, 9GB 1300 DRAM, 1TB OS / 200GB s/s FSX drive

"Geronimo"

To the Director General, Royal Australian Aerodrome Adjunct Obstacle Planning Commission.

Dear Sir,

I noted with pleasure the relative absence of arboreal foliage on my recent approach to Rockhampton Airport runway 33.  I thought the placement of the single tree dead on the runway centerline to be a most special touch, bordering on the psychotic.  Spot on, old chap.

However the location of the 12-story Rockhampton Airport Plaza Towers only a mere 100 feet off-center of the runway surely indicates that you aren't trying hard enough.  My good friend and instructor Mr. Smitty T. Smithers-Smythe gave your shining edifice no mention whatsoever as we glided by, devoting his time to calling out the crosswinds.

In the future, I expect to see more challenging obstacles to a safe landing at one of your many fine airports.  Giant windmills, erupting volcanoes, or herds of hovering helicopters are some possibilities that I strongly suggest be discussed in sub-committee.

Yours faithfully,

The Right Honorable Fenric, leader of Team Fenric, and Mrs.

P.S. I have never kissed the editor of the Radio Times.

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FS² v3.0 w/172 Detail - FSX SP2 - CH yoke & pedals - GoFlight / Saitek / MPanel - TrackIR 3 w/VE

i7-920 airclocked to 166, Vista 64 Prem, GTX 260, 9GB 1300 DRAM, 1TB OS / 200GB s/s FSX drive

"Geronimo"

Those Aussies certainly have a sense of humour, what!. I spoke nicely to the nice man at The Australian Air Transportation Board & he pointed me in the direction of some rose tinted glasses obtainable from FTX.  http://fullterrain.com/index.html  Check it out, the scenery is first class old man, with AU Blue available as a FREE download (covers Tasmania, I think) and quite a few airfields are available for free from the free download section. Good company with excellant Forum & Support facility if needed. See what you think & log it away for the future

Here's the same view of 33 at YBRK

and on the pan.

Biggles

YBRK  R/W 33, or just a snip short of it

Biggles

So you're saying that Queensland isn't a barren stretch of unforgiving, godforsaken desert?  

After a 2-3 year absence from flight simming, I bought an i7 rig a few months ago and am building my fsx add-on suite slowly.  I spotted the Orbx Tasmania demo early on, but have yet to install it - I'll give it a spin on the spindle next week.  The stock scenery on the first few legs of the tour showed a beautiful area, but I'd like to see it throught the eyes of local experts.

I did a wx check for Queensland after work today and saw wonderful conditions for the next 2 stops.  So we snagged Smitty and made a fairly straight-line hop up the coast.  First stop, the wonderful wonderland of Williamson (love what they've done with the grey water all around the strip; really make things stand out, eh?):

I thought I saw Smitty tearing up after he gave out my scores, but he assured me that it was a bad jar of Vegemite.

Then we tripped across the Broad Sound islands and settled in at Mackay - to a point that could not be captured in a mere screenshot... but I'll try nonetheless:

Woo-bleepin'-hoo -- a 100-plus landing score!!  After my first few weeks of 20s-30s-40s, I had thought that such a total was out of my reach.  Heck, I remember when getting a 60 was tough work.  I guess it goes to show that practice practice practice pays off.

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FS² v3.0 w/172 Detail - FSX SP2 - CH yoke & pedals - GoFlight / Saitek / MPanel - TrackIR 3 w/VE

i7-920 airclocked to 166, Vista 64 Prem, GTX 260, 9GB 1300 DRAM, 1TB OS / 200GB s/s FSX drive

"Geronimo"