Hey hooligans, join us on Monday, March 2, 2020 at 8:00PM EST (0100z, March 3) for part 5 of the Bush League Backcountry Fly-In Series! Our friend Northwest Orient came up with a great set of airstrips. This month’s group flight finds us starting northern Virginia, wandering through the valleys and ridgetops from Winchester down to Roanoke. The airports are a series of paved/non-paved, private/public fields. Even though the terrain is not a rugged as some previous flights, you’ll need to brush up on your pilotage and dead reckoning skills. Some of these airstrips are difficult to find in the rural patchwork of Virginia! Here are the details…
- 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.
- All of the scenery and recommended aircraft is based on X-Plane 11.41.
- The starting airport will be Winchester Regional (KOKV). We’ll then head southwest, finally ending up at Roanoke-Blacksburg Regional/Woodrum Field Airport (KROA).
- You can fly whatever aircraft you’d like, however, we’d like to suggest a small, STOL capable plane as some of the airstrips are very short. One is only 1200 feet long.
- Most of the pilots enjoy navigating via pilotage, i.e. “looking out the window” and comparing it to the sectional chart. The sectional charts available from www.skyvector.com will be very helpful.
- We encourage you to join the VATSIM network and use the CTAF frequency of 122.8 to announce positions. Several CSL files are available to correctly render other aircraft.
- We’ll also use the Downwindsim Discord voice channel during the flight for non-ATC related chit-chat.
Flight Plan and Scenery Links:
Winchester Regional (KOKV) (default X-Plane scenery) ->
Ayers (VA93) ->
Sky Bryce (VG18)->
Frank Field (VA52) ->
Root Field (82VA) ->
Brook Hill Farm (VA00) -> (UPDATED to v2 for non-ortho users)
Black Bridge (5VG1) -> (UPDATED to v3 for non-ortho users)
Roanoke-Blacksburg Regional/Woodrum Field (KROA) (default X-Plane scenery or this update)
Northwest Orient has shared a link to the route in Skyvector… just click here!
Scenery Notes:
If you’re using X-Plane (v11.41 is the current at the time of this writing), we’d recommend, if your system can handle it, using Ortho4XP scenery. On this flight we’ll be flying in tiles +39-079, +38-079, +38-080, +37-079, +37-080, +37-081. We’d recommend these settings for these tiles in the USA for Ortho4XP and using this OSM data for +37-080 and this OSM data for +38-079. Using Ortho4XP is NOT necessary, but does add to the realism and RAISES the navigation difficulty.
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! Sic semper Tyrannis!