I’ve undergone some frustrations with the Kodiak here in New Zealand. There seems to be a certain sector of airspace that causes X-Plane 11 (now 11.10rc3) to invariably crash. I can fly from the north to Raglan and Hamilton and from there, south to New Plymouth, but trying to fly east always causes a software crash.
To get around this problem, I flew the Cessna Skyhawk from Raglan to Hamilton (…because there was one there to rent with GPS), from Hamilton to New Plymouth, and finally from New Plymouth to Gisborne. As you can see from my log below, I also flew the Cessna Caravan from Hamilton to Matamata, from Matamata to Tauranga and from Tauranga to Great Barrier Island.
I was also able to fly from New Plymouth to Ohakea Military Airport on the coast south of New Plymouth. I am currently enroute to Nelson, on the South Island. From there, I will try to work my way back north on the east side of the north island.
Yesterday I flew from Gunnedah Airport in Australia to Norfolk Island. This was a distance of 927 miles, my furthest flight so far in the Kodiak. I took off from Norfolk Island about 15 minutes ago headed for the northern tip of the north island of New Zealand to Kaitaia airport, a distance of 452 miles. Although the calculated fuel burn is only about 120 gallons, I topped out the tanks with 320 gallons. You never know when you might get lost! I’m also flying at FL200, 20,000 feet! My MFD indicates that I have two hours to my destination–in other words, my ETE. I’m leveled off at FL200 now. The prop is pulled back from 2200 to 2000 RPM. The power is set for 1172 Ft-Lb torque, giving a fuel burn of about 247 pounds per hour (PPH). The temperature is -25° C, the IAS is 148kt and the TAS is 201kt. I currently have about an 8kt tail wind and my GS is 205kt.
14:28 zulu: I just arrived at Kaitaia. Here are some statistics for my flight from Norfolk Island, YSNF, to Kaitaia, NZKT:
Distance – 453 nm
Fuel consumption – 118 gallons
Fuel consumption PPH (Pounds per hour) – 41
Time enroute – 2:53 (includes startup, preparation (flight plan) and taxi
Now I plan to make a short hop to NZKK, Kerikeri/Bay of Islands Airport. My current assignments for the flight from Norfolk Island are to drop 3 passengers in Hamilton, NZHN (Cliff Tate’s home airport) and 4 passengers in Tauranga, NZHT. I would like to land at several small airports on the flight down to Tauranga although, being the middle of the night, it doesn’t make much sense! Perhaps I can take on another couple of passengers along the way. I still have 200 gallons of fuel on board so I shouldn’t have to refuel. Keri Keri is only 33 nm.
Sure enough, I found 2 more passengers going to Hamilton from Kaitaia so I am now completely loaded. I had to put the cargo pod back on in order to put the CG in a reasonable location, about 74 inches aft of datum.
Here is what the aircraft loading looks like without the cargo pod:
Aircraft loading profile without the cargo pod – no cargo and 9 passengers
Here is what it looks like with the cargo pod:
CG with cargo pod and 9 passengers
But here is a better solution. I’ve removed the cargo pod again but removed the 115 lb from the baggage compartment and changed the passenger weights. It has moved the CG back a bit but still reasonable. The aircraft performance will be much better without the cargo pod!
Here is a short video clip of my flight from Kaitaia to Kerikeri:
I bought my first plane in FSEconomy, a Quest Kodiak 100 on November 24th, 2017. It had 86 hours on engine and airframe and I paid $413,144.00, which seemed like a good price. It was located at Limnos Airport (LGLM) on the Aegean island of Limnos, Greece.
After I bought the plane, I decided I would fly it back to the USA in an Easterly direction to benefit from favorable winds aloft. I also decided that I should take the opportunity to visit Papua New Guinea, a country where this plane is used by Christian missionaries to get in and out of small landing strips in the jungle highlands.
I just left there this morning because there was a good assignment to the northern peninsula of Australia which is quite close to PNG (Papua New Guinea). At first I was going to fly back to PNG but developed itchy feet and anxious to get back to New Zealand.
Here is my current itinerary:
I am flying this leg of 548nm at 22,000 feet for best economy. The next leg will be from Gunnedah Airport to Norfolk Island International Airport (YSNF) on Norfolk island, a distance of 927nm. This will be my furthest flight so far in the Kodiak and I will have to maximize fuel because I’m not sure exactly what my range is yet. It will be very exciting!
I have a tail wind of a little under 10 knots for this leg. Hopefully it will continue to be a tail wind for the flight to Norfolk Island although it is 90 degrees to my current course so I suppose it is unlikely! Infact, looking at the charts, it looks like I will have 90 degree cross wind!
Here is a screen shot of the cockpit showing FL200 on the altimeter:
Whatever value it reads is pressure altitude. That’s a pretty simple formula since two of the variables will always be the same and the other two are easy enough to find. Let’s say our current altimeter setting is 29.45 and the field elevation is 5,000 feet. That means (29.92 – 29.45) x 1,000 + 5,000 = 5,470 feet.
When you have rented an aircraft it is exclusively available to you. No other pilot can use it, not even its owner. To prevent aircraft from getting rented indefinitely, a time limit is applied by the owner. This time limit varies per aircraft, but is usually between 1-10 hours. If the flight has not been completed when the timeout expires, the flight is automatically cancelled and the aircraft is made available again. The FS Economy agent program shows the rental time you have left in the lower right corner. Pausing your flight does not pause this countdown.
If you are airborne and will not make your destination within the rental time remaining, you can land at the nearest airport, “end” your flight, re-rent the airplane and continue on!
The rental timer is a “real world countdown”. Pausing your simulator, or flying at 4x time compression, has nothing to do with the rental timer and will not alter the countdown. This timer starts counting down as soon as you hit “start flight” in your client. Any time you spend after that performing checklists, taxiing, etc. are counted against Rental Timeout. If you have a 3-hour Timer, and you completed a 2 hour flight, it’s possible that you might have exceeded your Rental Timer if you spent more than 1 commutative hour paused, or otherwise “not flying”. If you exceed the rental time limit, the flight will be canceled on the server. You will not get any indication in the sim that the flight has been canceled. When you land, you will not be able to log the flight. Depending on the particular client you are using, you may not get any warning messages as to why the flight will not log.
I recently read about a flight simulator add-on called Pilot2ATC. It is an air traffic control simulation, not like the ATC networks like IVAO or VATSIM, more like the AI ATC in X-Plane but much, much more! In fact it is also a flight planner similar to EFASS but maybe better–certainly better in certain ways.
I did quite a bit of reading from the manual before I was ready to actually use it but by this afternoon, after studying for a few hours, I was ready. I filed a flight plan for my latest assignment from FSE. I was actually able to communicate with clearance delivery, ground control, tower, and several centers along the way. It was really fun. The only problem was that I flew to the wrong airport for my assignment. Also there was a tree growing on the grass runway, and I made a crash landing although X-Plane didn’t seem to think it was really a crash. It only showed that I had blown out all tires!
Here is the transcript of my communications for my flight from CYHZ to CDA6 in canada:
Beech Hotel Siera Romeo Ready to Copy IFR Clearance;
Beech Hotel Siera Romeo is cleared to Charlie Delta Alpha Six as filed. Expect departure runway Two Three. Maintain Four Thousand feet . Expect higher clearances Two minutes after departure. Squawk Six Four Six Five
~Beech Hotel Siera Romeo is cleared to Charlie Delta Alpha Six as filed. Maintain Four Thousand feet . Expect higher clearances Two minutes after departure. Squawk Six Four Six Five
Beech Hotel Siera Romeo is cleared to Charlie Delta Alpha Six as filed Maintain Four Thousand Feet Expect higher clearances Two minutes after departure Squawk Six Four Six Five;
Beech Hotel Siera Romeo Readback Correct. Altimeter Two Niner Eight Zero Contact Ground on One Two One Point Niner when ready to taxi. have a nice day
~ Altimeter Two Niner Eight Zero Ground on One Two One Point Niner Beech Hotel Siera Romeo
Altimeter Two Niner Eight Ground on One Two One Point Niner Beech Hotel Siera Romeo;
Beech Hotel Siera Romeo Ready for Pushback;
Beech Hotel Siera Romeo Pushback approved
~ Pushback approved Beech Hotel Siera Romeo
Pushback Approved Beech Hotel Siera Romeo;
Beech Hotel Siera Romeo Ready to Taxi;
Beech Hotel Siera Romeo Taxi to Runway Two Three Via taxiways Alpha, Delta, Hold Short Runway Two Three
~ Taxi to Runway Two Three Via taxiways Alpha, Delta, Hold Short Runway Two Three Beech Hotel Siera Romeo
Taxi to Runway Two Three via Taxiways Alpha Delta; Hold Short Runway Two Three; Beech Hotel Siera Romeo;
Beech Hotel Siera Romeo Contact Tower on One One Eight Point Four, have a good evening
~Tower on One One Eight Point Four Beech Hotel Siera Romeo
Beech Hotel Siera Romeo Contact Tower on; One One Eight Point Four;
Beech Hotel Siera Romeo Waiting to; CROSS RIH DUGWAY CHIBOO TORY;
Beech Hotel Siera Romeo ready to cross Runway Two Three;
Beech Hotel Siera Romeo Cleared to cross Runway Two Three
~Cleared to cross Runway Two Three Beech Hotel Siera Romeo
Tower Beech Hotel Siera Romeo Ready for Departure Two Three;
Beech Hotel Siera Romeo Whinds are Two Zero Zero at One One knots Cleared for takeoff, Runway Two Three Squawk Six Four Six Five Maintain runway heading until above One Thousand Four Hundred feet then turn Right to intercept course
~Cleared for takeoff, Runway Two Three Squawking Six Four Six Five Maintain runway heading until above One Thousand Four Hundred feet Beech Hotel Siera Romeo
Maintain Runway Heading until above One Thousand Four Hundred Feet; Beech Hotel Siera Romeo;
Beech Hotel Siera Romeo You were garbled. Please say again.
Repeat your request. Your phrase was not recognized. Beech Hotel Siera Romeo
Runway Two Three Squawking Six Four Six Five; Maintain Runway Heading until above One Thousand Four Hundred Feet; Beech Hotel Siera Romeo;
Beech Hotel Siera Romeo Climb and Maintain Six Thousand feet
~ Climb and Maintain Six Thousand feet Beech Hotel Siera Romeo
Beech Hotel Siera Romeo Contact MONCTON CENTRE Center on One Three Five Point Three, enjoy your evening
~Center on One Three Five Point Three Beech Hotel Siera Romeo
Six Thousand Three Local Beech Hotel Siera Romeo;
Contact Center on One Three Five Point Three Beech Hotel Siera Romeo;
Beech Hotel Siera Romeo Climb and Maintain Six Thousand feet
~ Climb and Maintain Six Thousand feet Beech Hotel Siera Romeo
Climb and Maintain Six Thousand Feet Beech Hotel Siera Romeo;
Beech Hotel Siera Romeo Expedite Climb to Six Thousand feet
~ Expedite Climb to Six Thousand feet Beech Hotel Siera Romeo
Expedite Climb to Six Thousand Feet Beech Hotel Siera Romeo;
Beech Hotel Siera Romeo Climb and Maintain Six Thousand feet
~ Climb and Maintain Six Thousand feet Beech Hotel Siera Romeo
Climb and Maintain Six Thousand Feet Beech Hotel Siera Romeo;
Beech Hotel Siera Romeo You are off course. Turn Right Heading Three Three Zero to return to course.
~HeadingThree Three Zero Beech Hotel Siera Romeo
Turn Right Heading Three Three Zero; Beech Hotel Siera Romeo;
Beech Hotel Siera Romeo Turn Right Heading Three Three Zero
~Heading Three Three Zero Beech Hotel Siera Romeo
Heading Three Three Zero Beech Hotel Siera Romeo;
Beech Hotel Siera Romeo Resume navigation
~Resume navigation Beech Hotel Siera Romeo
resume navigation Beech Hotel Siera Romeo;
Beech Hotel Siera Romeo You are off course. Turn Right Heading Three Three Zero to return to course.
~HeadingThree Three Zero Beech Hotel Siera Romeo
Beech Hotel Siera Romeo Expedite your turn to Turn Right Heading Three Three Zero
~Heading Three Three Zero Beech Hotel Siera Romeo
Heading Three Three Zero Beech Hotel Siera Romeo;
Beech Hotel Siera Romeo Contact ATC CENTER on One Two Eight Point Niner Five goodday
~Center on One Two Eight Point Niner Five Beech Hotel Siera Romeo
Center on One Two Eight Point Niner;
Aircraft calling Center say again with your call sign.
Repeat your request with a proper call sign Beech Hotel Siera Romeo
Beech Hotel Siera Romeo Resume navigation
~Resume navigation Beech Hotel Siera Romeo
resume navigation Beech Hotel Siera Romeo;
Beech Hotel Siera Romeo You are off course. Turn Right Heading Three Three Zero to return to course.
~HeadingThree Three Zero Beech Hotel Siera Romeo
Beech Hotel Siera Romeo Turn Right Heading Three Three Zero
~Heading Three Three Zero Beech Hotel Siera Romeo
Beech Hotel Siera Romeo Turn Right Heading Three Three Zero
~Heading Three Three Zero Beech Hotel Siera Romeo
Beech Hotel Siera Romeo Expedite your turn to Turn Right Heading Three Three Zero
~Heading Three Three Zero Beech Hotel Siera Romeo
Beech Hotel Siera Romeo Turn Right Heading Three Three Zero
~Heading Three Three Zero Beech Hotel Siera Romeo
Beech Hotel Siera Romeo Expedite your turn to Turn Right Heading Three Three Zero
~Heading Three Three Zero Beech Hotel Siera Romeo
Beech Hotel Siera Romeo Turn Right Heading Three Three Zero
~Heading Three Three Zero Beech Hotel Siera Romeo
Beech Hotel Siera Romeo Expedite your turn to Turn Right Heading Three Three Zero
~Heading Three Three Zero Beech Hotel Siera Romeo
Beech Hotel Siera Romeo Expedite your turn to Turn Right Heading Three Three Zero
~Heading Three Three Zero Beech Hotel Siera Romeo
Beech Hotel Siera Romeo Turn Right Heading Three Three Zero
~Heading Three Three Zero Beech Hotel Siera Romeo
Beech Hotel Siera Romeo Expedite your turn to Turn Right Heading Three Three Zero
~Heading Three Three Zero Beech Hotel Siera Romeo
Beech Hotel Siera Romeo Turn Right Heading Three Three Zero
~Heading Three Three Zero Beech Hotel Siera Romeo
Beech Hotel Siera Romeo Expedite your turn to Turn Right Heading Three Three Zero
~Heading Three Three Zero Beech Hotel Siera Romeo
Beech Hotel Siera Romeo Turn Right Heading Three Three Zero
~Heading Three Three Zero Beech Hotel Siera Romeo
Beech Hotel Siera Romeo Expedite your turn to Turn Right Heading Three Three Zero
~Heading Three Three Zero Beech Hotel Siera Romeo
Beech Hotel Siera Romeo Turn Right Heading Three Three Zero
~Heading Three Three Zero Beech Hotel Siera Romeo
Turn Right Heading Three Three Zero; Beech Hotel Siera Romeo;
Beech Hotel Siera Romeo Contact MONCTON CENTRE Center on One Two Four Point Three have a good evening
~Center on One Two Four Point Three Beech Hotel Siera Romeo
Center on One Two Four Point Three; Beech Hotel Siera Romeo;
Beech Hotel Siera Romeo; Six S Three;
Beech Hotel Siera Romeo Fly BLUBL Zero Six;
Beech Hotel Siera Romeo Resume navigation
~Resume navigation Beech Hotel Siera Romeo
Beech Hotel Siera Romeo Contact MONCTON CENTRE Center on One Three Two Point Five enjoy your evening
~Center on One Three Two Point Five Beech Hotel Siera Romeo
Beech Hotel Siera Romeo Maintain current heading for vectors to the Straight In approach for Runway Two Nine at SAINT JOHN
~ Maintain current heading for vectors to the Straight In approach for Runway Two Nine Beech Hotel Siera Romeo
Beech Hotel Siera Romeo Turn Right Heading Three Four Zero
~Heading Three Four Zero Beech Hotel Siera Romeo
Beech Hotel Siera Romeo Maintain Six Thousand feet
~ Maintain Six Thousand feet Beech Hotel Siera Romeo
Beech Hotel Siera Romeo Turn Left Heading Three Three Five Descend and Maintain Three Thousand Five Hundred feet
~Heading Three Three Five Descend and Maintain Three Thousand Five Hundred feet Beech Hotel Siera Romeo
Beech Hotel Siera Romeo Turn Right Heading Three Four Five
~Heading Three Four Five Beech Hotel Siera Romeo
Beech Hotel Siera Romeo Turn Left Heading Three Three Five
~Heading Three Three Five Beech Hotel Siera Romeo
Beech Hotel Siera Romeo Turn Left Heading Three Two Zero Climb and Maintain Four Thousand Five Hundred feet Cleared for Visual Straight-in approach runway Two Nine
~Heading Three Two Zero Climb and Maintain Four Thousand Five Hundred feet Cleared Visual Straight in approach runway Two Nine Beech Hotel Siera Romeo
Beech Hotel Siera Romeo Turn Left Heading Two Seven Five Descend and Maintain Three Thousand Four Hundred feet Continue approach. Runway is One One Nautical miles, Call field in sight
~Heading Two Seven Five Descend and Maintain Three Thousand Four Hundred feet Will call field in sight Beech Hotel Siera Romeo
Beech Hotel Siera Romeo Turn Right Heading Two Niner Zero Descend and Maintain Three Thousand feet
~Heading Two Niner Zero Descend and Maintain Three Thousand feet Beech Hotel Siera Romeo
Beech Hotel Siera Romeo Turn Right Heading Two Niner Five Descend and Maintain Two Thousand Seven Hundred feet
~Heading Two Niner Five Descend and Maintain Two Thousand Seven Hundred feet Beech Hotel Siera Romeo
Beech Hotel Siera Romeo Turn Left Heading Two Niner Zero Descend and Maintain Seven Hundred feet Whinds are calm Cleared to Land Runway Two Nine
~Cleared to land runway Two Nine Beech Hotel Siera Romeo
Beech Hotel Siera Romeo Turn Left Heading Two Niner Five Field is at your twelve o’clock Two nautical miles.
~Heading Two Niner Five Beech Hotel Siera Romeo
The new version, 3.0 is out. I’m not sure if it is available for download yet. I’m reading about changes (mostly to the graphics) now.
I downloaded it from the X-Plane.org download site: http://store-x-plane-org.3dcartstores.com/order_eproduct.asp?action=edownload&eid=dYGUBx7Dcqt42IL This is the page I originally downloaded the package from. The link was updated from the previous version to version 3.0. I didn’t receive notification though. I only noticed that there was an update because I was looking on the simcoders site for support.
My purpose for contacting support was to ask about the vacuum pump #1 failure. I’ve been getting that for a long time and the instrument air gauge hasn’t worked since I began to log this failure. The original message I received at the top of the screen, in the place where REP (Reality Enhancement Package) messages and tips are usually displayed, said something like, “Vacuum Pump #1 is failing and there is nothing you can do about it. I looked to see if there was somewhere in the REP maintenance report where I could fix it. There wasn’t so I looked on the main failures tab for X-Plane 11. It appeared under Flight/Edit Failures/Instruments/Sensor/Vacuum Pump #1. I switched from “failed” to “always working” but never stayed after closing the menu.
After installing version 3 and browsing through the new Maintenance Report, I found a line item for Vacuum Pump #1. I just clicked the OK column which fixed it.
I’m now on my way from NZAA (Auckland) to NZKT (Kaitaia), the farthest airport north.
I purchased X-Plane 11 yesterday afternoon. It is a digital download, which is nice. The manual is in html so you can either view it from the X-Plane web site or load it from the html provided in the X-Plane 11/Instructions directory and view it on your web browser.
I played around with it a bit yesterday evening. I copied the Carenado Beechcraft Baron 58 into the Aircraft directory straight from Aircraft/General Aviation directory from my copy of version 10. Everything seemed to work except there was no image for the Carenado version, only a big question mark.
If you are airborne and will not make your destination within the rental time remaining, you can land at the nearest airport, “end” your flight, re-rent the airplane and continue on!
Tortui 