MOD St Athan to Filton via Cardiff Airport

I took the Just Flight Hurricane out for a spin, it's got great handling and is perfect for scenic flying and land and take off on a sixpence. I started at MOD St Athan near Cardiff in South Wales. Formerly a large RAF airbase, it is now only home to University of Wales Air Squadron and No 634 Volunteer Gliding Squadron. The airport scenery is provided by UK2000 VFR Airfields volume 1. The en-route scenery is provided by Orbx FTX Wales, which also provides a detailed Cardiff Airport EGFF.

Takeoff from MOD St Athan

MOD St Athan

Takeoff from St Athan (Runway 08 flying east). It is a very short hop to Cardiff airport, where we land on runway 12. Shortly after takeoff from runway 12, we can see a nice viaduct in Porthkerry Park next to the beach at Barry.

Cardiff Airport EGFF

Porthkerry Viaduct

I follow the coast to Cardiff and then Newport, then cross the Bristol Channel east toward Filton airport which is now visible. Filton scenery is provided by UK2000 VFR Airfields volume 1. On landing we can see the Concorde parked up, that was developed and built at Filton.

Cardiff City

Concorde at Filton

Orbx Chichester/Goodwood to Orbx Southampton

This flight is from Orbx FTX Chichester/Goodwood EGHR to Orbx FTX Southampton EGHI, via Lee-on-Solent airfield. Goodwood airfield is situated on the north-east side of Chichester, half way between the city and Goodwood races on the South Downs. I am also using FTX England for the surrouding countryside. There is a full-review over at Mutley's Hangar.

Takeoff from EGHR

Goodwood racecourse and Hill fort

Goodwood house behind the airfeld

I flew over Chichester centre and headed out to the coast. I know the area well, so flew over Pagham harbour and the Witterings. I then took a route over Hayling Island and Portsmouth and landed at Lee-on-Solent.

Chichester Cathedral

Lee on Solent (also known as HMS Daedalus) is an ex RNAS airfield and now a conveniently situated general aviation airfield. It has one runway of 1200m length (05/23). It also has a disused runway (17/35).

Landing at Lee-on-Solent

Landing at Southampton International

Orbx FTX Southampton is one of my favourite airport, lots of detail and good frame rates, it makes a good base for exploring the south of England and for flights over the English Channel to France.

JustFlight Battle of Britain Hurricane Special

I just noticed the Hurricane is on special at Just Flight at the moment. Ufortunately not on Steam, as I already have the Me109 and Spitfire on Steam, so this completes my collection at Euro 18.95 it's not cheap but it's not a bad price. I like it as it's simple and flys well, just jump in and fly! The Merlin engine sound is fantastic and it's very manoeuvrable. I took my first flight from Orbx Shoreham, which hosts air-shows and was sadly where a Hurricane crashed in 2007, killing the pilot. There is a full review of the trio at Mutley's Hangar.

Hurricane takeoff from Shoreham EGKA

I personally prefer this addon to the First Class Hurricane, it's easier to fly! The clincher for me was I could pay with my Paypal balance and download it.

Taxi2Gate KSEA Seattle Tacoma Elevation Issues

I today bought Taxi2gate KSEA Seattle International airport, as it should compliment the Orbx FTX Pacific Fjords scenery. Unfortunately on loading a flight, it is apparent there are some severe elevation issues with the airport in conflict with FTX Global Vector.

To fix this, first make sure the KSEA scenery is in top priority position in the scenery list:

Then in Explorer, locate the Orbx/FTX_VECTOR folder which is in the root folder of Flight Simulator. Run the configuration tool (FTX GLOBAL VECTOR Configuration Tool.exe).

Select the tab "Airport Elevation Corrections" and then click the button "Run Auto-configuration" and once complete the Apply button. Check KSEA is in the corrections disabled list and exit.

On loading the airport, we can now see the elevation issues are fixed.

Taxi2Gate KSEA Seattle International Airport

Wellington New Zealand to New Plymouth

This flight is set in New Zealand, North Island, scenery by ORBX. There is a nice review at Mutley's Hangar.

Wellington is the capital city of New Zealand and situated on the southern end of the island on the coast, with a scenic harbour surrounded by mountains. Wellington Airport (ICAO: NZWN) is surrounded by sea and has a single 2,081-metre (6,827 ft) runway. The short flight (55 minutes) to New Plymouth on the west coast, is operated by Air New Zealand. Make sure to avoid Mount Taranaki (Mount Egmont), an active but quiescent volcano at 2518 metres, just to the south of New Plymouth.

Takeoff from Wellington International Airport

Wellington CBD and harbour

New Plymouth airport (ICAO: NZNP) is 11km from the city, on the west coast. It has one asphalt runway of 4,298ft (1310m) and two grass strips. Destinations are Auckland, Christchurch and Wellington.

New Plymouth airport with Mount Taranaki in the background