Exploring the real world in the Google Earth Flight Simulator

[Don Boose]

It is most enjoyable to fly along with you, Leif. Lots of interesting country. I love your commentary on the landscape beneath your wings.

Don

[Leif Ohlsson]

The crowfoot deltaland: We say goodby to New Orleans in the background over one part of the vast crowfoot deltalnd of the Mississippi. I intend to follow the Gulf coastland along the shorelines of the states of Mississipi, Alabama, and then northern & western Florida. Amelia, of course, took a direct course over the Gulf, heading straight for Miami. I want to see terrain features, more than just sea, even if it makes the flight longer.




Mississippi coastline, Gulfport: The coastline in southern Mississippi state is densely populated.




Mobile, Alabama: Another one of those cities very 3D-detailed, by whatever means.




Pensacola, Florida: The National Naval Aviation Musem just passed, below the right engine.




Panama City Beach, Florida: The entire Gulf coastline since New Orleans has been much like this; heavily populated along the shoreline, almost no sign of populated areas inland as far as one can see from 4,000 ft.




St Peterburg, Florida: After a good while over water, we arrive at St Petersburg, around halfways down the Florida west coast. I think I'll continue on this course, crossing inland Florida, on a direct course for Miami.




Sun City-Ruskin, Florida: This is the scene we come upon between Sun City and Ruskin, just inside Tampa Bay. Florida, here is a lot of inland water, greenery - and people.




What is being prepared here?: I'm speculating they are laying the groundwork for a whole new residential area or small community. We are north of Myakka City, on course for Arcadia.




Caloosahatchee Canal: Again, I'm wondering what this maze is about. Flying above inland Florida is very much like this - enormous areas of lush green, many waterway, and - seemingly - no population centers.




Growing under plastic: I have a hard time interpreting these structures. I don't think greenhouses, but perhaps growing under plastic sheet/tents? We are south of Lake Okeechobee, next stop Miami. I don't plan a grand tour of that city, but a direct approach for the Kendall-Tamiami Executive (KTMB) in southern Miami, which might be a realistic size of airport for Amelia's days. We'll see.




Inhabited wetland: This our the first encounter with inland Miami. The border between waste-wetland and inhabited wetland is quite sharp. I suppose it is continually expanding. This I would have expected at the coastland, but this is the most inland part of Miami. From this view, I'd say in these parts it is a city built on waterways even more than most of Dutch cities, and, for that part, perhaps even Venice!




Kendall-Tamiami Ex.: A fine choice of an airfield, situated on the southwester outskirts of present day Miami with excellent runways. I'm glad for it. Today was an uneventful flight; not much terrain to get excited about, but what can you expect flying all the time over coastal lines, and at 4,000 ft. It's clouding over now, and we'll see what kind of weather the next week will bring - Amelia stayed over here for more than a week, preparing for the Latin-American legs of her flight, and eventually the leap over the Atlantic.

I spent the day mostly on autopilot, but some manual flying as well. It's easier to fly a shifting coastline manually. The DC3 is very stable and allows you to do other things, if you keep an eye on course deviations. I' spent some lazy flying time reading a couple of chapters of Karen Armstrong's "The Case for God". Not a bad combination at all. I might use the long lay-over in Miami to read the rest of it.

[Don Boose]

Wonderful flight. Perhaps the maze of waterways at the Caloosahatchee have something to do with this: http://www.sfwmd.gov/portal/page/por...add_strategies

I hope some day that one of your non-Amelia flights will bring you across the Atlantic to the Carlisle Airport so we could have a virtual cup of coffee together.

Don

[Leif Ohlsson]

Thanks, Don, for the explanation to the maze of waterways at the Caloosahatchee (and for the kind invitation to a virtual cup of coffee). And thanks Rick, for the tip about trying out Google Earth Pro. One of these days, I'll go for it. For the duration, though, I'm more concerned with frame rate, so I'm a bit wary. One of these day, though...




Kendall-Tamiami set to go, rwy 31: Here we are then, after a week of preparations, and plenty of time to finish my book (recommended!). All set to go again from Miami's Kendall-Tamiami Exec. airport, at the start of rwy 31. There's a 5 kts headwind, almost straight in, so take-off should be easy.




Following the Florida Keys: Heading out over Key Largo. Amelia must have taken a direct course to San Juan, Puerto Rico. But I will not miss up on an opportunity to see Cuba and Haiti, so I'm taking the scenic route. In the sim there are no limits to flying either in restricted airspace or over national borders!




Key West: Leaving the U.S. now, for the first time during the flight. Setting up on a south-easterly course, more or less for Havana. Nothing but ocean ahead, for yet a while.




Havana: The time over water without sight of land was actually quite short. Cuba has been creeping up on the horizon for a good while now. We hit the northern coast just west of Havana, which gav ample opportunity to study the terrain before flying over the Cuban capital below. From our 4,000 ft the ocean south of Cuba is actually visible, so the mountains can't be that high right here, except when looking westwards, away from Havana.




Autopista Nacional and cropcircles: We are flying quite low along the Autopista Nacional (2,000 ft on the altimeter, which means slightly lower over ground; not much though, since we can still see oceans on both sides of the island). It feels good to fly over ever changing rich green again, as compared to the waters of the Florida Strait. Note the crop-circels in the left part of the photo - even here center-pivot irrigation is practised. Cuba is larger than at least I have tended to think until now. We have just begun on the road to the eastern tip and Guantanamo.




Small plots: In places, like this, you notice how small, and divided, plots are. Indicates high population density and private ownership of this particular land?




Diversification within crop circles: This, approaching Colón, I haven't seen before - some of these crop circles clearly are out of use, in whole or partially. Others have a distinct diversification of crops. I can only guess at water scarcity and/or scarcity of diesel fuel. Whatever the reason, it is interesting to note how center-pivot irrigation can be used for crop diversification even within a single circle. Seems to indicate different management and small-scale subsistence requirements for each circle. Or a collective use by several farmers of the same center-pivot unit? Quite a difference compared to most circles we have nseen in the U.S. context.




Sancti Spiritus rwy 03 fly-over: There it is, in the lower left corner, the beginning of rwy 03 at Sancti Spiritus (MUSS), the small city towards our right as we make a fly-over. I'll use the city as guide for a lazy right-handed landing circuit. The wind is from roughly north, so there'll be a certain sidewind component.




Reaching for the ground at Sancti Spiritus: A good landing, and I feel inclined to take a cab into town, for a bite an a nap at some hotel. I'm tired, Miami is a long way off, and Cuba is large. Not mentioning Haiti, Dominican Republic, and Puerto Rico coming up after that. I'll want to be fresh for that.

[Leif Ohlsson]

Carretera Central de Cuba: Following this west-east highway out of Sancti Spiritus we can see a very interesting mix of small-scale subsistence farming, and some examples of obviously large-scale, industrial farming. The small fields are smaller and more varied in crops than what you would see in e.g. Sweden.




Low clouds: You do not see much of low cloud in GEFS flying - since the selection of images for natural reasons try to avoid them. When you come upon them, like here, they are quite beautifully captured.




La Tuna Flyby: 4,000 ft down there is La Tuna city and its airfield. The runway heading is perfect for the winds prevalent right now, but I'll give it a pass, rested as I am by the stop-over at Sancti Spiritus. Instead, we're turning south, towards the mountains, the southern coast, and Santiago de Cuba




Into the mountains: Quite suddenly we're there, heading into the mountains south of Bayamo. A welcome sight, after a long flight over what has seemed uniterrupted flats. I choose to think that these are the mountains Fidel Castro and his guerillas came down from during the Cuban revolution so long ago now. From now on, needless to say, I'll go manual contol.




Farmland, mountains, ocean: I love mountain flying, but this is not really such a large range - in this photo we can see the farmland we came from at left, the mountains below, and then the ocean south of Cuba at right. The altitude is 4,000 ft, which will clear most peaks, others we can bypass.




Santiago de Cuba: We came down from the mountains in the background. Airport right below us, the city in the background at right. Now we're heading for Guantanamo, and then the sea again.




Laguna de Baconao: What a beautiful bay that was! Around the corner now awaits another one…




Guantanamo Bay: Down there it is. Airfields, bases, and, I suppose, prison camp. Now I've seen it. And I'm leaving it, setting course for Haiti. What an anomaly this place is…




True Bonbon, Haiti: We come in over Haiti at this small village, on the northern coast of the southern peninsula, if you see what I mean. I decide to make a day of it here, at the small gravel airfield of Jeremie just a bit down the road from here. Enough impressions for one day. I'm amazed that Amelia could take three times this amount in one leg…




Jeremie treshold: I was overconfident in choosing this gravel strip. It is woefully cramped, and in bad condition. Over the threshold here, on my fifth attempt. There are hills in front of the threshold as wells, difficult to spot, if you don't know about them.




Jeremie stopped: I finally made it down, within the runway, and managed to stop just before it ran out. On my fifth attempt. As I say, not a good choice. Oh, well - tomorrow's another day. I'll devote it to Haiti and Puerto Rico.

[Leif Ohlsson]

Jeremie take-off downwards: After a rought night sleeping in the plane (wasn't able to rustle up an accomodation late last night) I took off from Jeremie, wisely in the same direction I unwisely landed yesterday. In the clear daylight it was obvious that I had landed downwards, which would explain the extraordinary difficulties getting down in one piece. Take-off in the morning still air was a breeze (sic!).




Jeremie landing upwards: Disgusted by yesterday's poor performance I went around and tried landing again, this time upwards. Smooth as silk, no problems. Goes to show that you should make a flyby of these small airfields at low altitude before attempting landing. Or at least have the sense to break off in time, and reflect about why it seemed so impossible to get down. Enough now, and onwards towards Port au Prince. I'll fly low and slow, since I'm curious about how this disaster-stricken area might look.




Mudslide?: just outside Jeremie, enroute for Port-au-Prince - is this just a very steep river, or are those traces of a mudslide not so long ago? If so, it would be a result of the 2004 tropical storm Jeanne. I might be looking for signs of disaster, but that sure looks like a difficult river to control.




More signs of mudslides: A bit further on, this, too, sure looks like remnants of a ten year old mudslide. The worst hit area in 2004 would have been around the town of Gonaïves. I'm just mentioning it, if you would like to fly over there on your own, since our course today won't take us there.




Les Grandes Anse: This strange and beautiful feature is marked on the map as Les Grandes Anse - the big handle, so everything strange we see are is not the result of mudslides, it seems. I'm enjoying flying low and slow this morning. The Dakota is a wonderfully stable platform at 120 kts, responding softly and ponderously to course corrections. It's a pleasure to trim it to fly steadily at 2000 ft, elevator neutral and using just trim & throttle.




Denuded hills: As we are getting closer to Port-au-Prince signs of denuded hills and a myriad of small plots are becoming more apparent. It looks a lot lika Rwanda to me.




Miragoâne: I'm thinking about what life might be like in a ramshackle town like this.




Étang de Miragoâne: Flying in this strange and beautiful valley closed off from the main bay at left, I look up what the name means. It's "pond", not stranger than that. Just as I was flying here at my most serene, the trim control of the sim went haywire, and I had to restart it, and relocate to this place. Oh, well, stuff happens.




Passing through a gorge: Flying between these cliff walls at 2,500 ft, with the morning mists still clinging to their sides, and the river gushing below, is exciting. And at the other end…




Port-au-Prince below: Climbing out over the last ridge, already full of small houses, the vista opens up to this - Port-au-Prince with its myriads of houses below.




Leaving Port-au-Prince: We came to Haiti at the tip of the peninsula on the left side of the bay as seen here, stayed overnight there at Jeremie, and this morning we progressed along the coastline through the gorge at left in the photo. We are now leaving Port-au-Prince setting course with proper speed and altitude over the mountains for the Dominican Republic on the other side of the island.




Étang Soumâtre and the Dominican Republic: Coming in at 6,500 ft over these mountains on the other side of the lake Étang Soumâtre, with Port-au-Prince still in the background, we are already in the Dominican Republic, although there is still both a plain and another mountain range to cross until we reach the capital Santo Domingo, where I'm looking forward to a short stop.




Lago Enriquillo: At 7,000 ft I find yet another valley, mist clinging to it sides, to traverse. Names are now chaning from French to Spanish; Lago Enriquillo at left is in within the Dominican Republic. After that plain awaits flying (sic!) until the next range.




Estebania at Bahia de Ochoa: We are coming in over the range we have to cross before reaching Santo Domingo. Still at 7,000 ft. Note that the peaks are still cleared, all the way up to the top. Deforestation obviously must be an issue here.




A small problem landing at Santo Domingo: Here's what I found preparing to settle down on rwy 01 of Herrera Int., Santo Domingo - it doesn't exist anymore as an airfield; a large industrial building has been erected across the former runway. There goes my break on this island - gears up, full throttle and course for San Juan, Puerto Rico! There are other airfields in the Dominican Republic, of course, but now I'll go the distance instead.




Coffee plantations Castaner mountains, Puerto Rico?: Puerto Rico meets us with the mountains at Mayagüez on the western tip. A bit after that the Castaner mountains exhibited all these buildings on the very peaks. No way these buildings are for subsistence agriculture or anything like that; they've got to be for something like coffee growing.





Adjuntas - abort: In the middle of these ridges and valleys I found the airfield of Adjuntas. Scouting it out (below our left wing) you will agree that it was a wise decision to abort, yes? You may try it in a Cub, if you feel like it, but I'd advice against it…




Luis Munoz Marin Intl (TJSJ) - San Juan, Puerto Rico: You may getting tired of these landing approaches, but what can I do? After Adjuntas, this was a luxury, and I managed a good one for me - only one, small, bounce…

This very ariport was Amelia's end of her flight from Miami, Florida. She did it in one go, I had to use three, just in order not to get tired. There you go. Next up is Venezuela. Haven't figured out the detailed route yet.

[Leif Ohlsson]

Preparing for the flight to Venezuela, I found out that there is no longer an airfield at Caripito. As a preliminary substitute I will go for Maturin Intl (SVMT), not too far from there.

Maturin Intl (SVMT) - Maturin
Runway 06:
- Length: 6902 ft
- Surface: Asphalt
- Elevation: 224
- Heading: 48.21




Goodbye Puerto Rico: This is us saying goodbye to San Juan in the background, and Puerto Rico (at least the main isle). Strange and beautiful lighting for a while in these two shots (above & below).




Heading out: The course for Venezuela set here as we leave Puerto Rico is one which will take us in a wide bend southeast and then south, island-hopping over as large number of Carribean islands as possible. Much of the way we shall fly at 2,000 ft like here, in order to to see and enjoy as much as possible.




King airfield, Charlotte Amalie, St. Thomas: This is us about to make go wheels-up after at touchdown at Charlotte Amalie, our first island. This is probably one of those airfields where you land and take off in only one direction, and I don't think this is the one!




Waterlemon Cay, St. John: Island hopping is fun! Flying low & slow over these small Island nations can be a quite beautiful experience.




Parham Town, St. John: Wheels are just up after a touch and go at Terrance B Lettsome (TUPJ). Very good exercise this for changing trim back and forth between cruise and landing and take-off modes. I'm enjoying myself.




Virgin Gorda (TUPW), Spanishtown, St. John: I've got to admit that I aborted this one. The hills in the background made it too difficult for me to get down. Some open sea flying now, until Anguila.




Wallblake (TQPF), The Valley, Anguilla: Getting in and out of Wallblake, Anguilla, is quite easy. Note the PAPI lights at this end only, and the remaining wisps of morning fog. This would be a good place to practice landings and take-offs. The island is very flat, and the runway wide and in good condition. Otherwise the topography is not so interesting, so, onwards to Princess Juliana, St Maarten Island, south of here. Seems to have at least a few mountains.




Grand Case (TFFG), St Martin Island: Wheels up and in again after a touch and go. Now for the other, larger, airfield on the same island. Just a right turn away, around the central mountain.




Princess Juliana, St Maarten Island, approach: You can use the radar tower on the top of the mountain as a sort of marker for your approach. Just a slight turn left after you pass the tower and the ridge…




Princess Juliana, St Maarten Island, final: … and there we are on final for landing. Watch out for the wisps of morning fog at the close end of the runway. Note also the PAPI lights, properly placed for once at the right end for an approach from this direction.




Princess Juliana, St Maarten Island, flyaway: This is a nice airport, with lots of charter traffic. There's a terminal building all built up, if you feel like practicing your taxi skills. Note the PAPI light where we came from, and the ridge behind. The radar is out of sight, but it should be at the right edge of the photo.




Juancho Yrausquin (TNCS), Saba: I gave this one a pass, which you might appreciate seeing how precariously the runway leans. It's 1,300 ft (less than 400 m) long. You might want to try it in something smaller than the Dakota, though. Note the building up the cliff wall, and the winding road leading to it. "The Bottom" is a strange and haunting place, swept in fog and low clouds.

So it's back to St. Barth instead, and its capital Gustavia. How can I not make a stop-over here, on an Island named after an 18th century Swedish king, and during four short years (1784-1788) a mainstay of the Swedish West India Company, very prominent once in my home town Gothenburg?




St Barthelemy I (TFFJ), Gustavia, St Barthelemy Island, approach: Only to late did I realize that this is that classic almost impossible landing, over a hill, full flaps, and the runway appearing behind it. Here you can sort of see the runway behind the traffic roundel in front of it. What you don't see is that the roundel is on top of a ridge, and the runway on the other side of it.




St. Barth touchdown: See what I mean? In Google Earth the runway is downsloap, which isn't correct, of course. But the degree of difficulty might be comparable just because of that...




St. Barth stopped: I'm not proud of the landing, but I did get in there (on the fourth or fifth attempt). And I offer you the Dakota at the end of the runway with engines stopped as proof. I do, however, recommend landing the other direction, from the sea inwards, whatever direction may be blowing from. At least in the GEFS sim...

Time to call it a day.

[Leif Ohlsson]

This morning's flight started with a bit more cloud cover than yesterday:




F.D. Roosevelt (TNCE), St Eustatius Island: The airfield at this small island was almost covered in morning fog, both start and end of the runway, so I made a wheels touch-down, and then off again towards the next larger island.




Bradshaw Intl (TKPK), Saint Kitts Island: This is an international airport with ample space for taxi & parking exercise. No built-up terminal or other details, though.




V C Bird Intl (TAPA), St Johns, Antigua and Barbuda: I passed up on Nevis Island - the runway is almost impossible to detect on approach, hidden in the shadow of the mountain as it is, and impossibly narrow to boot. St. Johns, however is a fine airfield. If you make your approach on rwy 60 from inland, as in the photo, you will have the PAPI lights at the wrong end, but no matter.




Geralds AP (TRPG), Gerald's Park, Montserrat: I am looking for a small, but well maintained and even airfield to be able to recommend it as a good practice field to hone one's handling of the DC3. This is not it. I has a nasty hump in the middle and steep slopes at both ends (in GEFS, not in reality). I'll have to keep searching.




Baillif (TFFB), Basse-Terre, Guadeloupe: This one won't do either, too short and confusing numbers of runways, some of them possibly in disuse.




Le Raizet (TFFR), Pointe-A-Pitre, Guadeloupe: I don't have a problem with the main airport on Guadeloupe. The runway is 11,500 ft (3,400 m) which is plenty of room for a jumbo jet. And there is a fine terminal building with ramps plus taxiways, of course. It just isn't pretty enough for me (I'm hard to please), so I'll continue.




Saint Francois (TFFC), Pointe-A-Pitre, Guadeloupe: This one could work. It is obviously for small, private aircraft flying, and it has an interesting taxi-way. The topography is rater flat and uninteresting though.




Desirade (TFFA), Grande Anse, Guadeloupe: This looks good. It's flat, there are no visible bumbs, and it is easy to locate, once you've found it down there at the edge of the sea. Slightly less than 2,000 ft (600 m) it is pretty short, and will require some precision! I think I'll go around for another try!




Desirade, down & stopped half runway: Yes, you can do it. This is the DC3 down, still, engine cut-out, no-wind conditions. It is possible to get down safely on a less than 2,000 ft runway. I'll try to get off from this position, just to check.




Desirade, wheels just off: And yes, you can actual get off within 1,000 yards in no-wind conditions - just. Wheels were actually off the ground before the very end of the half runway available was used up. One extra notch of flap, in addition to the usual one notch, was applied at the last moment to give the final push upwards. After that it was a matter of gently nursing the Dakota back off the near stall condition before even thinking about climbing out of here. But it is possible. Good to know.




Marie Galante (TFFM), Grand-Bourg: This was just an exercise to see when - and if - I could spot the runway from 2,000 ft. I didn't, in spite of frequent looks on the map and comparing it with the terrain below. Not until this moment - there it was, unexectedly close to the shore, under the tail and behind the DC3. Seems like a good enough runway, a bit more than 4,000 ft (1,200 m) in fact. More than enough, as we have learned by now - if I had spotted it in time for a proper approach.




Melville Hall (TDPD), Roseau, Dominica, flyover: This in my book looks like an attractive airfield. It's just over 4,500 ft long (1,350 m), easy to distinguish from the surrounding terrain (although I missed it, of course, hence this preliminary flyover), approach preferably from the sea inland. Even the weather and photography appears to speak for it - sunny and clear, nice clouds, nice waves, detailed terrain features. Let's go for it. I'm going around again. (The runway is 250/70, although denominated 27/09. Rwy 27, hdg 250 is inland. Elevation is 73 ft, surface asphalt.)




Melville Hall, on final runway well in hand: This is my second attempt. This time the runway is well in hand and I do have good control of the Dakota. Sometimes the sim runs havoc with me, which is what happened on the previous attempt. Good to know that restarting the sim really can make a world of difference.




Melville Hall, Roseau, Dominica, down and parked: This is a nice place, perhaps the one I've been looking for. I'll stay the night here, and try a start inland, make a roundtrip, and try a landing from inland towards the sea. Should be exciting, what with the hills and mountains just close by.

End of this day's flying.

[Don Boose]

This morning, postponing grading papers, I took a leisurely trip along your entire flight route. Most enjoyable.

I am very glad today to have visted Guadeloupe with you since it is the location where a mystery show called "Death In Paradise" is filmed. Lil and I like the show and enjoy the beautiful scenery of the fictional Anglo-French-Carribean island of Saint Marie (the real world Guadeloupe).

Looking forward to you continuing aviation adventure and exploration.

Don

[Leif Ohlsson]

Hello Don! It's so good to know that you as likely as not are watching my progress every step of the way. As for "Death in Paradise" we watch the reruns of it here as well. A bit like "Midsomer Murders" set in the Caribbeans, isn't it? I envy your and Lil's vacation here!

Up for some flight training during my stay-over at Melville Hall?




Melville Hall taxi for takeoff rwy 27: We are going to take off on rwy 27, inland, which at least appears slightly uphill. We'll soon see. The taxiways are fine, and the runway long. I did taxi all the way down to the end of the runway towards the see, but it would have been OK just to make a left at the end of the taxiway here.




Melville Hall wheels off after a third: Wheels were off about where we parked for the night, less than a third of the runway used. Take-off "uphill" is not a problem here.




Melville Hall climbout through valley: Climbout however should be made carefully. Adhering to the Dakotas 1,100 ft/min climb rate, you will make it through a valley. This is good to take note of, since approach for landing will have to be made through this same valley, in a slight right turn, as can be seen from this photo. At some point in the climb you will have to break out of the valley - the peak in front is too steep a climb for the Dakota.




Canefield Intl. (TDCF), Roseau, Dominica: This is the other airfield on Dominica. It seems to be the international arrival no less, situated within what seems to be the population concentration and also industries (fruit canneries? coffee?) of the island. It is shorter and less attractive than Melville Hall, but you could have a lot of useful practice flying back and forth between these two fields, only minutes apart, and with a high mountain ridge between them. (Rwys at Canefield are 19/01, hdgs 177/357, 2600 ft, 780 m, elevation 14 ft almost on sea level).




Dominica Swiss type of landscape: The landscape here reminds me of Switzerland (which I only really know from GEFS flying) - green hills stretching up into steep mountains, houses all the way along ridges and in valleys. Interesting to fly here.




Central Forest Reserve, Dominica: The way across the ridge is over the Central Forest Reserve. That valley down there looks beautiful. Worth exploring if you go back and forth here, practising take-offs, landing, climbing, losing altitude, setting up for landing again, planning your approach. All within minutes. Quite some training ground.




Melville Hall in sight again: Once you've climbed to the Central Forest Reserve, found the valley and your way through it, you're in the valley that brings you right on to the field where we started. At this point altitude is down again to 1,500 ft, speed 95-100 kts, with gears down and one notch of flaps. The task now is to loose both altitude and speed in a way that brings you right on to this end of the runway at some 80 kts, ready to flare out and set down.




Melville Hall, stetting down again: And it can be done. True, I used up a lot of runway flaring out, but then there's a good supply of it here. On the next attempt I used full flaps to really get down, and then I stopped well before the middle taxi way.

This is a good place, which I can thoroughly recommend for flying practice in beautiful, interesting, and challenging surrounding. I haven't provided links for any place we've flown to or over until now (they are easy enough to find by punching in location in the sim), but for this I'll make an exception (note that you will have to be on the ground already, somewhere, if you want to start on the ground from where the links will take you):

• Melville Hall, set up for take off rwy 09, towards the sea
• Melville Hall, set up for take off rwy 27, inland mountains
• Canefield, set up for take off rwy 01, north towards Melville Hall
• Canefield, set up for take off rwy 19, south away from Melville Hall

I included the two last links for Canefield (the smaller field), because if you for some reason would like to start your flight from there, they will actually place you correctly on the runway. The links in the sim unfortunately will place you a good bit out into the sea, which is awkward. Happens somtimes, as the author warns. Has to do with some of the data of the airport data provider being faulty.

I'll close here for today, and leave you to your practice in this beautiful flying terrain. Place yourself at Melville Hall, check your map, and go fly. I'll do the same.