Where are you taking your Cub

Born to fly
Hook
Master Sergeant
Posts: 1358
Joined: 31 Dec 2012, 01:38
Location: Bonham, Texas

Re: Where are you taking your Cub

Post by Hook »

Apalachicola to Pensacola KPNS

I didn't make 60 hours on the engine from Excellent to Good. On the ground the hours were 47.7 and Excellent. I took off and was climbing to 1500 feet when it changed from Excellent to Good at 47.8 hours. That means about 240 hours before "Needs Overhaul."

The only thing significant about this flight (besides the above, of course) is that I originally planned to land at Destin KDTS, about 37 miles short of Pensacola. My ground speed calculated to closer to 60 than the expected 45 so I kept flying. I estimated the destination between 35 and 45 past the hour, and hit right in the middle of that.

192.6 hours on the plane, 50.2 on the now-Good engine. Next milestone at 200 hours, then my home airport in Texas, then back to where the flight started in California. The Connie is next in line with 200.2 hours and I'll pass that in the next few flights.

Hook

Hook
Master Sergeant
Posts: 1358
Joined: 31 Dec 2012, 01:38
Location: Bonham, Texas

Re: Where are you taking your Cub

Post by Hook »

Trivia: 2,222 Cub screenshots, but one of them is a comparison shot I took in the FSX version.

Hook

Hook
Master Sergeant
Posts: 1358
Joined: 31 Dec 2012, 01:38
Location: Bonham, Texas

Re: Where are you taking your Cub

Post by Hook »

I passed 200 hours yesterday. I've only had the Cub for a month. It took me two months to get 200 hours on the Connie.

On one of my previous flights I had a situation where I couldn't find the airport. I knew about what direction it was and about what time I should hit it, but there was nothing out there that looked like an airport in the distance, and no landmarks near the airport to help me fix the location.

I was flying west, runway ran north/south, so it might be hard to see anyway. Usually you can see some buildings but not this time. Eventually I saw a slight shimmer in about the right direction and distance, which often indicates a runway viewed from the side. I flew toward it. But I'd actually started my descent from 2000 feet before I was sure it was even an airport. Problem was it was partially hidden by trees which is why I couldn't see any buildings.

This is the kind of problem you can only have if you refuse to use a GPS and avoid using the Shift-5 map. Just like Real Life before the advent of the GPS if you don't have radio navaids.

In P3Dv2.5 there wasn't enough autogen to get in the way in the distance and airports stood out quite well. In P3Dv4 the autogen goes out a lot farther and it can be a lot harder to find an airport. Gotta love it. :)

Last flight was from Shreveport up the Red River past Texarkana. I was considering landing at 4O4 but didn't think I could find it (see what I did there? It's in Idabel). I was getting lost anyway trying to navigate by a convoluted river and ended up using the Shift-5 map.

Next flight is to my home airport in Bonham, F00. Ceilings are currently below 500, some under 300, so I'm holding off on the trip.

Hook

Hook
Master Sergeant
Posts: 1358
Joined: 31 Dec 2012, 01:38
Location: Bonham, Texas

Re: Where are you taking your Cub

Post by Hook »

The Cub is now parked at home at Bonham.

The weather map said the ceilings had gone up to 800 or more which is great flying weather. Pleasant flight along the Red River with no navigation problems this time. For some reason approaching the town of Bonham and the airport was pretty exciting on this flight.

Currently 204.2 hours on the Cub, 59.7 hours on the engine.

Landing at my home airport is a natural break point. I'm not sure if I want to continue on to California right away or fly something else for a while. I don't want to take a break from simming. I'm not sure which of my other five well-used aircraft or one of the two lesser used ones I want to fly. I may be in the market for a new plane.

Hook

CV60
Airman
Posts: 28
Joined: 03 Feb 2019, 07:15

Re: Where are you taking your Cub

Post by CV60 »

I took the Cub from Vicksburg, MS to Starkville, MS a couple of days ago. The trip is chronicled here:
https://mutleyshangar.com/forum/index.p ... /#comments

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jimcarrel
Senior Airman
Posts: 128
Joined: 29 Jan 2005, 17:59
Location: Tuttle Oklahoma, USA

Re: Where are you taking your Cub

Post by jimcarrel »

Hook wrote: 09 Dec 2019, 05:43
Medtner wrote: 08 Dec 2019, 13:05I've always wanted to recreate the epic trip the Buck-brothers took back in the days in their Piper Cub.
"Flight of Passage" by Rinker Buck.

That's actually a pretty good flight and a good excuse to spend a few hours in the A2A Cub.

Hook
I did that exactly, way back in FSX, spent two or three days in an atlas mapping out the trip (that was almost the most fun part). I had that paperback, and need to find it again. I'd do the whole thing over again. Thanks for jogging the 'ole brain.

Hook
Master Sergeant
Posts: 1358
Joined: 31 Dec 2012, 01:38
Location: Bonham, Texas

Re: Where are you taking your Cub

Post by Hook »

jimcarrel wrote: 06 Feb 2020, 22:29
Hook wrote: 09 Dec 2019, 05:43
Medtner wrote: 08 Dec 2019, 13:05I've always wanted to recreate the epic trip the Buck-brothers took back in the days in their Piper Cub.
"Flight of Passage" by Rinker Buck.

That's actually a pretty good flight and a good excuse to spend a few hours in the A2A Cub.

Hook
I did that exactly, way back in FSX, spent two or three days in an atlas mapping out the trip (that was almost the most fun part). I had that paperback, and need to find it again. I'd do the whole thing over again. Thanks for jogging the 'ole brain.
Amazon has "Flight of Passage" on Kindle. I usually use the free Kindle APP on my PC to read books. I can loan the book to you for 14 days if you don't want to buy it and can't find the paperback. Google "loan kindle books" to see how it works.

OK, after taking a short break from the Cub and flying my newly purchased Comanche from Texas to Des Moines and back, I decided I prefer the Cub for now.

I took off in the Cub and flew west down the roads rather than the river this time to Childress, Amarillo, and Albuquerque. Generally very pleasant flying and the terrain ain't half bad for stock P3D desert.

The last flight was from Santa Rosa KSXU to KAEG in Albuquerque. Weather was cold, altitudes were higher than I'm used to flying. I had to maintain 7500 MSL to keep 1500 AGL. Near the start of the flight I noticed I was overtaking cars on the road which was nice. Later one of the weather stations was reporting 35 knot headwinds gusting to 48. My ground speed had dropped to 35 knots. Ouch. If I'd known I was going to encounter that I might have put off the fight. Well, my destination reported 9 knot winds so I knew I'd fly out of the nasty headwinds eventually. At one point my airspeed dropped about 10 to 15 knots and I noticed I wasn't being pushed to the left any more, so I figured I'd left the headwinds. Weather radio reported 11 knot winds on the ground, so I figured I was good at that point.

I had to run higher RPMs than I was used to due to the altitude: 2200 rather than about my normal 2050, but I found that I wasn't using any more fuel per hour. OK, that's interesting, I'll take what I can get. I was having to push it anyway to keep 7500 feet but flew through some very minor clouds at below freezing. Later on a hunch I used carb heat for a few seconds and afterwards my RPMs went from 2175 to 2200... seems a few seconds in the edge of clouds gave me some carb ice. Live and learn. Keep track of your tachometer.

Also, note carefully that when taking off at high altitude you need to watch your RPMs. I noticed at full throttle on takeoff, and even when climbing, the needle was hiding under the red mark so I backed off a bit. Probably added some wear to the engine. Also I tried to take off with oil temps around 70 and it wasn't enough and I had to back off the throttle for that too to keep the oil pressure under 60 psi. More wear on the engine, I'm sure. If you keep track of such things you'll need to watch the tool tip instead of just the gauge as they may not match.

I haven't quite decided yet whether to take that left turn at Albuquerque and follow the river to lower elevations, or to continue down highway 40 to Gallup and Winslow. Probably the latter as I want to explore high altitude operations. Well, as high as it gets in a Cub. :)

Hook

Mickel
Staff Sergeant
Posts: 389
Joined: 11 Oct 2014, 15:45
Location: Adelaide

Re: Where are you taking your Cub

Post by Mickel »

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The clock reset with the update, so I'm having to build them up again. Almost 50 hours on type now. Not flown anything else since Jan 3. The drag across the plains had me thinking about cutting the corner and going up via Salt Lake City, but now the scenery is getting more interesting I'm going back to Plan A of going via Palm Springs then skirting the LA basin before heading north to Portland and Sutton's strip.
Cub, Cherokee, Comanche, Civvie 'stang, P-40, B-377 COTS, Spitfire, Connie, T-6, C-172, C-182, D-III, Anson, F4U

CV60
Airman
Posts: 28
Joined: 03 Feb 2019, 07:15

Re: Where are you taking your Cub

Post by CV60 »

Enroute to Muscle Shoals, Alabama.. The trip is here: https://mutleyshangar.com/forum/index.p ... /#comments

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Hook
Master Sergeant
Posts: 1358
Joined: 31 Dec 2012, 01:38
Location: Bonham, Texas

Re: Where are you taking your Cub

Post by Hook »

GAWD that scenery is impressive! I only *wish* stock looked just a little more like that. Orbx, right?

My cub is currently at Winslow with plans to fly highway 40 to my final destination. I'm getting plenty of practice in higher altitude flight (8500 is highest so far). Still gotta watch the throttle, keeping it to a maximum of 95% to avoid overrevving the engine. Still surprised that my fuel use is the same as it was at lower altitudes even with the higher RPM necessary when flying higher, 2250 on the last flight.

Currently 219.5 hours on the Cub, 76.3 on the engine, still Good condition.

Since I got the Cub on January 4 I've flown one leg of the Cannibal Queen flight and bought the Comanche and put 9.5 hours on it. When the Cub gets back to Los Angeles I'll take the Comanche either to Alaska or do a transatlantic flight, haven't decided yet. Taking a break from the Cub makes you appreciate it all the more when you fly it again. :D

Hook

Hook
Master Sergeant
Posts: 1358
Joined: 31 Dec 2012, 01:38
Location: Bonham, Texas

Re: Where are you taking your Cub

Post by Hook »

Just landed in Kingman. Saw some snow on the ground around the Flagstaff area.

Currently 222.2 hours on the Cub, 79.0 on the engine. Also broke my record for the number of hours flown in a day in the Cub, 10.1, up from the previous high of 8.9 hours on January 25, and the daily total has only been surpassed a few times by the MJ C-47 and Connie. All time P3Dv4 record is 12.0 hours in the Connie in one flight from New York to Los Angeles. In P3Dv2 my daily record was 13.2 hours in several Cherokee flights a year ago January.

Hook

Mickel
Staff Sergeant
Posts: 389
Joined: 11 Oct 2014, 15:45
Location: Adelaide

Re: Where are you taking your Cub

Post by Mickel »

We must have just missed each other... here's me after going-around at Flagstaff on my way to Sedona:
Image

And in on my way from the north:
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Yes, I'm flying around in Orbx-land.
Cub, Cherokee, Comanche, Civvie 'stang, P-40, B-377 COTS, Spitfire, Connie, T-6, C-172, C-182, D-III, Anson, F4U

Hook
Master Sergeant
Posts: 1358
Joined: 31 Dec 2012, 01:38
Location: Bonham, Texas

Re: Where are you taking your Cub

Post by Hook »

Great, thanks! I was hoping someone would post pics of the area so I could see how Orbx handled the transition from bare ground to snow. I'll have to post pics I took.

Hook
Last edited by Hook on 08 Feb 2020, 06:04, edited 1 time in total.

Hook
Master Sergeant
Posts: 1358
Joined: 31 Dec 2012, 01:38
Location: Bonham, Texas

Re: Where are you taking your Cub

Post by Hook »

Approaching Flagstaff. Is that... ground fog in the distance? Active Sky likes to do things like that. It's a cool effect.

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No, it's SNOW! Desert snow. Hm, sounds like a folk singing group.

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I think that's Humphrey's Peak north of Flagstaff. I'm approaching from the east.

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Hook

Mickel
Staff Sergeant
Posts: 389
Joined: 11 Oct 2014, 15:45
Location: Adelaide

Re: Where are you taking your Cub

Post by Mickel »

That was my nav beacon from as soon as I could see it! I think it's an inversion layer. I had issues with sudden cloud formation which a simple reversal turn wouldn't clear, so I climbed above it. I ended up staying high (almost 10k') for a while. When I reached Tuba in clear air I headed down (as much to grab gas), and went through a 'cloud' layer that couldn't be seen, before popping out quickly below it in clear air again. Then it was IFR (Route 89) to Flagstaff. I almost nailed three point at Sedona without comment from her in front. The tail wheel was almost down at the same time as the mains.

Of note, today my P3DV4 log book hit 250 hours single engine - all supplied by our hosts. The Cub will soon pass the Comanche and Connie, leaving only Boeings and the DC-6 ahead of it (which I do liveries for, so fly a fair bit...). The Cub will soon take me past 1,000 hours total on V4.
Cub, Cherokee, Comanche, Civvie 'stang, P-40, B-377 COTS, Spitfire, Connie, T-6, C-172, C-182, D-III, Anson, F4U

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