Heyo! Loving Microsoft Flight Simulator 2020 so much that I partook in a little project relating to “heading west”. I have to keep the title a bit obscure, though something I had done previously in Flight Sim X. For this trip I was basically waiting for a medium range and speed plane having both been excited, yet defeated when the JU-52 was delayed. Had to wait, and wait, to finally which we finally have it. The JU-52 is indeed a nice plane, however has to be treated like a touristy plane, not a long-haul plane with how lacking I am with time. Because of such I ended up swapping between the TBM9 plane, and even the King Air because of their terrain panels. I would have used the Cessna Citation CJ4, it however doesn’t boast the panels both the TBM9 and King Air have, something I severely needed in this flight. Especially along the Canadian rockies.
Flight Path covered in this Posting: Ottawa(CYND & CYRP) > North Bay(CYYB) > Elliot Lake Municipal Airport’ (CYEL) >Sault Ste Marie (CYAM) > Thunder Bay (CYQT) > Kenora (CYQK) > Winnipeg Int’ (CYWG) > Regina Int’ (CYQR) > Saskatoon (CYXE) > Edmonton Int’ (CYEG)
(More areas to visit in P2 & P3, among others)
Intro – JU-52 – CYND > CYRP:
I finally have access to the JU-52 Payware plane. I now had to familiarize myself with it, hence the flight from Gatineau’s Executive airport towards Carp. Just a quick flight. Flies well. Feels weighted, heavy, yet powerful. The checklists takes a good while thanks to the oil needing to be heated to 40 Celsius.
– She fits right at home at this very ‘historical’ airport.– Highly impressive. Great profile.– Interiors are awesome.– Gas meter is on the outside, not the inside. Something I found out after the fact.– I love the wing view. One of the best features.– Time for take-off.– Off we go! – Noticed quite a few people were flying it locally, and on the day of its release. – Wing views are the best (viewing Quebec side of Ottawa). – Viewing Ottawa side, and airport.
Ottawa’s Carp (CYRP) > North Bay (CYYB):
Let the real flying begin. Let us head west! Let’s leave Ottawa behind to go on our journey west to a certain location while admiring the scenery on the way.
– Taking off from Carp towards North Bay (roughly, aimlessly). – Possible second attempt, this time during the night time. Flying blind vaguely using the instruments and the VFR Map.– Painfully flying in the dark (Manually) while noting the fuel gauges and the various traffic around.– No plan, just my VFR map while speeding along as fast as this plane could, in manual flying mode. No GPS. Spotting the occasional pilot. – Decided to simply divert to North Bay, descending and slowly landing at the said airport. Even spotted another JU-52.
North Bay (CYYB) > Sault Ste Marie (CYAM) (Diverted to ‘Elliot Lake Municipal Airport’ (CYEL):
I originally planned to fly flight paths, this time aiming to go from North Bay to Sault Ste Marie. I however had to divert to ‘CYEL’ instead. Good thing I did, I had to eat. Swapped to a TBM9, continuing from CYEL to Sault Ste Marie airport. This is where the experience became a bit funky once having reached Sault Ste Marie. Thankfully, landing the JU-52 at CYEL was professionally done.
– What a great start to my flight. Nosed the plane, thankfully not in a realistic, or Corsair DLC manner breaking the props. – Visuals are always so pretty. I love how gorgeous Canada is, even in flight sim. Same with the JU-52. Pardon the VFR map.– Looking back towards North Bay as we slowly fly away from it in a JU-52.– Interesting building complex below one of the wings. – Bit by bit 🙂– Admiring the blinding beauty of both the scenery and the plane.– What appears to be marshland and rolling rivers as far as the eye can see. Even to the nearby lake on the horizon.– The gradual descent while looking with the wing view was healing. I absolutely love the wing views, especially in the JU-52. – Touch down! Now to eat IRL food then continue on during the night.
Elliot Lake Municipal Airport’ (CYEL) >Sault Ste Marie (CYAM):
Seeing how clunky and slow the JU-52 is I decided to switch to the TBM9 (with Canadian colours) to continue the journey in a much quicker manner. Here, I realized how handy the terrain panel was, favouring both this plane and the King Air, also with Canadian colours.
– TBM9 with Canadian colours. – Pushing back.– Take-off! Nice! Even during sunset this area looks gorgeous.– Cruising at a not so professional height. Only a short hop.
(No landing screenshots because of how ‘dull’ or ‘frustrated’ I was having to land at a very funky area. I wanted to swap into a King Air so badly.)
Sault Ste Marie (CYAM) > Thunder Bay (CYQT):
Possibly frustrated, I swapped over to a King Air (also with Canadian colours) to fly from Sault Ste Marine towards Thunder Bay for that added night time auto-pilot familiarity. Needed to fly past that water ASAP to cover any lost ground with the JU-52.
– Landed at Thunder Bay airport.
I’ve attempted to fly this area on other days/nights with an Airbus H135 with decent success. It’s not really a night flyer, especially with how dark Thunder Bay is in this game. Clouds, fog, among other factors.
Thunder Bay (CYQT) > Kenora (CYQK):
Friend decided to join me on this leg of the flight going from Thunder Bay to Kelowna, and even up to Winnipeg. We flew in the correct direction, though still without any flight plan added to it. He had a flight plan, I flew in the general direction.
– Push-back. Friend in the blue skinned plane.– Looping around Thunder Bay airport to view scenery in the day time, and waiting on a friend to take off.– Wing views are the best.– Viewing a shipping port before finally taking off to Kenora.– Bumping into some rough weather. Gorgeous, though rough.– Friend decided to fly way ahead of me while admiring the beauty of this weather front.– After a lengthy while we decided to simply ascend while I further learned how to use the autopilot. – Awesome break in the clouds.– A sea of clouds.– As soon as we reached the boundary to Kenora the clouds dispersed. The clouds were a blockade between Thunder Bay and Kenora on this day.– Landing wing views.– Touch down at Kenora airport.– Pulling in.
Kenora (CYQK) > Winnipeg Int’ (CYWG):
– Traffic amusements. Friend and I parked while noting how easy it is to use car add-ons for this area.– Prepping for a new flight.– One we crossed over Ontario everything became flat. Flat, squares. Minecraft.– Back in Thunder Bay, or even Kenora I was puzzled as to what this squarish portions of water is. It appeared clearly on the VFR map from a fair distance.– Banking heavily over Winnipeg to land at the airport.– Spotting Bigchungus flying an VL3, paused in place. – I spy a stadium in Winnipeg. Nice.– Alternate view.– Sunsetting, a perfect time to land.– Catching up to my friend on the glide slope as we come in for an approach. Friend is high and slow, I’m low and fast. Nearly buzzing the apartment building below.– Coming in for a fairly low approach.– Flying the Airbus H135 around Winnipeg to sight see. Human Rights museum, among other landmarks. – Massive railway gathering area.– Alternate angle, without nameplates.
Winnipeg Int’ (CYWG) > Regina Int’ (CYQR):
Friend left for the night while I continued on the push to get as far as possible in my free time. I also switched to a King Air for a quicker and easier autopilot experience for night flying. Covered a great deal of distance.
– Push back in Canadian colours.– And we got a beautiful take-off! Nice. – Mid-flight. Not much can be seen.– Drone view the day after– Drone view the day after.
Regina Int’ (CYQR) > Saskatoon (CYXE):
Back to the TBM9, I aimed for Saskatoon for the fun of it. This one was more of a “because I can” type of flight, and also because I know of a troll within an anime community unaware of their personality from this area. It’s water under the bridge, though something I thought I’d visit just to familiarize myself with the place.
– Ready for take-off.– Taking off while observing both player and AI traffic. – Bye bye, Regina International! Though, I’ll be back thanks to a weird bug.– Still happily climbing while noting the scenery.– Made it a fair distance before my plane decided to nose dive and crash for some weird reason.– An interior shot of the TBM9.– Coming in to land at Saskatoon International Airport.
Saskatoon (CYXE) > Edmonton Int’ (CYEG):
Swapping to the King Air I decided to speed up the progress by a tad bit. Further, farther, faster.
– Looping around to note Saskatoon’s airport. – Off we go to Edmonton! A lot of ‘pot holes’ in the earth. Hmm.– Interior of King Air.– Incoming to Edmonton, even if a bit ‘hot’ on the speed. – Hello, Edmonton Airport 🙂
That’s the end of Part 1. There are more ports incoming as I continue my journey west. Thanks for viewing, hope you enjoyed the flight visuals as much as I had flying it.
