The Southern Cross Route - Between the UK and Oz via the US

[brianc]

Hi Guys,

I decided to stay with the same time frame as the Connie from the Kangaroo Route but change the technology slightly for the return home trip via the US.
Qantas operated the Southern Cross Route after the way was paved using the Connie. For a while, the Connie and the Boeing 707 shared both Routes.

Flight 773: London, New York, San Francisco, Honolulu, Nadi, Sydney.

This flight uses the Captain Sim 707-300. This is the first long haul flight over 3 hours I have done with this aircraft. This flight was 7 hours 25 min (445 minutes). It will be an interesting learning curve! Also using FSX with Aerosoft EGLL and FSDreamteam KJFK. ASN weather with Rex textures. ORBX England.

Heathrow: Taxiing to runway 27R.


Passing over the pleasant English countryside as we climb out of Heathrow.


A nice shot of the Pratt & Whitney engines.


Things haven't changed too much from the Connie! Still need the Flight Engineer.


A good view of the 707 flight deck from the forward galley with the flight deck door open.


It was an interesting flight but finally arrived at Kennedy International.


Docked at gate 707 and unloading in progress.


That's it for this leg. Next stop San Francisco.

[robau707]

Hi Brian,
Very nice shots once again.
The C/S 707 is a pleasure to fly. If you are having trouble looking out the front there is a very simple permanent fix in the config file which raises your eye point for the better frontal view.
In real life I flew this route twice, both times in the 707. The most impressive thing I remember is up near the Arctic circle looking down at the indigo blue ocean with the pure white icebergs floating in the ocean, the bergs still looked big from the air, they must have been huge at Ocean level

Enjoy your flights
Rob

[brianc]

Hi Guys,

We head off to San Francisco on an afternoon/evening flight.

Hi Rob, it is great that you had an opportunity to fly this route in the 707. I didn't see any icebergs on the first leg. Maybe there might be a few floating about on the leg to Honolulu!

Still at KJFK gate 707 and ready for departure.


Leveled off at FL320. The sun is beginning to set as dinner is being served.


A last glimpse of the sun. The Captain Sim 707 has great night lighting. This is my first flight in the 707 in the dark.


I was a bit too high for a safe landing at runway 28R so I overflew the airport to take a scenic flight over the Golden Gate.


After swinging by the GG Bridge I headed over past Oakland to pick up the ILS into KSFO 28R. The landing was fine and we head off to the gate to prepare the aircraft for the next leg.


Next stop Honolulu.

[brianc]

Hi Guys,

Qantas flight 773 - The Southern Cross Route continues.

San Francisco to Honolulu.

This is the first time I have made a full night flight with this aircraft. Thankfully everything went fine.
When I saw the night photos of the previous leg I realised I hadn't added the Shockwave 3D lighting (A2A) yet. So while on the ground at Frisco the maintenance crew installed the volumetric lighting system.

Poised at KSFO 28R ready to depart. The new lighting adds a nice effect.


Another look at the big red bridge as we make the turn to head out over the ocean.


I love the night lighting of the Captain Sim 707 Flight Engineer station.


On final into Honolulu runway 08L.


Aloha!


The passengers have left the aircraft and now the catering crew restock the galleys.


Next stop Nadi.

[robau707]

Hi Brian,
Hope you are enjoying flying your 707, we are enjoying the screen shots.
I think it is a great airplane to fly on the sim as it was in real life, a pilots plane.
You should have good strong arms by the time you get back to Oz, as the only power assist was for the rudder, ailerons and elevators were manual cable.
She also takes a lot of monitoring on the take-off, climb, decent and landing, there is no, go and stop button, auto throttle, auto brakes or spoilers, so you get quite busy at times.
I think C/S have got it right with this Addon

Cheers
Rob

[brianc]

Hi Rob,

Thank you for your kind words. Yes, I think apart from the engines, the Connie and 707 are very similar to handle. It is very tough to get off the ground at times as well. I really like the "manual" feel about both of them. The 707 will get me there a lot faster though! Managing the Engineer's panel is an art form as well. There are a lot of traps that can cause trouble if you don't have the switches in the right place!
One thing I learnt from the Connie is to give yourself plenty of room on the approach to have the altitude, speed and trim all set before descent.
I agree, C/S have made a great aircraft.
I'm using the Fuel Planner web site to print a load sheet for each leg. I then use TOP CAT to suggest the appropriate runways to use. Then I fire up Flightsim Commander to give me the route because I can select a VOR route. I have PFPX for the modern commercial jet routes but FSC9 is better for the earlier aircraft.
I have written an Excel spreadsheet to load the (CalClassics) Connie fuel tanks in the correct amounts for each of the nine tanks.
I forgot to mention I used FSDreamteam PHNL in the photos above.

[robau707]

Hi Brian,
One thing I have noticed with the C/S 707 is to stay a little high on the approach and keep the power up a little, other wise she can sink on you very quickly.
It is the old story, stay one step of the airplane.
Sorry about the American terminology but after reading Boeing manuals for the last 50 plus years it sort of grows on you.
Looking forward to your screen shots of the next sector, but I guess if you are running to schedule we won't see much until the early morning arrival into YSSY.
I remember the sector from Nadi very well, did not want the breakie, just wanted to get over the hangover from several days on the " Fiji Bitter " of course I was much younger then......he.......he.

Cheers
Rob

[brianc]

Hi Guys,

Qantas flight 773 - The Southern Cross Route continues.

Honolulu to Nadi

I agree with you Rob, it is important to fly the aircraft and not let it fly you! It isn't a good glider either. At least with some of the add-ons I have, I get an early warning when approaching stall speed, the aircraft starts to shake and rattle about a fair bit with all the appropriate noises. I have found a landing speed of about 150kts seems to work well with this 707.

I am using a November 1959 time table with this flight. The departure from Honolulu is listed at (local times) 05.15 (Saturday). Arrival at Nadi was 10.15 (Sunday - after crossing the international date line. It was about 05.20 by the time I pushed back and landed at 08.52 (local time). I kept the IAS about MACH 0.8 but had a good head wind in the beginning that settled down and became a nice tail wind.

Push back at Honolulu - Aloha!


We were still close enough to Hawaii for the rising sun to form a silhouette of the islands.


A glimpse of the islands and clear water out from Nadi as we make a circuit towards runway 02.


Very happy with the landing at Nadi. The scenery for this NFFN is freeware from the AVSIM Library.


Passengers and baggage are unloaded as preparations are made for the final leg to Sydney.


Next stop Sydney!

[robau707]

Hi Brian,
Nice shots once again.
You are pretty spot on with your speeds.
Just a bit of trivia you may not know, if you are flying the Qantas 707 it is actually designated a B707-338.
The first 3 denotes the aircraft series therefore a 300 then the 38 denotes the Qantas customer number with Boeing regardless of type, therefore Qantas's Boeing 747's are designated B747-438.
The customer number tells Boeing through their files who they are building the aircraft for, interior and flight deck design and any modifications that Qantas require or do not want from from the aircrafts basic design.
If you already know this then just disregard my ramblings.
I am flying my 707 YMML to YSSY today after my trip yesterday across the Tasman from Christchurch to Melbourne, so we may have two Qantas 707's at the same place at the same time........:-)

Cheers and happy flight to Sydney
Rob

[brianc]

Hi Guys,

Qantas flight 773 - The Southern Cross Route concludes.
Nadi to Sydney.

Hi Rob, I was aware that it was B747-438 but I had forgotten what the 38 meant. Thanks for the interesting information.

Here is the final installment of our journey around the world.

Goodbye Nadi


Climbing out of Nadi.


The Captain Sim 707 is loaded with amazing detail inside and out. You can explore the entire interior, including the WC!
Here is the forward galley and the lounge area.


Safely arrived at Sydney. Unloading in progress. (FlyTampa YSSY and ORBX Australia).


Thank you for coming along for the ride!
I'll leave you alone for a while now :-)

Keep the blue side up!

[robau707]

Thank you to Brian for his screen shots and story, most entertaining.

Cheers
Rob

[Ed Burke]

I'll second Rob's remarks Brian, good stuff indeed. Ed