It’s time for a revisit to the Sierra National Forest! This month we’ll be exploring eastern California starting at KBIH, Eastern Sierra Regional Airport and finishing our adventure somewhere in the Sierra National Forest… exactly where is up to you! You’ll want to spend some time studying the map on this flight, and hope the weather is clear! Stop by the airport terminal/office on Monday, October 2, 8:00pm EST and have a look around. You’ll be working for Sierra Flight Service. A special thanks goes our good friend Wookie for originally creating several sceneries.
Bush League Basics:
- Everyone is welcome! 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.
- Leave your GPS at home (or only for an emergency). That’s adds to the fun and challenge. Unless your pilotage and dead reckoning skills are excellent, you might want to be familiar with the navigational aids in the area. I’m still get lost!
- We encourage you to join the VATSIM network and use the CTAF frequency of 122.8 to announce positions.
- 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, practice your navigation skills and good airmanship. The event is intended to be flown in real time with real weather, unless the area is strictly IFR conditions, then we’ll want to modify the weather and give us at least a fighting chance of finishing this flight.
- As an additional level of difficulty, try to complete this flight with a piston-powered engine. Some of the field altitudes and mountain passes are WAY up there.
Scenery Installation:
X-Plane 12 (Unzip and place in your “Custom Scenery” folder):
Custom airstrips for Bush League #48 including Arnold Meadow, Bass Lake, Coyote Flats, Bishop Eastern Sierra Regional, Merced River Overlook, Table Mountain, Topham Ranch-Auberry and Wishon Reservoir are inside this linked .zip file. (Unzip and place in your X-Plane “Custom Scenery” folder). If you have old versions of these, please remove them.
Ortho Tiles +36-119, +36-120, +37-119 and +37-120 (Unzip and place these in your “Custom Scenery” folder).
X-World scenery (free) and Global Forests v2 ($15) are highly recommended additions for the XP12 world.
Microsoft Flight Simulator:
Most of the above mentioned airstrips are available in the default simulator installation. The easter eggs and special adventures are (at this time) only available in X-Plane.
Questions and Help:
If you get stuck or have a question, drop a message on the DownwindSim Discord bush-flying text channel. We’ll be happy to help and we look forward to have you join us on the Bush League Backcounty Fly-In Series! Don’t forget to find the map (and maybe some supplemental oxygen).