Around the World From NZ to NZ.

[Naki]

Nice shots - is that the Milton Shupes Beech?? It obviously works in FSX.

[Charl]

Nice thread to browse into every now and then, KBG - keep it up! you have a great selection of aircraft.
Paul, there's a whole team beavering away to convert Milton's fleet to FSX.
They're so good, they deserve preservation into the next generation of sims...

[kiwibarguy]

Palu WAML to Balikpapan WALL

Since i am flying over the Makassar Strait today i thought i would bring out something that likes the water.

Short S.30 Empire

Air New Zealand's roots go back to TEAL, and when they started out back in 1940, they purchased the Aotearoa and the Awarua. They were to be flown for passenger service from Auckland to Sydney and also used for flights up the coral route. Auckland, Fiji, Samoa, Cook Islands and Tahiti.

.

Red, white and blue stripes were painted on the tail, upper wings and the rear fuselage as they had to fly over France during the war.

We are leaving Mutiara, and the island of Sulawesi and heading over the Makassar Strait to Balikpapan. It looks like i got the weather i wished for!

They flew them half way around the world to deliver them, travelling via Marseilles, Athens, Alexandria, Tiberias, Basra, Jiwaini, Karachi, Gwalior, Calcutta, Rangoon, Singapore, Surabaya, Koepang, Darwin, Groote Eylandt, Townsville, Brisbane, Sydney to Auckland. The final leg of the delivery flight from Sydney to Auckland was achieved in just 7 hours and 48 minutes, a record for the time.

See you later Sulawesi! Not a bad place to fly around, but quite flat in comparison to Papua New Guinea.

As we slowly climb out of the the Valley, the Makassar Strait appears to the west, i decided to take her up to 10,000ft to see how she climbed.

On the 26th of January, ZK-AMC was attacked by an American fighter (not sure what kind) just south of Canton Island (about 2000km north north east of Fiji). This led to all registered New Zealand planes on international flights to have the New Zealand flag painted on the fuselage.

On 27 and 28 November ZK-AMC did some reconnaisance over the Pacific searching for german raiders which had been reported approximately 300 miles east of East Cape but the only thing found by the Awarua was a six mile long oil slick which had come from the New Zealand Shipping Company vessel Rangitane. The ship had been sunk by raiders which had dissapeared into the night.

What a pleasure to fly, truly an iconic piece of New Zealand aviation.

ZK-AMA (Teal's first plane to be bought, which was also a S.30, actually ended up as a cafe at Mission Bay in 1948.

TEAL purchased the Awarua on the 13th March 1940. She flew for just over seven years and then was taken to the mud flats in Tamaki Estuary. I wonder how some pilots and crew must feel when they see this happen. Photo's of her being stripped can be seen here. http://rnzaf.proboards43.com/index.cgi?boa...4297&page=2

Well this beautiful girl has taken the spotlight, and before i know it i'm landing.

Learning about a plane's history and identity gives so much more to flight simming. I would like to thank Jens B. kristensen for this wonderful model. It can be found at avsim and comes with a variety of skins. Others include the Canopus, Coorong, Cabot, Clare and the Cleopatra. Unfortunately there is no Aotearoa but am thankful of a wonderful Awarua.

Here we are at Balikpapan. looks like i will be swimming to shore.

Seatbelt signs are off, have a nice swim.

Check out his page also for some great shots of the Awarua in Auckland. http://rnzaf.proboards43.com/index.cgi?boa...4297&page=1

[Naki]

Very nice shots and a nice little story & history lesson as well.

[Ian Warren]

The Shorts C/Class .. Jens B. kristensen , the flying boat man , the S30 this entire area was flying boat country pre and after WWII , Short Sinapore,s/Callcutta,s ..

Great pics Kiwibarguy

[kiwibarguy]

Thanks guys, yeah, i have a mountain of prop planes that i want to fly. What could possibly beat this beauty!

[Ian Warren]

Try this site for a selection ..... http://classicbritishfiles.com/

[PiperDriver]

Around the world in Cessna 172?? Im worse I like to fly GA aircraft accross the pacific.

Great tour though Kiwibarguy

PiperDriver

[kiwibarguy]

Thanks PiperDriver, yeah i am thankful to the Cessna for getting me as far as it did. Some of those flights were loooooong!

[kiwibarguy]

Balikpapan>Palangkaraya

Leaving from Sepinggan International Airport (WALL) heading south west to Tjilik Riwut Airport (WAOP)

Socata TBM 700

The EADS Socata TBM 700 is a French high performance single engine turboprop light business and utility aircraft manufactured by EADS Socata.

I set off at about 4pm in cloudy conditions. The battle of Balikpapan comes to mind for war buffs, being one of the last battles of the second war, 5 months after Iwo Jima and 2 weeks before the dropping of the bombs on Hiroshima and Nagasaki.

The landing of American and Australian troops on the 1st of July 1945. After being intially captured by the Japanese on the 24th of January 1942, the allies attacked from the beaches that Japan had 3 years previously. Planes present that day included Buffalos, Black Widows, P-38's, B-25's, B-24's, Corsairs, Hellcats, PV-1 Venturas and loads of P-40's.

Balikpapan was targeted and attacked pretty much the same way as Iwo Jima by constant shelling from the Navy and Attacks from the Air Force, but Japan again fought to the death. Balikpapan was an important target in war due to the oil fields. Members of the 7th division can be seen here walking through the ruins.

Balikpapan is now becoming a tourist destination and doing quite well for itself due to the wealth from the oilfields.

See ya later Balikpapan.

The TBM 700 is a single turboprop engined, six to seven seat low-wing monoplane of aluminium and steel construction.

God spoke to me today, he told me that i needed to change my socks, it was written in the sky!

This model has been so well made, the VC is awesome, well constructed, flies acurately and is totally free! here is the link, number 80 i believe. http://www.flightsim.com/cgi/kds?$=main/hot7.htm

Yes, just to reassure you, this vc is awesome!

The TBM 700 was designed together with Mooney, but Mooney withdrew from the project shortly after certification. In the designation TBM, "TB" stands for Tarbes, the city in France in which Socata is located, the "M" stands for Mooney (the initial was kept in the model designation even though Mooney was never involved in the production of the aeroplane).

Pratt and Whitney have their name on this one.

Listening to the latest 'Kings of Leon' album, flying in the sunset, on the red wine, this is great, i don't want to land!

Finals with a Cessna Skyhawk waiting for me to land at Tjilik Riwut Airport.

Lights that say "I'M HERE!!!"

Thanks again for reading through, see you next week.

Seatbelt signs are off, have a great night!

[Ian Warren]

I swear if you go into the old Kuching City in by the river , it looks as if the streets are the colour discript of the combat and fighting during WWII , the pastle pink and blue paint hiding bullet riddled second stories ... of course this area has been unmatched by conflict and wars since 1945 ... heading to Brunei , almost smack on the border is Bintilu , and remains of an old Japaness airbase , nows the time to be careful KBG

[kiwibarguy]

Palangkaraya>Pangkalanbun

We will be making our way across to Pangkalanbun today of a distance around 350km.

Socata TB200 TOBAGO GT XL

The Socata TB aircraft series are light single engine piston aircraft manufactured by Socata and designed in the late 1970s.

I didn't intentionally choose to fly two Socata's in a row but i found this model on avsim and it was perfect for the length of the journey, also because this little plane rocks!!!

CS-DEH resides at Evora Airport in Portugal, about 130km inland from Lisbon.

The City of Palangkaraya came to the world's attention in 2001 when Dayaks started to butcher men, women and childen who were migrants from the overpopulated Indonesian island of Madura. The stories that i read shocked me. Dayak is the general term for the non-muslim indigenous tribes of Borneo.

The Indonesian government and police basically gave in to the Dayaks and a mass exodus of 60,000 people fled by ferries to Surabaya. Over 500 people werre killed in the summer months of 2001. Most governments would try to supress this kind of violence but unfortunately Indonesia lacks a strong police force which is seperated over the thousands of islands.

This journey that i'm making is the same journey made by those thousands who fled from Palangkaraya to Pangkalanbun which had become the last safe haven for them. Some decided to go on the main roads escorted by police only to be attacked by machete wielding gangs on bikes, others preferred to secretly make their way through the forests and farmland.Makes you think twice about moaning about the state of New Zealand.

Changing the subject now, i would like to turn your attention to the weather.

Blue skies, 3 knot winds, it was awesome to fly in such great conditions

Weeeeeeeeeeee! i said, twisty turny, ha ha ha, look at me, photo! cheeeese!.....foolish boy.

I heard a rumbling in the distance, and a flash of lightning streaks appeared right in front of me.

Then wham, this cloud just appeared and everything went grey, massive crosswinds appeared, jumping from 3 to 22 knot winds, which i can tell you packs quite a punch on a little lady like this. It was so sudden, i had just flown into a very angry storm.

I took her up above the storm which was suprisingly low at around 3000 feet. All i had was an NDB setting, no VOR/DME, so i decided to go into emergency mode and turned on my GPS. Now if you dont know, i dont like to use my GPS unless it is an emergency..... it was an emergency. To think i had nearly flown the Stearmen on this leg, now wouldn't that have been fun.

It was time to descend, i can tell you that it's pretty hard to fly a plane and hold your nose at the same time, one last breath before i go under.

Whack, whack whack, it was like mother nature lifting her skirt up to her knees then kung-fu kicking the hell out of my door!

I have never flown in conditions like this.

I won't lie to you, i had everything on! i needed all the help i could get. When i land i will go to the suggestions box and draw a VOR/DME symbol with "yes please' written underneath it.

There was a break in the cloud and i took it.

That was great fun!!! I can't recommend active sky highly enough. This was a memorable leg. I was flying inside that storm for about 30 minutes and it really challenged me. Thank you for joining me again. You are right Ian, i am in dangerous territory, even the weather is out to get me

The seatbelt signs are off, have a nice day!

[victor_alpha_charlie]

QUOTE (kiwibarguy @ Sep 11 2008, 03:11 PM) <{POST_SNAPBACK}>

Listening to the latest 'Kings of Leon' album,

Good man!

[kiwibarguy]

They constantly produce great tunes, every song is catchy and pulls you back for more, defintely a band that defines the word 'cool'! so many try hards out there, good to see the real musicians getting through the ever thick layer of rubbish we hear on the radio, not everyone is a teenage girl!!I'm definitely enjoying them.
Liam Finn's album is also a great buy and am surprised that he doesn't get more media attention than he deserves. While i'm at it, another album i listen to while i fly this trip is 'Flight of the conchords'. Great tunes, very funny! Where did they come up with "telescopic nipple antennae transmitting data back to earth"!!LOL!!

[kiwibarguy]

Pangkalanbun>Pulau Belitung

Hi there, how ya been? Today we head west as usual to the island of Pulau Belitung covering a distance of 430km.

Beech Superking Air 300LW

We will be following D-IBER today which is freeware for both 2004 and FSX.

The first flight of the prototype Model 300 took place on 3 September 1983 and deliveries commenced the following year. Because not all nations would then allow an aircraft of this type to be certified at an Maximum Take Off Weight greater than 12,500 lb (5,700 kg), the Model 300LW was also developed at the same time, limited to the lower MTOW. (wiki)

With the worst of the weather past, it is still drizzling as i taxied out to leave Pangkalanbun. I'm quite impressed with the V.C in this 300! Loads of clickable switches, very acurate and am surprised that it isn't payware.

As i took off, a thick low cloud line appeared so i took her up and couldn't see much for the entire trip.

A very similar model, the B200C was the first plane to land at Chek Lap Kok (new Hong Kong airport) used for navaid calibration in 1996.

As i flew over the Java Sea covered by clouds i took a closer look at the cockpit. The detail is awesome!

It has 'Rockstar' written all over it!

Coming in to Pulau Belitung. Great weather in the end, no rain just a bit of crosswind.

Arriving at H.A.S Hanandjoeddin situated just out of the city of Tanjung Pandan.

The talk of the town here is tin mining. In fact the town is pretty much surrounded in mines.

I will be heading up to Singapore over the next month or so.

If you check out Google Earth you can see that the houses line up all the way down the river in Tanjung Pandan.

The seatbelt signs are off, have a nice day.

My 2008-09 Summer Cocktail Range

Well this is my job, i had to create a range of drinks so i thought i might show them since i haven't put any in for a while. My favourite was the Ruby blast but my Love Potion won silver in the National Competition.

In to Out
1. Love Potion- Vodka, Wild Strawberry Scnapps, Franks Grapefruit juice and Angostura Bitters with freshly muddled Passionfruit, Ginger and Lemon.

2. Ruby Blast- Vodka, Cherry Brandy, Frank's Grapefruit Juice with freshly muddled Tamarillo and Mint.

3. Shooting Star- Vodka, Lemonchello, Mandarin Liqueur, Angostura Bitters topped with Bravo Blood Orange drink and freshly muddled Red Grapefruit and a squeeze of lemon.

[Ian Warren]

mmmm a Virtual Free Taste Test or the VFTT ..... loved walking/touring this area .. warm .. just relaxing

[Charl]

Had a bit of a catchup read, very thoughtful and entertaining thread, best enjoyed at leisure over a tall Ruby Blast

All those islands, fought over with young lives thrown at them from both sides...
I watched Clint Eastwood's [color=#800080]Iwo Jima the other day, and was transfixed.
The guy has such empathy for his subject - from both sides of the war, because Flags of Our Fathers is compulsory viewing after that.
You also have to watch them in that order I reckon.

Great stuff KBG, look forward to your further travels.[/color]

[kiwibarguy]

I'm on my way to Mt Kiguncu in Indonesia.

Ian- Thanks for continuing to follow my trip. So i see you have travelled these parts! that's great!, if you can think of anywhere i should go that has a good story to tell, great geography or even a plane that i could fly please let me know by private message, we don't want to give the game away ay!
I did try the British files but i'm on fsx, but thanks for the link! Do you know any good sites for planes apart from simviation,fs-freeware,flightsim and avsim? I'm looking for props only, big or small, famous and the not so famous but must be fsx.
I'm on my way up to Mount Kigunci so if you know anywhere around Sumatra give us a bell. Thanks again, Paul.

Charl- Thanks for following my trip around the world. If there are any places you would like to see me visit let me know by e-mail. I'm a bit of a war buff so i think i might be heading up to Iwo Jima but as you know it's a bit out. With so many countries to visit i have to think carefully where i am going once i get to Singapore. One route is to follow the Pacific Theatre up to Palau, Guam, Saipan, Iwo Jima to Okinawa, up Japan head over to Korea then west on to Europe. Alternatively i could go Cambodia, Laos, Vietnam to China or thirdly head west and go Thailand, Myanmar, Bangaladesh heading into India.

All-Thanks for reading my blog, any suggestions are welcome, i am not a pilot so if i am doing anything wrong that you notice in the screenshots, please let me know and also let me know where i should go. Hell is not an option.

[kiwibarguy]

Pulau Belitang>Pangkalpinang

Hi thanks for joining me again! Since the weather is so good today i thought we could take out a classic vintage for spin.

Stearman PT-24 Kaydet

The Yellow Peril

This model depicts a restored Royal Canadian Air Force Kaydet flown by the Canadian Warplane Heritage Museum of Hamilton, Ontario.

With half the fuel taken out so i could get a little more speed, we head of for Pulau Palaubangka. I have learnt that Pulau is Indonesian for 'Island'.

Leaving Pulau Belitung, it's a wonderful day for flying but with a 12 knot headwind i realise this leg will take a little longer than thought.

Now i hoping today that the weather doesn't turn bad as i haven't got much in the way of technology if the heavens open up.

We all know that tin comes from here now but Pulau Belitung's next biggest trade is pepper.

Pulau Belitung in all its beauty, not bad ay, i could spend a few days here!

The plane was easy to fly, and relatively forgiving of new pilots. It gained a reputation as a rugged aeroplane and a good teacher. Officially named the Boeing Model 75, the plane was (and still is) persistently known as the "Stearman" by many who flew them. I just loved the sound of the engines puttering away, it's like being the captain of the most powerful lawnmower in the world.

Yellow Peril. Some Stearman owners claim this name resulted specifically from the Stearman's allegedly challenging ground-handling characteristics, but most WWII veterans contend that the nickname was more of a generic reference to the dangerous nature of primary flight training, an endeavor in which the Stearman obviously played a major role.

The beautiful simplicity of vintage aircraft.

With over 10,000 made, 1000+ are said to be still around today airworthy and those that are on display.

Either a Lycoming R-680 (PT-13) or Continental R-670 (PT-17) engine powered most models, at a top speed of 124 mph with a 505-mile range. An engine shortage in 1940-41 led to the installation of 225-hp Jacobs R-755 engines on some 150 airframes, and the new designation PT-18. This particular model houses a Continental R-670 with 220 horsepower.

Max speed : 124mph Cruise Speed: 106mph @1850 rpm Climb:840ft/min Ceiling: 11,200ft

"Oh my god, she's so flippin hot!"- Flight of the Conchords. Says it all really.

I flew along this wall of cloud so i could keep some visual on my heading.

Finals with light crosswinds, had a nice little gap to see the runway in the distance.

We arrive at HAS Hanandjoeddin Airport a little low on fuel, and ready to check out the city of Tanjung Pundan nearby.

The weather has been very kind today. October and November get alot of rainfall so i was treated well today.

There is no seatbelt sign so .........you can get off when you like really.

Still here! Well how about this for a shot of a Mi-26 in action. The biggest helicopter in service.

How do you pilot such a beast with a very expensive Mig underneath. Good skills! See ya next time, Paul.

[Ian Warren]

KGB ...............Thanks for taking me up for a spin

brilliant plane