My Journey

A Blog about my Virtual Trip around the world in FS2020.

[novogeek]

The First Leg Home

The first leg home was going to be about 150 miles from FAEL (East London) to FAPE (Port Elizabeth). The idea was to pick up a colleague who lives close to Port Elizabeth but unfortunately that did not pan out.

Due to some paperwork issues we left a few hours later then planned and that meant we could not do three legs today. It also meant that my colleague was not going to be able to join us as he needed to get to Cape Town sooner than we would get there.

The departure was academic and nothing much happened, I am really impressed by how quickly the Cirrus SR22 rotates.

It was a beautiful day out and the weather was absolutely gorgeous. The scenery on this side of the world is really fantastic and I am proud to be a South African.

Our route took us mostly along the coastline as planned and the skies were relatively quiet. The bulk of the air traffic seems to be focused around FACT (Cape Town).

Just cruising along, admiring the view, and feeling generally happy that I am able to do this. I am getting more comfortable with the plane and have started getting very familiar with the checklists.

The beach here is absolutely massive and I did start noticing some weather in the distance. After my last arrival, I started getting concerned that we were going to be in for a rough landing again.

The clouds up ahead were looking really ominous but there was nothing I could do about it. This part of the journey was a straight shoot across a bay but unfortunately I didn't see any whales.

Things got a bit overcast as we were approaching our destination, but as we got closer and lower we ended up underneath the clouds and could spot the runway fairly easily.

With final checklists complete we made our landing in FAPE (Port Elizabeth) where we would stay for a couple of days.

Was relatively short taxi to our parking.

Some of the traffic we encountered during our flight, but overall a fairly standard flight that was filled with great scenery and a great weather.

The next part will be two legs from FAPE (Port Elizabeth) to FAGG (George) and then from FAGG (George) to FACT (Cape Town) with the plan of arriving in Cape Town on Christmas Eve to spend with the family.

[novogeek]

Taking Delivery

The day has arrived where I could finally take possession of ZS-ZZZ, my Cirrus SR-22. After a short commercial flight from FACT (Cape Town) to FABL (Bloemfontein) and some last minute running around, I took delivery and planned the first leg of this epic journey.

As I wasn't used to flying the Cirrus SR-22, I opted to fly from FABL (Bloemfontein) to FAEL (East London) instead of goin to FAPE (Port Elizabeth). It was a nice sunny day and it looked like it was going to be a nice easy flight ... oh boy was I wrong.

My route would be as follows: DCT IBMAD/N0182F080 DCT EGTAP/N0183F090 DCT AXOXI/N0181F080 DCT UTABU DCT EL2T1 DCT

I chose 29 as my arrival as I was more comfortable with that approach. So after checklists and all the admin stuff, I was ready to depart.

Departure was a breeze and the Cirrus SR-22 is an absolute beauty to fly, rotated at around 70 and was off the ground making my way to FAEL.

The flight was mainly at FL80 but I stayed at about 7500 AGL most of the way. There wasn't much turbulence and generally the flight was going as expected. After reaching cruise height and activating the Autopilot, it was time to set the aircraft for cruise, enjoy a cup of coffee, and marvel at the scenery.

The Free State is littered with the round farms that I would guess are easier to irrigate but the dark green is a stark contrast to the normally brown grasslands of South Africa.

I chose a bit of a scenic route for my flight and decided to go over this dam north-east of the airfield before turning towards FAEL (East London).

The skies were not too busy and the flight was pretty uneventful but was definitely very scenic.

Some clouds were about but nothing too dramatic, there was a bit of turbulence over these mountains but once passed them it calmed down and then I saw it.

This was going to suck, I was hoping the cloud cover would dissipate but the radar was showing it was going to be in my path all the way to my destination.

There was a brief moment when I thought, okay this would be fine; I was so wrong. Coming in to FAEL (East London), ATIS confirmed my worst nightmare, this would test my skills at landing a new aircraft at a mostly unknown airport.

Coming in to 1300 for final approach was an absolute nightmare and I could barely see the runway, but I was committed and chose to push on as the cross winds were within operational limits.

Things got a bit hairy so there was no time to take any pictures but I was a little left of the runway and had to make a correction about 1 mile out, I was still comfortable to land and so carried on with my landing.

This is where the Cirrus SR-22 absolutely shines, full flaps, idle throttle, and she glides down nicely to a gentle landing, and just like that I was in East London.

After a short taxi, I was at parking 12 and unfortunately the aircraft slipped a little when braking and slid off the edge of the parking. We quickly sorted that out and then secured the plane for the evening. The next flight will be from FAEL (East London) to FAPE (Port Elizabeth) where I will pick up a colleague and fly him to FACT (Cape Town).

I enjoyed this flight immensely and I am looking forward to the next leg. See you soon.

[novogeek]

The Journey Begins

It has always been a dream of mine to fly a plane around the world and see the sights, the time has begun to fulfill that dream, albeit via a flight simulator.

After careful research and numerous hours of information gathering, I chose the Cirrus SR22. A very forgiving air frame that has all the features I need and is relatively cheap to operate and maintain.

I found a livery based off a real world South African plane and so my ride was chosen. I then tracked down where the current plane is based and with that I chose the first two flights to get to my home base Morningstar (FASP).

The first leg is from Bloemfontein (FABN) to a small airport near Jeffreys Bay (FAPX) with leg 2 running from Jeffreys Bay (FAPX) to Morningstar (FASP). I chose to run two small legs of just over 2 hours and 15 minutes each in order to not spend a whole night flying.

I have configured my flight controls, set up my navigation software, and prepared my checklists.

Stay tuned, the first legs are due to start withing the next few days.