Back to back months in the great state of Alaska, in the middle of winter, count me in! This time, we revisit our first float plane event in the shadow of Denali National Park.
Bush League Basics:
- Everyone is welcomed! Whether you’re an expert or beginner with flight simulators, radio communications, or navigation, etc., you’re invited! We’re a friendly bunch and enjoy learning from each other.
- For tonight you will need an aircraft capable of making water landings and departures. Several CSL files are available to correctly render other aircraft.
- We encourage you to join the VATSIM network and use the CTAF frequency of 122.8 to announce positions. We will not be in communication with ATC unless you plan to extend your flight into a controlled airspace.
- We’ll also use the Downwindsim Discord voice channel during the flight for non-ATC related chit-chat.
- As always, the main goal of these flights is to have fun and practice good airmanship. The weather in Alaska can be good or bad, so configure as you see fit.
Flight Information:
The event takes place on Monday, March 6th. Plan on meeting at either Talkeetna (PATK), or nearby Christiansen Lake (AK8), for a quick flight briefing at 8:00pm EST (0100z on 2/6). For this event, you will serve as a pilot ferrying cargo from the Talkeena area to four remote lakeside cabins. The order to visit these lakes is completely to your discretion. Just plan to meet back at Talkeetna/Christiansen Lake when you’re finished. Your copilot has always wanted to a close up look at some of the glaciers on the Eastern slope. If the weather allows, a detour would be encouraged. I recommend the Ruth and Eldridge glaciers, but there are many to choose from.
X-Plane Scenery Installation Instructions:
The scenery has been developed for XP12. Here’s the link to the files for your “Custom Scenery” folder:
BL41 Denali Float Trip.
We are big supporters of the X-World scenery addon (free) and Global Forests v2 ($15) addon. They are excellent additions for the XP12 world. Again, the custom scenery references the Global Forests v2 addon.
Ortho Scenery Creation:
This is the hardest part. In this area of the world, the tiles are small due to their close proximity to the north pole… so there are several tiles to build. All the airstrips are developed, tested and designed to work with the Ortho4XP scenery tiles. Here are the tiles you will need to “cook”:
+62-151, +62-150, +62-149
these are the settings I used to cook my development tile
After you “cook” these tiles, you’ll need to add the modified .bz2 file (included in the scenery download) to the appropriate folder and re-cook. These files help shape the terrain and make the water areas more accurate around the airports. I used “Arc” for the imagery source as this provided a bit more consistency throughout the tiles. I’d recommend the using the same imagery source.
Here’s one of the tutorials Annie West’s Dad made for working with OSM Data and Patches.
If you get stuck or have a question, drop a message on the DownwindSim Discord bush-flying text channel. There’s a bunch of friendly folks that’d be happy to help. I look forward to have you tag along on the Bush League Backcountry Fly-In Series!