Coast to Coast with the P40

[mau92]

After making a succesful first (personal) tour through Argentina with the B60, I thought I was ready for something different. I wanted to fly with something a bit more challenging and in an area which I don't visit very often. I took a quick look at the map and immediately the idea came to my head, a coast to coast tour in the US with the P40. I knew that I couldn't take any major airport such as San Francisco as a starting point, so then I visualized Fairfield as my starting point. My first leg was a test leg, short flight, no more that 20 minutes so I can get used to the plane, its handling and over all the things its navigation (FSX default ground depiction, like routes and towns and such things). I know this plane hasn't any of those fancy radionav equipment (at least not in the main panel, there are some as pop-ups), so that's the way to go. Using a map, some charts and the compass I was ready to take on the adventure. Took off from Fairfield's travis AFB aeroclub with a 40° heading (approx) to intercept the route 80, once on it, all I had to do was make my way to Sacramento. Soon we were landing on this city. The check ride was successful!

 

 

Now I was ready to go for the second leg: Sacramento-Reno. A leg that took us through valleys, as the ground got higher and higher on the way to our destination A 40 minutes flight awaited. I topped the fuel tanks, took a look at the manuals and got the engine running.

 

 

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As soon as the engine was on I had to take off as soon as possible to prevent overheating. These big V12 engines need a constant airflow to keep them cold, so they don't like run much while on the ground.

 

 

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With all the checks made, we were rolling (keeping an eye on those temps). To be airborne quick we took off from the middle point of the runway, which was still, a lot of runway for these machine.

 

 

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Take off thrust is set: max RPM and 41 "hg of manifold pressure were making rotate at a speed of 100/110 mph IAS.

 

 

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When our wheels leaves the ground, thrust is reduced to climb power, 35"hg of manifold pressure. Cowling flaps are left open to cool-down the engine a bit, brakes applied and the wheels go up making the plane as aerodynamic as possible.

 

 

With the course of 40°, as mentioned before, the route 80 comes in sight so we get parallel to it and that's the way we go!

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"Ladies and gentlemen to our right the Folsom Lake" wait... I'm and alone in this one-seater plane! The view was nice!

 

 

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The ground started to get slightly closer to the plane, a signal that we had to ascend a little in order to not to crash with the ground and mountains a bit ahead.

 

 

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The values on the engine were nice, the economy cruise setting was selected. I didn't want to use too much fuel, but with full tanks I didn't have to worry about as I had plenty of fuel to go to Reno and then come back to Sacramento. The economy setting is: 2200RPM, Mixture setting "Auto Lean" (for any cruise setting, actually) and 25.2 "hg of manifold pressure.

 

 

That was our half route landmark, the town of Truckee. Following the Truckee River will make our trip a bit shorter, as the route 80 went around the hills. A bit more further, the river met the route again.

 

 

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And there it is! Reno city on sight. Of course we won't use its airport as it's big for use. Instead we are going to make a few more miles to Carson city.

 

 

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Once we passed Reno, we made a left turn following the route 580 that took us over Washoe Lake, and then to Carson City Airport that fitted us much more better.

 

 

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Once I start the descend, any of the runways will be a cross wind runway, so the RWY27 is chosen because we were going high and fast. Once we leave the threshold behind we configure the plane for landing. Flaps, gear and a speed of 100mph for the approach and landing.

 

 

The ground got closer suddenly... My prop stops and blades are blended... What happened? Well you guessed right, a belly landing. I don't know what happened, seems I distracted a little and the gear didn't drop. The plane slipped out of the runway and the emergencies services arrived. I was ok, but plane wasn't.

 

 

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Maintenance guys gave the plane a quick look, the diagnosis: wasted prop, flaps, landing gear and engine's main bearings. It could've been worse.

 

 

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Well, that's how my first leg ends... I hope the next time my gear drops (or I check that).

Stay tuned, more to come. Maybe not very often, I fly on free times and exams are coming, so you can get an idea...

 

 

Hope you had fun reading it as well as I making it!

Sorry if I have some grammatical/typing errors, English is not my first language but (I think) I'm not that bad at it jaja

 

 

Regards!

Mauricio

[mau92]

We were ready for the next leg. The next city we are planning to visit is Salt Lake, but that route is quite long, so to keep it a bit more entertaining I decided to make a stop in the town of Elko. Once again we were going to follow the route 80, but first we took the route 50 to the intersection with the 95 and then to the 80 again. This time I'll skip some technical details as many of them were explained before. But from time to time I'll update with some data in case you forgot ;)

The skies were clear, the plane was fixed (after the crash landing) everything was set to go!

 

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As said in the first leg, as soon as we got the engine running we expedite the taxi to the runway to prevent overheating.

 

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Very soon we were on the take-off roll and onto the air

 

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After an initial turn to intercept heading 40°, we were enroute to the first reference.

 

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Very soon we had the road below us, we had to follow it untill we see the interception.

 

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Not very much to tell as everything was desert and more desert, so quite boring al the way.

 

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That's the route 80 bellow us

 

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Very soon, the first landmark in our travel. The Humboldt Lake/National Park, it was a sign that we were going good. After it, we decide to take a little shortcut over the mountains. That was going to shorten the flight time, making us burn less fuel.

 

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After that shortcut, we can see Battle Mountain town in the distance. Another sign that we were not lost ;)

 

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Taken from below!

 

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We see Carlin town, and after it... Our destination, Elko town!

 

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Right after a downwind leg, we are ready for turn into basic and then final. A very smooth approach!

 

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Stablished, a bit high, but nothing is much for this old bird.

 

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Touchdown, this time with the landing hear down and locked. We vacate the runway to the parking.

 

With the engine off, the second leg is concluded!

 

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Thanks for reading!

[T3hReaper91]

Very nice read :) Interesting idea and im looking forward to reading more!

[iLLGT3]

I always wanted to do these types of things with the cars in TDU. :(

[mau92]

Thanks for the comments!

Sadly, TDU only "simulates" a small island. A gumball 3000-like race would've been great!

[T3hReaper91]

This has given me inspiration for a series of flights for myself.

 

Fly around the coastline of the UK in a Spitfire Memorial Flight :)

[mau92]

Hope to see some images!

[mau92]

Let's get started with this leg. Just let me tell you that this part won't have many technical inforomation, specially because it's been a long while since I flew this leg (and this plane).

All in all, here we are standing at Elko airport, everything is ready for departure. There's no need for refueling since we have enough for the 1 hour flight ahead of us.

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As soon as possible the engine is turned on, and we are taxing to the active as fast as we can. Remember that these big engines require a good flow of cool air to be in operating temperatures. If we take too much time to taxi it will heat up.

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We are quickly in the air, making a sharp turn towards Salt Lake, that was on the opposite direction. Though we will follow the route 80, this time I've decided to take a little detour over Humboldt peak. This way we were going to get there faster, and we were going to have a better view. Right after the peak, the route 93 was visible and going softly to the left we would encounter the road we were looking for.

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After that... Some miles of desert to get to our next landmark, the great Salt Lake.

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This was the sign that we were few miles away. And we were indeed, after making a soft turn we could see the whole city!

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That's it, Salt Like City!

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The airport was just ahead, and we were able to see it from the distance, so there was nothing that could go wrong.

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Right after touchdown, we go to the parking position and turn the engine as soon as possible.

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Thanks for reading, and see you on the next leg. Leaving behind the state of Utah and heading for Wyoming, I guess.

 

Reagrds!