TAA853 KSEA-PHLI

[CBreuer]

Hi Crew.

Today the Boeing 767-300ER for TCA Alaska went into service. Therefore it had to make the delivery flight from Paine Field to Seattle, as it was scheduled on flight 853 from Seattle to Lihue departing at 23:20Z. The ferry flight went fine so far and so it arrived at Seattle in time to get prepared for loading the passengers (203 in all) and their baggage plus some cargo bound for Lihue. Due to the snow and low temperatures we had to de-ice prior departure.

According to our load-sheet we could expect a ZFW of 120.9 tons and for the trip we would need 27.1 tons of fuel. Plus our alternate fuel and reserve fuel this would make for a total fuel load needed for the flight of 37 tons. If everything went right we should end up with a remaining fuel of 9.4 tons. Our flying time is calculated with 5:29, but this doesn't include our arrival procedure to Lihue, for which we had to add some extra time and fuel...
Although with 203 PAX and some additional cargo on board we would still depart in a flaps-5 configuration and a de-rated takeoff thrust for an assumed temperature of 42°C.

At about 22:15 we checked in with Clearance Delivery and received our IFR clearance. Runways in use at Seattle were 34R/C, so we would depart from RWY 34R and follow the HAROB3 RNAV departure to HQM. From there we would directly fly to SEDAR and join airway A331 which we will follow to ZIGIE and then direct to the Lihue (LIH) VOR.

Prior to push-back the aircraft had been de-iced and in the following picture you can see the two de-ice trucks arriving and also the push-back truck is moving into position.
   

The de-icing started which took some time, but went quite fast nevertheless.
   
   
   

They are almost done and soon we will be pushed back. Right now we are still a little bit concerned about the amount of aircraft taxiing to the runway...
   

Push-back and engine start:
   
   
   

We are in position for taxi and the push-back truck is moving away to the next aircraft.
   

After engine start we god a 'wave' from our ground crew and we were good to go:
   

Well a lot of traffic. Thankful the Delta was taxiing in.
   

The Southwest B737 which you saw in one of the pictures above is departing making us as No. 3 in departure sequence.
   

And that was not the end of the line
   

Then some time later it was our turn to depart and after a good acceleration we got airborne and could have a short look outside the left window.
   

As we climbed out, following our departure route, we accelerated further and also climbed further cleaning the aircraft up. Boeing Field (KBFI) just in front of us and Downtown Seattle in some distance ahead.
   

Just over Boeing Field we turned left, following our SID, so we won't overfly Seattle.
   
   

And another turn this time over BREMM intersection.
   

We are still climbing and will so for some more time to get to FL340, which is our initial cruise altitude.
   
   

We are about to pass HAROB intersection in a short moment heading for Hoquaim (HQM).
   

After the turn is completed. We should reach or top of climb just prior to HQM.
   
   
   

Almost there (at altitude).
   
   

Then some time in the flight we observed a radio conversation between Oakland Center and a POLET aircraft and we immediately thought this might be the mighty AN-124 and we were right!
   
   

After some time in flight we could make our step climb to FL360 and shortly thereafter it was almost time to say goodbye to the sun. Here you can see almost a last picture of it. All of a sudden it was gone somehow.
   

This also meant that we would approach Lihue in darkness, hence taking pictures could become a problem... But of course i tried to give my very best.
Continued in the following post...

[CBreuer]

OK, here we are again and after an rather uneventful flight we are now about to enter the approach pattern for Lihue. ATC offered us a visual RWY 21 approach, but as the winds were calm we requested ILS 35 instead. Unfortunately the option for an ILS approach given by ATC was not there and so we opted for the visual RWY 35 approach, but would of course fly the ILS approach.
Here you can already see the airport shortly before we would overhead it and turn to a heading of 169.
   

Our preparation for the arrival procedure was that we entered LIH into the FIX page of the FMC and draw a 12 NM circle around it. At that point we would turn to 124 and follow this for two minutes until we turn back.
   

Unfortunately I failed to calculate the opposite heading correctly, or read it from the approach chart due to the darkness around me to see everything in the Simulator, so I turned the aircraft back to 204 instead to 304.
I caught the mistake as I was wondering where the 169 Radial line from the FIX drawing was. Zooming out on the ND revealed my mistake and i turned to 304 immediately and was able to intercept the Localizer right in time.

Here we are already fully established on the ILS in landing configuration, Autobrakes set to 4, and the approach lights and runway lighting are already visible.
   

We weren't the only aircraft approaching Lihue. We already had a 'shadow' all the way from Seattle to Lihue: Alaska Airlines flight 853. It was approaching RWY 21 and would land before us. Behind it was an American Airlines aircraft, which unfortunately disappeared due to missing parking place for it.
   

Short final to RWY 35.
   

We were able to leave the runway at taxiway Delta and taxied to the ramp using taxiways D, A, K.
   
   
   

Then the marshaller guided us into the parking position at the gate.
   
   

Ground handling is starting to do their jobs with bringing the air-bridge into position, plus another stair on the back of the aircraft and the high-loaders keep care of the baggage/cargo.
   
   

There is the Alaska Airlines B738 which was flight 853 and will now become flight 854. We will have the same fate, but not today.
   

Well, we ended the flight with a flying time of 5:43 and a Block-to-Block time of 6:03. we used 29.6 tons of fuel meaning we had only 7.4 tons of remaining fuel, but we surely could have made it to Honolulu, which was our alternate of first choice, would it be needed.

I hope you enjoyed this report as much as I enjoyed the whole flight.

Software used:
FS9
Real Environment Extreme
Active Sky Evolution
Airport Enhancement Service
FlyTampa Seattle
FSDT Hawaiian Airports Vol. 1
Level-D B767-300 repaint by Jack Ford.
Flight Operation Center for flight planning
TOPCAT for loading the aircraft and calculation of v-speeds, flap settings and de-rated thrust settings.

[TCA2050]

Very nice report and screenshots Christian !

[CBreuer]

Very nice report and screenshots Christian !

Thank you Stefaan. And nice Avatar that you have now

[TCA2050]

[/quote]
Thank you Stefaan. And nice Avatar that you have now
[/quote]

Thx Christian,
It's taken in FSX with an update for the Alphasim F-111 both for the plane as the systems.
It now has amongst others, Terrain following radar, SALS (Satellite assisted landing system), full WAAS GPS, working AA/AG radar, weapons capability...
Makes me love my favourite military jet even more

[CBreuer]

Thank you Stefaan. And nice Avatar that you have now
[/quote]

Thx Christian,
It's taken in FSX with an update for the Alphasim F-111 both for the plane as the systems.
It now has amongst others, Terrain following radar, SALS (Satellite assisted landing system), full WAAS GPS, working AA/AG radar, weapons capability...
Makes me love my favourite military jet even more

[/quote]

Yes, and obviously an unbeaten range if I recall our flight from Maputo to Bissau correct.

[TCA2050]

Yes, and obviously an unbeaten range if I recall our flight from Maputo to Bissau correct.

yep, also great about it, it has a ferry range with external tanks of 4.200mi at M.80, and with my fuel burn which seemed to be on the numbers with 1.800lbs/eng/hr that reflects reality pretty good.
Off course this is a totally different story on an attack run with weapon loadout and when going supersonic.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/F-111

[CBreuer]

Yes, and obviously an unbeaten range if I recall our flight from Maputo to Bissau correct.

yep, also great about it, it has a ferry range with external tanks of 4.200mi at M.80, and with my fuel burn which seemed to be on the numbers with 1.800lbs/eng/hr that reflects reality pretty good.
Off course this is a totally different story on an attack run with weapon loadout and when going supersonic.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/F-111

4.200 miles are not equal to Nautical Miles. Therefore you should have ran out of fuel just prior arrival, especially that the ferry range probably is described by carrying 6 external 600 gal. fuel tanks. So the ferry range is about 3700 NM, but we flew at least 3763 NM at M 0.82 and you had to make excessive use of A/B thrust to catch up.
But nevertheless the F-111 still has some benefits among other aircrafts. I wonder how powerful the F-111 might have been with newer engines, like the US Navy did with the F-14D 'Tomcat'.
But we are drifting 'off Topic'.

[TCA2050]

4.200 miles are not equal to Nautical Miles. Therefore you should have ran out of fuel just prior arrival, especially that the ferry range probably is described by carrying 6 external 600 gal. fuel tanks. So the ferry range is about 3700 NM, but we flew at least 3763 NM at M 0.82 and you had to make excessive use of A/B thrust to catch up.

indeed mi not being NM, but since I removed all other payload for that flight except for pilot and copilot and fuel fully topped off at 39.680 lbs with only the first 30nm in AB that were pretty fast caught up I still think it's not bad for this simmodel... I would have gotten in trouble if I had to do a go around.