Jetstream Chronicles: Bahia Solano to Tocumen

As you can see from my virtual hangar, I have a British Aerospace Jetstream 41 (ICAO: JS41) turboprop made by PMDG.It cost me dearly but have mostly stayed in the hangar except for some test flights. I read the Pilot Tutorial (93 pages) and the other docs, countless Tips & FAQS but attempts to use it nearly always terminated in one or two engine fires right at the apron. Mostly after I pressed the engine start buttons and if not right at the moment I tried to begin taxi. Quite frustrating if you spend nearly an hour going through checklists in a virtual cockpit (not as comfortable as a real cockpit). But despite the fact that PMDG wasn’t interested in producing a service pack to solve the cockpit state issues, it remains an add-on of very good craftmanship (except for the woes). So, rather than wasting my time running the checklists to end in engine fire I have opted to use this a/c with engines started and program the FMC and set the instruments.

So, today we will fly from Bahía Solano to Panama. I tried this many months ago with the JS41, the first time the engines melted down at the apron. The second time I was 80% into the flight and started descent and had troubles descending and slowing down (something you can’t do at the same time in this a/c) so it overstressed and it was game over, for that see my post “Virtual Incidents & Accidents: Jetstream 4100”. The Jetstream stayed in the hangar since then in 2010… Until now!

Here is our flight plan made with the excellent Plan-G planner. It will be an IFR flight in the Jetstream 4100 from Bahía Solano to Tocumen Intl. airport in Panama. Initial altitude will be 6,000 feet, then when approaching the border with Panama we would temporarily climb to 7,000 feet. Flight Plan is as follows:

SKBS BHS dct DAKMO/A070 a317 ITAGO a317 TBG MPTO

Departure – Bahía Solano

We will be departing (engines started) from Parking #2 of the José Celestino Mutis (ICAO: SKBS, IATA: BSC) regional airport at Bahía Solano in the province of Chocó, Colombia. [runway picture. Twin Otter real life landing at BSC). The stock FSX airport is just crappy so based on aereal recoinassance I made a quick & dirty reproduction. The airport is at 81 feet but in FSX with the mesh it appeared at over 400 feet. The best I could do was move it slightly and accommodate it at 4 feet. However just like the real airport, it is surrounded by a lot of vegetation and hills.

The FMC has been programmed already, Tuned both NAV1 and NAV2 active frequencies to the Ambalema VOR/DME (ABL: 112.70) with OBS 317. It is way back near Bogota with a range of 200nm so I used it to get the initial intercept towards DAKMO but the signal will vanish prior to getting there. The heading bug is set to 343. NAV1 standby frequency set to La Palma VOR (PML 113.10) and the ADF tuned to the Bahia Solano NDB(BHS 244.0 kHz).

So, at about 05:45 AM (UTC-5) after configuring the PMDG Jetstream for take off configuration. V1 and Vr are 103 knots, V2 110 knots, Flaps 9, set torque to 100%, turned off taxi lights, all others on, Ground Spoilers armed.

Slowly pushed the Condition lever out of Taxi to 100% (flight), let it stabilize a bit and then slowly pushed the throttles forward let it build up a bit, brakes relased, the aircraft started to move slowly and you wonder whether you are going to clear the end of the runway. It continues, 70 knots callout, speed picks up and I am near the last quarter of the runway (35), V1 and Vrotate callouts.

I gently pulled the yoke maintaining the a/c on a steady climb following runway heading. Cleared the tree and small hill at the end of the runway. Positive rate of climb callout, gear up… 700 feet AGL retracted flaps to clean configuration. We have the 1965 ft. Cerro Mutis on our left.

The a/c flew above the town of Bahia Solano and into the bay of the same name and Point St. Francisco Solano to our left. Past the Bay of Nabugá and Gulf of Cupica on our right as we head inland to intercept the ABL radial. Then at 200nm outbound ABL the signal goes out as expected.

By now I am at our initial cruise altitude of 6,000 feet continuing heading 347 towards DAKMO. DAKMO intersection is right on the border of the Colombian and Panamanian airspace over the mountains of Darien province, as we neared I climbed further up to 7,000 feet.

Cruise
Jetstream 4100 at 7,000 feet over the mountains of Darien. Passed DAKMO intersection but continuing on the same heading. Now I have the PML VOR on NAV1 & NAV2 with Taboga VOR/DME (TBG 110.00) on standby and the Taboga NDB on the ADF. Unfortunately PML has no DME. I set the OBS1 to PML R-239 to mark our arrival to the ITAGO intersection on this heading (311). Once cleared the mountains I decended to 6,000 feet again.

Passed ITAGO above the Gulf of Panama, the beautiful Pearls Archipel is ahead with the big San Miguel island coming soon in sight. Started planning for the approach which is very tricky with this aircraft. First reduced the speed to around 190 knots, reduced torque to start a descent to 5,000 feet. I reprogrammed the Jetstream’s four speedbugs to 123, 108, 110 and 125 knots respectively for about 20,000 lbs of weight at landing. The last speed being that for Flaps 25.

Arrival
Just prior to reaching ITAGO I had swapped NAV frequencies so that I had TBG on the active and could track the inbound radial (R-311).

A few nautical miles prior to reaching TBG turned right, swapping frequencies yet again so that now I had TBG on NAV1 standby and on NAV2 active and on NAV1 active I had the Tocumen (ICAO: MPTO, IATA: PTY) Runway 03L ILS (INAT 110.70). Here with a beautiful view of Panama city, the Pacific Ocean entrance to the Panama Canal and the equally beautiful Amador Causeway with its three islands (Naos, Perico & Flamenco). My interactive Weight & Balance sheet is now tucked in. Currently at 3,500 feet and intercepting the ILS with OBS set to 030 degrees (pressed V/L on the autopilot and set 030 on the CRS to set intercept heading on the Jetstream). RPM set to 99%, APR armed

It was still early morning and as I approached MPTO there was a low cloud cover making it impossible to visualize the airport, anyway there is the HIS where I was already aligned. At this moment I disabled the altitude hold on the autopilot, enabled the Approach mode and I could see how the a/c maintained horizontal alignment. The EHSI showed it was right on the glideslope, descending gently, still no runway in sight, all is white on the windshield.

The time passes, still nothing in sight just whiteness… kept on monitoring the instruments, aligned to ILS, still right on the glideslope. Suddenly just underneath the blanket of mist I could see the treetops of the mangroves near Tocumen. I was coming at 180 knots, couldn’t make the target of 170 knots. I judged better not to use flaps because Flaps 9 would cause this a/c to either balloon or try to stay afloat above the runway.

More hidden treetops and then some point slightly above Decision Height and suddenly there it was, God gracious! Runway 03R. Disengaged the autopilot and continued the final approach visually.

Landed on the sweet spot, a little flare and then when fully landed reverse thrust to slow down the beast. Spoilers deployed (automatic), applied brakes. When it slowed down to 70 knots I disengaged reverse thrust to taxi out of the runway.

The problem is, apparently with the throttle when you notch it out of reverse (there is a detent) the simulator tends to interpret it as thrust applied and there it goes again. I had to vacate the runway via taxiway F at the end of 03R.

Here a nice misty screenshot from the cockpit as I neared the Tocumen passenger terminal (scenery by Tropical Sim).

And finally I arrived to the gates and went through the shutdown checklist. Didn’t check how much fuel it consumed though… But no aircraft was lost in this operation

The Jetstream 41 from PMDG is a pleasure to fly, it is a bit of a medium maintenance a/c during the whole flight, especially if you get icing conditions or engine overheat which must be monitored closely.

Simulation Events
As I mentioned this PMDG is highly demanding with resources as well. This time I was just crossing ITAGO when I clicked on the instrument panel and the simulation crashed (I get that most often with this PMDG). I had to start all over, but rather than redoing it, I took off from SKBS, took the a/c to cruise altitude then slewed it to the geographical position where the simulation had crashed and continued thereon.

I have a realtively power PC with 4GB so I am considering getting a full 6GB or 8GB (I had 6GB but the memories got damaged due to spikes).

Panama Air Rally: Leg 8 David to Bocas del Toro

Wow, it has been nearly a month since my last virtual flight which happened to be Leg #7 of the Virtual Pilots Association Panama Air Rally 2013. We will be loading realtime dynamic weather to fly online using FSX.

Our Flight plan will be YFR, starting with IFR from Enrique Malek in David, Chiriqui terminating with VFR in Bocas del Toro. Will be using our IFR equipped Piper Seneca II. I used the excellent Plan-G flight planner. Remember this is not to be used for real aviation!.


Departure from David
We are on our beloved Piper Seneca II (Carenado) with Lord of Wings livery. The aircraft is at the ramp where I had already performed the checks on the control surfaces.
It is rainy on the Enrique Malek airport (MPDA / DAV) currently winds are 210 degrees at 10 knots so I will be departing from runway 22.

Prior to departure I tuned NAV1 to DAV VOR/DME (114.30 MHz) in the active frequency and BDT (114.9 MHz) on standby. OBS1 set to 030 our outbound radial.

Tune NAV2 to BDT (Bocas del Toro) VOR/DME with OBS2 to 352 degrees, our inbound radial to Bocas del Toro from OSITO to URUGA (still v15 but different direction) just prior to the DME arc.

The ADF to the DAV NDB (350.0 kHz). Departure time 17:40 local time (22:40 UTC) and we are scheduled to arrive shortly before sunset.

Taxied via the parallel taxiway to the head of runway 22 until cleared for immediate takeoff. Climbed runway heading, passed 1,000 feet, gear up and initiated a sharp turn to intercept the David (DAV) VOR/DME we had just left behind. The plan calls for intercepting DAV outbound R-030 to our first intersection, EGULA and continue climbing to 11,000 feet. Not only was it rainy but there were also distant thunders and a lot of turbulence. Very quickly during climb the aircraft found itself surrounded by clouds above and below. It is nice to see turbulence in FSX with a good a/c, in fact this was perhaps the first time I actually experienced weather in this area that closely resembles what is present in real life.

Cruise
During climb it was necessary to periodically adjust the engine fuel mixture until I settled at 11,000 feet. We are flying east under IFR rules. We need this altitude to safely clear the mountain range that divides the Pacific and Atlantic sides of Panama.

On our departure we flew from DAV to EGULA on R-030 (outbound) via Victor Airway 15 following to ETATI. There is a more straighforward route on Victor Airway 17 following ASEGO and ATOBA but that would require clearing much higher mountains in the vicinity of the Barú Volcano which is usually very cloudy, therefore my choice for V15.

Passed ETATI at some 20.6nm outbound DAV, fly over La Estrella dam/lake and we need at least some 7 nm (passed ETATI) more to clear the highest part of the mountain range. We would then pass the western end of the Fortuna lake and continue flying DAV R-029 to OSITO some 13.2nm from ETATI so we must keep an eye on our DME.

Okay, at OSITO we must make a left turn towards URUGA on the Atlantic coast. There are two ways to know when we reached OSITO (remember, we are still on IFR), do you know which? Well, for one thing OSITO is some 33.8 nm outbound DAV. The other is with our VOR2 instrument, do you remember we tuned NAV2 to BDT (our inbound VOR/DME)? OSITO is about 18.2 nm southeast of BDT and remember we set OBS2 to R-352? well, when we see that the CDI of VOR2 aligning it means we are approaching the inbound radial that would take us to URUGA intersection.

At this point both our NAV radios are set to BDT so it doesn’t matter whether our DME is tuned to NAV1 or NAV2. We continue from OSITO to URUGA intersection just at the coast of the Gulf of Bocas del Toro.

Approach
Some point (around 6nm) after OSITO we can safely initiate our descent. We must reach URUGA intersection at or above 6,000 ft.

The picture on the right shows our cockpit when we are at our IAF URUGA. URUGA is 10nm from BDT and is the point where we turn right to start doing our 10nm DME arc on the Bocas del Toro (BDT) VOR/DME. At this point we switch our flight plan to VFR (Visual Flight Rules) but I will be using the instruments for guidance as well (it’s nice).

Well as you can see the Piper Seneca is very nice for IFR but unfortunately (at least for flight simulation) it is not too suitable for Visual Flights. With its large engine cowls it is very difficult to appreciate anything via the side windows.

Now we are tracking our DME arc, you know the drill, we use VOR1 and periodically adjust OBS1 to a new radial until we arrive to our inbound radial for the final approach.

The picture on the left shows our beautiful aircraft above Loma Partida on the mainland near URUGA. For visual references we go almost through the middle of the peninsula of Loma Partida towards the north northeast edge of the adjacent Popa Island.

Then we continue the DME arc towards the eastern point of Bastimentos Island and contine the DME arc until we are 10 nm out and intercept BDT inbound R-262 which is our initial fix. We must be here at around 1,600 feet and turn left straight to runway 26 more or less flying along part of the shores of Bastimentos. At 5 DME we must be at 1,400 feet.
Unfortunately nearly on finals I missed alignment (BTW remember the VOR is not aligned to the runway!) and I had to put the gear up, apply full throttle and climb I declared a missed approach. Sadly I didn’t have my chart at hand so I did not do (shame on me) the proper missed approach procedure. However I will describe it here.

For the missed approach climb heading 271 until 8 nm outbound BDT. For visual reference this point is right at the mainland coast opposite to the runway end. At that point you do a sharp turn right to intercept BDT inbound R-104, overfly BDT and at DME 10nm we do our approach to runway 26 again.

Arrival to Isla Colon, Bocas del Toro
I did my second attempt with waning daylight thus making it more challenging after my sad mistake.
I was using the excellent FSX Bocas del Toro airport scenery by Rhett Browning. Unfortunately this scenery is already old meaning it does not have runway lights for night approaches. The real Bocas del Toro (MPBO / BOC) airport does have runway lights so we must soon do an refresh update to the runway.

On my 2nd attempt I managed to land and taxi to the terminal just in time for sunset.

This virtual flight was flown online but during the whole flight there were no nearby aircrafts and no ATC coverage. Sadly the only airport in Panama that seems to get ATC coverage online is Tocumen (MPTO). Even more unfortunate is that my fellow Panamanians have not made it any easier to organize ourselves to have a more interesting virtual airspace.

My next flight will be the next leg of the tour, from Bocas del Toro to the Enrique Jimenez airport in Colon city, Panama. Until then have safe virtual flights and remember to follow me on Twitter (@aviationweb), the Panamanian scenery development for FSX on the Lord of Wings Flight Simulation Facebook page and of course this blog of Virtual Aviation.

Last but not least if you would like to know a bit more about Panama, our little Central American country then make sure to visit Panama Vibes or the Panama Vibes Articles section.

Twin Otter adventures: Panama city to Puerto Obaldía

Has been nearly two months since my last flight with Flight Simulator X so this is my first flight of the year 2012. Naturally and being it an online flight on IVAO, it is flown at 1x rate, why cheat?
Our Aircraft
Our destination is a remote location on the San Blas reserve on the Republic of Panama and it is the short and narrow landing strip of Puerto Obaldía. We will be using the Aerosoft Twin Otter (ICAO: DHC6-300) because we need a plane with STOL capabilities. Also because the Twin Otter is a regular visitor of this location and region. We will be using the beautiful Air Panama livery found on the internet.
On this particular aircraft I have logged officially more than 25 hours of online flight plus many more of offline (test) flights.
Log Book
This flight will be recorded in our master logbook at Virtual Pilots Association as well as on Aero Virtual Panama. We will be flying a commercial schedule flown by Air Panama as flight number PST423.
Flight Plan
On the left there you can appreciate the eastern part of the Republic of Panama. We will be departing Marcos A. Gelabert (ICAO: MPMG) airport in Panama city (Albrook) at 08:30.
Our route will be TUM v16 ISUMA. Up to ISUMA we will flight at 8,000 feet under IFR rules covered by Panama TMA. At ISUMA we will descend to 3,500 feet and change to VFR. Therefore the flight plan is filed as YFR. According to the virtual dispatcher we should be flying around an hour and spend about 60 gallons of fuel.
Our destination is the small airfield of Puerto Obaldía (ICAO: MPOA) in the idyllic region of the San Blas archipelago, an indigenous semi-autonomous area with lots of small and challenging airfields (all but one missing in FSX). Puerto Obaldía is just a few miles from the border with Colombia. Many adventurous travellers cross from there to Colombia and back by boat.
Departure
Unfortunately no live ATC coverage on the IVAO network at the time of the flight. No problem, there is usually an a**hole that doesn’t know much about Panamanian airports controlling in the area.
At 8:10 we begin going through the checklists while boarding is taking place. Our first leg is MPMG to Tocumen, therefore I tune the TUM (ICAO: TUM 117.10) VOR/DME on NAV1 for navigation, and set it as well in NAV2 because our a/c uses that for the DME. The course indicator is set to 66 degrees, our heading to TUM. We also tune the La Palma VOR (ICAO: PML 113.10) on the Standby frequency of both NAV1 and NAV2.
As a helper (you never know when you need it) I have also set the Taboga NDB (ICAO: TBG 311.00) on the ADF at least for the first half of our trip. The METAR said winds were low but variable and we were assigned runway 36. Closed the doors, final checklists done, pushback and taxied to the runway. After being cleared for take-off (sadly no traffic in IVAO) I did the initial climb and turned right to intercept R-096 inbound TUM overflying the beautiful city of Panama, hereby a bit better depicted than the default FSX (my own improvements)
Not surprisingly after a little while we found ourselves arriving to Tocumen. By now I have activated the autopilot to maintain our cruise altitude.
The TUM VOR/DME is used for most SID/STARs of Tocumen International airport. We have to fly with care here because it is a busy airport. I suppose in real life we may have been routed some other way.
Cruise
We passed TUM and there were some clouds at our altitude but we could see the ground. The snapshot on the left shows my kneeboard containing the flight plan and my NAV1/2 radios together with the GPS. In particular I was paying close attention to the waypoints in the GPS and the DME, the TUM-ISUMA leg is 96nm R-096 outbound TUM. That’s why it is on active for both NAV1 (navigation) and NAV2 (DME). The TBG NDB should be pointing nearly backwards.
We are on the clouds as you can see on this snapshot. However on the left there were some ominous black cloud blanket on the sea. On this long leg we should be passing the Pacora and Bayano river mouths on the Pacific coast. You cannot miss the large Bayano lake which is man-made either, if on course we should be bordering the south eastern shores of the lake.
Descent
When around 86nm outbound TUM I placed the heading bug at 135 degrees. I also switched frequencies on NAV1 so that PML was active. According to my planning, ISUMA is at the intersection of TUM R-096 and PML R-039. PML has no DME (sad) so I was hoping that by putting the NAV1 OBS to R-039 I could see the CDI closing in as we neared ISUMA. I did not see that happening, don’t know if it is a bug in the Aerosoft Twin Otter or what. Anyway, there is the small peninsula of Mulatupu, there should be a small island there wit small airstrip (not in FSX). Anyway, this is our visual reference. Having passed the mountains (will have to update that on FSX) I initiated descent to 3500 feet, switched to VFR according to flight plan and turned heading 135.
My flight on Aero Virtual Panama is monitored by an ACARS device so on their page you can see the Live ACARS moving map. There you can appreciate that on heading 135 we should be flying with the coast of San Blas on our right, lots of small beautiful islands in real life, as many as there are days in a year!
On this ISUMA-MPOA leg we could have switched the ADF to the Tupile (ICAO: TPL) NDB. Just prior to arriving to ISUMA Tupile should be on our right but on this final leg along the coast it should be right behind us.
Approach
If the La Palma VOR also had a DME it could have been more helpful. In my virtual flight map, our destination (Puerto Obaldia) should be at the intersection of TUM R-104 (DME 124nm) and PML R-073 (DME 46nm). Unfortunately the Panamanian aeronautical authority hasn’t invested in a DME for La Palma. Anyway, around here things are flown VFR (bush whacking). Along the coast we should see the Puerto Escoses peninsula growing towards us and shortly after the Punta Carreto pointing towards the sea. Many years ago a Twin Otter from AeroPerlas vanished prior to reporting at Punta Carreto. It crashed on the mountains…
It was very hazy even at low altitudes, that complicated with the fact that I had not tuned TPL, PML and TUM were out of range I lost my way for a while (shame on me) and you definitely don’t want to end up in Colombia without permission!. Anyway, finally I had runway in sight. I armed the auto feather. I had a weight of 9,900 pounds so according to the reference card on the virtual kneeboard I should setup for V_ref of 72 knots., set flaps once I had reduced speed I configured flaps accordingly.
Arrival
The Puerto Obaldia (ICAO: MPOA) airfield is a hard surface (unlike some in the area) but it is relatively short. Here you only see STOL aicrafts such as Twin Otters, Britten Normal Islanders and the usual Cessnas. This airfield is not part of the standard FSX but was developed by Lord of Wings Flight Simulation. It is very close to the real one as far as I know and like all the others in the area, a challenge to land. Not having flown for several months I had lost my touch, I was pretty comfortable with the Twin Otter (not to mention I lost the touch on jets too). Sadly I had to declare a missed approach twice but I nailed it on the 3^rd. The virtual passengers were getting a bit scared, many wanted to see their beloved ones and some were eager to try to catch a boat to Colombia.
So there we were, with a proper landing configuration I landed the Twin Otter on MPOA’s runway 17, the speed was low already but because the runway is short I applied reverse thrust anyway.
Taxied to the apron and left the right engine running as usual, getting ready for the return trip. I should have used 60 lbs. of fuel, loaded 140 lbs. but unfortunately used up more than expected due to the turn around. Now I barely have enough to return, that will be the next challenge . For now the passengers offload and pass to the green house crowded by immigration and border police.
In summary, departure was on time and in spite of the two missed approaches arrival was also timely. Fuel usage was a bit excessive , suffered a mild disorientation (even on the simulator you have to keep your skills!) and landed at a rate of –632 feet/minute, definitely not my best landing rate on the Twin Otter, my best so far was –36 feet/minute at Playon Chico, another short runway in San Blas (also developed by Lord of Wings Flight Simulation).
Hopefully this year I get to fly a bit more than last year, I have been busy with several development projects and business ideas so that has priority. Have fun and fly safe!

Twin Otter : Volcan, Chiriquí to Albrook, Panama

In our previous flight we took off from Pavas, Costa Rica to take some tourists to Volcán, Chiriquí, Panama with 200 lbs. of fuel We arrived on schedule just before it got dark because Volcan has no lights. If you recall, our virtual pilot didn’t shut both engines because we were going on to Marcos A. Gelabert, Panama city (ICAO: MPMG, IATA: PAC) to take the rest of the passengers. Turn around was quick because it was getting darker.

There are no fuel facilities here in Volcan and we had just enough fuel to arrive to Albrook plus a bit more spare. The challenge of managing fuel properly was compounded because this was going to be another IFR flight and most of the flight was going to be at night.

We will continue our flight with our trusted Twin Otter 400 (ICAO: DHC6) in Cayman Airways livery, modelled by Premier Aircraft Design (PAD). Volcan airport add-on developed by me to replace the poor default airport. As stated in the About Us tab, all posts on this blog are about flight simulation and you should never use it for real life navigation!!! Even though I use an updated mesh, it does not fully reflect the real altitudes (+- 70m)!.

Briefing
At Volcan (FSX: PX02, FS9: MP21) we will taxi to runway 12. Our cruise altitude will be FL150 (15,000 ft.) for the most part and in this trip we will cover 201 nm, our expected flight duration will be 2 hours and should consume around 95 gallons. Contrary to our original plan to go closer to the coast to avoid the mountains, we will add a challenge by following a more straight route with the “cordillera central” (Panama’s mountain range or continental divide) just left of us. Sometimes we will fly over a few mountains as well. Therefore we must monitor our course and altitude properly.

Our fuel is limited, therefore the straighter route but so will be visibility even in good weather. In this IFR flight we will be making use of the David (ICAO: MPDA, VOR/DME: DAV 114.30 NDB: DAV 350.00) and Bocas del Toro (ICAO: MPBO, VOR/DME: BDT 114.90) navigation aids to track the initial intersections in our route and in the 2nd phase we will use David and Taboga (VOR/DME: TBG 110.00 NDB: TBG 311.00). The Santiago navaid is along the way but it is only a VOR, no DME you can use its R-353 however because the RONAM intersection is on that radial at some 31nm northwest of Santiago. Our route will be “ETATI dct EGOSO/A110 a502 RONAM a502 IRUKA/A070 a502 TBG/A025”

Departure
As you can see on the screenshot in the briefing section, when while we loaded up it got very misty in Volcan (typical of the region) and we had a small window of time to take off before it was too dark. While the few passengers from Bambito and Volcán ate their crackers we taxied to runway 12. We took off at 18:15 local time. The airport is at 4642 ft. altitude and climbed runway heading (no obstacles). We took off with 122 gals. and 1710 lbs. of payload.

Retracted flaps accordingly and turned slightly left heading 102º towards ETATI intersection 23.5nm away. Tuned the DAV VOR/DME on NAV1, BDT VOR/DME on NAV2 and DAV NDB on the ADF. While we track our heading we will monitor both VOR needles as we have set OBS1 to R-030 and OBS2 to R-184. At ETATI the needles should center and DME1 should show around 20nm and DME2 some 41.5nm.

Cruise
Reached our cruise altitude of 15,000 ft. at 18:23 local time with 104 lbs. of fuel. A few minutes later (18:25) we reached ETATI intersection, both needles centered and the ADF needle pointing DAV at 103º. We keep the same VORs tuned but update the radials to OBS1 at R-082 and OBS2 at R-162, move the ADF rose to our new heading of 125º. We won’t be flying any victor or jet airway so straight to EGOSO where DME1 should say 30.5 and DME2 55.8nm. We keep our cruise altitude because of the mountains on our left and some below us.

At EGOSO descended to 11,000 feet but if you aren’t sure keep 15,000 and if it wasn’t for the darkness around us we would see Cerro Santiago on our left. Fuel had to be properly managed so don’t forget to keep on leaning the mixture at these high altitudes. From now on we will be heading 125º over victor airway A502. Watch your altitude because 20nm from EGOSO we will be flying over and along the mountain range. At 18:56 local time we reached RONAM intersection with 88 gals. of fuel with the montains of Santa Fe below us. By the way, once passed EGOSO we are inbound Taboga VOR (VOR/DME: TBG 110.00 NDB: TBG 311.00) so don’t forget to tune it in NAV1.

IRUKA intersection was our next waypoint 57nm away. By now the virtual pilot was a bit worried, we have used a bit more fuel than expected (mixture leaning problems?) I checked the flight log, fuel consumption stabilized after the climb. Made a calculation error because I looked at “fuel weight” rather than “fuel amount” and that was giving odd results, maybe not enough to reach our destination. That was weird, there was Chame airport in the vicinity (southwest) but it has no lights, can’t land there. Last chance could be Rio Hato, farther away which has lights (add-on, not the stock FSX airport!) but no fuel facilities there yet the passengers can stay at any of the two resorts. Ah, there it was, I realized of my error and according to the new fuel calculations I should land with some 35 gals. at most, pfew!.

Descent
About 55nm inbound Taboga we are cleared of most mountains and we can descend to 9,000 feet, this would be around El Copé on our way towards IRUKA intersection. This would be mostly over lowlands but be watchful, IRUKA is at the last mountainous region in our route.

Reached IRUKA at 18:22 local time with 37.5 gals. of fuel. We are now over the Campana National Park with some mountains (Campana Hill, Gaital Hill) around or below us so watch your altitude and course!.

Some 20nm inbound TBG we have low hills, the virtual pilot descended now to 7,000 feet. Continued on course 084º towards TBG. The MPTO_TWR contacted us (improperly, this was the domain of MPTO_APP) to assign squawk code 1002 and indicate that due to inbound/outbound traffic from Tocumen Intl. (ICAO: MPTO) we should be at Taboga at 2500 feet.

Approach & Arrival
As we neared Taboga we kept the same NAV radios and ADF tuned, only set OBS1 to course 005º. Turned left with Howard (ICAO: MPHO, ATIS: 133.00, ILS: HOW 110.90 359º) on our left. The Howard ATIS indicated clear skies, noted the QNH, scattered clouds at 1600’. Somehow couldn’t get the MPMG (Albrook) ATIS so Howard had to do, it is just a couple of miles east.

It was very dark (did I say that?) and the real arrival waypoints of MPMG are not on my (simulated) navigation device :(, it only has lights but no navigation aids. So, it happened, low on fuel and had to declare a missed approach! If the situation was more critical prior to Taboga I could have gone for Howard’s ILS on rwy. 36.

After the missed approach procedure (yeah, full throttle, retrack flaps accordingly) I did a left circuit but in real life I think they will direct you to MADDEN and wait there. There was no online ATC on IVAO at MPMG. I announced my legs on UNICOM although there was no traffic in the area and this time I landed on rwy. 36 with a bit of fuel left. Pfew! we made it safely and on time!

Airport	Code	Altitude	Local time	Zulu	Fuel
Volcan	PX02/MP21	4642’	18:15	23:15	123.00 gals.
Albrook	MPMG	46’	19:50	00:50	9.70 gals.

Cartí – Calzada Larga - Albrook

Yet another bush flying adventure in Panama. This time we took our De Havilland Twin Otter (ICAO: DHC6) 400 for a ride. This is the same freeware a/c with glass cockpit that is not easy to read and many defects, you can’t set course or autopilot.

The flight plan estimated 18 minutes of flying (not true in real life) and 24 gallons. I loaded 100 gallons on the a/c. This a/c is well suited for this short take off strip in Cartí, San Blas which is an add-on made by me given this real life airstrip is not present in FSX.

Set my flaps, my feet on the brakes and set full throttle. Waited for it to spool up (short strip!) and off I went down runway 02 of Carti (IATA: CTE) with a sharp left turn heading 281 towards EGETA intersection on the beautiful San Blas Archipelago climbing to 6500’ for this VFR flight. EGETA is just 2 minutes flying, 6nm East North East of Cartí near El Porvenir airport in San Blas (also not available in FSX). Afterwards I turned left heading 240 for 34 nm to fly over Calzada Larga airport (see picture, FSX: MP23) near Madden Lake. Yesterday we “flew” nearby but north to south in our Mooney Bravo.  We had Taboga VOR/DME (TBG 110.00) on NAV1 and Taboga NDB (311.00) on the ADF. Unfortunately this panel is flawed and there was no way to set the course or heading bug. But we had the DME so we reached Calzada Larga at 22nm from TBG.

And then we started our slow descent towards Marcos A. Gelabert (ICAO: MPMG) runway 18 as we did yesterday. On this picture we see the runway, the hill preceeding it and on the far left Ancon Hill. There are many landmarks missing there… We landed right on the threshold in the center of the runway, nothing better than a good landing but I missed some challenging weather. We retracted flaps and taxied to the ramp in front of the terminal to let the 10 tourists get on their way to visit the beautiful city of Panama.

Fort Sherman to Albrook, Panama

Another leg of my series of VFR bush flying in Panama. This time we rented a virtual Mooney Bravo (ICAO: M20M) with Garmin G1000 glass cockpit, unfortunately the FSX exterior is not so fine and the virtual cockpit hard to read.

We will fly from the province of Colon on the Caribbean Sea to Marcos A. Gelabert on the province of Panama, on the Pacific coast.

Fort Sherman AFB
Fort Sherman airfield is 2500’ long with runways 01/19 nearly at sea level. This was a former US Air Force Base on the Atlantic but nowadays it is no longer used.

We should tune the France Field VOR DME (FNC 109.000) on NAV1 and set the OBS to R-091. We took off from rwy 01 towards the sea and turn right towards FNC. On the picture you can observe the Atlantic entrance of the Panama Canal, an eye sore in FSX and FS9, a beauty in real life. Several landmarks missing here. This leg is short (5nm) and we continue climbing though this a/c seems underpowered.

FNC is the terminal VOR/DME of Colon city’s airport, Enrique Jimenez (ICAO: MPEJ) which you can see under the left wing. Another airport poorly depicted in MSFS. We turn right keeping FNC on NAV1 (tune TBG on NAV2) and OBS R-124 as we will be heading to MADEN intersection.

As we fly towards MADEN intersection we will eventually see the artificial Madden lake (see picture). In the vicinity there is Calzada Larga airfield (FSX: MP23), actively used for training flights. Some more important landmarks missing here. Last year a student and instructor had engine trouble and ended their lives in this lake.

In this flight we also had some rain and low clouds but visibility was still good. There was some time to enjoy the scenery although in real life there is a lot more forest and jungle than shown in FSX, even with this XCloud 9’s South America landclass. Yet I recommend this landclass (payware) as it is a great improvement over the default FSX landclass for the whole region of Panama!.

Actually, after reaching MADEN intersection you should fly another 4nm before turning right to go straight towards rwy. 18.

Marcos A. Gelabert, Albrook, Panama
This public airport is a hub for regional airlines flying to all corners of Panama. It is located on the pacific coast at the entry of the Panama canal as well! Lots of landmarks missing here as well.

Anyway, by now we have TBG VOR/DME set on either NAV1 or NAV2 as reference, there are no terminal beacons at Marcos A. Gelabert (ICAO: MPMG). Anyway here above a shot of our final approach to the airfield (rwy 18) with the city of Panama on the left, actually if this was photoreal you would see my parent’s house there! You can use the VASI approach lights and watch your descent because there is a hilly obstacle on that end of the runway.

MPMG is one of my favourite departures and destinations for local national flights (as it is in real life). Although there is add-on FS9 scenery, there is none for FSX. As usual we landed safely in our rented Mooney Bravo, taxied to the ramp and opened the door, and oh my! according to this I am a woman, how can that be? If you paid attention to my suggestion, you would have landed here as well (rwy 36) flying the C208B from Punta Cocos.