My new Archer in Portugal. How to get it home?

[Geoff]

So I just bought my second FSE aircraft: a Piper Archer II. I fly the Carenado Archer 2 in X-Plane, and I love it. No GPS, no autopilot; good training for a newb like me. But the aircraft is in Portugal! Am I crazy to think about flying it across Greenland and Canada? I think that could be a fun adventure, but it would take a while (and would mean less time on PE). I should just crate it and hire someone to haul it, right? Or maybe haul it as far as Dallas or something?

Incidentally, my other aircraft is a Beechcraft Bonanza, which I fly in Australia. I may someday fly it to the PE coverage area, but it's too much aircraft for me to fly on PE right now, so that will wait.

Anyway, I'm curious what you all think about moving an Archer from Europe to the ZLA area.

[Peter Grey]

Am I crazy to think about flying it across Greenland and Canada? I think that could be a fun adventure, but it would take a while (and would mean less time on PE). I should just crate it and hire someone to haul it, right? Or maybe haul it as far as Dallas or something?

My vote is to go for it. I'm finishing up a FSE ferry of a C-46 from Iran to the PE coverage area (just entered California). You'll make lots of money if you do it right (I'm going to make just under 600,000$).

I went the other way however (east bound via Russia and Alaska, no real over water legs that way). From Portugal I'd go Westbound however.

[trigger_fsx]

I would also say go for it. This is the route I took up until Canada to get my first plane to Socal (C172):

EHMZ >> EGSQ >> EGCO >> EGPJ >> EGPN >> EGPR >> EKVG >> BIKF >> BGKK >> BGBW >> CYCA

[stevekirks]

Am I crazy to think about flying it across Greenland and Canada? I think that could be a fun adventure, but it would take a while (and would mean less time on PE). I should just crate it and hire someone to haul it, right? Or maybe haul it as far as Dallas or something?

My vote is to go for it. I'm finishing up a FSE ferry of a C-46 from Iran to the PE coverage area (just entered California). You'll make lots of money if you do it right (I'm going to make just under 600,000$).

I went the other way however (east bound via Russia and Alaska, no real over water legs that way). From Portugal I'd go Westbound however.

I've been ferrying a Cherokee 180 from North Dakota and I crossed into Arizona this week. It's been fun, but flying westbound means fighting a pretty big headwind and a ground speed of 100kts so slow going. Also, finding jobs was tough and I was breaking even sometimes when carrying the only job (1 passenger) on a leg. Peter's big aircraft can haul more and the scale works out and he was flying east (right?) so the winds would help with time and fuel.

The over water section with no autopilot would be an endurance test for sure.

[Geoff]

Wow, thanks for all the replies. I would really like to go for it! My only concern is that long 585 nm leg from BGBW to CYCA (southern Greenland to northeastern Canada). The real-world Archer 2 supposedly has a theoretical range of 550-650 nm or so, and this would test that, given the headwind. It's 569 nm to CYFT, so that's a little closer. But with only 48 gallons of fuel, I dunno; I'm lucky to get 110 knots cruise speed. I see there's an airfield on Western Greenland, but while I see a bunch of weather stations opposite it in eastern Canada, I'm not sure I see an airport there.

Steve, you're right, that's a long way to fly without autopilot. In FSE, my Archer actually does have autopilot, so I could "install" one in my Carenado Archer by editing the .acf file, I think. For now, though, I've been practicing my trimming skills, and I'll fly without autopilot for the first few legs to see how it goes. Even if turn down my rendering settings and crank time compression in XPlane, that will take a while!

[Peter Grey]

Peter's big aircraft can haul more and the scale works out and he was flying east (right?) so the winds would help with time and fuel.

Yes I went East (via China, Russia, and Alaska). I planned my route around the available jobs in the general direction I was going (as opposed to the other way around), so it took longer but I was able to make lots of money (there are a lot of big jobs available in Central Asia). Big jobs went way down the further along I was in the trip.

[Geoff]

It looks like my Archer can easily make the hop from the capital of Greenland (Nuuk, BGGH) to Iqaluit (CYFB), in Nanavut, at the extreme northeast edge of Canada. That run is just 446 nm, and that should be in range.

I'll be curious, though, whether I could squeeze enough range out of the Archer to make the crossing from southern Greenland to Labrador & Newfoundland, which would be much more direct. Trigger says he did that run in a C172, and according to FSE, my Archer in theory has an estimate endurance range only 12nm shorter than that of the C172 (540nm). Maybe one can squeeze out more range at high altitude, with the mixture lean? (What's the most fuel-efficient altitude for a slow single-piston aircraft, anyway?) Trigger, if you're still reading, was fuel a close thing when you crossed from BGBW to CYCA (584 nm)?

[hoser70]

You can't edit any files becausehe the FSE client won't recognize the plane and you will be unable to start the flight. Your best bet is to fly enough paying jobs along the way to eventually install one in FSE land.

[Nelson L.]

You can't edit any files becausehe the FSE client won't recognize the plane and you will be unable to start the flight. Your best bet is to fly enough paying jobs along the way to eventually install one in FSE land.

Can't you just make a new aircraft alias for X-Economy? It doesn't recognize the majority of aircraft by default - I don't think anyone would really care if you added a GPS, since you can't couple it to the AP unless you buy the appropriate avionics upgrade for it (not exactly "realistic" per se, but then again, there are plenty of avionics upgrades that take place in real life - so I guess its somewhat realistic Yes, that was a confusing sentence....)

[hoser70]

If the plane doesn't have AP (I'm talking AP purchased or already included), it won't work. But if you would like to try ande see for yourself go for it.