totm aug 2023 What funny/interesting thing happened in your life today?

[AlamoVampire]

Landed! 5 hours 58 minutes! What an experience! Thank you all who read along as I updated. Thank you for coming with me.

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Edited July 8 by AlamoVampire

[AlamoVampire]

I wanted to see if i messed up something in my approach to EGLL with my 77W so ive chosen a quick 0 passenger 0 cargo ferry flight from KDFW to KATL. At take off my 77W weighed 407,600 pounds with 39,700 pounds being fuel. KDFW has noise abatement in place and that meant i needed to use a derated take off. From a standing start to lift off was under 35 seconds, weight off wheels to 39,000 in less than 13 minutes. I am always impressed by the sheer power of the 77W and its twin GE90-115BL turbofans. For those unaware of just how utterly massive a GE90-115BL is, heres a size comparison:

what a beast!

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[AlamoVampire]

Ok im nerding out a little. Twice in 2 days now the 2 real world versions of the 777-300er I have from PMDG are in relatively close proximity to each other over the pacific. Yesterday from california to sydney. American Airlines 777-300er N717AN KLAX-YSSY and today the reverse.

The other is United Airlines 777-300er  KSFO-YSSY and today the reverse.

it just tickles me to see it happen!

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[Zozaf Kerman]

Made around $120 on ui commissions yesterday, and in the process found someone that showed me r/GenP. Thanks for the free adobe products!

[AlamoVampire]

Ok im watching Critical Role Campaign 3 episode 99 which is also the first part of a 3 part mini series inside the larger campaign. It has 3 guest players: Nosir Dalal, Abubakar Salim, and Nick Marini. Im seriously geeking here! Nosir Dalal was the voice actor for Bode Akuna in Star Wars Jedi Survivor and Rain in Mortal Kombat 1. Abubakar Salim was the voice of Bayek in Assassin’s Creed Origins!! House of the Dragon fans will know him as Alyn of Hull. Ok back to geeking!

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[rebel-1]

And I've already bought a huge hot smoked bream for the evening. And some king prawns. And I also picked up beer "Khamovniki Pilzenskoye" in the store for the promotion. I'm thinking about which movie to watch tonight.

[cubinator]

Think I will go do some plane spotting tomorrow today, as I will happen to be near the airport with a fair amount of time to kill.

Edited July 13 by cubinator
forum 502 delays

[AlamoVampire]

@cubinator flightradar24 will be a great tool to use. It can be used free just refresh the browser ever 10-15 minutes

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[rebel-1]

22 hours ago, AlamoVampire said:

flightradar24 will be a great tool to use. It can be used free just refresh the browser ever 10-15 minutes

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The display delay on the Flightradar is about 10 minutes.

[AlamoVampire]

@rebel-1 the delay in when it says your free session expired or in showing where a flight is? Im thinking you mean the former as i use flightradar24 all the time and its accurate to a margin small enough that is negligible. I have tracked flights into and out of my home city by major carriers like American and Southwest. Ive tracked flights carrying my father into and out of my town with him confirming my observations. All that said ive 0 clue what delay you speak of.

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Edited July 14 by AlamoVampire

[rebel-1]

22 hours ago, AlamoVampire said:

@rebel-1 the delay in when it says your free session expired or in showing where a flight is?

I'm talking about the delay of the flight location on the map. It was done intentionally for security purposes.

[AlamoVampire]

@rebel-1 in that case im going to have to disagree with you and say with 100% confidence that you are incorrect about it being delayed in such a manner. I am an AV geek that uses flightradar24 nearly everyday (free version) to see what is flying around my location. I live on an approach/departure path for an international airport as well as a major USAF flight training base and can confirm that the aircraft that it (FR24 using an abbreviation cuz y not) says will pass any location I am at will be that exact aircraft. Again, I have tracked and photographed highly specific aircraft that cannot be mistaken for other aircraft in an airlines fleet.

This aircraft, a Boeing 737-800 registration N915NN is a SINGULAR version of this livery. It is 1 of 1. Ive tracked this aircraft coming to my city on 5 distinct occasions and successfully photographed it. A feat made possible by accurate position reporting via FR24 and even Flightaware. If it (FR24) was on a delay as you insist then plane spotters such as myself would be incapable of imaging specific aircraft on limited time frames. Beyond that I say again, I have tracked flights with family members on them coming into my city. One prime example of FR24 being dead on accurate was a flight my father was on. I drew up a copy of his flights EXACT flight plan based off information found on 2 different sites that show planned routes. I drew up my copy of that flight plan using a program called Simbrief. It is a flight planning service we simpilots use to fly in MSFS. It is spot on accurate. Publicly available data and my own flight plan showed identical flight times, routing and approaches and runway for landing. However while his flight was enroute weather delayed the flight and the airport shut the targeted runway down and they required an alternate runway. I saw his flight change course slightly on FR24 to accommodate this change. Just as FR24 was showing me the flights position on approach, namely 60 seconds out, I started watching for his aircraft. And just as FR24 showed his aircraft should be crossing the fence of the airport an aircraft popped out of the clouds. The exact spot, the exact time and the EXACT AIRCRAFT. How do I know it was the correct aircraft? It was 130am and aside from 1 twin engine turbo prop his was the ONLY A321 landing or even close to the airport. That and just as his flight crew were turning off the runway i got a text saying he just landed and was taxiing to the gate. So 10 minute delay? Nope.

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[TheSaint]

It finally got cool enough that I can go running again. Ran/jogged two miles this morning. Felt good. Going to try to keep this up every day from now on.

[AlamoVampire]

Doing a short 3ish hour flight in the 777-300ER and a control setup for one of my 3 current liveries (PH-BVF) derped out my rudder control for N717AN, the aircraft im flying right now. I ticked a setting in the KLM (it manifested on the AAL 777) by mistake and this was 14-16 hours ago, and only now found out. I requested pushback from the gate to start my taxi to runway 27L. I wanted to turn the aircraft to the right to join the taxiway but my aircraft failed to turn. I stopped my aircraft and ran a personal check of settings. Control binds looked correct in the sims settings, rudder pedals moved. Then i hit my storm light (its a switch that brings all lights on the flight deck to max brightness instantly) and moved my rudder again. My tiller handle remained static. I use the X56 Rhino HOTAS so i need a combined tiller and rudder as I do not have a boeing yoke setup. The instant I saw my tiller as static I opened my aircrafts settings. Guess what setting I ticked. If you said Rudder AND Tiller you win! The setting I need is Rudder. Counter intuitive I know but in the PMDG code its a blended rudder tiller. The setting of Rudder AND Tiller expects a separate tiller to be used.  Lesson? Dont monkey with a study level aircraft on minimal sleep lol.

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[AlamoVampire]

As you guys know im an av geek and dedicated simmer. I just did a flight in my 777-300ER from philadelphia to my city. I chose that flight because i have family that will be taking that EXACT flight in a few hours. Heres the part I find interesting. I use a service called Simbrief to generate flight plans. Normally when I duplicate a real flight I get slightly different routing. Today? I got the EXACT ROUTE! Only a few differences between mine and the real flight coming up. 1. My version was in a 777-300ER Real: an A319. 2. My version was at FL320 Real: scheduled FL280. 3. My flight time 3h09m Real: typically averages 3h50m. Im floored! Yea I was higher and significantly faster but I was also just shy of half a MILLION pounds in weight at the moment I lifted from the runway and  an A319 at max is 166,400 pounds to my 777-300ER coming out this flight 441,400 pounds a 275,000 pound difference. Cool huh? I think so! Oh btw i had a near constant 80-120kt headwind.

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[BA-Forums]

I went hunting with my cousin and I managed to bag an Eurasian collared dove on my first try. Those birds are invasive where my cousin lives, so people can hunt them whenever. We didn’t have much luck after that. We grilled it when we got back, it was pretty good! 

Edited July 24 by BA-Forums
I realized I copy pasted 2 times… curse you error 502!

[AlamoVampire]

Doing a flight from EGLL to KJFK, a 7.5 hour flight and as I was taxiing to 27R I saw a forklift come from my left a few hundred feet ahead of my 777-300ER and realized a FORKLIFT ie one like this: 

was doing nearly 40mph! Never seen one go that fast! Then once airborne (currently climbing out of London) I find I am flying the most asinine figure 8 out of the area possible. Not only that but its screwing with VNAV in a bad way. Its making getting to my assigned level a pain.

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edit: ive flown out of EGLL (Heathrow) plenty in the 737-700/800 going to amsterdam, paris, rome and athens and never has it wanted such an asinine figure 8. Idk if its because im a big 777-300ER or what, but even the real thing (mimicking a real flight from London to JFK) has never flown this odd path. Its curious. But Im at my assigned cruise so, for 7 hours and change here I go!

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Edited July 24 by AlamoVampire

[SunlitZelkova]

On Monday I returned from Spokane, flying Alaska operated by Horizon Air.

I found out the Embraer E175 is a neat little jet. It seems like the capacity can’t be more than an Amtrak Viewliner I coach car lol. Being a rather small 22 year old (I was still several hours away from turning 23) it wasn’t a problem, didn’t feel cramped at all.

On the flight there we climbed and cruised for 10 minutes before descending (left from PDX). On the way back though it was weird. We never got an announcement the climb phase was over, although the seatbelt light did go off. And we seemed to fly quite a bit lower, perhaps no more than 5000 meters (just eyeballing it, but in any case, it was definitely below 10k).

Note that at the time the inland NW was going through a heatwave. Do flights ever get rerouted lower than ideal cruising altitude (from a fuel economy POV) to avoid turbulence? This is probably a question for you, @AlamoVampire

[AlamoVampire]

@SunlitZelkova in terms of fuel econ typically higher is better. Thinner and cooler air. Im over Ireland about to go over the Atlantic and its -19c out there. As for turbulence? Without seeing the flight path or weather charts for your flight, I can only go on what I know/experience. If there is significant weather in the way most pilots will request a side step of a mile to up to 20nm if its passable laterally, ie a small-ish cell of storms or something. Sometimes the weather (storms and turbulence) is simply too wide and tall ie a storm from is 30-60 miles wide and tops out at 70,000 feet and goes far lower than your flight. In that case pilots will quickly check their weather radar and confer with ATC to get a vertical change to an altitude that is less trouble. If the RVSM (reduced vertical separation minimum) allows your flight at 34000 to descend if my flight at 35000 is on the same jetway (highway in the sky) then a descent for you and i would likely get a climb command to keep us apart and is both safely out of the rougher air. Its more complicated than that (pilots ((as in non simmers (((im just a sim pilot but fly with real weather and study level sircraft))) can better explain it that do this for real) but the tldr: most weather avoidance is lateral but sometimes a vertical change is the only option.

hope i made sense

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2h43m into the flight and ive discovered a problem. Because of that odd figure 8 it had me on and with an unusually long hold prior to my take off i found out i was 3000 pounds lower on fuel that i should have been. Ive fixed it but i should not have had to. No idea why it happened.

probably a failure on my part. Most likely to be honest. Still learning the aircraft. So ive still got 4 or so hours left.

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Edited July 24 by AlamoVampire

[AlamoVampire]

Just a brief update on my flight: Im at FL360 or 36000 over the atlantic. Im a few hundred miles off of the coast of Ireland. There are some storms out here but are well below me. However I just experienced a patch of clear air turbulence about 40nm east of a bit of weather and my flight dropped 1400 feet in less than 3 seconds. Only clue I had about it was when my pfd and aircraft chimed an alert out. I can only imagine how my digital passengers felt just now. Irl that would have hurt!

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oof. My 777 just had me wanting to jettison a door and leap. My aircraft was CONVINCED it needed a step climb. I deliberately built my flight plan with 0 step climbs. Ive 3 or so hours left and I just spent 15 minutes arguing with my aircraft. Its fixed now but at 3 hours left not even halfway between greenland and canada still more than a THOUSAND MILES from JFK about 1500 or so to be blunt my 777 wanted to step up to FL380 AND start my descent into JFK…. Bloody aircraft was crazy! Like I said its fixed now but still… man im both loving and hating this aircraft. Ill learn it yet i will. But wow.

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stupid editor. Ok my near 7.5 hour flight done in REAL TIME is nearly over! Nearing top of descent. Also found a jetblue a321neo on flight radar24 doing a flight from AMSTERDAM to Boston!! 100nm until descent!

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atc already has me descending! Here i come jfk! 7 hours elapsed so far! ALL IN REAL TIME!!

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Edited July 24 by AlamoVampire

[AlamoVampire]

Thank you all who came with me from London Heathrow to New York John F Kennedy. Our flight time was 7h39m01s at 36000. We parked at gate C37. It was a pleasure. 
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[AlamoVampire]

I just had the most surprising av geek moment! I just saw a 737-700 from southwest on a youtube channel called LA Flights. Big woop right? Well for me it is.

This one in particular is the one I saw. This is just an image from google by a random plane spotter. So whats the big deal? It is N268WN. So? As yall know I fly the 737-700 in flight sim made by PMDG as well as the 777-300ER. This 737, N268WN is one modeled by PMDG and the one I have the most flight time in. Yes I have seen other aircraft by PMDG namely N915NN a 737-800 in TWA colors (in person and ive imaged it) and the 777-300ER I fly N717AN as it flew out of heathrow, twice! I know im a nerd.

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[SunlitZelkova]

For my birthday I went to the Evergreen Aviation & Space Museum with my dad. I rode on the back of his motorcycle for the first time.

I wasn't expecting anything necessarily exciting, I've been there quite a few times. Due to financial troubles in the 2010s, some of the museums exhibits are a bit dated, such as a giant mural depicting the plan for the Constellation program, proudly claiming it will take America back to the Moon by 2020.

But lo and behold, they had a (unrestored) F-117!!!!!!

Together with the F-15A, A-10C, and RQ-4 mockup, they have a good sized collection of relatively modern American aircraft now. There's also an F-14, but its kept outside and is in pretty ratty condition.

Reading about it just now, it seems a number of museums across the country have received F-117s for the first time in the past few years. The one at Evergreen was the first Nighthawk to drop a bomb during Desert Storm.

[Zozaf Kerman]

21 hours ago, SunlitZelkova said:

For my birthday I went to the Evergreen Aviation & Space Museum with my dad. I rode on the back of his motorcycle for the first time.

I wasn't expecting anything necessarily exciting, I've been there quite a few times. Due to financial troubles in the 2010s, some of the museums exhibits are a bit dated, such as a giant mural depicting the plan for the Constellation program, proudly claiming it will take America back to the Moon by 2020.

But lo and behold, they had a (unrestored) F-117!!!!!!

Together with the F-15A, A-10C, and RQ-4 mockup, they have a good sized collection of relatively modern American aircraft now. There's also an F-14, but its kept outside and is in pretty ratty condition.

Reading about it just now, it seems a number of museums across the country have received F-117s for the first time in the past few years. The one at Evergreen was the first Nighthawk to drop a bomb during Desert Storm.

That nighthawk is new I think, I was at the evergreen museum a year or two ago and I didn’t see it

[Nuke]

On 7/24/2024 at 12:06 AM, SunlitZelkova said:

On Monday I returned from Spokane, flying Alaska operated by Horizon Air.

I found out the Embraer E175 is a neat little jet. It seems like the capacity can’t be more than an Amtrak Viewliner I coach car lol. Being a rather small 22 year old (I was still several hours away from turning 23) it wasn’t a problem, didn’t feel cramped at all.

On the flight there we climbed and cruised for 10 minutes before descending (left from PDX). On the way back though it was weird. We never got an announcement the climb phase was over, although the seatbelt light did go off. And we seemed to fly quite a bit lower, perhaps no more than 5000 meters (just eyeballing it, but in any case, it was definitely below 10k).

Note that at the time the inland NW was going through a heatwave. Do flights ever get rerouted lower than ideal cruising altitude (from a fuel economy POV) to avoid turbulence? This is probably a question for you, @AlamoVampire

ive always wanted to fly on one of those. all we get here are 737s. was excited to see the 900 model on my last flight. the 700 is a little cramped.

as for not having the cruising callout. that also happens on the wrangell-petersburg hop (im in petersburg). i mean we share a power grid. the petersburg-juneau hop is a little longer and we reach cruising there. not long enough to bring out the snack cart though. the anchorage hop is about four hours.

i think i spent more time in the air because of the affordable care act than i ever have for things i actually wanted to do.

Edited August 4 by Nuke