North to Alaska, part II

Start: UHPP, 0626; $5617.49 and 54gal

Well, I'm in a bit of a pickle. What looked like an excellent route on the map turns out to be devilishly difficult. Airports are few and far between, and FSE jobs invariably go the wrong way. The only way I've found to get where I need to go is to head northeast to Sokol outside of Magadan, and then back to my northwesterly direction for a 799 mile flight to the remote Ugolny in Anadyr. Assuming I manage to squeeze 800 miles out of the GlobeTrotter, I can then make a more manageable hop across the Bering Strait to Nome, Alaska the next day!

So, at this very early hour (the sun just came up about 30 minutes ago), I'm off, empty to stretch my wings as far as they'll go! I must be doing something right, because once I climb to cruising altitude, I find a nice 20kt tailwind. Hope it sticks around.

This leg is a pretty good preview for my tour of Alaska -- there is some impressive and beautiful mountainous scenery in southeastern Russia. And this is default FSX (aided by FS Global 2010 mesh)!

Glad I climbed as high as I did!

End: UHMM, 1115; $5637.36 and 54gal

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I'm all gassed up (both the plane and myself [the sandwich from the airport vending machine was pretty questionable, but beggars can't be choosers!]) and ready to go on my longest flight yet. To Ugolny it's 800 miles. If the winds continue to cooperate, I'll be tired but fine. If they don't, I may have trouble on my hands! But I've got no time to waste -- up, up and away!

My luck is holding. I'm cruising at 6500ft, and 80kt IAS, and I've got a 17kt tailwind. So, my fuel calculator says my current range is 891nm. Since I only have to go 778nm, I'm feeling good!

End: UHMA, 1950; $5637.36 and 9 gallons


Total Distance Flown:  38,535 nautical miles
Total v$ Deposited: $170,000

North to Alaska, part I

Start: RJCO, 0716; $4434.11 and 17gal

So, I'm in northern Japan. My next target destination is Denali in Alaska. My plan, such as it is, is to find FSE jobs heading northeast, following the Kamchatka peninsula until I can hop over the Bering Sea.

But it turns out that airports and jobs are rather sparse in this part of the world. I've found 2 jobs which will take me 200 miles in the right direction. From there, I'm going to have to cross the Sea of Okhotsk (711 miles) by myself, hoping for a good tailwind.

So, wish me luck! I'm starting out with 1 Air Photography passenger and 231kg of canned goods. To carry this load, I had to de-fuel down to 17 gallons. That's okay -- fuel is reasonable at Monbetsu, so I'll gas up after I land.

End: RJEB, 0821; $5675.33 and 54gal

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I now have 96kg of Priority Courier materials, crossing over into Russian territory. I had a 38kt tailwind on that last leg, so that's sure a good sign!

End: UHSS, 0957; $5984.95 and 54gal

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Fuel wasn't as cheap here in Russia, but I need every last drop, so I topped off back to Full. I'm really pushing my safety margins with this leg, but I don't have much choice (other than a rather long detour to the northwest). So, I'm crossing my fingers and trusting in the GlobeTrotter. I've done 649 miles before, and that headwind has stuck with me so far, so I think this is within the realm of possibility.

Fifteen minutes after takeoff, I've leveled off at my cruising altitude, I've throttle back to a comfortable speed, and I've got 701 miles to go. My fuel gauge shows I've got 790 miles of fuel remaining. Life is good! Six hours over the sea, and I'll be landing.

End: UHPP, 1738; $5984.95 and 8gal

Whew, that was one long flight (6 hours and 40 minutes) -- my backside is sore! But I feel good that I made it, and with 8 gallons of fuel to spare.


Total Distance Flown:  37,258 nautical miles
Total v$ Deposited: $170,000

#74 Saitama, #75 Sapporo

Start: RJAA, 0922; $3822.26 and 54gal

Boy, Narita is one big airport -- it took me 15 minutes to taxi to the active runway!

It's also fairly overcast today, so I'm not sure just how wonderful my photos of Saitama will be. But, just when I need it, there's a break in the clouds....

The heavens opened up!

Beautiful downtown Saitama

 End: RJSA, 1253; $4137.26 and 32gal

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I've dropped off the 100kg of supplies I was carrying, and have now picked up 158kg of newspaper and mail. So, I'm off to Sapporo.

There's beautiful fall foliage here in Aomori. Since I've only been using FSX since April, I've not seen this before -- it's pretty impressive!

Sapporo, on the other hand, is not anything to write home about. Don't get me wrong, I'm sure it's a nice enough place to live and work. But in FSX, it looks awfully generic and is full of auto-gen blocky buildings.

Fall colors in Japan

Blocky Sapporo

End: RJCO, 1428; $4634.11 and 22gal

It's hard to believe, but my next "desired" stop is in the middle of Alaska! Only 2500 miles or so -- if you thought these narratives were getting shorter, you ain't seen nuthin' yet!


Total Distance Flown:  36,275 nautical miles
Total v$ Deposited: $170,000

#71 Mt. Fuji, #72 Tokyo, #73 Chiba

Start: RJNA, 0844; $2733.20 and 19gal

A glorious sightseeing day today. As I head east, I'll fly past Mt. Fuji and then overfly downtown Tokyo before heading past the city of Chiba on my way to Narita airport. Joining me on this trip are 2 JAL Narita passengers; I hope they enjoy it as much as I will.

It's also my first flight with my new GPS system, and things are smoother than ever!

Central Japan wilderness

Mount Fuji (with my newly installed FS Global mesh)

On to Tokyo, Chiba and Narita airport! The skies are getting awfully dark, but I'm hoping it'll be clear enough for good photos at a lower altitude.

City as far as the eye can see

Have the Japanese bought the Eiffel Tower?

Chiba

End: RJAA, 1052; $4195.28 and 5gal


Total Distance Flown:  35,798 nautical miles
Total v$ Deposited: $170,000

#66 Fukuoka, #67 Kobe, #68 Nara, #69 Kyoto, #70 Nagoya

Start: RKSM, 0738; $2782.16 and 54gal

This will be one for the record books. In about 6 1/2 hours, I'm going to visit 5 targets! My first destination is Fukuoka in Japan, just over 280 miles away. Then I'll overfly Kobe, Nara and Kyoto on my way to Nagoya.

Because I have these specific destinations in mind, I'm starting off empty. Hopefully when I land in Fukuoka I'll find a job heading to Nagoya (but there isn't one right now...).

As I head south across Korea, I'm struck by the beautiful, rugged scenery. It seems vaguely familiar, probably from watching re-runs of MASH (which wasn't actually filmed in Korea, I know!).

Fukuoka's urban sprawl

End: RJFF, 1053; $2733.20 and 45gal

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Well, there aren't any jobs going to Nagoya, so I'll just head off on my own. Just as well; this will be a dedicated aerial tour.

Kobe -- where's the beef?

It's pretty impressive -- Between Kobe and Nara, the scenery becomes just one big urban area, with one city merging imperceptibly into the next. I imagine Japan is really like this.

A Japanese metropolis

Nara -- a temple?

Kyoto -- I expected more. It's still quite nice, but feels rather generic.

Nagoya -- not much to see but the airport and what I'm calling the convention center

End: RJNA, 1550; $2733.20 and 19gal

What a fabulous day. I will definitely have to spend more time in Japan (not including tomorrow!). For now, I'm thinking about my trip north to the Bering Sea, and then crossing to the Aleutians and down Canada to the US. Although following my handheld GPS has been working wonderfully (I can't imagine doing this trip without it -- I suppose I COULD do all my navigation with VORs and the like, it would definitely be a lot more work). But I'm yearning to have an integrated GPS system, so I can just push the button and follow the magic magenta line when I want to. The fine folks at Japan Airlines Nagoya hub have offered to install the system with onlly a 5% markup, and that seems pretty darn reasonable to me. So, while I head for the hotel and a nice long soak, the GlobeTrotter is going to get her third and final upgrade to full IFR/AP/GPS status.


Total Distance Flown:  35,621 nautical miles
Total v$ Deposited: $170,000

#64 Incheon #65 Seoul

Start: ZYTL, 0705; $1376.00 and 35gal

$10,000 into the bank account this morning. I'm going to Seoul. One Corporate VIP is going to Seoul. It's just that simple!

Incheon is listed as an FSX detailed city, but all I could find was a nicely detailed airport.

Incheon

Seoul (seems like auto-gen, but it's very well done)

End: RKSM, 1040; $3144.50 and 11gal


Total Distance Flown:  34,983 nautical miles
Total v$ Deposited: $170,000