The 80th Flight!

Flight number 80 would be the final flight of the original “Around the world in 80 flights” tour so this should be somewhat of a great achievement. However, due to the number of diversions and additional flights I have added to my own tour, despite reaching the 80th flight, I have not even reached my half way point.

Since leaving Edinburgh in the UK 3 years ago I have racked up over 54,000 Kilometres which works out at over 33,500 Miles! I have passed through 37 different countries whilst I have covered Europe and the length of Africa, all the way too Cape Town before continuing to The UAE and Middle East. I then covered the entire length of India or order to reach the Maldives Islands before returning North to the Himalayas and Mt. Everest. From the Himalayas I continued to Asia and across to Japan where I have now begun to double back on myself a little. This is simply so that I can loop further South as I make my way through the Pacific Islands and eventually reach Australia.

From my home in the UK, Australia will make my geographical half way point around the world. I feel that this should be celebrated more than the acknowledgement of my 80th flight. After all, I still have many more miles to go with many more countries to visit. Having significantly amended the original route I shall be completing a total of 203 flights before my wheels finally touch down in Edinburgh UK once more.

Whilst not mathematically nor geographically “half way,” I shall be considering my virtual arrival to the island of Hawaii to be the half way point of my Around The World Tour.
Hawaii to San Francisco is by far the longest flight I will have to negotiate during the tour and will need to heavily modify my tiny Beechcraft Baron 58 in order to make the huge distance but this is still some way off for flight number 120.

I have thoroughly enjoyed the entire time I have been completing this tour although I would love to hear from people who live in any of the places I have already, or am yet to visit. See below for the offical route map and for the full list of destinations I shall be visiting (virtually.)

OFFICIAL ROUTE MAP

Blue Pins = Offical 80 Flights Route
Red Pins = Addional Destinations Added By Me
Yellow Pins = Points Of Interest I Shall Not Land At.

Please continue to follow my virtual adventures around the world and leave comments to help me to make it that little bit more realistic.

Flight 75) Shanghai – Beijing

It had been a long time since my previous flight and I had enjoyed the time spent learning about Shanghai. I really hadn’t known what a huge city this place had become, although now it was time to leave the futuristic lights and skyline of Shanghai for Beijing. I included Beijing on the tour mainly so that I could see the Great Wall of China.

I started by checking the weight and fuel load of my small Beech Baron 58 and made sure I plotted a suitable route north. This didn’t take long and before long I was requesting taxi to runway clearence by 10:00. The rain and fog wasn’t very inviting but made for a rather reflective concrete surface around Shanghai Airport. Unfortunately my take off clearence was denied as the airport was operating IFR only due to the thick fog still in the air, so I created an alternative IFR route and was soon give the clearence I was looking for.

I had to “hold my position” many times during the taxi route to the runway as this really was a very busy airport with other aircraft landing and taking off regularly and many other planes maneuvering to and from their own gates. All of this movement made the radio buzz constantly.

Having almost lapped the main terminal building entirely I finally took to the skies at 10:25 and soon cleared the low clouds. I didn’t want to fly too high as I wanted to get a look at the infamous Shanghai skyline. As the flight sim FSX is a fair few years old now, it is clear to see the rapid expansion of this city as many of the key buildings now standing were not featured in the original software. Still the city looked wonderful with the cresent moon keeping watch.

Flying North-West from the city I passed over the Hung-Tse Lake and then straightend to due North for the majority of the flight. My next waypoint was 1 hour, 45 minutes away.
I flew lower and the speed of the land below gave the illusion I was travelling faster than at higher altitudes.

An hour later and I was approaching the coastline and could see hills and mountains in the distance both infront and from my left hand window. I flew lower once again to have some fun with the hilly terrain below but soon found myself surrounded by mountain fog. Passing over a few unknown cities and lakes with anouther hour and a half still to go until reaching Beijing, the weather finally cleared up.

I suffered with radio confusion between Beijing Center directing me to contact Tianjin Tower and visa versa. This bounced to and from for far too long until I was able call my landing intentions and touch down at 14:38 slightly off center. The few previous runaways I have landed on have belonged to very large international airports. I will look forward to visiting smaller landing strips in the future. I find these can be a little more challenging.
The Beech Baron was parked up by 14:45 and I was looking forward to seeing the sights of Beijing.

This slideshow requires JavaScript.

Whilst here I really wanted to see the Great Wall of China which can be seen to the North of Beijing. Whilst I took a short flight around the area, I was unable to see the wall at all. Many maps show there to be many sections of the Great Wall. Maybe this just simply isn’t included in the standard FSX simulator software. This was rather disappointing. Nevermind.

Beijing Travel Guide – Beijing official city guide HD – https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=EHCab5_BArI
Visit Beijing – 5 Things You WIll Love & Hate about Beijing, China – https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=iZVSii6rB5g
This Is My City – Beijing  – https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=hx35kanMWh0
BEIJING Modern City – https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=RH3PvfI7ELQ
Discover Beijing III: A Modern City in Motion (Full Episode) – https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1PrcMFLQ5IQ

[Documentary] The Forbidden City of Ming &Qing Dynasties (1368 – 1912 AD – https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6QvsCr_xK3c
Beijing Travel Guide – Forbidden City Documentary (Palace Museum) Part 1 “Secrets” HD – https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=sHypO2ISPas

National Geographic – The Great Wall of China – Documentary  – https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=VjlydnRqcmw

Beijing 2008 Opening Ceremony – https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ii-n_QSS0og

Flight 49) Bahrain – Jask

I knew that this flight would be a longer journey as I was to double back on myself some what and fly over Dubai once again. With this in mind I requested a fuel truck and filled both tanks to their full capacity of 68 Gallons each. Later in my tour I will be stretching the distances as far as my small plane can handle, and I even have one flight I am yet to see as possible, but I have plenty of time to find a solution yet.

I completed all of the start up procedure, which I have no doubt is vastly shorter in a simulator than it would be in real life, and requested my IFR clearance. Following the taxiways N A Q R and A to Runway 12 Right, I was leaving Bahrain tarmac at 10:20 and entering clear blue sky.

Crossing the turquoise seas between Bahrain and Abu Dhabi, the colour soon took on a deeper navy blue and I could spot a dusting of clouds on the horizon I was due to fly through. I decided to climb a little and clipped the top of the odd cloud whilst picking my way through them. Light turbulence lasted for a good few minutes and I though I would enjoy diving through some of the larger clouds so dropped height to 6,000 ft. As the clouds increased in number and density I was no longer able to see the horizon and was relying on the satellite navigation and my instruments. The odd gap through the clouds allowed me to spot the water below, making sure it was still there. Right on cue I saw the clouds open up to show me a small island with its own runway. I later checked and found that this was Siri Island. As the turbulence grew stronger I climbed back to 10,000 ft and headed for Dubai.

It was nice to see Dubai again. I really enjoyed learning about many of the record breaking structures in Dubai and much of the history of the area. The FlyTampa “Dubai Rebooted” add-on scenery really was fantastic and I am looking forward to my arrival in Hong Kong where I hope to use another add-on pack by FlyTampa.

Flying over Dubai. Again.

The rest of the flight was due to be an easy leg over the water again until reaching the Iranian shore and my landing destination of Jask. It was far from the easy leg I was expecting.

I received my first ILS instructions at 84 miles away from Jask and whilst I was surprised to receive them so early, I was greatful for the amount of support I had.

I hadn’t seen so many clouds since I was flying through the thunderstorms raging over Entebbe and lake Victoria in Africa. As I was beginning to think how easy it could be to become completely lost in the clouds a few very bright flashes lit up my cockpit and was followed by extremely close thunder. This was about the same time the turbulence decided to kick up again.

Flying by instrument only, I followed the ILS instructions best I could but upon request to declare that I has sight of the Runway, I was unable to reply positively. I had descended to only 2,000 ft but the cloud, rain and fog made visibility the worst I had ever flown in. (Virtually of course.) I was guided directly to the Runway but could only get a visual as I flew directly over it. By checking the runway number (6) I could establish the opposite heading to fly in (240), before completing a full 180 degree turn and hoping that I would line up with the runway.

Coming in to land at 500 ft, I took a very low and slow pass over a yacht and could barely make out the start of the runway. The strong crosswind had blown me slightly off course but I was able to correct for this and bring the wheels to the ground to complete the scariest landing I have done on this tour. I was still being buffeted around as I parked up for 13:35. I admit that I didn’t want to spend very long at this tiny airstrip.

Bandar-e_Anzali (Jask)

Bandar Anzali Photos – https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6X24PVIn1TM

Bandar Anzali Photos 2 – https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3K8P3ansT3s

Another New Aircraft

During my stay in Dubai I wanted to treat myself to a new aircraft to continue the rest of my around the world tour. I had been very impressed by the virtual aircraft created by Carenado and purchased the fantastic Embraer Phenom 100. Whilst I love this aircraft I clocked up some airtime with this machine and soon felt that I was missing a lot of the landscape below and making this tour a lot quicker and easier than I had originally believed it to be. For this reason I though it would be best to stick with a smaller aircraft and after covering more than 18,000 miles in a small Beech Baron 58, I had learned to love this aircraft.

Carenado also make a highly detailed version of the Beech Baron 58 and I was keen to try out this updated version of the aircraft. With a slightly different radio stack, I have had to become accustomed to the new surroundings but was soon enjoying the aircraft just as much as the old one.

I’m looking forward to getting back on the World Tour in this little bird.

Beechcraft Baron 58 Showcase Video – https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jtPmAGEAuIs

Amazing Dubai

I have enjoyed learning lots about each of the places I have stopped off at so far on this around the world virtual tour and of course I have my favorite destinations through out my travels. Cape Town was a city that I was very impressed with and have added this to my list cities I would like to visit in my lifetime.

Dubai has been the next large destination that I would love to see first hand. So much about this place impresses me. From the tallest building in the world, the largest airport in the world, the world’s first 7 star hotel and off shore island projects. All having been built from nothing within the last 30 years. It goes to show what can be achieved if money is no object.

During this tour I have decided to take a break in Dubai to allow myself to discover more about this spectacular city before moving to my next destination.

I used Google maps “Street View” function to mimic the drive from Dubai’s International Airport into the city. Seeing the roads and the buildings pass by from first person view allowed me to learn the routes and appreciate the scale of this young city. My first location I wanted to see was the Burj Khalifa. At 2723 feet high, and with 163 occupied floors, this building currently holds the world record for tallest building and does so by quite some margin. The views from both the observation deck and from the ground looking up at the tower are extremely impressive.

Burj Khalifa

Mega Structures Burj Khalifa – https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=rLCRcKX00-o

Inside Burj Khalifa – https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4OADecQMpaw

burj khalifa apartment – https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=JSB73lJOWgE

Living in the Burj Dubai (Burj Khalifa) in Downtown Dubai – https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=OJyPvTwNTnM

Burj Khalifa – 4 Bedrooms – 4,128 sq ft – https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=EDZ6GZLS25A

View From Working On Top Of The Burj Khalifa – https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9HMWCDUfJMs

Burj Khalifa Base Jump – https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=iD4qsWnjsNU

Burj Khalifa Fountain Show – https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=MELNJRJMK-Q

_____________________________________________________________

 

In the shadow of the Burj Khalifa lays the worlds largest shopping mall, The Mall of Dubai. This massive collection of buildings contains several world firsts and record breaking features including the worlds largest aquarium, Olympic sized ice skating rink and even its own indoor roller coaster at Sega Republic.

 

Mall Of Dubai

Due to the amount of wealth to be seen in Dubai, their shopping mall needed to be on a scale above anything else on the planet and the gold district aims to impress.

Dubai’s Underwater Zoo / Aquarium is definitely something I would love to see for myself one day. Over 33,000 species and 400 sharks can be seen gliding above your head from a tunnel running through the entire record breaking sized tank.

Dubai Underwater Zoo

Dubai Aquarium & Underwater Zoo – https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=MJaXgEbhCfo

Meet King Croc the latest addition to Dubai Aquarium & Underwater Zoo – https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=iMRrsRjaavc

Full Coverage of The Dubai Mall Aquarium in Max. HD 18+ minutes – https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_KHGr4JtiR8

Ice Rink

Water Fall Inside The Dubai Mall

DUBAI LUXURY MEGA MALL ( World’s Largest Shopping Mall ) – https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=JAI7tveh02w

Exploring The Dubai Mall – https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4R6eBlYpsc4

30 min. Carspotting at the Dubai Mall – https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8GQzUxYGgAw

_______________________________________________________

Getting back on the Google Street view roads I explored many other areas of the city including some residential districts which was home to some very large houses and littered with the very best expensive cars which are mostly in white. This must be to reflect much of the burning Emirates sunshine.

It didn’t take long until I spotted another iconic structure which I promptly headed for. The Burj Al Arab, 7 Star Hotel built on its own man made island. I had seen many images of this building before and even remember watching an interesting TV show about how this building was made. If I do make it to Dubai first hand, at over £1000 a night, I don’t think I shall ever find myself lucky enough to stay in this renowned hotel.

  

Burj Al Arab Hotel

The world’s Most LUXURIOUS HOTEL – Amazing Hotel in Dubai – 7 stars – Inside Video (Burj) – https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=bDpO8i4Aty0

Bathrooms in Burj Al Arab Suites – https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=GtpQkUbZjPE

BURJ AL ARAB Suite Panoramica – https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Ldl_IHUycWI

Burj Al Arab 7 Stars – https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=zpcnPbAybVs

Dubai Burj Al Arab The World Most Luxurious Hotel HD – https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=yvUbza_QQ2c

____________________________________________________________

There is still much more to see and experience and I am going to aim to visit this amazing city first hand one day and get to see everything with my own eyes. As with every destination I reach during this virtual world tour, I would love to see the world first hand.

CityFilm Dubai 2013-2014 – https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=28qLX7qEQlQ

Dubai Welcome 2015 (Awesome Timelapse) – https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3gQw-8Iu-8k

Piers Morgan: The Luxury Life of Dubai & A Luxury Tour Of Dubai – https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ahdfA_DJ-0A