As part of my journey around the world in a flight simulator I am heading up the eastern seaboard of the USA. I’ve just left Florida and was looking for another place to land when I saw an airstrip called First Flight. This made sense when I looked on a map as it is at Kitty Hawk Sands in North Carolina. I landed at the airport and then saw something so I taxied my plane to it.
X-Plane – I Went There
Hopefully the plane has off-road capability. After the flight I looked this stuff up and it’s all monuments to the Wright Brothers’ first powered flight. I’m impressed with the scenery in the simulator. The only thing it doesn’t get right is the grass being a shit colour instead of green.
The Monument, First Flight
I’m slightly amused by the monument as there is a road in a circle around it so you don’t have to walk around the thing. Just park up somewhere and see it from a distance.
First Flight North Carolina
I landed on runway 21 and then taxied up to the monument which was a bit cheeky really. My next flight is going to be over Norfolk Navy base and then maybe on to Washington DC to see what the scenery there looks like. I don’t think it’s going to be too long before I’m back home and at RAF valley where this thing started.
As part of my around-the-world tour I have made it to Florida. Currently, the state is suffering from what we would call – WLS – or wanker leader syndrome. It’s a shame really. I really liked my time there at the Kennedy Space Center, but I don’t think I’d want to visit now. Other places with more liberal laws can have my money.
I’m flying around the world in my Flight Sim – X-Plane. There are communications giving my progress, but I’m in the Caribbean at the moment heading to that hellscape that is Florida. I think my last stop before USA [again] is Havana. But, and this is the most important bit, I landed at Guantanamo Bay air station from the Turks and Caicos. I was in a little private jet and somehow it seemed fitting to land there and then depart quite quickly. I left my cargo there to be abused of process and tortured.
Aircraft flying over Cuba. Heading to Havana.
The things the “west” have done over the last thirty years distress me immensely. I have a suspicion that if I looked at most of history I would find that it’s all rather terrible and the “west” has pretty much fucked everything up. Anyway, onto Florida where the current governor has banned medical help for women and trans people because – fuck you. I don’t understand people full of hate.
I’m still moving on with my around the world mission in X-Plane. In the last communication I was bombing around over Brazil having visited Antarctica. I’m still working my northwards at the moment to complete the east coast of the Americas. I do have some new kit on the flight sim – two desk extensions that hold the HOTAS system.
The updated flight system
So, my last landing was in the Falkland Islands so we shall continue with the next airport visited:
Rio Gallegos International Airport, (RGL/SAWG), Argentina Comandante Luis Piedrabuena Airport, Argentina Santa Cruz Airport, Argentina Puerto Deseado Airport, Argentina Cañadon Seco Airport, Argentina General Enrique Mosconi International Airport, Argentina Almirante Marcos A. Zar Airport, Argentina Antoine de Saint Exupéry Airport, Argentina Comandante Espora Airport, Argentina El Palomar Airport, Argentina João Simões Lopes Neto International Airport, Brazil Aeródromo de Belém Novo, Brazil Diomício Freitas/Forquilhinha Airport, Brazil Florianópolis-Hercílio Luz International Airport, Brazil Costa Esmeralda Airport, Brazil Joinville-Lauro Carneiro de Loyola Airport, Brazil Curitiba-President Afonso Pena International Airport, Brazil São Paulo/Guarulhos – Governor André Franco Montoro International Airport, Brazil Jacarepaguá–Roberto Marinho Airport, Brazil Rio de Janeiro/Galeão – Antonio Carlos Jobim International Airport, Brazil Joaquim de Azevedo Mancebo Airport, Brazil Campos–Bartolomeu Lysandro Airport, Brazil Guarapari Airport, Brazil Eurico de Aguiar Salles Airport, Brazil Una-Comandatuba Airport, Brazil Val-de-Cans/Júlio Cezar Ribeiro International Airport, Brazil Macapá-Alberto Alcolumbre International Airport, Brazil Cheddi Jagan International Airport, Guyana Piarco International Airport, Trinidad and Tobago Maurice Bishop International Airport, Grenada Canouan Airport, Canouan in St. Vincent and the Grenadines Argyle International Airport, St Vincent Hewanorra International Airport, St Lucia Martinique Aimé Césaire International Airport, Martinique Douglas–Charles Airport, Dominica John A. Osborne Airport, Montserrat V. C. Bird International Airport, Antigua Princess Juliana International Airport, St Martin Terrance B. Lettsome International Airport, British Virgin Islands Henry E. Rohlsen Airport, US Virgin Islands
So, not far to go now. Heading northwards and then I’ll curve over the Arctic to get back home. I’m looking forward to it.
It’s been a while since my last update to the list of airports and countries I have visited as part of my around the world flight in short hops. I can now confirm that I have reached all seven continents and am about to start making my way back home to the UK. There are some other communications from the first part to the second. So, here are the places I have been since the last communication and since updating X-Plane a short while ago.
Klyuchi Air Base Airport, Russia Adak Airport, Alaska, U.S.A. Lihue Airport, Hawaii, U.S.A. Pacific Missile Range Facility, Hawaii, U.S.A. Wheeler Army Airfield, Hawaii, U.S.A. Kahului Airport, Hawaii, U.S.A. San Francisco International Airport, California, U.S.A. Monterey Regional Airport, California, U.S.A. San Luis Obispo County Regional Airport, California, U.S.A. Santa Barbara Airport, California, U.S.A. Naval Outlying Landing Field Imperial Beach, California, U.S.A. San Felipe International Airport, Mexico Loreto International Airport, Mexico La Paz International Airport- Manuel Márquez de León, Mexico Los Cabos International Airport, Mexico Mazatlán International Airport, Mexico Tepic International Airport, Mexico Lázaro Cárdenas Airport, Mexico Chilpancingo National Airport, Mexico Puerto Escondido International Airport, Mexico Commercial Cd Ixtepec Airport, Mexico Ángel Albino Corzo International Airport, Mexico Toncontín Airport, Honduras Juan Santamaría International Airport, Costa Rica Enrique Malek International Airport (DAV), Panama Ruben Cantu Airport, Panama Tocumen International Airport, Panama Enrique Adolfo Jiménez International Airport (ONX), Panama Airport Antonio Roldan Betancur, Colombia Olaya Herrera Airport, Colombia Aeropuerto Antonio Narino, Colombia Aeropuerto Mariscal La Mar, Ecuador FAP Captain José Abelardo Quiñones González International Airport, Peru Jorge Chavez International Airport, Peru Aerodromo Maria Reiche, Peru Juan Simons Vela Airport, Peru Juan Mendoza Airport, Bolivia Diego Aracena International Airport, Chile San Pedro de Atacama Aerodrome SCPE, Chile Las Breas Airport, Chile Aeropuerto de Fiambalá, Chile Aeropuerto Internacional Domingo Faustino Sarmiento – San Juan, Argentina Santo Domingo Airfield, Chile Mocha Island airport, Chile Melinka Airport, Chile Caleta Blanco Airport, Chile Drummond Twins International Airport, Chile Porvenir Airport, Chile Almirante Schroeders Airport, Chile Ushuaia Airport (USH), Argentina Guardiamarina Zanartu Airport, Chile – moved to X-Plane 12 O’Higgins Skiway, Antarctica RAF Mount Pleasant, Falkland Islands, UK
Boeing 737-800 Antarctic Ocean
So, that’s all the continents completed. Now to head up the east coast of South America, North America and then home to good old Great Britain – not so great these days!
On Friday I was chatting to the Legend and I said I wouldn’t buy X-Plane 12 because XP 11 is pretty good and most of my payware might not transfer over. Well, it took all of about 12 hours to change my mind and buy X-Plane 12 even though it’s the development product. It took a while to download because I got the scenery for the whole world – why wouldn’t you!
I had to set up the joystick and configure the keys so they work as I like. This didn’t take a massive amount of time but it’s frustrating when all you want to do is fly around and see the world.
Citation X in the Andes
The scenery is amazing. I have turned most graphics settings up to maximum and this works well with my RTX graphics card. I’m getting >20fps which for a flight simulator, especially X-Plane, is pretty darn good. Also, using the taskmaster I can see that the GPU is being used at around 90% and this pleases me. It’s worth having something you’ve paid for working as it should.
Citation X in the Andes
I’ve added in some of my custom scenery and it seems to be working well. So, I have my airport in Keswick, which doesn’t exist in reality but it does mean I’m in the Lake District immediately and can fly around and bomb shit.
F-14D in the Lake District
Now all I have to do is continue my flight around the world and get back to the UK so I can attempt to learn more. My payware aircraft from XP11 kinda work. I’ve tried the T-7 and as long as I keep the throttle high enough it seems to work ok. If I drop the throttle to idle the engine dies and that’s a touch embarrassing.
Citation X in the Andes
I’m somewhere in Chile at the moment and I’m heading to an airport on Antarctica. I have no idea what will exist when I get there and I’m only doing it so I can say I’ve “been” to every continent in my around the world flight. Here’s to many more hours of fun.
I’ve written here about my current Flight Sim challenge which is to fly around the world in short stages. Each leg is somewhere from 50 miles to 2000 miles, sometimes you have to fly over the Pacific and there isn’t a load of airports there. I’m currently in Peru and my previous journey had me landing at Aerodromo Maria Reiche in Nasca. While heading there I flew over the Nazca Lines and so I decided to download a scenery pack and go back and see what it looks like. I didn’t want to zoom over at 500 knots so decided to take a Grumman Goose out for a trip. As I’m heading to Lake Titicaca next I might make that trip in the Goose and land on the lake. It’s not very fast so I’ll have to see how much time I have. I might take the T7 to closer to the lake and then swap.
I’m still flying around the world in X-Plane. There are a few very boring communications about this within this site. This communication is just to have my recent Avro Vulcan landing published somewhere other than my YouTube channel. I think most of my landings in that airplane had been “less than satisfactory” but this one went ok. I’m still going to keep trying. I’m starting to vary the aircraft a little to see how they are different and to stave off the boredom of another flight sitting at 35,000ft for half an hour.
I am still flying around the world in a series of flights on the flight simulator. I’ll have to look back through here to figure out when I started but I’m currently on the Kamchatka peninsula heading towards the Bering Straights. My most recent flight looks like this:
Kamchatka Flight
I’ve generally been doing flights of a few hundred miles but every now and then I put in one of a few thousand. I’m not sure if I’m going to Hawaii or not at the moment. I wonder if I head there, then California and on to South America. I honestly am not sure. I do know that once I get to Iceland I am pretty much done and then what do I do? It’s been fun planning the flights and heading around the world in this simulated world.
The last communication that covered a list of airports ended at Tenzing Hillary Airport in Nepal and so here is the rest of the list to bring us up to date:
Tumling Tar Airport, Nepal Lhasa Gonggar Airport, Tibet Paro Airport, Bhutan Yonphula Airport, Bhutan Kyaukhtu South Airport, Myanmar Yangon International, Myanmar Kyaukhtu South Airport, Myanmar Dawei Airport, Myanmar Myeik Airport, Myanmar Kawthaung Airport, Myanmar Singapore Changi Airport, Singapore Brunei International Airport, Brunei Syamsudin Noor International Airport, Indonesia Selaparang Airport, Indonesia Sumbawa Besar Airport, Indonesia Sultan Muhammad Salahuddin Airport, Indonesia Komodo International Airport, Indonesia El Tari International Airport, Indonesia Darwin International Airport, Australia Broome International Airport, Australia Port Hedland International Airport, Australia Karratha Airport, Australia Kalbarri Airport, Australia RAAF Gingin, Australia Bunbury Airport, Australia Albany Regional Airport, Australia Ravensthorpe Airport, Australia Esperance Airport, Australia Norseman Airport, Australia Port Lincoln Airport, Australia Adelaide Airport, Australia Kingston Airport, Australia Portland Airport, Australia Warrnambool Airport, Australia Apollo Bay Airport, Australia Moorabbin (Harry Hawker) Airport, Australia Burnie Airport, Australia Hobart Airport, Australia in the Avro Vulcan Te Anau Airport, New Zealand Invercargill Airport, New Zealand Ryan’s Creek Aerodrome, New Zealand Queenstown Airport, New Zealand Christchurch Airport, New Zealand Woodbourne Airport, New Zealand Wellington Airport, New Zealand New Plymouth Airport, New Zealand Auckland Airport, New Zealand Nouméa Magenta Airport, New Calendonia Honiara International Airport, Solomon Islands Rabaul Airport, Papua New Guinea Lae Nadzab Airport, Papua New Guinea Goroka Airport, Papua New Guinea Kagamuga International Airport, Papua New Guinea Dortheys Hiyo Eluay International Airport, Indonesia Rendani Airport, Indonesia Domine Eduard Osok Airport, Indonesia Buli/Halmahera Island Airport, Indonesia Sam Ratulangi International Airport, Indonesia Naha Airport, Indonesia General Santos International Airport, Philippines Francisco Bangoy International Airport, Philippines Lumbia Airfield, Philippines Surigao Airport, Philippines Panan-awan Airport, Philippines Daniel Z. Romualdez Airport, Philippines Catarman National Airport, Philippines Legazpi Airport, Philippines Bagasbas Airport, Philippines Fort Magsaysay Airport, Philippines Xiamen Gaoqi International Airport, China Wenzhou Longwan International Airport, China Zhoushan Putuoshan Airport, China Jeju International Airport, South Korea Pyongyang International Airport, DPRK Orang Airport, DPRK Yanji Chaoyangchuan International Airport, China Vladivostok International Airport, Russia Sapporo Okadama Airport, Japan Monbetsu Airport, Japan Iturup Island Airport, Russia Elizovo Airport, Russia Klyuchi Air Base Airport, Russia
And there we have it. The list so far since the last communication. Not sure how to conquer the Pacific, will keep thinking about it.
Kamchatka Peninsula Flight
This is communication number 2021 and so here are some things that happened in that year of our lord:
NASA’s Ingenuity helicopter performs the first powered flight on another planet in history.
Ryanair Flight 4978 is forced to land by Belarusian authorities to detain dissident journalist Roman Protasevich.
The number of recorded deaths from COVID-19 surpasses 5 million.
Barbados becomes a republic on its 55th anniversary of independence while remaining a member of the Commonwealth of Nations.
