[Kumiankka]

How does the time fly, it must have supercruise capability what with already four years having passed since we started these fly-ins

To celebrate the anniversary, Sunday's fly-in will be at Reykjavík Airport, Iceland (BIRK), a place that some of you may remember from (nearly) four years ago. Back then of course we visited the larger Keflavík International Airport further away from the city center, but this time we're going to be landing a bit closer - much closer in fact, so make sure not to hit the rooftops on your final approaches! An MSFS scenery pack for BIRK (by Raimund Rödel) can be found at FSNordic.net and converts reasonably well, though you might have to do a little tweaking in OverlayEditor.


Discussion topic open

[Kumiankka]

Next Sunday's fly-in has finally been decided, it's another really scenic location we've had in mind for a long time. Join us this weekend at Grand Canyon National Park Airport, Arizona, USA! (KGCN)



Discussion topic open

[Kumiankka]

As you might know by now, this will be our first fly-in without Marc in charge, after his resignation this week. I therefore welcome you all to a special event commemorating the 4+ years of fly-ins Marc has provided us, and to give him a proper send-off at this Sunday's location:

Westchester County Airport, New York, United States (KHPN)


Though Marc's busy schedule at this point might not enable him to attend himself, I could think of no better choice for this weekend.

A discussion thread for the fly-in special event is now open.

[Kumiankka]

Well, another week ahead and time to announce the new fly-in location. Even though Marc is no longer heading the fly-in crew, you can rest assured that we'll still continue visit all kinds of strange places around the world, just as before. Why fix it if it isn't broken

This week's fly-in airport is in a location we've previously somehow overlooked, namely the Adriatic Sea's Balkan coast. The airport serves a historically important city that for 450 years was the center of the merchant republic of Ragusa. Nowadays it is a popular tourist destination, and the airport is constantly undergoing expansion to cope with increasing amounts of traffic. Join us for this Sunday's fly-in at Dubrovnik Airport, Croatia (LDDU) - there's spectacular scenery to explore all around, and a converted MSFS scenery package provides detail for the city and airport. Of particular importance is the Old City of Dubrovnik, a UNESCO World Heritage site included in the aforementioned scenery pack.

Recommended nearby airports to fly in from include Rijeka, Croatia (LDRI), if you are able to convert the scenery pack available from http://www.croplus.net/scenerys/LDRI/. Ready-to-install X-Plane scenery packs for Italian airports can also be downloaded from http://www.x-plane.it/, if you want to fly down the Adriatic coast from Venice or Trieste. Make sure to have the runways follow terrain contours, otherwise there might be some strange glitches with the water so close to the airport.


Discussion/screenshot topic now open

[Markr]

I'm am so there for this one! I was stationed in Croatia outside of Slavanski Brod back in 96-97 and have bee to both Rijeka and Dubrovnik. This country is really nice since the break up of Bosnia. VERY friendly people, great food, and inexpensive. Hope to take my family back there some day.

See everyone there! I think I'll take off from some place in Austria and come in over the alps if anyone wants to join me, just PM me and I'll meet you online.

[Kumiankka]

Well, we've had a few US and European fly-ins in a row during the past few weeks, so for variety's sake we decided on something a bit different for this week. Joe helped me out by picking out a list of potential destinations and I think he did a particularly good job finding this one

Next Sunday's fly-in will take us all the way to the Kamchatka Peninsula in the Far East, namely Yelizovo Airport, Petropavlovsk-Kamchatsky, Russia (UHPP)! Founded by explorer Vitus Bering in 1740, the city was named after the expedition's two ships, the St. Peter and the St. Paul. Air transport is of particular importance to the city, as the hostile terrain makes road connections to the outside world impossible. Many volcanoes such as the nearby Koryaksky (pictured in fly-in banner) and Avachinsky surround the city, so there are plenty of sights to see. The airport is also used for military purposes by the 865th Interceptor Aviation Regiment, so take a look around and see if you can spot any of their MiG-31 Foxhounds parked around the field.

If you haven't already done so, make sure to install version 2 of the free Winter World add-on. No X-Plane native airport scenery exists, but the MSFS package available from http://www.avsim.ru/files.phtml?action=download&id=13752 can be easily converted with FS2XPlane and adjusted with OverlayEditor.



Discussion topic now open

[Kumiankka]

For this week I'm going to indulge in a bit of good old-fashioned parochialism and invite you for a visit a bit closer to home

This month's last fly-in will be held at Helsinki-Malmi Airport, Finland (EFHF), a historic airfield that was officially opened 70 years ago, though it has actually been operational since 1936, with two later interruptions. Though it was designed from scratch as an international airport, the runways are built on swamp and thus cannot handle heavier modern airliners, meaning that nowadays it is a general aviation site, and under threat of closure by city authorities who want to reclaim the land for residential development. Now where have we heard this before?

In 1939, November 30th also happened to mark the beginning of the Winter War, an invasion by the Soviet Union that coincided with one of the harshest winters of the century. The air war pitted mostly obsolete Finnish fighters such as the Gloster Gladiator, Bristol Bulldog and and Fokker D.XXI against Soviet bombers, later escorted by fighters such as the Polikarpov I-15 and I-16. Taking this into account, as well as the historic background of Malmi Airport, I suggest a late 1930s aviation theme for this event. You are welcome to show up in newer planes as well, although heavier traffic may want to divert to Helsinki-Vantaa lest they find themselves sinking into the swamp like a certain German transport once almost did.

Period aircraft available from the download manager include URF's Brewster B-239*, Jacques Brault's Hawker Hurricane* with both Finnish and Soviet repaints available courtesy of URF, Bradley Golding's Westland Lysander, and Jacques Brault's Polikarpov I-16. An unfinished model of a Soviet Tupolev TB-3 bomber exists as well - this particular plane is notable in that it was actually able to carry its own fighter escorts onboard and launch them in flight, like a flying aircraft carrier!

*these two aircraft were indeed ordered during the war, but arrived too late to actually participate. However they also happen to be pretty much the only WWII-era Finnish fighters available for X-Plane...

Scenery for Helsinki-Malmi Airport can be found and converted from the Finnish Scenery Designers' site. I also highly recommend everyone to install the Winter World enhancement if you haven't already done so for the previous fly-in.



Discussion topic now open

[Kumiankka]

All right, for this week I have two announcements to make instead of one :D


The first one, of course, is concerning our fly-in location for this Sunday. As some of you have suggested already, we're continuing our theme of World War II-related events for one more week. For the anniversary of the attack on Pearl Harbor on December 7th, we'll be visiting Pearl Harbor, Oahu, Hawaii. While Honolulu International Airport / Hickam Field (PHNL) will serve as the primary fly-in airport due to the large amount of ramp space, other historic airfields include Wheeler Field (PHHI), Bellows Field (XBEL), Kaneohe (PHNG) and closest to the action, Ford Island (NPS) located in the middle of Pearl Harbor itself. All of these airfields are certainly worth visiting during the event.

Suggested aircraft include all kinds of American and Japanese warbirds, in particular those types involved in the Pearl Harbor attack. The American fighter defense consisted of only a few obsolete P-36 Hawks, and some more modern P-40 Warhawks, while the Japanese forces operated the bomber types Nakajima B5N "Kate" and Aichi D3A "Val", and of course the Mitsubishi A6M "Zero" fighter.

On the scenery side of things, the Oahu photoscenery (part 1, part 2) is a must-have if your computer can run it, as well as the Honolulu East add-on (part 1, part 2, part 3). Unfortunately part 2 of the Honolulu Int'l add-on (part 1, part 2) is currently offline, but efforts are underway to restore the download link to working order.


And as for the second announcement, we're also starting a new fly-in lottery this week, giving you guys (or rather, the lucky winners) the chance to choose your own fly-in destinations for the next few weeks. Details are included in the fly-in lottery sign-up thread.


Fly-in discussion topic now open

[Kumiankka]

The results from the fly-in lottery are finally here!


1. Luke173: SLLP El Alto La Paz
2. Happii: KSEA Seattle
3. Daveduck: NZDN Dunedin
4. amerrir: SKVV Vanguardia
5. Eaglewing7: CYXY Whitehorse
6. michael2: VVNB Hanoi
7. nicolas: VNLK Lukla



Since Luke won't be able to attend this week's event, we've agreed to postpone his fly-in by a few weeks. Similar arrangements can be made for others as needed. The schedule will then be:


December 14th: Seattle-Tacoma International Airport, Washington, USA (KSEA) - Happii
December 21st: Christmas event, location classified
December 28th: El Alto International Airport, La Paz, Bolivia (SLLP) - Luke173
January 4th: Dunedin International Airport, New Zealand (NZDN) - Daveduck
January 11th: La Vanguardia Airport, Villavicencio, Colombia (SKVV) - amerrir
January 18th: Whitehorse International Airport, Yukon, Canada (CYXY) - Eaglewing7
January 25th: Noi Bai International Airport, Hanoi, Vietnam (VVNB) - michael2
February 1st: Lukla Airport, Nepal (VNLK) - nicolas


Congratulations to the winners! If you want to change your selection of airport, or cannot make it to the date scheduled, PM me as soon as possible.

[YYZatcboy]

This weeks Top Secret Location is....






CFFS ALERT (CYLT).

ALERT is the northernmost settlement in the world.

This Xmas flyin also commemorates those people who are away from their families, working to make all of our lives better (Pilots, FA's, Fire services, Police, Medics, engineers, soldiers, ATC, and many many others) during the holidays.


Discussion thread open HERE!