APUtech

Cessna T310R. APUtech

Oh, man! I laughed so hard I almost had an "accident" myself! As a Private Pilot I learned early on to make sure that I "take care of business" before embarking on any flight longer than an hour. Since I got my ticket (around 1999) I've had to make 5 unscheduled landings because my bowels were being uncooperative, and no amount of "clenching" would forestall the inevitable. That poor guy! APUtech

It's a great show. I learned to fly in Alaska back in the 70s, and it was really cool to see some places that I'd either been to, or flown over in my time overseas. Bush flying ain't for everyone, but once you get it in your blood, there's no getting it out. Great post! APUtech

Booyah!

Wellll...I didn't exactly fly these airplanes today, but I'd caught a pretty bad cold and couldn't post them right away. I'm still racked up (I wouldn't dare go up in plane feeling like this--did it once, never again), but my fever's gone and my eyes aren't crossing anymore, so here we go. I was feeling like flying over to Phoenix SkyHarbor (KPHX), but instead of the usual Twinjob, I decided to fly the ol' Piper Malibu from X-Plane 9.x. I'd never flown it, but figured it would be a challenge to fly a relatively fast G.A. Single for a change. The Wx here in San diego was socked in at the time (1500' 10 sm), but once we cleared the Coastal Range it was clear, with only slight x-winds along the route. The trip was uneventful despite random failures having been checked, so this shot is of our Downwind at SkyHarbor. Established on extended Final Rwy in sight, glidepath established and solid Flaps full--hey is that Thomas the Tank Engine down there? Over the threshold Tied-down on the ramp. All in all it was pretty uneventful--until the trip back. About an hour or so out from KHPX, I lost oil pressure, and the engine fought a valiant fight, but died. I feathered the prop and I ended up making an emergency landing at Thermal (Jackie Cochran Regional, KTRM), and since it was later in the evening the onsite A&P Mech was in a bad mood because I hit him up after 1700, his quitting time (It was around 1800 or so, then). He said I'd have to wait 'til he returned the following morning before he could work on it, but when he'd lifted the cowling I could see that the problem was a oil feed-line that had chafed itself thin, up against a steel-braided return hose. Hell, it looked like something I could have easily fixed myself, but my A&P Certification had long ago lost currency, and I didn't want that mech ratting me to the FAA if he'd come back to the ramp in the morning and we were gone. He had our tail number. Cursing under my breath, I slapped two Jacksons into the A&P's hand, pulled my flightbag and Thermos of coffee from the pax seat of the Malibu, told the mech I'd see him tomorrow afternoon, and headed over to JacksonAir Flight Training to rent an airplane. I lucked out in a good way. All of JacksonAir's planes were out--ramp was empty. I was about to leave, exasperated, when the Manager leaned across the counter and asked if I was type-rated in Twins, and I said 'yes,' showing him my MEL endorsements. A slow grin spread across his sun-worn face, his hooded blue eyes twinkling. What I ended up in was...in my next post. APUtech

I *so* like that screenshot! Did I say, "like?" APUtech p.s., welcome back to the skyway, brethren. Welcome. Still fits like a good shoe, doesn't it?

It does, and *so* is. I have near one hundred rw MEL hours in a 310R and yes, the MilViz 310R is true enough to put temporal apprehension at bay. And it's a blast to fly, too. I've wanted to purchase the Elite IFR package, but I find it hard to justify the cost when X-Plane is (slowly) spooling up in practical functionality. Still, I'm very familiar with Elite, and can attest to its quality and accuracy-of-feel. I'm IFR in X-Plane I have my stopwatch on a lanyard, around my neck, just in case.

jcomm, you hit it right on the mark. I use X-Plane to keep my IFR skills sharp. I have just under 400 combined (SEL, MEL) IFR hours, and until I purchased X-Plane 10 I did most of my ground-based at home practicing in FSX. I know what you mean by the glitched turn/slip undicators, yeah it can be a drag at times, especially during those timed maneuvers; never had that problem with FSX. I just use X-Plane versus FSX for IFR practice because X-Plane has the right "feel," similar to the IFR simulators I used to pay $35/hr to use at KMYF. The only (other) problem I have with X-Plane under IFR is that if I run into serious IMC, the chronograph in any airplane I'm flying ceases to keep real (accurate) time. In other words, if my frame rate slows down, so does the passage of time in X-Plane. A one hour flight in a near zero visibility can take up to 10, even 15 minutes longer. On my faster machines this isn't much of a problem, but I run X-Plane 10 on a 3.1 Ghz laptop most of the time because I can take it anywhere. Have you noticed the time distortion yourself? APUtech

Understood; thank you (again). Your help is appreciated--I just successfully filed a short hop frm KSAN to KPHX on the 747-400's FMC. APUtech

Thank you, BWolf7. Since clicking and dragging the 2nd knob through its positions did not show an actual "GPS" tag, I assume the "FMC" selection is the GPS-equivalent position? APUtech

*Is* there a visible/functional "GPS" selector switch on the default X-Plane 10.2x 747-400 panel? I can't seem to locate it, despite my efforts to. APUtech edit: Perhaps a picture of its whereabouts?