Another $10,000 to the bank!
I'm oddly excited about today's flights. Maybe I'm still dopey from yesterday's 15 hour marathon. Maybe I'm goofy from only getting about 5 hours of sleep. But today, my first flight will be to take 95kg of Priority Mail to Vulcan (after getting some shots of Edmonton)! If that makes me a nerd, so be it -- I'm excited that I'm flying my virtual Cessna SkyHawk to Vulcan!
That is, of course, assuming that I get to fly at all. I've had some long taxis in my life, but this takes the cake. Twenty-four minutes, I kid you not!! I figure I'm halfway to my destination before I've even gotten to the runway! So, reset my start time to 0748.
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| Edmonton |
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| The green, green grass of Vulcan! |
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Well, it's nice to know that I'm not alone in my appreciation of Vulcan. For this next leg, I am taking 2 Star Trek fans to Calgary! If the green scenery weren't enough, as I'm lining up for take-off, it starts to rain! And the temperature is 40F. Definitely not typical Vulcan weather!
Unfortunately, the lousy weather stays with me. Calgary is completely fogged in. I'm sure I'll be fine for a landing, but photos of the city are going to be nearly worthless. This is the first time in over 40,000 miles and 3 months that I've not gotten good photos of my destination. But, as I get closer to Calgary (and closer to the ground), it clears up a bit. So, I'll do the best I can. I was tempted to cheat and turn off the real-world weather, but this is even better!
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| Approaching Calgary, in the fog |
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| Downtown Calgary |
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| Too close for comfort |
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Okay, another case of pushing the envelope. I'm in Calgary. I want to see Banff (since I'm so close, and I've been there in real life), and then I want to see Vancouver. But my 3 Business Charter passengers want to go to Oregon. So, I'll just fly an oval instead of a straight line, and they'll be none the worse. Except that with 3 passengers, I can only carry 45 gallons of fuel. And my curving course will be 669 miles. So, I'll be as economical as I can, but there may be an unscheduled stop in our future!
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| Beautiful Lake Louise, near Banff (even more beautiful in real life) |
I've heard that Vancouver is beautiful. But today it's cloudy and overcast. Again, I'm sure tempted to fiddle with the weather settings.... Then, like last time, a miraculous break in the clouds. And Vancouver IS beautiful, even in FSX!
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| Vancouver |
I had planned a very quick stop (almost a touch and go!) to get more fuel, but it turns out I'm at 99.8 hours since my last 100-hour inspection. So, I let my passengers know that we'll be stopping for a late lunch and a chance to stretch our legs, and then we'll be on our way direct to Corvallis. They are an agreeable bunch, so all is well.
The fine folks at PacWest Aviation completed the inspection very quickly. This is actually the same group that installed the autopilot for me, back in this plane's previous life as CHKN-HK (I flew her from Idaho to Scotland just before starting this round-the-world flight!). So, technically, I have now circled the globe in this Cessna 172. But, I didn't officially start this voyage here, but in Yorkshire, England. So, I'll press on -- besides, I've got more sights to see!
So, we're all set for our final leg, which will allow me to pass Seattle on the way to Oregon. Looks like clouds may be an issue again -- they're really thick this afternoon. Plus the sun's going down. So I'm either going to get spectacular Seattle shots, or really crummy ones! Who'd a thought -- cloudy and gloomy in Seattle?!
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| A cloudy day |
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| Space Needle |
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| Seattle |
Total Distance Flown: 41,746 nautical miles
Total v$ Deposited: $180,000
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