Saturday, July 22, 2006

A good flight


Sometimes everything comes together nicely, and you have a really good flight. The series of images in this post come from such a flight. This is a continuation of a flight that I described in this post.
This leg of my journey departed from Atlin airport (CYSQ) in British Columbia. In the firs shot you can see my departure--Atlin is visible in the far distance. There were some lingering thunderstorms to the east and north, so I heard an occasional rumble of thunder, but I did not run into any ugly weather in the direction I was going. I found this thunder really enhanced the immersion-- there was weather all around me, but some of it was just there on its own accord, and was not the center of attention. What I am trying to say is that when you choose a stormy weather theme for a flight, it is there for your benefit, so to speak. However, these storms were just there, and they didn't care whether or not they would affect my flight.

My destination was Juneau International, but I took the scenic route down Atlin Lake, then over the Llewellyn and Tulsequah Glaciers. It was very peaceful flying over the glaciers. I felt like I was at the top of the world. This is one of the most satisfying flights I have had in a long time. I couldn't plan a very long flight--I needed to turn in early because I had important things to do the next day. This flight took a little more than an hour, but it had so much to offer-- beautiful scenery, interesting weather, pilotage using my sectional. All in all, a good time.

Eventually I reached the Taku Inlet, and decreased my altitude to about 2000 feet to enjoy the scenery. The iage on the left shows me rounding Point Bishop, preparing to head up Gastineau Channel towards Juneau. This still image cannot capture fully capture the experience. You get a very convincing illusion of space when you see the scenery in motion, with the tree covered peaks moving rapidly below.

The last two images show me flying up Gastineau Channel (flying perhaps too closely to the slopes!) and finally safely down at Juneau. In my opinion, this is flight simming at its best.

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