Piper Malibu delivery tour: Leg #1 KVRB - MYGF

I love aviation and even though I am not a pilot I like to practice navigation and for that reason I have been acquiring some nice IFR rated aircraft for my Flight Simulator X. Last December (2013) I bought the Carenado Piper Malibu Jetprop (PA-46T). As a flight simulation enthusiast I am nowadays “grounded” with home airport Marcos A. Gelabert (MPMG) and thought it would be nice to replicate a real life aircraft delivery.

So in this installment we will do the the very first leg of a delivery tour for our brand new Piper Malibu Jetprop in Lord of Wings livery. We will take it from the Piper factory at Vero Beach Municipal Airport down to Panama city, Panama in only God knows how many legs. The purpose is to have fun as well, visit new airports, practice lots of IFR and get to know the aircraft.

Briefing & Planning

I like to do my flight planning so I used Plan-G to plan my flight. Loaded with the PA-46T aircraft profile.

We will fly from Vero Beach municipal airport (ICAO: KVRB) to Freeport, Bahamas. Our cruise altitude will be 9,000 feet (IFR, east bound). For Vero Beach I only found the Aerodrome chart, no departure charts. For Freeport I got Instrument Approach charts.

Setup FSX for real time weather with 15 minute updates which turned out to be just rainy. We will do VOR to VOR navigation including an intersection. The route declared in the IVAO flight plan is:

v3 WUBUR v3 SMUGS v3 MORGA v3 PBI br54v MRLIN br64v MUNRO

Loaded 137 gallons of fuel and we expect to use 27 gals. Payload is 360 pounds. Our trip will be 144 nautical miles with ETE 01:12. Alterante airports MYAT and MYGM.

Departure

At the ramp (#8) inspecting Aerodrome chart

Our brand new Malibu is at Parking #8, will taxi via taxiway A to the holding point of Runway 04. The METAR at Vero Beach (KVRB) is:

KVRB 091753Z 06008KT 10SM TS SCT035 BKN045 BKN065 29/24 A3007

So basically winds 060 degrees at 8 knots so we get runway 04. Scattered clouds but good visibility. Set the altimeter, flaps 10 degrees. On our Garmin GNS530 we set our NAV1 (VRB 117.30 – Vero Beach) On the Garmin 500 Primary Flight Display I set the heading but to 198 more or less pointing to WUBUR intersection, our first waypoint, the Course Indicator to track VRB R-164 outbound, Altitude to our initial climb of 5,000 feet. On the Garmin GNS430 we set NAV2 to Palm Beach (PBI 115.7), Flight Director on, connection to IVAO but unfortunately no ATC coverage on the network.

Vero Beach Municipal Airport (KVRB)

An uneventful take off with slight rain, turned left on initial climb to 5,000 feet with Vero Beach municipal airport on our left. Getting the hang on the Carenado PA46T which may be wild at takeoff/climb if you give it too much power.

We will be heading to WUBUR intersection which is our first waypoint in the flight plan and initiates our navigation along the V3 airway outbound from VRB to PBI via SMUGS and MORGA intersections straight ahead with the coast of Florida on our left.

Once I was more or less at WUBUR I engaged the Autopilot to hold climb from our initial 5,000 to our cruise altitude of 9,000 feet so we are climbing with Fort Pierce on our left.

Fort Pierce airport on our left

While I do other preparations for the flight I also set the AVSS to hold the course tracking VRB-PBI along V3.

If you want to do real navigation with the Carenado Malibu you have to be a bit ingenious as the virtual cockpit is not very readable, so I docked the PFD and the GNS530 on a 2nd monitor but soon you find out that while you can operate the buttons on the docked panel, operating the rotating knob to adjust HDG/ALT/CRS will result in nothing being updated. I think this is a serious bug in the Carenado Malibu but experience has shown that while they release planes often, they seldom iron out most of the bugs reported by users in the "Unofficial" Carenado forum. There is no "Official" Carenado forum which is very strange way of supporting customers.

Enroute

West Palm Beach behind us, over the sea

Okay we are now cruising at 9,000 feet, I don’t want to fly too low over water as I can’t swim. After passing West Palm Beach VOR (PBI) we turned left outbound R-125 on airway BR54V towards MRLIN intersection.

The navigational challenge for this flight is this intersection. For that we have changed our navigational setup with PBI set on NAV2 (GNS430) with OBS 125 and our destination Freeport VOR/DME  (ZFP 113.2 – Freeport) on NAV1 (GNS530) with OBS 090 (radial 090 inbound ZFP). So, we should be at MRLIN when the CDI aligns on the PFD (NAV1) as well on the VOR2 (NAV2) which is kind of hidden behind the virtual joke. Kind of a Carenado nuisance but doable. MRLIN is 20nm outbound PBI and 57.3nm from ZFP.

MRLIN intersection

The picture on the right shows when we are a couple of nautical miles near MRLIN, as you can see I had to move the yoke out of the way (for that I had to put the AVSS on either heading hold or course hold). The VOR2 shows we are nearly aligned (nearing intersection), the indicator on the PFD unfortunately was set to GPS (magenta) instead of VOR, and therefore it is not showing the alignment I wanted to show at the time I took the screenshot.

As a preparation for the next phase of flight I have also tuned the ADF to the Freeport NDB (ZFP 209.00 KHz). NAV1 is as mentioned, set for the Freeport VOR/DME as active frequency (for tracking MRLIN as well) and on NAV1 standby I have already put the Freeport Localizer (IZFP 109.70).

12nm arc to intercept ILS at Freeport

Past MRLIN intersection we turn left heading 087 degrees for a 40nm leg to MUNRO intersection on the BR64V airway. Planning to pass MUNRO at 5,000 feet.

At MUNRO continued R-090 inbound Freeport. 12nm from Freeport we turned right for the 12nm arc towards HOLIR interception where we should be at 2,000 feet as we intercept the Freeport ILS to runway 06.

That got a bit tricky because I did not go through the VRB VOR/DME on departure so the GPS kind of skipped it and lost tracking. I tried to change the active leg on the GPS with no success. I don’t know if that is a Carenado bug or what.

Approach & Arrival

ILS 06 Interception analysis

As we finish our 12nm DME arc we find ourselves at the 064 radial of the ILS 06 at Freeport, Grand Bahamas (MYGF).

Please do remember, the charts I got as well as the descriptions are for simulation purposes only and therefore not current!.

I could not find any decent scenery for FSX for Freeport. This was my 2nd time on this “virtual” airport. My first time was years ago with a virtual flight from Miami (KMIA) with thunderstorm and doing my first flight simulation video.

Landing was kind of okay but not perfect. I used REX Latitude to grade the flight but forgot to add the correct aircraft profile so even though my landing speed was right on the spot, it said it was too slow.

Approached at a descent rate of –504 feet/minute and landed at –165 feet/minute at 85 knots.
Used up 26 gallons of fuel as expected and completed the flight on time as well, great!


The next leg (#2) of the delivery tour will be from Freeport to Nassau, just slightly shorter hopefully with more challenging weather. Leg #3 will take us to Cuba.

You can find the video of this first leg on You Tube. Make sure to share it or like it :-)

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).

Air Rally: Bocas del Toro to Colon on Piper Seneca II

Woohoo!!! had a little free time to do another virtual flight. This time the next leg (#9) of the Panama Air Rally 2013 as I promised. Naturally I will use FSX, still wonder why there are people still sticking to FS9 as if it was the last thing on earth! they don’t know what they are missing!

Yet again we will board our beloved twin motor Piper Seneca II (Carenado) loaded with 50 gallons of fuel of which according to the FSX flight plan we are expected to use 24.2 gallons.

The realtime weather wasn’t very challenging (clear skies) so I opted to use Heavy Thunderstorms instead. To make it more interesting the departure was 05:35 local time (UTC-5) from Bocas del Toro (MPBO) which is pretty dark. It is important to watch the instruments to fly the departure and not lose orientation, don’t want to ditch into the water.

I filed a YFR flight plan (starts IFR, terminates VFR) though the idea is to rely on instruments. Cruise altitude was 5,000 feet and the destination would be the Enrique Jimenez international airport in Colon city, Panama.

Charts! we have got to have charts. Got them for both Bocas del Toro and Enrique Jimenez. Unfortunately one dates back to 1998 and the other 2006 but anyway this is only simulation. I would prefer to have current charts but sadly –and unlike the civil aviation authorities of other countries- the Panamanian Civil Aviation Authority does not make these publicly available (shame!) so you have to buy them even if you are just a flight simmer! I am used to having current charts but what can I say, it is the third world!.

Departure

We will depart from the Bocas del Toro Intl. airport (ICAO: MPBO) in Isla Colon, Bocas del Toro Panama. The airport scenery is that made by Rhett Browning (wherever you are man, you dropped off the face of earth) for FSX back in 2008. One problem though… back then the airport did not have airport lights,! Since a couple of years ago the real airport does have runway edge lights. Luckily I am a relatively experienced FSX scenery designer so I amended the scenery (found here at the “Aviacion Virtual en Panama” Facebook group) to include runway edge lights. I also attempted to add lights to the terminal building but that didn’t work.

If you would like to know something about the beautiful and lively Bocas del Toro visit the Bocas page at Panama Vibes.

Motors started! all systems checked. METAR indicated winds 327 degrees at 18-28 knots, woohoo! this calls for taking off from runway 26. Cross wind component is 15-25 knots. Looked at my charts and I will be doing the GEMER ONE departure. Please keep in mind this chart dates back to 1998 so not to be used for real aviation (I am not a pilot either!) you have been warned.

Radios… NAV1 set to BDT active (114.90) and FNC standby (109.00), NAV2 set active to FNC. OBS1 to 272 degrees and heading bug to 115 degrees.

Took off from runway 26 following heading 272 at 05:40 local time with 50 gals. Gears up, trimmed aircraft for a steady climb. The Piper can climb at a maximum of 1400 ft/sec but I trimmed lower. Upon reaching 1280 feet over the water I initiated a standard turn to intercept BDT R-115. Now inbound to Bocas del Toro VOR/DME to be crossed at or above 3,000 feet. As you can see in the screenshot it is pretty dark out there (and peaceful), I didn’t have coffee though to accompany the virtual experience.

As I saw the VOR indicator switch from TO to FROM I turned to follow BDT outbound R-102 which was now on my OBS1. Now we continue on this radial straight to GEMER intersection 25.3nm east of BDT. In the meantime I enjoyed the beautiful views of the faint lights in the horizon while surrounded by darkness while settling comfortably at 5,000 feet, altitude hold engaged, cowl flaps are closed, mixture leaned properly for this altitude and throttle set for 2,500 RPM.

Cruise

Continuing on airway G440 I passed GEMER intersection and then (see photo) 18nm further the “Escudo de Veraguas” Island was on my right at 06:10 local time with the beautiful caribbean coast of Panama at the distance. This part mostly inhabitated. On this 48.3 nm leg to PUDOS intersection on the same airway.

Sad news is I confirmed –given I regularly do IFR procedures on this simulated aircraft- that the Carenado Piper Seneca II has some VOR alignment issues but given the age of the product I doubt they will fix it (Note: The developers of the Aerosoft Twin Otter did resolve this issue when I ran into the same problem with their a/c- I normally not use the GPS anymore unless lost but  I use it to check the simulated a/c. As you can see in this screenshot, I was flying right on the radial (outbound BDT) and yet you can see the CDI shows as if I was some 5nm off course (south of the radial).

Passed PUDOS and took a shorter route now, rather than following to KIKES on G440 which would take us farther, I turned left heading 091 direct to MULPO intersection (no airway). This leg was 68 nm and no radial to follow, hum, tough… So how on earth do I know when I reach MULPO?

Remember I set NAV2 active frequency to FNC (France Field VOR/DME)? in addition to that en route I set the OBS2 to 014 degrees. MULPO happens to be an intersection in airway V3 that goes straight to FNC, the Enrique Jimenez airport’s VOR/DME. and MULPO is some 15 nm from FNC. So by having 014 (our initial inbound course to MPEJ) and NAV2 the CDI of VOR2 would indicate when –while on the leg from PUDOS to MULPO- I was intersecting the inbound radial. Now luckily winds were not strong.

By the way, at 06:30 local time my route changed from over the water (I can’t swim!) to inland at some 42nm inbound FNC.

Approach

Here comes my favourite part of every virtual flight (other than the takeoff) and that is the approach whether it is visual or instrumental. On MULPO our flight plan changed to VFR for the sake of the tour but I prefer the instruments. Reached MULPO at 06:48.

Anyway, we have the whole of Gatun lake underneath us with several islands as visual reference. Also, to our left at the distance we should see (VFR conditions) the Gatun Locks of the Panama Canal and the Chagres river mouth on the Atlantic coast.

We are reaching the Enrique Jimenez airport (MPEJ) in the city of Colon, province of the same name in Panama. Its terminal VOR/DME is France Field (FNC 109.00). In real life this airport is being totally refurbished to make it suitable for international flights, in particular to be able to receive aircraft as big as the Boeing 757-200. It will have a runway 2,700 meters long with a new terminal building. Of course, the FSX scenery doesn’t reflect that and unfortunately information is hard to get in Panama. If you want to learn more about Colon visit Panama Vibes.

At about 27nm from FNC I initiated descent to 3500 feet, lowered RPM to 2400. At MULPO turn left heading 018 towards GATUN fix, 12 nm to go. Continued to GATUN fix which I had to reach at about 2100 feet. The screenshot on your left shows the moment the Piper was at MULPOS turning towards GATUN fix with Gatun lake all around us, the Piper is not very suitable for watching out the window.

At GATUN I had to adjust my OBS again to the actual runway heading. My virtual flight was terminating at MPEJ runway 36.

Arrival

Yeah! arrival, things are getting a bit stressy but I have no plans on failing this approach. Having passed GATUN fix then came MELIA the last fix at 1200 feet, in real life we should be able to see the Melia Rainforest Resort, would be nice to have in FSX.Maybe I should add a stock resort for the sake of visual references.

As you can see on the screenshot I had runway 36 in sight. The FNC VOR/DME is not aligned to the runway so we should do the approach taking that into consideration but at this moment it is a visual approach. This stock FSX airport does not have runway lights but I don’t need them now.

Finally landed safely at 06:50 with my lovely Piper Seneca II from Carenado, I was pretty much satisfied with the virtual flight. The tank had 32 gallons of fuel left, meaning I consumed 18 gallons instead of the estimated24.2! yeah! fuel economy, I am getting better at that.

Flew 161 nm from Bocas del Toro to Colon in this beautiful virtual bimotor plane, saved some fuel that I can use for next leg and filed my PIREP with Virtual Pilots. A total of 1:30 hours of flight, part of which under instrument conditions (total darkness), the kind of virtual flight I like. I love night approaches too, but not many airfields in Panama have night lights, even less in the FSX simulator.

WHAT NEXT?

For one thing I will continue flying my Carenado Piper Seneca II, if not then my Aerosoft Twin Otter. The Twotter is more suitable for visual approaches.

The stock MPEJ airport while okay is definitely not up to standards and certainly not up to date. As soon as I landed I took it upon myself to do some quick scenery to improve this issue. Will try to create it based on the little information that can be obtained about the new airport. At least the new runway length, add the runway lights, improve on the surrounding landclass, and why not add the Melia resort “look alike” to use a visual reference? When done I will post it at our “Aviacion Virtual en Panama” Facebook group.

So my dear readers, whether you are a lucky real life pilot or an enthusiastic (like me) flight simulation (and aviation) fanatic like me, keep flying, keep learning and keep sharing! If you are interested in the happenings of virtual aviation within the confines of Panamanian (virtual) airspace, visit our Facebook group. And I also encourage you to visit PanamaVibes.com main site or the Panama Vibes articles section to learn more about our tropical country.

Twin Otter X : Pavas to Nosara, Costa Rica

 The ACARS application used by Aerovirtual Panama was fixed so I could do some VA flying again in my beloved Twin Otter. I used Plan-G for the flight planning.

Departure	MRPV – SYQ
Destination	MRNS
Total distance	99 nm
Departure time	09:30 (UTC-6)
Arrival time	10:20 (UTC-6)
Est. Fuel consumption	41 gallons
Aircraft	Twin Otter DHC6-300
Airline Schedule	Nature Air
Flight Rules	IFR / VFR

This flight was done online on the IVAO network. Though lately there have been some Tower control at Pavas, today there wasn’t anybody manning the virtual station so I didn’t have ATC coverage. The flight will be IFR then VFR. Flown for both Virtual Pilots Association and AeroVirtual Panama.
Departure
This flight is emulating Nature Air’s NRR316 so I am using the Twin Otter livery of Nature Air. So, as in real life this flight would depart from Pavas airfield near San Jose, Costa Rica on the skirts of Irazú volcano.
Winds were 91 degrees at 11 knots with 50 miles visibility and virtually no clouds (real weather selected on simulator).
According to the estimates we would use about 41 gallons of fuel and to account for other things let’s make it 70 gallons. Now, there is no fuel station at our destination so I loaded twice (140 gals.) to allow for a return flight. We depart under Instrument Flight Rules (IFR) within the Cocos control area.
In the first half of our flight we will make use of the TIO VOR/DME located at Juan Santamaría Intl. (San Jose, Costa Rica). No NDB to have as reference for this flight.
At 09:30 local time (15:30 UTC) our virtual flight departed with 14 passengers out of Pavas out of runway 09. Climb runway heading and then turned right to then intercept TIO R-289. Our first waypoint in the TIO VOR/DME which is about 5nm from Pavas. In the picture above we see our bird about to overfly MROC.
Climb & Cruise
We will climb straight up to FL140 (14000 feet). After passing TIO,I continued on the same R-289 outbound towards RAMON and CANAS intersection on airway G440.
Afterwards we continue another 25nm towards a user waypoint I defined in Plan-G along the same path. This user waypoint is 50nm NW outbound TIO. I had TIO (115.70) tuned on VOR 1 for guidance along the radial as well as in VOR 2 for the DME. Unfortunately the Twin Otter doesn’t have a double VOR display.
When I noticed I was approaching my user waypoint already at cruise altitude, I initiated a left turn heading 239 and descended to 10,000 ft. now that we were clear of high terrain. This would take us to BANGA intersection just 5nm ahead on the mainland. On this leg I tuned both NAV radios to the Liberia (LIB 112.80) VOR/DME some 34nm NW of us. The VOR 1 OBS was set to R-189. Why? because according to my planned route on this leg I had no direct guidance (follow a radial) and by tuning this particular one the CDI should align to 189 degrees and by then the DME should indicate about 40nm (SSW of Liberia) and we should be above our destination.
In the picture above we have already passed BANGA and have the Golfo Colorado behind us and the Tempisque river should be on our right but behind.
Descent and Approach
On this final leg I kept monitoring the DME and the CDI every now and then while continuing flight on the same heading (not much cross winds). Descended further to 8000 feet. At some point we should have the Nicoya (ICAO: MRNC) airfield on our right, it makes as a nice alternate in case things go wrong.
We continue heading 239 towards the coast which is visible and while monitoring the instruments, watch out for the airport which is a few miles inland. Also, we setup our aircraft for an approach configuration, lowering the speed below 120 knots, a bit difficult sometimes trying to reduce speed and point the nose down for descent. Though I am using the instruments for partial guidance, I am now under Visual Flight Rules (VFR).
In this picture we are already on initial approach at around 4000 ft. with the Nosara airport runway 21 in sight slightly on our left.
Arrival
The Nosara airport is near the Nosara beach but a few miles inland. This is a small uncontrolled airport so we use VFR. It has runway 03/21 which is about 1000 meters long and 18 meters wide.
With the runway in sight I continued towards the airport but continued further until I was above water. Then a rate one left turn was made without losing orientation in order to head straight to runway 03. A few miles to our right should be the Carrillo (MRCR) dirt airstrip in case things turn sour .
As a visual reference see the location of the runway in the forest clearance and how the road circles around it some miles towards the coast. I should remember this as I will be making this virtual flight for the VA every now and then under various weather conditions.
Arrival was uneventful with clear skies. Instead of the estimated 41 gals of fuel I used up 55 gallons (), haven’t figured out how to spare some gas on this Twin Otter. I arrived just 5 minutes later than scheduled so that is ok. Still have enough fuel to make the return trip on another installments. Happy flying!