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Ainoha Sistek
I believe some of you were recently wondering if we still had any countries left that we hadn't visited during all these years of fly-ins. So, here's one for next Sunday, March 29th: the Republic of Guinea and more specifically Conakry International Airport (GUCY). A single runway over 10000 long is available here, making this a much easier destination than our previous two. The terrain isn't particularly challenging either, so this one should give you a breather between all those challenges and special events. Some excellent custom scenery has recently been released for the location too - see the link below.
In the midst of these gloomy times we are perhaps in the need for something to lighten the mood, so I believe the time is right this Sunday, April 5th for just that - an entirely fictional test airfield that you can only visit in the virtual world of X-Plane! For the past few years there have been mentions of a rather silly endless airport / circle runway concept online, and luckily for us @EC-LPZ has constructed an X-Plane test model that we can use to try out this concept for ourselves! The test model has no ICAO code, not even a made-up one, as it is a custom object rather than an airport owing to the limitations of X-Plane's airport format, but the nearest conventional airfield is Holloman Air Force Base (KHMN) in Alamogordo, New Mexico, USA. The circular runway model is located just a few miles west of there, within White Sands National Park.
Apart from the circular main runway, which I believe qualifies as the longest one we have ever had at a fly-in, there are two additional runways equipped with ski-jumps similar to those used on some aircraft carriers. No instrument approaches are available, nor are any conventional traffic patterns going to be of any use here, so we'll just have to improvise.
Note that despite the April Fools tradition of some previous years, and the admittedly humorous concept, this actually is our fly-in destination for this week! Also, remember to install the custom scenery, or you won't be able to see the airport at all.
Next Sunday, April 12th our destination is quite a bit less absurd than last week's, but still rather unique in a different way. Commemorating the 59th anniversary of the first human spaceflight by Yuri Gagarin, the location in question is Baikonur Cosmodrome, Kazakhstan. Leased to the Russian Federation until 2050, the site remains the main hub of the Russian space program, and is currently the only place where crewed missions to the International Space Station can be launched. Although the complex is equipped with two airports, only Krayniy Airport (UAOL) is regularly used, while the larger Yubileyniy Airport (UAON) was constructed as a landing site for the Soviet Buran orbiter, and abandoned following the project's cancellation. Unfortunately no 3D custom scenery is available, so both airports will appear equally devoid of surface features, but the runway and taxiway layouts are included in X-Plane 11 by default.
This Sunday, April 19th the idea for our fly-in comes from @RAFish, who suggested a while back that we do something related to the B-52 Stratofortress around the time the anniversary of its first flight comes up on April 15th. Now, we might be off by a few days, but there is a convenient enough destination that we can pick, and a previously unvisited one at that. Grant County International Airport, Moses Lake, Washington, USA (KMWH), formerly known as Larson Air Force Base, was an early test site for the B-52 aircraft, which were ferried there from Seattle to spare the city's residents the noise generated by those eight turbojet engines during testing. The military airbase has long since closed, but the airfield continues to be used for other testing and training flights, as well as currently serving as a storage location for over a hundred grounded 737 MAX aircraft. A total of five runways are available, with two of them long enough for heavies such as the B-52 itself. Custom scenery should not be required, as the airfield is covered by X-Plane default scenery.
We have another brand new location lined up next Sunday, April 26th, as we set course for Kualanamu International Airport (WIMM), serving Medan, Indonesia. Medan is one of Indonesia's largest cities, and the largest one altogether on the island of Sumatra, while Kualanamu Int'l is the city's principal international airport since 2013, following the conversion of older Polonia Airport into what is now Soewondo Air Force Base (WIMK). While runway length should be no major issue here, weather may complicate matters as s scattered thunderstorms have been forecast for the weekend. Assuming visibility is good enough to go exploring, the nearby Barisan Mountains should offer some interesting sights to see, including the dramatic supervolcano caldera at Lake Toba roughly 50 miles south of Medan.
And this Sunday, May 3rd it's time for our 799th fly-in, the week before the next "big round number" as some of you pointed out. Catering to airliner pilots and general aviation enthusiasts alike, our destination is Palm Springs International Airport, California, USA (KPSP), which happens to have some excellent freeware scenery available courtesy of Flyfree Productions. Located nearby in San Gorgonio Pass, and easily visible from the airport, is a massive wind farm consisting of over three thousand wind power plants. And further across the mountains you can find X-Plane's old default airport of San Bernardino Int'l, which might serve as a nice place to start from especially in light aircraft. Just watch out for high winds, there's probably a good reason they built all that wind power here!
All right, it's finally time for the big event we've been waiting for, this Sunday, May 10th it's our 800th fly-in! To celebrate the big round number, we obviously need a place with good scenery availability and plenty of ramp space, and we've got just that - Chicago O'Hare International Airport, Illinois, USA (KORD), with a grand total of 8 runways to choose from! As is traditional for these special events, I've put together a route for a formation flight, to be flown at 1500 Zulu time. In addition to passing close to the Chicago skyline as well as overflying KORD, the route will take us directly past the former location of Meigs Field. Dare to go for a touch 'n go? Any aircraft capable of maintaining 240 KIAS can join in, the route should take approximately 1 hour to fly.
Next Sunday, May 17th it's back to regular schedule once again, but with another brand new destination: Cagliari Elmas Airport, Sardinia, Italy (LIEE). Only one runway is available this time, and only the runway 32 end comes equipped with ILS. The mountainous terrain on the island may further complicate approaches, but can also provide sightseeing opportunities, at least weather permitting. The recommended freeware scenery packages are linked below (with both an XP10 and XP11 version of tdg's airport scenery available), but there is also a payware option by JustAsia available on the .org store.
For next Sunday, May 24th it's time to dig into the big list of suggestions once again. I believe it was @RAFish who suggested some time last year that we do something related to seaplanes again, so I did a little digging for good seaplane scenery, and here's the result. This week's destination will be the small mountain town of Squamish, British Columbia, Canada (CYSE), located just north of Vancouver at the end of the scenic Howe Sound. The land-based airport has only a single runway of 2400 feet, but the harbor offers plenty more space for floatplanes.
Special thanks to @Quintao for sending in the idea for this weekend's destination - on Sunday, May 31st let's set course for the tropical archipelago of Fernando de Noronha, Brazil (SBFN). The linked freeware scenery offers an excellent rendition of the main island's dramatic terrain as well as the single-runway airport itself, although a payware option by scenerysp is also available on the .org store. Direct flights from the mainland are operated by Azul in the Embraer 195 as well as Gol using the Boeing 737. Choose your aircraft accordingly as those two are probably among the largest planes capable of landing at SBFN. Or on the smaller side, many of the floatplanes from last week could be quite suitable for exploring the beaches, at least assuming the ocean isn't too stormy to permit that.
It's been a while since our last visit to India, so this Sunday, June 7th let's head there again, to another previously unvisited airport with some very recently released scenery available. Sardar Vallabhbhai Patel International Airport (VAAH) is the main airport serving the city of Ahmedabad, Gujarat, India as well as the smaller city of Gandhinagar. With only a single runway surrounded by urban area on all sides, you might hardly believe this is India's seventh-busiest passenger airport - in fact, a newer one is in the planning stages, to be located in Dholera. Expect very high temperatures, and quite possibly low visibility as well.
With another week and another new destination, this Sunday, June 14th let's set course for a peculiar location I've had in store for a while - Ciudad Real Central Airport, Spain (LERL). While originally intended to relieve the congested air traffic in the airspace of Madrid, Ciudad Real's airport was soon beset by various difficulties including the Spanish financial crisis, and although completed, remained a disused ghost airport in the middle of nowhere for pretty much the entire 2010s. Its namers apparently weren't without a sense of irony, as the airfield was at one point named after Don Quixote of all people! As of last year the unlucky airport has finally reopened, but is still without any commercial passenger traffic. However, the idea of a large, mostly empty airport has proven to have a few benefits during the ongoing coronavirus pandemic, as Ciudad Real has since been used for airlifting medical supplies as well as parking excess aircraft grounded by the airlines.
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