Although the land textures and scenery aren't up to Austrailian snuff, a few new add-ons do help make the screenshots brighter and more colorful.

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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"

Here's how WATG appeared on approach - honking great welcome mat and all....

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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"

Just a short, straight flight today - just a bit of the team's already-stretched-thin resources have been dedicated to sprucing up the area around WADB, with some "as good as can be expected when you're not an artist" results.

We took a g**gle satellite shot of the area and moved a few stock FSX buildings around to better align things visually, and added four parking slots. (That took time, as there are some stubborn trees that insisted on poking up though the tarmac.)

Runway-wise, we changed the blastpads to overruns, and added touchdown zones to give us a better eyeball target for our nonILS files.  70 feet... not sure it was worth it....

The airport BGL and the two nonILS files that we just used are in an attached zip, if anyone would like to give it a whirl with FSX - all disclaimers apply, etc, etc.  (The "SS" in the BLG filename stands for Sweet and Sour, and the "TDZ" in the other filenames are our reference for "touchdown zone.")

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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"

	Post Attachments
	WADB_FENRIC.zip (1 view, 1.60 KB)

You certainly have been a busy man redesigning your airports of call

My eyes were drawn to the sky and those clouds. Are you using REX or similiar??   If so, any frame hits???

Biggles

Yes, Rex II (and Shockwave lights) was recently added to the rig.  I'm still playing around with the options, so I'm not sure if any fps hits that I'm seeing are more than what I would see with the stock clouds.  I dallied buying REX because of what seemed to be lots of customer problems with installs and the like, but successfully took the plunge without a hitch, and shan't go back to stock.  Love flying through clouds.

YMMV, of course.  It's not a magic cureall for FSX weather ills, but it's sure purty to look at.

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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"

Well after a break in flight, Team Fenric restarted at WADB yesterday - in the shadow of one of Krakatoa's almost-as-large neighbors, Gunung Tambora.  So it was with expectation that we plotted our flight to WADS to take us over the 2.5 km tall, 6km wide caldora.

Smitty even offered to spot for enough water inside the stratovolcano for us to land the Stationaire on - conditions permitting, of courst.  (That old rockhound was even able to come up with a rock hammer and sample bag - "I love collecting lava rocks," he said as we were starting our preflight.  "They've never brought me bad luck," he hastily added.

Fine time to be talking about bad luck, I couldn't help to think, looking at the sheared off top to our west.

A full power climb up to 10000 ft and we approached Tambora.  Funny... there's farmland and roads and houses... on the sides... all the way to the top... but certainly there won't be... no....

Yes.... FSX is indicating a fully-functional ecosystem inside the caldera.  More farmland and rodes and houses and trees than you'd care to expect.  Oh look, a condo.  Hearty folks, I expect.  "Condo Volcano...." the words left my lips.

I've never heard Smitty sound so disappointed.  "It's like The Lost World...  but with Starbucks, not dinosaurs."

Oh, did his attitude change from that point onwards....

We turned SW and I started a long 700fpm decent into WADS.  "Runway length, blah blah."  "Surface is something or other."

(What follows can be considered Questions of Functionality for my instructor.)

After configured for landing, what was simply a strong crosswind turned into a momentary gale, knocking us well off the centreline.  I thought about trying to adjust, then decided to opt for a go-around.  I indicated my return to cruise mode, and within a second - as I was reaching for the flaps control, Smitty barked out "You're crusing with flaps down. Let's get them up."  Tick tick tick - Smitty started marking points off.  I got the flaps up, and went to full power, pulling up into a 1000 fpm climb.  "Let's gain some altitude."

"Uh, we're already doing that, you dimwit!" I shot back.

Peeling through 900ft AGL, Smitty repeated himself, "Let's gain some altitude."  I saw more tickmarks in his book - more errors.

"Hullo Smitty, you see that big green thing below us?  It's called the ground.  It's receding from us BECAUSE WE'RE CLIMBING."

(Do pilots get error points for being smart---es??? )

We sat down on the reverse runway a few minutes later.  Smitty dropped off a list of poor scoring and left without bothering to explain.  As I tied down for the night, I heard that he had picked up with several local ladies.  No comment.  Maybe he'll be cheerier our next time out.

Personally, I'm cheered by the notion that our next few landing will be at procedure-capable airports.  Time to brush up on VORDME and ILS practice.

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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"

All in all, getting used to the Stationaire.  Bali-ho!!  We're on our way, Biggles....

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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"

Sure glad I cross checked with a planner that isn't FSX-based.  Smitty would have had kittens on approach....

If anyone would like an updated BGL for the airport (just a corrected localizer - no non-ILS files), lemme know and I'll post in the thread.

But with all of this past, it looks like we'll hop the puddle tomorrow.

Hang in there Biggles....

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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"

It looks like I might stick with the Skyhawk for the duration.  A rock strike in the starboard float doesn't make it un-airworthy, but does defeat the purpose of keeping Smitty and me out of the reach of sharks should we drop in unexpectedly.  That, plus the fact that I can't catch a good landing score - or any spot distance - has Smitty scratching his head.

So onwards and westwards we go.  Got a rendezvous to keep with Biggles, plus it looks like we're in for a spot of mountain flying on our next skip.

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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"

Rice & beans for dinner. Great!

Keep dodging the hills.

Remember look for the pink bandana

Prisoner Biggles