A Glorious Experience

(3)

The names of the locations which were affected by the tragedy remained only names and points on an atlas until I fired up Flight Simulator 2004. I selected my favorite airplane, a Boeing (being gassed here, they rarely gas me when I'm boozing) 737 belonging to American Pacific, a fictional airline. I created a VFR flight beginning in Kuala Lumpur, then flew to Medan, Indonesia, and then to Topactuan on the west coast of Sumatra, thence up the coast to Banda Aceh. I used Real World Weather for that day (yesterday) which I downloaded from Jeppesen. There was lots of cumulus all along the route, just as you might expect.

I followed the coastline, looking for villages, then upon my arrival in the vicinity of Banda Aceh, I did a standard ILS approach to the airport there and landed uneventfully. I then created an IFR flight to Phuket, Thialand. I over-estimated the distance and hence the requested altitude and requested ATC for a lower altitude when the 'light dawned.' ATC was cooperative, but when they insisted on their usual indirect route into Phuket I cancelled IFR and did a standard ILS into Phuket, taking in the local scenery. I ended the flight there in Phuket, very thankful to FS2004 for the glorious experience.