I dare you to....

Got one for you.
Take an aircraft any aircraft, no verticals or choppers and take off from Zacapu (MXA9) Mexico.
I've done it, tell me how you did it.

If you like that sort of thing (who doesn't) have a look at Doherty's Difficult And Dangerous Approaches. I love them, you just install them to your FS directory and they are available as saved flights, all lined up, just land it Use Google to search for it.

Dave

Sounds like fun, try some here. He seems to make quite a few "editions", free as far as I can tell.

Doherty's Difficult 7th down.

http://www.fscorner.com/database2004-1/09-01-2004.htm

I must say, Zacapu was certainly a challenge! I think the runway at AQY is shorter, but that is one heck of a climb! The only plane I could get over the hill with on the first shot was a learjet. I <i>almost</i> made it with a Beechcraft Baron, but almost only counts in horse-shoes and hand-grenades! With any of the single engine craft I had to loop around the airfield a few times before getting the necessary altitude. Thanks for the reference!

😂 Yep, you have to do 180° turns before you can get out.
I tried 5 aircraft before I was able to do it with one 180°, I used the "Extra 300" I think it's called, the default acrobatic aircraft.
I'd still like to find an aircraft that can do it without a single 180°.

AQY was fun......I wonder what the yellow and blue cranes were in that valley for?

Zacapu means a 1530 foot climb to get out. That was a challenge. I did them both with a baron

😀 Thanks for the tip
Just in case you did'nt know there are loads of Doherty's Difficult And Dangerous Approaches..........Im not 100% sure,but about 23....each with 10 different challenges(some very good)
I posted a link ➡

https://forum.flyawaysimulation.com/forum/topic/1536/new-fs9-scenery/

There are some big d/loads there but I quote from Avsim"
It also includes important structures such as custom bridges, upcoming Athens 2004 Olympic stadiums, corrections of coastlines near airports, special wind turbulence effects in airport surrounding areas (where these exist), all Heliports in Greece, all airstrips and much more."

I've not tested this yet(but will)but look forward to the "special wind turbulence"effects as I have been on an aircraft which had to go around due to the wind at LGSK

TTT

Here are two more Doherty's Difficult's.

http://www.fsfreeware.com/dcd/General_Utilities_and_Miscellanous/index-7.html

YOU GUYS GOTTA SEE THIS, HOW DO I INSERT A PIC INTO A REPLY LIKE THIS ONE...Ahem, sorry for shouting!

Fire_Emblem_Master wrote:

YOU GUYS GOTTA SEE THIS, HOW DO I INSERT A PIC INTO A REPLY LIKE THIS ONE...Ahem, sorry for shouting!

You have to have a web site to post it from. If you don't then put it into our "Photo Gallery" and post it from there.
When it's loaded into the gallery I'll tell you how to do it.

I did a takeoff and landing at AQY last night in a C-1a Trader. The key there is weight. I beefed it on climb out the first time; the plane was just too heavy. I drained the tanks down to 10gal per tank and the Trader just leaped into the air (with ~20deg of flap) and cleared the rim by 30 feet on a straight out departure. Landing was just a matter of walking the stall tight rope. Full flaps…reverse the props at about 200 feet with the nose down about 25deg , time your flare so the mains don’t pop out through the top of the wings and break to a stop with 50 feet to spare…no problem.

here's another dare: how bout' going to KIYK and trying to takeoff a 747

robbier wrote:

here's another dare: how bout' going to KIYK and trying to takeoff a 747

I didn't know INYOKERN had an airstrip. 😳

yes, Inyokern does have an airstrip!

robbier wrote:

yes, Inyokern does have an airstrip!

😂 I was kidding, I used to go (many years ago) to that area to camp, rabbit hunt, target practice.

RadarMan wrote:

Got one for you.
Take an aircraft any aircraft, no verticals or choppers and take off from Zacapu (MXA9) Mexico.
I've done it, tell me how you did it.

EASY!!! Stock Boineg 737-400, Payload of 0 for everything, exect the 170 LB Pilot and Co-pilot, and 25 (or 20, cant remember) % Fuel total, that thing climbs like a rocket, got over +6000 FPM on the VSI!!!

Good post Mr Grunge !

Here's my challenge, and as well as being difficult, it's in a gorgeous setting too !

Your Flight is the 15 hop from St Maarten to St Bartholemy ..... (sorry I don't have the airport codes on me, St Bartholemy may be under Guadeloupe, or St. Barts, if you can't find it).

This is a real life Air Caraibes route, flown in the Cessna Caravan - go and try it yourself !

It's plain sailing until you start to approach St Bartholemy and realise that although the GPS is indicating that the airport is right ahead, you don't see it ...... at the last minute it appears behind a hill, and requires a STEEP descent to be able to land on it as the runway is very short, with lot's of water at the end of it !

Took me 3 attempts to get down. good fun.

originalgrunge wrote:

...land any plane bigger than a single engine prop (or helicopter) at airport AQY. It's an airstrip about 10-15 miles east of Anchorage enclosed by a 100 foot (or higher) rock wall on 3 sides! The biggest plane i could land was a mooney bravo. Let me know how you do!

Also, feel free to share any other of your most difficult challenges.

originalgrunge,

AQY Girdwood is one of those FS2004 topographic mistakes. There is a scenery fix on AVSIM ( six_default_fixes.zip ) Here a description of a few others;

"This scenery patch corrects six problems in the Microsoft Flight Simulator 2004 default scenery. Specifically, in FS2004, Millwood Lake which is situated in Arkansas has an enormous error in which half the surface of the lake is 15,000 ft below sea level. The next error is similar to the first error and is situated at Stockton Lake in west-central Missouri at a depth of 11,500 ft below sea level. The next glitch is near Memphis, Tennessee where an airport flatten is causing a hill (or cliff if using high resolution mesh terrain) where there is no airport. The next problem is in Alaska at Girdwood airport (AQY) where the adjacent river is placed too high making cliffs right next to the airport. Another glitch at Davis airport (KMKO) in Muskogee, Oklahoma exists where the runways are situated over large sinkholes and the runways themselves are floating. The final glitch is in Guiana, South America where a 100,000+ ft chasm and a 60,000 ft spire exist along a river. These files correct these errors and reproduce the lakes at their proper elevations, remove the big hill near Memphis, fix the floating runways at Davis airport, lower the elevation of the river at Girdwood airport, and remove the 100,000+/60,000 ft chasm/spire.

To see the 15,000 ft hole error at Millwood Lake, start at Glenn Winchester airport (2AR6) and fly heading 175 for 6.5 nm.
To see the 11,500 ft hole error at Stockton Lake, start at Stockton Mun (MO3) and fly heading 120 for 6 nm.
To see the big hill near Memphis error, start at Delta Flying Service Inc airport (MS65) and fly heading 117 for 2 nm.
To see the floating runways at Davis airport (KMKO), simply start at Davis airport (KMKO)!
To see the Girdwood river 'cliffs', simply start at Girdwood airport (AQY)!
To see the 100,000+/60,000 ft chasm/spire, start at Kamarang (SYKM) and fly heading 163 for 6 nm."

The airports posted are great challenges.

If you want to see some real life cool airports, take a look at the following three:

St. George Municipal KSGU. In the game, only runway 34 shows it on a Mesa, but in reality, the whole airport is. In real life, I think Dash-8's fly frequently out of there, I'm not sure which company though, as well as a lot of general aviation planes. When I was there, we were fighting fires from a Bell 206L1. I'm not sure if this picture will show up:

Sedona KSEZ. I've never actually flown into this airport, or even been to it, but I heard that the updrafts from the cliffs are insane.

Grand Canyon KGCN. My home airport, elevation 7,100 ft. It kills at least one pilot a year solely on incorrect mixture settings, and sports more departures and arrivals during the day than Las Angeles International. KLAX.

Let me know what you guys think. If you want a cool flight, file KSEZ to KGCN, then get special permission from the Park Service for a flight under 18,500(The game says 14,500, but in 2000 it was increased to 18,500) over the Grand Canyon for KSGU.

originalgrunge wrote:

...land any plane bigger than a single engine prop (or helicopter) at airport AQY. It's an airstrip about 10-15 miles east of Anchorage enclosed by a 100 foot (or higher) rock wall on 3 sides! The biggest plane i could land was a mooney bravo. Let me know how you do!

Also, feel free to share any other of your most difficult challenges.

I did it with an Antonov AN-14A. It can also take off from there, fully fueled. I suspect this airport is another one that MS got wrong.

Another one of those topographical mistakes is CYRV in Canada-- sorry, I don't know the name of the airport, but it is along the banks of the Columbia River in British Columbia. At least it should be-- in FS09, it is several hundred feet below the level of the river. If you were on the runway, you'd be surrounded on three sides by sheer walls of WATER, and facing a wall of rock straight ahead.

Ed

I found another one that is close to real, but not quite.

Bar 10 Ranch, 1Z1, is an airport near the end of the Grand Canyon, it's used to take river rafters back to civilization via helicopter or small plane. In the game, the whole runway is elevated considerably above the canyon floor, but in real life, only the helipads and building are elevated, the runway is at the bottom of the valley.

The building in MS2004 does not do the real building justice, it's an incredible ranch house with many rooms and an incredible view.

If you fly into this airport, keep an eye out for a gas cap off of a Bell 206BIII, as we lost one there in August of 2000!

Wow, can't believe this post got revived from so long ago!

@michlin -> Thanks for the tip, and I have already patched it a few months ago. Believe it or not I still love the airport even if it's not a challenge anymore! Always one of my favs when flying VFR.

@proSim -> I'll take the challenge. Would you be flying the FeelThere caravan into there by any chance 😉

Yip it was! (The deluxe version of course!).

Don't you find it's so hard to bleed the power of that plane - like a true Turbo prop, it spools up and down really slowly!

Great plane for messing around on the highlands and islands though. 😉

Just did pro-sim's challenge twice succesfully. I used to practice shortfield landings a lot on this route.

originalgrunge wrote:

Wow, can't believe this post got revived from so long ago!

@michlin -> Thanks for the tip, and I have already patched it a few months ago. Believe it or not I still love the airport even if it's not a challenge anymore! Always one of my favs when flying VFR.

I also like challenging airports, but I prefer virtual REALITY. 😉