Post by joscyriacv2 on Jun 17, 2024 19:00:50 GMT
Hello everyone. After a short break from flightsimming, I'm back again. Due to family and work commitments, I couldn't fly. Now I've joined my work onboard a bulk carrier ship. We're currently on our way from Vietnam to USA. Long sailing gives time to fly and I decided to fly a flight which had roused some interest. I had read an incident report about a Kam Air DC-8-63 which on its first earning flight for the carrier was involved in a tailstrike incident at Manston Airport in the UK. This flight was carrying 36 polo ponies, their handlers from UK to Buenos Aires. At 6000nm, this flight is beyond the aircraft's range and required a refuelling stop at Cape Verde. I attempted this flight without any untoward incident and was awed by the DC-8-63's capabilities.
First Leg of this flight is from East Midlands Airport UK (EGNX/EMA) to Sal Amilcar Cabral, Cape Verde (GVAC/SID). Flight planning was done via simbrief. Fuel calculated was 104,000lbs. The Kam Air crew had took off with a full fuel load which caused them to exceed the runway limited weight and caused a longer takeoff roll for which there was no runway. I decided on EMA instead of Manston as Manston is inoperational now and thus there's no option to select it in simbrief.
![](https://i.ibb.co/Jx52B4C/20240612182252-1.jpg)
Loaded at EMA. Departure at about 8am local.
![](https://i.ibb.co/XtdVPKX/20240612182448-1.jpg)
Taxiing the Stretch DC-8 requires attention
![](https://i.ibb.co/4jPb1Sw/20240612182926-1.jpg)
Liftoff. Takeoff was planned using AJPC and required almost the entire runway
![](https://i.ibb.co/Ry94MxW/20240612183227-1.jpg)
Initial climbout.
![](https://i.ibb.co/cyfBw4J/20240612194256-1.jpg)
Initial cruise over the Bay of Biscay
![](https://i.ibb.co/64WG3ZL/20240612203219-1.jpg)
Over Portugal
![](https://i.ibb.co/y4MP3r4/20240613050952-1.jpg)
Approach to Sal
![](https://i.ibb.co/hFpMxfd/20240613051125-1.jpg)
Taxi to the runway. Burned about 5000lbs more than planned.
At Sal, we kept the no.3 engine running to provide air conditioning to the ponies. Simbrief generated briefing called for 160,000lbs fuel to which i added another 2000lbs filling the tanks to brim. It's a long flight over the water which require ETOPS procedures. Takeoff was planned using AJPC which estimated we require about 9000ft of runway. Sal's runway 01 is about 11,200ft which makes it an alternate landing site for the Space Shuttle missions.
The next leg is to Ezeiza Airport, Buenos Aires, Argentina (SAEZ/EZE)
![](https://i.ibb.co/YBhdXpg/20240616163403-1.jpg)
Taxiing for departure
![](https://i.ibb.co/6mqHPKB/20240616164058-1.jpg)
Takeoff. Witnesses would say the aircraft was slow to accelerate
![](https://i.ibb.co/khVzgfV/20240616164104-1.jpg)
Liftoff
![](https://i.ibb.co/FVJZkGJ/20240616164339-1.jpg)
Smoky climbout
![](https://i.ibb.co/rQPQRG5/20240616204239-1.jpg)
Initial cruise at FL280/M0.78. We would later step climb to FL360/M0.79. As Sal is close to the equator, there were hardly any enroute winds.
![](https://i.ibb.co/W3gZgYD/20240617035148-1.jpg)
Night has fallen over the south Atlantic. The head wind is at about 98kts now and we're doing only about 386kts GS.
![](https://i.ibb.co/9hB7CQP/20240617043635-1.jpg)
Approach to runway 28. Opted a visual approach as I didn't have time to go south for an approach to rw35 which had an ILS. It's a long day and we all want to sleep. Plus conditions were CAVOK and winds favourable.
![](https://i.ibb.co/jMT8StV/20240617043844-1.jpg)
About to land. Although I aimed for a Vref of 144kts, the aircraft didnt slow down on approach. But this helped in a butter touchdown which I think was better for the ponies.
![](https://i.ibb.co/9ZFrr0z/20240617044619-1.jpg)
Parked at the cargo ramp. No.3 running to generate air conditioning.
This was a satisfying flight, both for the planning as well as the flying part. Always a joy to explore the many liveries at HJG. At a point I thought I had lost it when FS crashed on descent into BA. But I wouldn't take NO for an answer. Loaded up with the same payload and approximately the same fuel i had at the time of the CTD, used the Map option to place the aircraft at the same location and altitude and continued. And I'm glad I did that. Hope y'all enjoyed the trip report and the screenies.
Cyriac