Early Look at new JF Duchess 76 Tutorial Flight - California

  • A new tutorial flight is being finalized for the Just Flight Duchess 76 for Aerofly FS2. This will be made available for download from JF very soon. Meanwhile, should you wish to take an early look at this very scenic flight along the mid California coast I have the basics for you here. This does not include all the details, but, assuming you are somewhat familiar with the Duchess already, you should be able to fill in any blanks and enjoy the flight.

    Departure is our very own Orbx airport KMRY, Monterey, California and arrival is our upgraded default airport KSBA, Santa Barbara. Using the AFS2 Nav system the route looks like this:

    aerofly.com/community/index.php?attachment/14357/

    This should take about 1:15 to cover the 180 nm and is one of the most scenic routes available anyplace. You climb out over the docks and Cannery Row in Monterrey Bay, with checkpoints at NDBs MR and PEBBS, where you pickup V27 to Big Sur VOR then on to Morro Bay VOR via BLANC int then on to GVO VOR where we start our approach to Santa Barbara rwy 07. You can choose to make a visual, LOC, or ILS approach.

    Make a right turn off the runway, past the N/S runwayss, then taxi to the bright red roofed terminal area to conclude the flight. Flight altitude is 9,500 feet. You will flying over small mountains on your first leg to the BSR VOR checkpoint, then along the Pacific coastline.

    The departure will take you over the edge of the Pebble Beach Golf Courses, and down along the rugged Pacific coastline along the undeveloped Big Sur with stunning views of the mountains, forests, and beaches. Toward the end of the flight you will fly just East of Vandenberg AFB .

    Your route will take you almost directly over the Santa-Maria/Hancock (SMX) airport, ENE of the Vandenberg restricted area. As you approach SMX this is a good time to start your descent. I use ~ 600 - 700 fpm down with the throttle reduced to the lower part of the green band (16 - 18 IN) and RPM back to < 2,000 RPM for the descent phase. The should keep the airspeed close to the bottom of the yellow band.

    You will need to level off at 4,000 feet prior to reaching the GVO VOR due to the terrain elevation. After crossing the VOR you can continue your descent to 3,500 feet. Remember to bring the power back up to low level cruise levels.

    An easy method of descending is to turn off ALT hold on the AP and click the DN pitch 3 or 4 times to select the rate of descent. When you get to 4,000 feet simply click on ALT hold. You want to be level and have your frequencies and headings set for your approach prior to reaching the GVO VOR.

    As soon as you cross the GVO VOR and turn to R-163 you can resume your descent to 3,500 feet. You want to be level at 3,500 ft well before the HABUT fix when you make your turn East to 075 deg to start your approach to rwy 7 at Santa Barbara.

    If you need tutoring on how to tune the DME and VORs to id the intersections you will need to wait for the official tutorial flight from Just Flight. Otherwise, you can tweak the gadgets and use the maps to make visual confirmations of the checkpoints.

    To add a little more realism, jump over to https://flight-sim.org/filebase/index…repaint-n5076v/ and download N5076V, a California based Duchess repaint.

    Regards,

    Ray

    If you have fsWidgets GMapHD, you can import the Flight Plan here. (delete the txt in the filename.)

    KMRY-KSBA.pln.txt


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