Next up is a Pluna 737-200 and I am anxious to get along to the next stop, La Paz, Bolivia. I'd grab a quick breakfast at the resort in town (Iguacu) and I'm back into the air just before 9:00 AM. I have just reached my initial cruising altitude of 30,000 feet and suddenly my computer freezes. Or is that crashes? Well, whatever you call it, it's dead, gone, useless.
"Nooooooo!"
After I shut everything down and start over I notice that I have no mouse. NO MOUSE! I pull on my shoes and head off to the local computer store. Get mouse, pay for mouse, install mouse, test mouse, resume flight.
Although I am ticked at loosing two hours of precious flight time, I am amused that if you lost your flight control computer in the real world you'd have to land. Great thing about flightsim is that you CAN suspend your flight up over Paraguay somewhere. Flight resumed and weather in La Paz is mostly sunny, 75° with light westerly winds gusting to 8 miles per hour.
For those who don't get out much or find places like Denver and Colorado Springs a challenge, La Paz sits at about 13,300 feet and that is high, way high. I have to keep my airspeed up into the 200's just to control my sink rate. I put in full flaps for this one figuring I need all the lift I can get. Flying into La Paz isn't the real problem actually ... stopping while still in La Paz, that's the problem. With the high-speed approach I floated a bit and landed long. Let me tell you, you can chew up 9,000 feet of pavement in a hurry here. And that reverse thrust is almost useless!
Eventually I do stop and then make the long taxi back to the airport buildings.
No comments:
Post a Comment