I have been continuing to play around with the PM2 Concorde in FSX. This is another excellent aircraft.
I
decided that playing around was enough and it was time to get serious,
taking some passengers with lots of extra cash who could afford the
$15,000+ ticket on a Mach 2 trip from Seattle to Honolulu, flight time
02+35. I downloaded Bob's excellent WestWind scenery for KSEA (so now
ATC will send me to the right runways) and updated my flight planner to
the latest AIRAC 0806. Loading up the flightplan I check weather for
the short hop to the former island kingdom's capital. Once that was done I had to search all
over Seattle's HUB for a DTC (data transfer cartage), the hardware
cartage that will allow me to transfer my flightplan from a computer to
the Concorde's Delco IVA INS, then I had to find a computer with a DTC
writer attached to it.
Talking to some of the pilot's at
Seattle's HUB it seems that the hardware and computer that I needed
were in a broom closet in the back corner of the the Charter Office. So
off I went to go retrieve and program up my cartage. I guess I could
have saved myself some time by just handjamming the coordinates into
all three INSs but it was worthwhile to find the cartage in case I
needed it latter on. I also took the cartage writer with me :)
Strapping
into the cockpit of the 34 year old girl was like taking a step back
into aviation history. Steam gauges were littered all over the place,
with this extra seat in the rear for the SO. (SomeOne else to squawk to
maintenance should you exceed a limit on the airplane, oh and manage
all of the systems on board the aircraft manually.) I started the align
procedure on the 3 Delcos and proceeded to use the DTC that I found to
load the coordinates into INS #1 and INS #2. INS #3 does not allow the
coordinates to be automatically loaded and the pilot must handjam them
into the final INS. The Delco INS is an old school instrument, one you
must tell the INS where you are (I used a handheld aviation GPS with
WAAS to get our current position) once you do that the INS will start
to spool-up and warm up the gyros buried in the Concorde's belly, it
takes a full 20 minutes before the INS is ready to go (state 5) or 45
minutes for a high accuracy align (state 0). Since we would be spending
a long time over the ocean where I would not be able to update the INS
we went for a state 0 align. Two the INS does not know anything about
aviation waypoint or navigation aids. All the INS knows is where you
tell it that it is for aligning (latitude and longitude coordinates)
and where you want it to fly to (again latitude and longitude
coordinates). The INS calls where it is going waypoints 1 through 9. As
a pilot and talking to ATC you may refer to them as other things (Such
as SEA VOR). There is also a waypoint 0 which is the INSs current
posistion. This I can fly from waypoint 0 to waypoint 1 (current
position to position 1 or I can skip waypoint 1 and fly waypoint 0 to
waypoint 2). Since there is only 9 waypoints and my trip today uses 10
points, once I have used and not longer need waypoint 1 I reprogram it
in all 3 INSs for my 10th waypoint. Thus my flightlog has the routes
and next to each point is the number that I stored that point to the
INS.
Once I had the INS ready to go, state 0 on the align and set
to ready NAV we called ATC for clearance, then to Ground for puchback
and start. Once you flip the switches from Align to NAV you are on the
clock for degradation of the INS system. Slowly the INS will start to
drift from Navigation State 0 back up to Navigation State 9. To reduce
the effects of this drifting I set the #1 INS to a mode called
triple-mixing. In triple mix the INS will navigate to the triangular
center of the three INS systems. Thus reducing the overall error by
mixing the systems. Once this is set, the Olympus engine roar to life
and we taxi to Runway 16L. As we approach the runway SEA Tower clears
us to position and hold. Things happen fast as we set the final items
and complete the before take-off checklist. Soon SEA gives us the go
and I light the reheat on the 4 Olympus engines ratteling the windows
at SEA-TACs terminal. The Concorde is anything but Stage III compliant
and thus we needed special permission to depart SEA-TAC this morning.
(Reason why we had to waint until 1000AM local for take-off)
Once
VR is reached lots of things are going on in the cockpit and I find it
best to put the aircraft on George our autopilot so I can call for and
ensure that all of the after take-off items are completed. The Concorde
reaches 250 KIAS as we make our first turn on the DP and the reheat is
disconnected. The Concorde maintains a 2,500 fpm rate of climb as
Seattle Departure send us out of the sound to help us keep noise
complaints to a minimum. I just wonder how many car alarms we set off
this time?
A few more turns and we are headed out to sea and
continuing to climb like a homesick Angel. Once above 10,000' I push
the nose forward slightly and hit the reheat once again for our
acceleration to 380 KIAS. The nose is also raised to its 0 degree
position but I keep the heat shield retracted. ATC clears me to my
first waypoint and I tell the INS to go 0 to 1 (present position to
waypoint 1.) This is actually the last time I will have to tell the INS
where to fly as it will automatically select 1 to 2 after reaching
waypoint 1. Once we reach waypoint 2 and the INS displays 2 to 3 I
reprogram all three INS with my 10th waypoint into waypoint 1. Once the
INS reaches waypoint 9 it automatically selects waypoint 9 to 1.
The
Concorde continues to rocket skywards and soon we are 12nm off the
Pacific coast. A call to Seattle center. "Seattle, WestWind Concord
Flight 010 requests Mach 1.5" At just above FL380 we get permission and
I hit the reheat again and set the autothrottles to 1.50 Mach. Now I
also raise the heat shield. The Concorde likes to go fast and quickly
accelerates to Mach 1.5 where I turn off the reheat and then set the
autothrottles to Mach 1.95. This will let me cruise climb up to FL570
and accelerate. The fuel is being pumped at full rate from the center
tank to the aft trim tank. At FL570 we reach Mach 1.99 with a TOT
temperature of 127 degrees.
The
passengers paid for a Mach 2 flight to Hawaii but we are going to have
to burn off some fuel first. After one hour we are light enough to
climb to FL590 and accelerate to Mach 2.03. We hear an applause in the
back as the Concorde is traveling twice the speed of sound. Another
hour latter and it is time to descend and slowdown. We remain
Supersonic until we reach FL420 were it is time to mix with regular
subsonic slow pokes. I set the autothrottles to Mach 0.84 and once the
airplane cools off some we lower the heat shield. Soon we are
descending for approach. Honolulu Approach tries to put us onto runway
4 but we request and are approved for the runway 8L Hi-ILS approach.
This allows us to begin the procedure at 16,000' and it gives us
12,000' of runway to slow the Concorde down on. Sure we could easily
make the 9,000' of runway 4, but considering how much it cost to run
the airplane I figure it is best to save some money. Besides the winds
are light at 030 at 4 knots.
The
approach is fairly standard despite it being a Hi-ILS, we step down to
3,100' then intercept the Localizer and glideslope. It is a beautiful
VMC day, but the Concorde is not a visual approach type of airplane.
With gear and nose down we make the final approach into the Runway 8L
kissing the runway. The touchdown is so light if it were not for the
sound of the main gear on the runway I would have not even known were
were down. I am on the binders for reverse and calling for the nose to
be brought back up to 5 degrees.
Once off the runway we complete
the after landing checklists and taxi-in checklists. We also shutdown
the #2 and #3 engines to conserve fuel. As we reach out gate we are
across from a WestWind Boeing 747-400ER. Watching them taxi out for
departure I wonder, "How long is it going to take them to get home?" I
write down 2.6 hours in the logbook and finish the deplaning cehcklists.
-KenG