Pictures while using frequent flyer miles

[adrianspeeder]

...

[tsherry]

Was that the Lungi airport in Sierra Leone? Suuuuure looked like it.

Awesome work--keep us posted!

[Calfdemon]

This is literally one of my favorite threads on this forum. Thank you for the regular updates and letting us all visit places we would otherwise never get to see! And of course, thank you for all that you do as well!

[NM5K]

KSAT I've done that 03 approach a few times playing artificial SWA buoy.. That wasn't me you raced for the terminal..
They had to clean out that riverwalk area a while back due to so many people throwing stuff into the water..
They find loads of silverware from the restaurants, coins, all kinds of junk in that river. Been a while since I've been
over there. I ate at a Mexican restaurant on the river walk the last time I was there.. Almost looked like where you were..
I'm in the process of doing an artificial flight around the world in my pseudo BBJ3. "737-900".
Just landed at Moscow UUEE this AM.. I'm doing random legs every day or two when I get the chance.
Did KHOU to KBOS. Then KBOS to EGLL. EGLL to ESSA. ESSA to UUEE where I'm at right now..
Plenty more legs to go before I get back to Houston, and go back to my usual short hop artificial SWA flights..

[NM5K]

My artificial flight around the globe continues.. Left Moscow for Koltsovo Int'l Airport yesterday, and now on the
way to Delhi .. Was blizzard snow the last three airports since Sweden.. Maybe a bit warmer in India...
Still over south central Russia right now at FL390, and still snow below me. brrrrr.. Glad I don't live in Russia..
I used to live in Kansas, and was used to snow as a young pup, but living in Houston since 1969 has spoiled me on
the warmer air. I don't think I could handle snow and frigid air too well now that I'm a semi old fart..
It's about 4:30 in the PM in the present artificial world.. Will be dark when I get to Delhi..
The FMC progress page shows me there at about 14:41z.. Which is 8:41 in the PM India time.

[adrianspeeder]

Skip the former Soviet Union.

Only thing great about -30 and airplanes is that some photos come out pretty good. Although one camera didn't make it back from that deployment.







Coldest day we had was -47 and fog froze in the air.





I used to like the cold, but that winter of '09 ruined it.



Adrianspeeder

[NM5K]

Brrrrr.. They can keep that stuff.. I don't even go to my dirt patch much in the winter cuz I don't like
freezing my butt off.. And that's in fairly balmy Oklahoma..
It's nice weather up there at the moment though. I was almost tempted to drive up there for 2-3 days..
Those pictures look about like what I saw in Stockholm, and the two Russian airports I was at..
My sim downloads real weather real time, so what it is, is what I see. Ditto for winds aloft too..
I've been getting some pretty good shoves on the tail being I've been going west to east. Really
stout tailwinds when I was crossing the Atlantic towards Heathrow.

Well, the trip continues.. My artificial jet is parked in Bangkok right now.. I'm trying to decide what
path I want to take next.. I think I'm going to run towards Darwin via Indonesia, just to say I hit Australia..
But after that, I can't decide if I want to jump up north towards Japan and then over to Alaska, or hop over
the Pacific to Hawaii and then LA and then back to Houston.. At least the snow is history now that
I'm farther south towards the equator.

[adrianspeeder]

Trip 088, Winter 2015, Colorado

2-355/374 - So as good as the plane is, sometimes cargo weight, airfield length and conditions, and fuel required for the length of the trip don't add up to get off the ground. Call for an inflight splash of 50,000 lbs of gas! In my opinion it's the most sketchy thing we do. Even though it has been done hundreds of thousands of times since these KC-135s were new in 1958, something not quite legit about two planes 25 feet apart when we are twice as big. KC-135R model built 55 years ago stationed out of Grissom Air Reserve Base in Indiana.

[adrianspeeder]

2-375 - Colorado Springs. Where is the air up here?



2-376 - Was out of breath hossin’ the case of oil and ladder from motor to motor.



2-377 - Winglets win wars.



2-378 - Two shiny trucks to top off for the days ride in the mountains.



2-379 - Yee ole knowledge passing on to three young pups. “Back in my day...”



2-380 - So why are we here? The Colorado Army National Guard playin’ weekend warriors wanted to learn how to load their toys on the C17.



2-381 - It’s a US Army Guard Rubik’s cube.



2-382 - 3 UH-60 Black Hawks will fit if you squeeze ‘em in tight.



2-383 - Heave ho.



2-384 - Amazon prime 2day shipping anywhere in the world.

[Ranchero50]

Very cool. I was wondering where you had been.

C17's have been around Martinsburg the last couple months as they take over for the C5's.

[adrianspeeder]

Yup, been flyin' with a few of their pilots as they get spun up qualifying with us.

Adrianspeeder

[adrianspeeder]

https://youtu.be/GJ_WWt8oUt0

Container forklift heavy sombich at 120k lbs. One of the transport tires went flat over the flight and came off the bead so had to plywood it off so it wouldn't tear up my floor.

I am loving this gopro, but I just need a back screen for it now as I've missed a few other cool downloads not having it aimed correctly.

Adrianspeeder

[adrianspeeder]

3-043 - Colorado Springs is beautiful to look at, but hard as hell to breath there.



3-044 - That isn’t an airborne flight level. Radar altimeter at 0 sittin’ on the runway.



3-045 - Tap the Rockies.



3-046 - Time to angle and dangle around the peaks on a low level.



3-047 - Up close and personal with the Rocky Mountains at 500 feet above the ground.



3-048 - Needs a big ass stump grinder.



3-049 - Angle the dangle around the pointy bits of the mountains.



3-050/051 - Up close and personal with the Rocky Mountains at 500 feet above the ground.





3-052 - Low ridge crossing.



053 - Up close and personal with the Rocky Mountains at 500 feet above the ground.



054 - Checkin’ out the cattle.



055 - Comin’ in low and fryin’ chickens in the barnyard.



056 - I think this is the lake Coors Lite comes from.



057 - Source of my favorite Colorado Kool-Aid.



058 - Not sure we’ll fit down that one.



059 - Ready to dive on in this C-17 sized trench.



060 - Next ridge crossing.



061 - More pointy bits to avoid.



062 - Always wild to see the terrain higher than the wingtips.

[adrianspeeder]

063 - Wonder what that dude in the truck was thinking with us overhead.



064 - Pretty like a picture.



065 - Hang a right at the big C



066 - Forecast of mostly sunny with a random C-17 shaped cloud haulin’ ass.



067 - Next ridge crossing, hold on tight.



068 - Pretty like a picture.



069 - Reach out and touch ‘em.



070 - Highest ridge crossing yet. Still got snow on ‘er. If you think turbo lag driving in the hills is bad, at this altitude, the motors from idle to the max EPR limit takes 40 seconds to spool. Slightly unnerving when you are terrain following two seconds from being a smoking hole in the ground. Why our pilots are the best trained in the world.



071 - Watch out for skiing.



072 - Could prolly high five a skier if the door was open and ramp down.



073 - Kick ass ride.



074 - Spinnin' them four big fans fast on the redline to keep us away from that raggedy edge of disaster.



075 - After a day of a non-stop roller coaster, back on pavement is a good feeling.



076 - Next morning, bright and early to do the same low level track again, we shared a moment with a nifty as [censored] vintage Navy AT6.



077 - Didn’t get a chance to catch the call sign since we were still tuned to the ground freq, and not on tower yet, but I was lucky to see it.



078 - Angle the dangle to **** it and get it.



079 - Diving into the next trench to follow down low



080 - As much fun as the ride is, I’d like to be sitting on those rocks once to watch us hustle muscle by.



081 - “Obstacle left…”



082 - “Acknowledged. Right turn…”

[adrianspeeder]

083 “That’s a biggin’!”



084 Final ridge crossing nailed at exactly 500 ft on target with pitch and power.



085 Punched this day in the mouth! Let’s park this rig, and find a bar.



Next day headed home no problems.