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Bush League Backcountry Fly-In Series 60

Here’s #60! Adventure awaits in the Smoky Mountains. This month we explore the eastern US as we wander around trying not to get lost.

Bush League Basics:

  1. Everyone is welcomed! Whether you’re an expert or beginner with flying simulators, radio communications, or navigation, etc., you’re invited! We’re a friendly bunch and enjoy learning from each other.
  2. All of the scenery elements and recommended aircraft are based on X-Plane 12 or MSFS 2020.
  3. You can fly whatever aircraft you’d like, however, you might want to try something that can handle short and narrow airfields.
  4. Most of the pilots enjoy navigating via pilotage, i.e. “looking out the window” and comparing it to the sectional chart, so please refer to the Uncle Melvin Map.
  5. We encourage you to join the VATSIM network and use the CTAF frequency of 122.8 to announce positions. If an airport/airstrip has a CTAF frequency listed on the sectional, please use that.
  6. We’ll also use the Downwindsim Discord voice channel for the pre-event briefing and during the flight for non-ATC related chit-chat.
  7. As always, the main goal of these flights is to have fun. The event is intended to be VFR, so you are free to configure your weather and time of day as you see fit. If there is high enough overcast layers, you should be able to navigate in the valleys.

Flight Information:

The event takes place on Monday, October 7th at 8:00pm EDT or 0000z (Oct. 8). There will be no preflight briefing but I should be hanging around the airport as we get started to answer any questions. The plan is to depart from 57NC Sossamon Field (Bryson City). There are four other airports to find, and there’s one that’s not on the sectional. Explore the scenery for clues. The list of airports are 57NC Sossamon Field (Bryson City), TN91 Peters Mill, TN98 Sky Ranch, 4TN2 Buck Creek Ranch, and NC08 Tusquittee Landing. You can fly in whatever order you want… my plan is to try to hit them all and return to Sossamon Field.

A note about TN98 Sky Ranch… this airfield is located under a Class C airspace, so if you don’t want to talk to ATC (if they’re on), stay under 2500 feet and stick really close to the airfield. Please refer to your sectional map, and feel free to ask for an explanation if you don’t understand this. There are plenty of folks who would be happy to help explain!

X-Plane 12 Scenery Installation:
* Custom Bush League airport sceneries for X-Plane 12 are available at this link:
2024-10 BL60 Smokey Mountains X-Plane 12 Scenery.zip
* Pre-cooked Ortho tiles are also needed for X-Plane 12:
zOrtho4XP_+35-084.zip
zOrtho4XP_+35-085.zip
* X-World scenery (free) and Global Forests v2 ($15) are highly recommended additions for the XP12 world. The custom scenery files above have been designed with these addons in mind.
DIRECTIONS: Unzip all files and place them in your “Custom Scenery” folder. Ortho tiles need to be below your airport scenery in your “scenery_packs.ini” file.

MSFS 2020 Scenery Installation:
* Customized MSFS sceneries from DWS are available here:
2024-10 BL60 Smokey Mountains MSFS Scenery.zip
DIRECTIONS: Unzip all files and place them in your “Community” folder.

Uncle Melvin’s Map
There is a map and it’s “with coffee”. And again, there’s one airfield that’s not on the map… so look around!
Good luck and try not to get lost!

If you get stuck or have a question, drop a message on the DownwindSim Discord bush-flying text channel. We look forward to seeing you on Monday night.

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