Add-ons used in this pictorial flight:
Scenery: MegaSceneryEarth 2.0 Oregon Complete State Scenery & MegaSceneryEarth 2.0 Northern California
Aircraft: Carenado B1900D
Terrain Mesh: FSGlobal Ultimate: The Americas
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Ready to depart at Illinois Valley (3S4) - The default FSX runway is misaligned to the real direction depicted with MSE textures here.
Climbing out over the small town of O'Brien and making a left turn to a bearing of roughly 90 degrees to head to Siskiyou.
Over the Red Buttes Wilderness Area. This will be the last of the "greenery". As we approach Siskiyou and then head south on Leg 3 to Redding, California, the terrain takes on more of the yellow-golden desert/sand appearance that is more characteristic of Eastern Oregon and California.
With the Carenado B1900D Autopilot set to hold the GPS course, I had time to snap this external shot. The terrain is this part of the world is magical.
We are right over the Oregon/California border now and down below is Applegate Lake, making a nice contrast of blue against the predominantly green terrain.
Near Condrey Mountain, with Cottonwood Peak in the distance. We are right over the Kalamth River and Siskiyou airport is hidden behind the mountains int he valley you can just see in the distance.
Looks like some deforestation/logging has occured in this area below in the past, Some of it appears to be growing back.
Start of the descent into Seskiyou, which is dead ahead. I decided to descend and make an approach from the North, turning around Black Mountain to effect a straight out departure for Leg 3.
Cascade Wonderland Highway snakes North into Oregon.
The town of Yreka in the background as we start a long downwind leg to drop altitude.
On downwind, heading in a northerly direction. Looks like some interesting scenery up there to explore, but that will be for another time, and another flight.
Long final to Siskiyou. Note Mt. Shasta to the left in the distance. This will be our focal point for Leg 3 of the flight.
Final to Siskiyou County Airport (KSIY) - This airport is nicely aligned with MSE 2.0 textures (well done Microsoft for getting it right!)
Admittedly, I made a bit of a hard landing here after dropping too much speed over the threshold and it hit the pavement a little hard. I might need to replace my Logitech Extreme 3D joystick after 5 years of great service. The throttle axis is beginning to become quite jumpy and difficult to control engine thrust.
This was another beautiful flight, well suited to the B1900D aircraft. There is so much to see here, as long as you like endless mountain terrain! In Leg 3, the terrain starts to vary greatly, adding even more interest and providing many more screenshot opportunities. Stay Tuned...
