James Herriot (the pen-name of British veterinarian Alf Wight) had a huge impact on my life. He is why I became a veterinarian (although, to be honest, my inner geekiness led me to a career as a veterinary pathologist instead of a cow doctor!). So, the place I want to see first is the Yorkshire Dales. I've been to England twice and Scotland once, but I've never actually visited Yorkshire.
Planning and painting took all morning, so I didn't get started until early afternoon. A quick pre-flight inspection, a few photos for posterity, and we're off! I'm using real-time weather, and the sky is threatening and the wind is gusting up to 20kts. But we've been through worse, especially in a simulator!
The Yorkshire Dales are nice in FSX, but Harrogate is more modern than I was hoping for. I suppose that's the one downside to touring the virtual world -- it's only as real as Microsoft took the time to program. I have installed Ultimate Terrain X (USA and Europe) and Ground Environment X (North America and Europe), and it's improved the appearance of the scenery. But it's still just a simulation. Speaking of which, I find that weather (particularly clouds) takes a real toll on my framerate, so I may have to cheat once in a while for the sake of good photographs.
Anyway, having taking my short detour through Yorkshire, I then headed for the POL VOR, mostly to practice my IFR navigation, and to get me pointed in the right direction! I started learning about NDBs, VORs and ADFs, but somehow didn't really get the hang of it -- a bit too much work to plan out my course by linking radio beacons. Plus, once I found the GPS, I never looked back. But it turns out, I can navigate pretty well without even looking at the GPS! So, I'm off to Manchester to finally deliver my passenger. I hope he didn't mind taking the scenic route.
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| Yorkshire, and the farms James Herriot used to visit. |
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