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Around The World in a Piaggio P.180


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#41 RPharazon

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Posted 10 July 2006 - 08:47 PM

Thanks for the info, Martin. I checked out Traffic 2005 and it seems like a great product. I'll try to buy it once I have the money and they sort out their ordering problems.

Leg 11 was from Hong Kong International (VHHH) to Tahsonnhat Airport in Hochinminh, Vietnam (VVTS). The leg took 3 hours and 14 minutes, and covered 923 nautical miles. The flight was very uneventful and quite boring, except for the contest the press guy and my friend had to see which one could annoy Jim (The co-pilot) first.


Departing Hong Kong, still in the haze.
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Turning to our route heading.
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Showing off the neat shape of the P.180.
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On approach to Tahsonnhatt.
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Lined up, on the glideslope, gear down, flaps 20.
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Screeching to a halt. This one was a nice greaser.
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Parked, shut down, unloading and next to a King Air.
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Edited by RPharazon, 10 July 2006 - 08:49 PM.


#42 RPharazon

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Posted 11 July 2006 - 02:31 PM

The end of Plane-Centralized shots are nigh. I have bought IGfly's Walk and Follow. It's an amazing product that's worth every penny and is a amazing buy. I'd recommend this to everyone!

Leg 12 was from Tahsonnhat, Hochinminh, Vietnam (VVTS) to Bangkok, Thailand (VTBD). It took 1 hour and 17 minutes, and covered 468 nautical miles. We left at midnight to enjoy low-traffic times, and to get some night-flying experiences. The moon was beautiful!


Good morning, Vietnam!
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And a goodbye!
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The lights of Hochinminh.
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Fly me to the moon...
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...And let me play among the stars...
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Bangkok off the port bow!
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Landed!
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Yay! Thailand!
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Edited by RPharazon, 11 July 2006 - 02:31 PM.


#43 RPharazon

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Posted 12 July 2006 - 11:47 PM

After seeing the sights of Thailand, and gorging ourselves in Thai food, which caused the press guy to have... digestive problems (Luckily, our Piaggio is outfitted with the Optional Bathroom of Power!™), we decided to go to Singapore, one of my favorite places on earth. The flight was pretty neat, and we got to see the longest displaced threshold of a runway I've seen in my life!

Leg 13 was from Bangkok, Thailand (VTBD) to Changi, Singapore, Singapore (WSSS). It civered 854 nautical miles, and took 2 hours and 57 minutes to finish. I'm still having fun with Walk and Follow. :D


Nothing says "Professional" like a pilot on his belly holding a camera.
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For me, this is Rush Hour at the airport.
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Bye, Thailand!
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On approach to Singapore.
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Wait, what?
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Parked, and waiting for the press guy to get out of the Piaggio's bathroom.
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A *cough* fan sent me this picture as he was turning crosswind in his Cessna 172.
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#44 Martin Hunter

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Posted 13 July 2006 - 12:54 AM

Keep up the good work!

I agree that Walk and Follow is well worth it. The angles you can get are limited only by your imagination.

Martin

#45 RPharazon

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Posted 13 July 2006 - 10:52 PM

Oh, boy. This leg was pretty stressing on my brain. We enjoy a nice, calm flight, but our destination was IFR as of 10 minutes before we arrived.

All was fine until this bloke comes on the radio and wants to land VFR. I wouldn't mind it, usually, but this wasn't a usual thing. After the first time, he kept saying that he wanted to land VFR, but the calm tower guy kept insisting it was IFR. Repeat for at least 25 times. Poor guy must have gone insane after hearing his destination was IFR while inbound. I bet he doesn't have an IFR licence.

Then, after we land, we turn at the next taxiway, as the ATC commands. Now, before I tell you the rest of the story, I need to point out the taxiway positions. After the first taxiway at runway 27 (The obligatory start-of-the-runway), there's a taxiway about 2500 feet down the runway. That is the runway I went into. Got it? Okay. So we turn onto the taxiway, and we find an IDIOT taxiing into the runway from that taxiway, 2500 feet away from the threshold! Upon seeing him, we had to turn onto the grass (Thank goodness the P.180 is just as manouverable on the ground as it is in the air) to avoid the idiot, who hadn't even slowed down.

And the rest... You'll see. :D


Leg 14 was from Changi, Singapore (WSSS) to Bali, Indonesia (WRRR). It took 3 hours and 8 minutes to complete, and covered 1046 nautical miles. We had a healthy tailwind, so that's awesome. We settled down in Bali, after a stressful few minutes, and enjoyed the nightlife.


The runway behind us is how much runway we need.
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Goodbye Singapore! We'll see you again in a week or two!
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Indonesia! Neat.
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Bali is in the clouds.
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Why, hello there, Misty Mountain.
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The runway appears out of the fogtastic fog.
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Stupid idiot!
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The poor bloke in the Caravan just sat there. I tapped on his glass, he turned to me, and drooled.
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#46 RPharazon

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Posted 14 July 2006 - 11:47 AM

Today is not my day. When we got to Bali, we were notified that our sponsor wanted us in Australia ASAP to see a surprise. We had to cut our Bali visit short, and cut out half of our Australia route. We're now only going to go in the East coast of Australia (Maybe visit Tasmania) and skip the West coast due to sparsity of airports, logistics, and sponsor problems. Sorry Perthicans!

Leg 15 was from Bali, Indonesia (WRRR) to Cakung, Timor-Lesk (WPEC). It took us 2 hours and 10 minutes to complete, and covered 682 Nautical Miles. Upon arrival to Cakung, a small airport without any real taxiways, we say some lights right before the runway. We though those were PAPI lights of some sort, but upon closer inspection, it was the control tower! We had to land 1/4 down the runway. Good thing the Piaggio can land like a brick. (Sometimes it has greasers, sometimes it flies like the Space Shuttle).


Grumpily leaving Bali behind.
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M-O-O-N. That spells MOON! *cough*
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Goodbye, Bali. We never knew thee.
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You can see Cakung somewhere down there...
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Permission to clip the tower?
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Whose bright idea was it to put that there?
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#47 RPharazon

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Posted 14 July 2006 - 04:18 PM

After we refuelled, quickly, at Cakung, we set off on our adventure once again, this time taking us to Mopah, Merauke, Indonesia. We're 1 leg away from Australia!

Leg 16 was from Cakung, Timor-Leste (WPEC) to Mopah, Merauke, Indonesia (WAKK). It covered 936 nautical miles, and took us 2 hours and 57 minutes to complete. We got to see a sunset while flying again, which was a sight I sorely missed.


Going away from that craptacular airport.
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I love moon shots. So... Glowy!
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I love sunrise shots too. Especially in the Eastern Hemisphere where they're purple.
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Approaching Mopah. You know it's thick fog when you see the lights first.
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Finally! A proper control tower!
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Seconds before I jumped out of the plane and hugged the control tower.
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Edited by RPharazon, 14 July 2006 - 04:18 PM.


#48 Martin Hunter

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Posted 14 July 2006 - 04:24 PM

Looks like I'd better get into the air. Australia already? Wow

Martin

#49 RPharazon

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Posted 14 July 2006 - 09:29 PM

Yep. 17 legs and we're in Australia.
After having a rather nice breakfast, and hoping that the fog would rise. No dice. The fog only got worse. Our sponsor wanted us in Sydney by tomorrow, so we decided to set off and not wait for the weather to get worse. Let me just reinforce the fact that it was really thick fog.

Leg 17 was from Mopah, Merauke, Indonesia (WAKK) to Townsville, Queensland, Australia (YTBL). It covered 844 nautical miles, and took me 2 hours and 42 minutes. It was really, really, really foggy on departure. During flight I fiddled around a bit with the FS2004 settings, and now I have some autogen and trees, which I realized don't really have a big impact on my FPS rate.



Someone from the tower spotted my unusual plane and sent this picture to me!
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We're only a bit down the taxiway and the tower disappears.
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We're only 230 feet above the runway, yet you can't see a thing!
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Me and the Moon have a thing going on.
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G'Day Australia!
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Landing at Townsville. This is as much flare as we can afford.
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1000 feet later, and we're stopped.
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The guy in the Baron 58 was Martin's distant cousin, Crocodile. (Sorry, sorry, bad joke, I know. :D )
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#50 Martin Hunter

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Posted 15 July 2006 - 02:08 AM

You've gotta love those foggy departures. It looks like I had the better end of the Austral-Asian weather - at least in some areas.

Martin

Edited by Martin Hunter, 15 July 2006 - 02:09 AM.


#51 RPharazon

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Posted 16 July 2006 - 07:53 PM

I don't mind the rain or fog. That stuff's easy with instruments. It's the wind that gets me.

After waiting a day due to plane maintenance (It turns out a fuel line was leaking) and fatigue (9 hours of nearly nonstop flying with 3 takeoffs and landings, mostly with bad weather and unforeseen surprises makes me a tired boy) we had to stop for a day. The sponsor didn't mind, as the surprise was running late and would not get there until tomorrow (This tomorrow) so we just slept and worked.

Leg 18 was from Townsville, Australia (YBTL) to Bankstown, Australia (YSBK). It covered 1072 nautical miles and took us 3 hours and 38 minutes, making it the longest leg so far. Bankstown is a bit west of Kingsford-Smith, which is where we'll be stopping on the way back.
On final for Runway 19C, a Dash-8 decided to hold short, as the tower told it to, before we landed. Apparently holding short means being directly in the landing plane's path.



Right after rotation in Townsville.
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Bye Townsville!
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The city of Brisbane to the Starboard.
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On approach to Bankstown, looking at Sydney downtown.
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The buildings make me nervous of hitting the ground.
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Whoa! Holding short isn't what it used to be!
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Parked next to a record TWO learjets!
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#52 wyoairbus

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Posted 16 July 2006 - 08:20 PM

awesome adventure, keep posting i like to follow this story

#53 RPharazon

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Posted 16 July 2006 - 08:37 PM

wyo, you don't know how much your support means to me. Nobody except me and Martin have posted in this thread in 4 or 5 days. Anyone's liking of this adventure, and anything else in this thread, is greatly appreciated.

Remember, everyone, feedback boosts my ego, and my ego fuels the trip. The more ego I have, the faster the trip progresses, allowing more sights and stuff to be seen.

So, comment! :D

#54 wyoairbus

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Posted 16 July 2006 - 08:54 PM

RPharazon, on Jul 16 2006, 08:37 PM, said:

wyo, you don't know how much your support means to me. Nobody except me and Martin have posted in this thread in 4 or 5 days. Anyone's liking of this adventure, and anything else in this thread, is greatly appreciated.

Remember, everyone, feedback boosts my ego, and my ego fuels the trip. The more ego I have, the faster the trip progresses, allowing more sights and stuff to be seen.

So, comment! :D
No problem. I enjoyed reading about your trip so far and I'd like to know where and when it will end, I think it was a brilliant idea, how you put it all together and even made it like a story, keep up the good work!

#55 RPharazon

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Posted 16 July 2006 - 09:51 PM

Weee. I just installed VOZ scenery (Via recommendation by NickB. Thanks, Nick!) and took my Piaggio for a spin around Sydney (No counting as a leg) and took 2 screenies. This is just a taste about what's going to happen tomorrow!

YSSY terminals!
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Downtown, scenery, and airports. Detailed!
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#56 Nick.

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Posted 17 July 2006 - 03:14 AM

RPharazon, on Jul 17 2006, 01:51 PM, said:

Via recommendation by NickB. Thanks, Nick!
hehe no problem RP just trying to help out other members :lol: cant wait until tomorow (wait a mintue,i have school starting tomorrow,oh well something to look up to when i wake up :D )

#57 RPharazon

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Posted 21 July 2006 - 06:12 PM

Sorry for the big delay, everyone. Lately, my computer has been overheating and crashing. This is because of a few reasons: Hot weather, the Celeron processor, and my case's bad design (You know Dell). I can't go onto my computer for more than one or two hours at a time without crashing, and since most of my legs take more than one or two hours to finish, the trip is on hiatus. I can still go onto the internets with my mom's laptop, but due to a bad graphics card, I can't play FS2004 on it.

Good news: My birthday is in 6 days and I'm getting a brand-new-spanking camera to go along with it!

So, on hiatus until it either cools down, or I get a new computer.

#58 Nick.

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Posted 22 July 2006 - 07:09 PM

i was wondering where you got to RP,sorry to hear about the dell ( :D ) and have a nice B-Day,mines in 34 days :lol:

#59 wyoairbus

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Posted 23 July 2006 - 02:33 AM

nice to see this theard is still here! I'll be waiting for the next leg  :D

#60 Martin Hunter

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Posted 23 July 2006 - 05:01 PM

So it's been hot in Calgary as well? We've had 40 the last few days here.

That sucks about your computer.

Martin