The new contest for December, 2005 is here: Navigation and Planning Contest
Someday we will have photo scenery of the whole planet. Everyone's computer will deliver 100 frames per second, and there will be no need for display adjustment sliders. Unfortunately, until then this is "as real as it gets". Fortunately, as real as it gets today, contains many fun things to see and do. This site will attempt to document such things and places. Explore interesting things that exist in the real world, and some that don't. Some are bugs (features) in the program. Use your imagination. That misaligned chunk of ocean becomes a tidal wave. That overlying runway becomes a camouflage net for a secret CIA base in Angola. And that airstrip at the bottom of a 5000 foot crater becomes...... a real challenge.
You can submit your own favorite to be included here. Please send the coordinates and a short description. Do not send attachments or pictures and do not change the subject line of this link:
Click here to email me
Sources - Some of these come from Flight Simulation program documentation. Some from books. A few I found myself. Several have been submitted by pilots like you (thanks). On Usenet try alt.games.microsoft.flight-sim. Microsoft's public news server (msnews.microsoft.com) has the group microsoft.public.simulators.
There are several ways to see these things. You can just place yourself there from the map. You can slew there. You can fly there. The location of the nearest airport along with the course and distance to fly are given. You can create a waypoint for the GPS if you like. For detailed instructions on how to create your own GPS waypoints, click here.
All courses and distances are magnetic degrees and nautical miles unless noted otherwise. I use only the default scenery/mesh that came in the original program. Don't know if any of this will work if you use addon scenery.
Real world - Microsoft's depiction of actual places or things
USS Kitty Hawk N37 44.64 W122 36.25 From KFSO (San Francisco Int'l) fly 288° for 13.4 nm.
The aircraft carrier for your short field landing pleasure. The runway is 6/24. Don't worry about brakes. The arresting cables will stop you very quickly. In reality when landing on a carrier you would apply full throttle in case you had to go around. If you are the world's best helicopter pilot you can try flying into the hangar deck. You can enter from either side of the ship, just below the flight deck. For those of us who are not the best helo jockeys, it is possible to slew right through solid steel to see below the main deck.
Stonehenge N51 11.13 W1 50.95 From EGDM (Boscombe Down) fly 303° for 4.3nm. 
Look hard. I missed it while right next to it. It is not as big as it looks on TV.
Moai S27 9.95 W109 21.27 From SCIP (Mataveri Int'l) fly 76° for 3.6nm.
The heads on Easter Island. You only thought Stonehenge was hard. To see these guys you gotta be low and slow. Treetop low (you do not need autogen trees turned on). They will still be hard to spot with trees turned off. This is only one of many of these mysterious statues on this remote speck of land. Here's a couple more: S27 9.39 W109 20.60 and S27 5.80 W109 17.50
Old Faithful N44 27.37 W110 49.35 From KWYS (Yellowstone) fly 123° for 18.8nm.
Did I see Yogi behind that rock?
Uluru (Ayer's Rock) S25 21.01 E131 2.86 From YAYE (Ayer's Rock) fly 154° for 10.6nm.
Conveniently has it's own airport from which you can see it.
Kilauea N19 24.22 W155 17.00 From HI23 (Mountain view airstrip) fly 218° for 13.1nm.
On most days you'll see the occasional puff of smoke. Set date for April 1st, 1983 to see how the Hawaiian islands were formed. Be sure to check it out at night also.
Balloon N24 41.97 W81 30.94 From 7FA1 (Sugar Loaf Shores) fly 51° for 4.6nm.
Look at 2100 ft. altitude. I think (not sure) this is the "Fat Albert" balloon. It's not a weather balloon. It's tethered to the ground on a 15,000 ft. cable. I have not seen it move from 2100 ft. This balloon carries radar for drug enforcement and a TV transmitter sending programming to Cuba.
Teotihuacan Pyramid N19 39.66 W98 56.21 From MMOU (Tizayuca) fly 171° for 12.8nm.
Mexico not Egypt. The "City of the Gods". Is this the Pyramid of the Sun?
La Grande Arch de la Defense N48 53.61 E2 14.44 From LFPG (Velizy AB) fly 19° for 7.4 nm.
This building was just made to fly through. Looks like a road through it as well. Time your fly through to miss that odd triangle shaped elevator. The people working here will probably call the authorities, but don't worry. They will already be chasing you for taking off from their Air Base.
Hanford Site N46 33.54 W119 35.09 From 74WA (Mattawa) fly 136° for 11.5 nm.
Being a Ham radio operator in real life, I was curious what this impressive antenna array was when someone emailed me this site. I'll let you look it up too. I'm off to look for HAARP.
Quickies
More balloons N33 38.59 W112 6.11
Hollywood sign N34 07.62 W118 18.45
Disney World N28 24.94 W81 36.51
Oil rig - Texas N28 29.52 W95 55.15
Oil rig - Alaska N65 12.32 W166 45.48
Space Shuttle at Edwards AFB N34 56.94 W117 53.16
Asahi Beer Hall - Tokyo N35 44.76 E139 46.86
Coney Island working rides - N40 34.37 W73 59.14 (submitted by Ian)
Niagra Falls - moving boat and working elevator at nearby tower
Animated windmills - N45 45.98 W84 44.26 alt 650.7 hdg 211°
Poor airport planning? - Runway 22 at KLWB
MT84 - does the MT designate Montana or Mountain Top?
Norfolk Island (YSNF) another of the many unusual airports
Adventures - Scenery deserving a longer flight or involving challenging flying
Colorado River tour, Glen Canyon Dam - Grand Canyon - Hoover Dam
If you like a hands on VFR flight this is the one for you. No setting the autopilot and being bored on this one. Take off from KPGA (Page mun) and follow the river, generally west and south. The first point of interest is Glen Canyon Dam, just after takeoff. Since Flight Simulator 98 is the last version I bought, I really liked the Grand Canyon in FS2004. But I must say I'm very disappointed that Microsoft did not get this part of the world right. If you approach Glen Canyon Dam low enough, part of the dam is invisible. Looks like a fly through opportunity, but it isn't. You'll crash into the invisible dam. Fly over the dam higher and you'll see a higher water level and the top of the dam. Unfortunately this view is also ruined by a scenery error. Anyway, continue down the Colorado. Along the way you'll see other scenery misalignments where the river does not stay in the canyon. You'll have to choose a direction at a fork in the river several times on this flight. I'll let you navigate, bring up the map if necessary. The closer you stay to the river (lower altitude) the more fun and challenging this trip will be. Fly the Grand Canyon all the way west. This will take hours. If your VFR navigation skills are up to snuff you will come to Lake Mead on the western end. Oh, by the way, there are some very handy charts that you might like to print for this flight. Look in \program files\microsoft games\flight simulator 9\charts\flights\desert adventure. In the western portion of this flight you'll see some pretty extreme white water rafting opportunities. Just more scenery glitches, where the water is on the cliff faces. End your flight with an overfly of Hoover dam, and possibly a landing at Las Vegas if your not too tired to continue. Be sure to check out Vegas at night. Particularly the volcano and the dancing fountain.
Top of the world
I put this in the adventure section because it's not the usual short flight. We're going to the real highest point on earth. There's only one non-jet in FS2004 suitable for this trip. When you find it you'll know what my favorite plane is in this "game". Set up some realistic weather for this one. At least some restricted visibility and wind. If you are carrying tourists, you'll probably want to take off from VNTR (Tumlingtar). Use the 34 rwy and you'll be pointed pretty much at your target. Just take off and climb like your life depended on it. It's 42.6 nm from here. For the non-wimps try VNLK (Lukla) (a real world dangerous airport). It will be a short field takeoff. The runway is listed as 7/25 but I found it closer to 240°. And that's definitely the one to use. It's a grass strip so go ahead and push back for a little extra distance. (it's all grass, right?) Depending on how many tourists you have and how big of a lunch they ate, you may not be airborne before you run out of runway. That's ok since it will put you right off a cliff. You should have no problem if you don't panic and nose up too much. Once safely airborne turn to 30° and fly for 20.7nm. Welcome to Everest - N27 59.18 E86 55.54
Andes Crossing
This is part of one of the historic flights in the "select a flight" menu. Fly form Mendoza Argentina (SAME) to Santiago Chile (SCTI) in the Ford Tri-motor. I did not follow the flight plan in the briefing for this adventure. I set up SCTI in the GPS for direct to navigation, and tried to find my own route. I did not make it. Trying to find my own pass at near stall speed, I eventually "landed" on a steep hillside. Thought I could just taxi to the top and continue from there but the tri-motor was not up to it. Someone please come rescue me.
2nd try - So much easier when I followed the briefing. And even easier when I threw the passengers out at 10,000 feet! If fact, when I had SCTI at 210° I decided to bypass SCAN and head direct over the remaining mountains. Had altitude to spare. Really convenient for a straight in on rwy 21.
Lukla revisited
One for the helicopter pilots. Inspired by my helicopter practice and my new ability to takeoff, fly anywhere I want, and land, I tried the "Into The Himalayas" flight from select a flight menu. How long could it take? It's only 75 miles or so. I crashed on my first attempt just 13 miles from the goal. I blame this on a sudden engine failure caused by the program taking liberties with my joystick buttons. On my second try I crashed on the runway at Lukla. What a place for an airstrip. I guess that really is the best place they could find. My landings still need work. I can do it consistently given a large enough area. I'm a long way from setting down on one of those oil rigs. This is a really tough flight. Airspeed or altitude? Decisions, decisions.
Unreal world - let the real fun begin
There are more scenery glitches that I have not posted. Mostly floating runways, where it appears some elevations got messed up. Autogen is also responsible for some interesting sites. I normally fly with autogen off. I just want to see actual scenery. Autogen causes things to be placed in some really stupid places. Like trees in the Antarctic. Trees and buildings appear on some runways and taxiways. Here's a great example: Duluth Int'l (KDLH) at the intersection of rwy3 and rwy27. Where's the road?
Henderson Field (PMDY) Midway
Of interest here are the water runways. Check the map and the GPS for the designations. Some very odd runway headings indeed. Microsoft was so proud of this foul-up that they even provided runway signs hovering above the water. Go to N28 14.04 W177 22.08 Alt 3.8 ft. Hdg 06°. They are small and you need to be close to see them. There are four sets of signs. Just east is another small island with 3 runways. Do a flyover and try some approaches and touch and gos. Are these 3 runways grass or concrete? And what are they anyway? They are not listed on the map or GPS.
Island of the migrating trees
around N75 35.36 W96 56.10 From CJY2 (Little Cornwallis I) fly 60° for 12nm. A slow plane at 200 to 300 ft alt. is best. I had autogen density at normal. As you approach the island turn to follow along the southern coastline. I was at a higher altitude the first time I saw this. I thought at first it was a herd of moving animals. Upon closer inspection I found it to be trees grazing across the landscape. You can make them wander in different directions depending on your heading. You can march them into and out of the ocean.
Girdwood (AQY) Alaska
Set up with clear weather on RWY 19. Take a close look at the cliff facing you (this effect runs all the way through this airport). You may have to taxi up a little. Look up a bit. Watch for a while. I never saw clouds like this anywhere else. Thought it might be a misplaced daytime aurora. Switch to night. Nope it's not an aurora. Hmmmmm......If you want to figure it out for yourself don't read further. Animated wispy clouds? A tornado forming? Fog? Smoke? Nope, it's another elevation goof up. I don't think this airport is really such a challenge to take off from in real life. The cliffs don't belong there. Take off (carefully) and have a look above that cliff. Ah ha! Those are waves on the river. They are right where they should be, it's the river that's misplaced. Also see the huge blue and yellow cranes just northeast of the airport. Can someone tell me what these are in real life? Are they actually cranes in the middle of nowhere? This is a mining and ski area, I suspect they are really something other than cranes. I can't find anything on the charts.
Davis (KMKO) Oklahoma
Wow! Someone posted this one in the newsgroup. It immediately became one of my favorites. What a great place to practice landings.
Alert airstrip (CYLT) Nunavut Canada
Use your imagination here, and let me know what you come up with. Do a quick takeoff and shallow right turn immediately after rotation. That thing really likes you eh? Fly rwy heading out a half mile or so. Look behind you occasionally as you do this. Turn around and do a few touch and go's here.
Millwood lake and state park Arkansas N33 48.30 W93 58.85 From 2AR6 (Glenn Winchester) fly 189° for a few miles. You cant miss it.
Arkansas is now home to the world's only 3 mile high waterfall, and one hell of a sinkhole. The challenge: Fly to the bottom........ and back out! I got down easy enough (with stress damage turned off). Took me over 20 minutes to circle climb back out in the Cessna
Rio Amazonas (SESM) Shell Mera Ecuador
Not quite the hole Milwood lake is, but with a big difference.... there's actually an airport here! Be glad you don't work in the small office complex near the runway. Think you got a bad commute? Check out the road they travel to work! It is possible to takeoff and land here. I've made the takeoff on rwy 12 with more than one plane on runway heading all the way. Which planes can you make it out with? The only landing I've walked away from so far was on 30 in the Extra.
17th of November airstrip (FNBG) Benguela Angola
Before you takeoff have a good look around. Is that beacon off the right end of the runway floating in mid air? Switch to spot view. Zoom out a bit. Do a complete circle around your plane. Take off. About 15 feet above the runway you will pass through the CIA camo net hiding this strip. Fly runway heading out a bit. Look behind you. Hmmmm..... I know I took off from an asphalt strip. Turn around and land where you think the strip was. Make a slow shallow approach. Whoa! Can't be a net, they must be using holograms. BTW there are a few airports named after dates, some in Spanish. Anyone know what that's all about?
Base Marambio (SAWB) Antarctica
Crank autogen scenery up here. At first I thought I had found a really great effect. Looks like snow blowing across the runway. And trees in Antarctica. I'll let you find out for yourself what's going on here. Be sure to circle around and check out the end of this runway really well from the air as you approach for a landing on rwy6.
Mcmurdo Station (NZWD) Antarctica
More runway weirdness. The hologram hiding this one is much better than the one at FNBG. Think the Cessna Caravan Amphibian is cool? Try this: After takeoff do a 90 deg right turn and fly out a bit. U-turn and carefully fly through the wave just under the "top" runway. Submersible aircraft!!! While your down here, be sure to visit the other two runways at Mcmurdo. Especially the ice runway.
Nine hundred foot tidal wave! S73 37.92 W102 39.59
The coordinates are for the northern corner of this phenomena. It's a monster. Extends to S73 49.69 W102 39.40. That is the southeast corner where it is at it's highest. You can't fly through this one, but you can crash into the ocean at an altitude of about 939 feet. The whole challenge here is planning. Which airport will you use? Which plane? Hint: the round trip is over 2000 miles.
The poles
One more adventure down here (or up north) before we head to warmer weather. You can only get within 30nm of either pole in this sim. Pick a far north or south airport. Head directly for the pole. Don't try to use the magnetic compass. The deviation is way off. Use shift z to see your coordinates. Just steer so your path is as true north or south as possible. When you get close you will be curious to see what's beyond that really strange horizon. If you hit the "wall" square enough, you will come to an abrupt stop. I did it in the 747 at the north pole. I had 369 knots indicated and the thing just hovered there. If your path has too much east/west vector you will skid sideways. Note: if you use the map to plunk yourself close, do not exceed 89deg 30min. That's the edge of the world and beyond "thar be monsters".
Stockton Lake N37 34.06 W93 38.96 From MO3 (Stockton mun) fly 121° for 9.7nm.
"Holy scenery, Batman" For a unique takeoff; set up in the amphibian at 2M5 (Stockton Lake water runway). Taxi to the edge. Somebody nudge me. Check out the road "crossing" this thing. And I thought it was inconvenient to have to drive all the way around the Chesapeake Bay because Microsoft demolished the bridge.
Mount Roraima N5 46.65 W60 34.16 From SYKM (Kamarang) fly 163° for 5.9nm
So far this wins first place for scenery glitches. It's a 60,000 foot peak right next to a 100,000+ foot pit. I normally like to fly an adventure whenever possible. At least I get landing experience. I had to slew this one. I've never downloaded any of the addon aircraft but this has me seriously considering a good F-15, if I can find one. If anyone can determine the actual depth of that hole, please let me know. It got too narrow to follow at -101450 slewing in the Cessna. I could squeeze a little further by nosing 90 degrees down, but it looks to keep going. While I was in the neighborhood I thought I'd have a look at Angel Falls (the real highest falls in the world). I regret that it must be added to the wanted list, couldn't find it.
The edge of space
There is actually one aircraft which can reach the top of Mt. Roraima without slewing. I must warn that this does not always work. I have done it many times on my computer. One person on the newsgroup told me it didn't work for him. I have now seen it happen on another computer (my dad's), so I'm including it here. Try a few times. I guess it's like weather modeling on a computer. A digit in the 10th decimal place gets iterated a hundred thousand times and the result is totally different. I've done this from KSEA and KBWI. I don't think that has anything to do with it but try one of those. I also don't have any addons installed in FS2004. Don't know if that would make a difference. Set yourself up in the Bell Jetranger! Just apply full throttle and don't touch anything for the rest of the flight. You should climb smoothly for a bit then start to oscillate. It will settle down and climb smoothly a bit more. Then more oscillations. This could happen 2 or 3 times. Eventually the oscillations will become full rotations. That's when you will take off. Climb rate of several thousand feet per second! In no time you will be at 99,999 feet. It's difficult, but you can regain control once you top out. If you do get control, you'll never hold altitude. But, you'll get a brief glimpse of a really dark sky and distant earth.
UNDER CONSTRUCTION,
to be continued Please contribute, Your submissions are needed for further updates.
Other Stuff
Of the cities in the program with detailed scenery, I found Tokyo had the most interesting buildings to explore.
The Aurora is visible in northern latitudes.
Set the clock for midnight on New Year's Eve and check out Las Vegas, New York, Washington D.C. and probably other large cities for fireworks. Anyone tried the 4th of July?
The wanted list - Things I have looked for but can't find. Likely not in the program, but I could have some setting wrong. Some scenery is dependant on a program setting or a particular time or date. If you've seen any of these please tell me.
Christ the Redeemer Statue - Rio de Janeiro
The VLA in New Mexico
Arecibo radio telescope
Great Wall - China
Victoria Falls
Angel Falls
The Itaipu dam
The North Sea protection works - Amsterdam
Barringer Meteor Crater - Arizona FOUND N35 1.46 W111 1.23 - a shallow depression looking nothing like the real thing. (thanks Ian)
Nazca lines
Monument Valley - Arizona/Utah
Some of the largest cities in the world have not a single building.
Bridges? We don't need no stinkin' bridges.
A meteor - There is a graphic of a shooting star in the program. I tried the time and date for the Geminids, with no luck. FOUND - Thanks to a usenet post, I took off from Sydney and headed for Honolulu. FL390, spot view from below, zoomed way out, time16x. Frequent meteors!
An exploding mountain - Another unused graphic? I tried Mt. St. Helens on the appropriate time and date.
Bullet shells, bullet holes or craters? More unused graphics?
Where am I? A skyline, city, landmark, scenic view, or unique building for you to find. I'll start you off with an easy one.
#1
The New Contest (December, 2005): This is more about flight planning than speed, but the quickest time will probably be the best plan. The shortest mileage, fewest fuel stops, and minimal deviation from the equator will determine the winner. The object is to circumnavigate the earth at the equator. Stay as close to the equator as possible. Use the fewest possible number of fuel stops. Begin and end at the same airport of your choice. You may fly east or west. You must use one of the default aircraft included with the original program. I would suggest that everyone use the 747 since I think it has the greatest range of the default aircraft. NO WEATHER! You must fly with no wind, anywhere. Otherwise, fuel usage could affect the number of stops.
Please submit your best flight plan to : Click here to email me
Plain text only please with no attachments. I'm open to suggestions on the rules. Keep it to the original program with no addons so everyone can participate.
This is a new contest and has nothing to do with the cross country race below, which was cancelled.
The Cross Country Race Rules: Final rules - start anytime. This will be ongoing and you can try more than once. Send me your best times, and flight details, strategies, problems etc.... I especially want to hear about experiences with the real time weather system.
RACE CANCELED see below
You must use a prop plane included in the original program. No modified planes, no addons, no jets.
You may change planes if you wish, only on the ground. No changing planes in flight.
You must have crash detection turned on.
You may not fly with unlimited fuel.
You must get fuel at the fuel pumps. Land, taxi to pumps, back to rwy, and takeoff. Once fueled at the pumps you may adjust your fuel with the menu, if you wish. (careful, not all strips have fuel pumps) (does the King Air 350 require jet fuel?)
You may adjust your payload only on the ground. You must keep at least a 170 pound pilot.
You must fly with real weather, static or updating, your choice
You may adjust other traffic and use or not use ATC as you like.
You may use autopilot and GPS.
You may ignore airspaces.
You may fly the race in multiple sessions. You must use real time and season. You may pause or accelerate time as you wish.
The race is from KJFK New York to KLAX Los Angeles. You may use any runway. Your time starts when you begin your takeoff roll on the runway in New York. Your time ends when you come to a complete stop in Los Angeles. Please keep a brief log of start and stop times, fuel stops, and any other important info. Time between sessions does not count against you. All time on the ground does count against you. The honor system shall apply, There's really no point in participating if you're going to cheat. If you think you have a good time, please e-mail me your details. I will post the 5 best times.
Set dynamic weather slider to NONE, this will prevent the sim from embellishing on the real time weather. Also set weather to download winds aloft in the settings/weather dialog. Do not disable turbulence. This will ensure you have the realest weather possible.
Please email me about any weather (or other) problems.
Strategies - Obviously plane choice, and once again my favorite plane rises to the top.
Fuel management - The range spec on the King Air is just under the 2145 miles of this flight. Can it be stretched far enough? Will not stopping for fuel make up for the lower airspeed? I'm personally going with "no way". But, after running full throttle for just 565 nm. I'm at 38% fuel. I'll have to stop twice for fuel. Hmmmm..... that was my climb portion of the flight, can I make it with just one stop? Actually I'm starting over. I had to abort to post the rule addition. I also really hurt myself by not adjusting my payload before takeoff, and strong headwinds that did not really exist. At least I learned one more thing about the program. If dynamic weather is on the sim will change the real time weather. The weather will play into strategy. Altitude and climb rate will also be important choices.
Race results
My first attempt: 6:01:04. This time will be easily beaten. I didn't have a plan. Used the King Air 350 and flew the first portion full throttle at FL350. Had very unfavorable headwinds, 70kts at times. Very low on fuel I stopped at St. Jospeh's Mo. (KSTJ). Without doing the math, I think it is better to fly full throttle and have to make another stop for fuel. Ignoring that, I reduced throttle and flew FL190 continuing to LAX. When I knew I would make it on fuel I increased throttle. I landed in Los Angeles with 4% fuel remaining. The headwinds were not so bad on the second portion at 19,000 ft. I'm very suspicious of the real weather updates in this thing. Please tell me your experience and opinions on the weather. I hate to admit this, but I chose my fuel stop because they had jet fuel. I pulled in to full service and assume they gave me the right fuel. If the King Air does in fact require jet fuel, you have to use an airport with jet fuel (if your in the KA350). I'm looking in to this. A quick web search and look at the docs did not reveal the answer. Turbo props burn jet, right?
My second attempt: 5:20:56. Better but still beatable. Planned my fuel stops (two) instead of diverting from a direct route, and ran wide open all the way. It's all about winds and choice of altitude.
These times are in question. It has been pointed out that they are impossible and I must agree. But those are the times I got. I did use accelerated time. I'm going to re-fly it in real time and see what happens. I'll keep some notes on the plane's clock in the program vs. the real time on my computer. Stay tuned......
Before I bothered to fly this race in real time, I did an experiment. I am disappointed to report yet another problem with COF. I suspected that accelerating time caused the plane's clock to be innacurate. I did not even get that far. Even in real time the aircraft clocks are way off. In just 8 minutes my clock in the plane lost 25 seconds. I expect everyone's computer will be different and using real time will not solve this problem. Thanks to Ken, a real life King Air pilot, who pointed out that my times were bogus.
Future races - To be sure everyone is "on the same page", I'd like to have a race using the multiplayer feature. I need some help here. It would have to be a shorter race at a convenient time for everyone. I'm not going to use the Zone. I would host it on my IP address. I need to find out if there is a way to do this safely. I caught a worm on the Zone when I let my firewall down. There's just too many nasties going around to do this. This makes the multiplayer feature worthless to me unless someone can tell me how to do it.
pilots have landed here since a new counter was installed on 8/21/05
FOUND - Thanks to a usenet post, I took off from Sydney and headed for Honolulu. FL390, spot view from below, zoomed way out, time16x. Frequent meteors!
