



I would like to share with you a flight report with the new iFly 747-400.





At first please note that the aircraft used in this report is not the final release version and some small things can differ from the final product.

Also, I am using ENBseries + SweetFX that makes the colors too dark or too bright sometimes, this is due to those post processing effects and not the iFly B744.

Finally, I am not a real 744 pilot and do not pretend that all things I am doing are 100% accurate but I tried to fly the aircraft as good as I could from what I learned about the 744 during Beta testing and personal searches. All procedures used are the standard Boeing procedures.









Let's talk a bit about the 747 and iFly before discussing this flight:





As you all know, the Boeing 747 is an old airliner which has been built to replace the great 707 in order to offer a larger capacity to the airlines. Since 1970, the Queen of the Skies has had a brilliant sucess during her entire career.

Many versions has been created and the 400 appeared in 1989, then several variants were created thanks to the success of this new B744. It has been a great enhancement for fuel efficiency, automation, and payload capacity, compared to the old versions. In brief the 747-400 is a living legend. iFly did some years ago an amazing reproduction of this legend, today they did something even more amazing with their B744 v2 which will be a must have without any doubts.





I hope this is going to be a good tribute to the B744 with the outstanding work of the iFly team and that this report will make your mouth water while waiting for the release.













Flight Number : BAW108





Departure: OMDB - Duba� Intl Airport

Arrival : EGLL - London Heathrow





Alternate : EGKK - London Gatwick





Aircraft : Boeing 747-400

Registration : G-CIVZ

SELCAL: CP-LQ





The aircraft is waiting for us parked at Concourse C gate F11.













Weather :





No way to fly without a small weather briefing !









- TEMSI and Infra-red :





Nothing specific to say for the begining of the flight. We will fly over Cumulonimbus (here after referred too as CB) at the middle of the flight but we should not notice anything.

On arrival the weather will be quite bad. We will have to be careful about the CB and turbulences.





It's still night in England but the IR chart confirms the TEMSI observation.

















- Winds :





As for the winds, we will meet some quite strong headwinds durng the first part of the flight.

Then winds should be calmer until the North Sea where we will meet headwinds again.





Our Operating flight plan gives us an average headwind of 19 knots for the complete flight.













- METARs & TAFs :





The weather is perfect for departure.

For arrival and alternate at London we could meet some gusts, another good reason to be careful.





As for adequate enroute alternates, the weather is okay too.













In brief, we won't meet any significal weather until arrival where we could possibly meet some wind gusts and CB clouds.

We will mainly encounter headwind during the flight.

All minimums are respected and the flight can be done ;)









ATC Route:





N0489F340 DARA2G DARAX UN440 MOBON W10 SITEN UP574 SYZ W3 MESVI UL223

SNJ/N0484F360 UL223 UMH UL124 BONAM UG81 VAN UL852 CRM UM860

KUGOS/K0888F360 L851 ADINA/N0478F360 UL40 MEGIK/N0481F380 UL40 PATAK

UL602 HMM UZ302 GORLO UL980 LOGAN BIG1E

















NOTAMs:





Nothing important for us today.

Even more so on FS... NOTAMs are boring enough to read in real life!









Fuel Planning :









We decided to take 400 kgs for extra fuel.

Actually we are often holding over London...





Let's go to the aircraft for a walkaround now.









While the ground crew is anxiously looking at his watch fearing to be behind schedule, we have to do our visual inspection:





The Brakes...













Those impressive Rolls Royce engines...













The tires...













And all the controls surfaces.

In brief, almost everything should be checked.













Everything looks good and we can go back into the cockpit to complete our preflight.

The cockpit is not in Cold and Dark configuration because the aircraft landed a few hours ago from London.

















We can now prepare all the CDUs for the flight following the normal procedure.

The route and the performances are entered into the flight management system.

We can also add the wind forecast for the climb, we will enter the cruise wind forecasts during flight.













Boarding is now beginning while the ground crew is bringing us the final loadsheet:

No last minute changes for today's flight, not too much mathematics ! =O





















"Speed Bird 108, are you ready to copy your departure clearance?"

"We are ready Speed bird 108"













"Readback correct Speed Bird 108, contact ground on 118.350 and report ready for pushback, have a good flight bye bye"





This will be the SID procedure for departing rwy 12R

We will fly it manually up to 10 000 ft because flying this 747 by hands gives a fantastic feeling.













Let's take a look at the doors page to be sure that everything is safe for our passengers boarding the aircraft.













The aircraft is not in cold and dark but as we are the first flight for the 13th of november we will perform a confidence test.













Now that we have received our departure clearance we can review the "Preflight checklist"





PREFLIGHT CHECKLIST

Oxygen���......................................... Tested

Flight Instruments....................... HDG, ALT Set

Parking Brake �....................................... Set

Fuel Control Switches.......................... CUTOFF

Departure Briefing............................ Complete





The boarding is almost complete, we are on time !













The ground crew is preparing for pushback and we are reviewing the before start checklist :













"Ground to cockpit ?"

"Cockpit to ground go ahead?"

"We're ready for pushback"













Let's start the right engines :





BEFORE START CHECKLIST

Flight Deck Door................. Closed and Locked

Passenger Signs���.......................... AUTO

MCP�.................................. V2, HDG, ALT Set

Takeoff speeds............................................. Set

CDU Preflight.................................... Completed

Trim.............................................................. Set

Taxi and Takeoff Briefings................ Completed

Beacon....................................................... Both

















Then we start the left engines.

Once all are started we can switch off the APU, that will take a few minutes before it stops completely and we turn the packs ON as indicated on our take off data card.

















The pushback is now complete.

Parking brake is set.













The pushback truck is disconnecting.

Waiting for the clearance from the ground crew, we can note a Block Off time of 06:03 UTC













Last check before taxi :





BEFORE TAXI

Controls............................................... Checked

Anti-Ice............................................. As Needed

Recall................................................... Checked

Autobrake................................................... RTO

Ground Equipment.................................... Clear













The taxi rollout will be very short, the runway 12R is just in front of us.













A few minutes later we are cleared to line up on runway 12R

We will stop on the runway waiting for an Emirates B777 to clear the runway axis.





BEFORE TAKEOFF CHECKLIST

Flaps............................................................. Set

















At 06:11 we are cleared for take off !

Thrust checked... TOGA !













Speed is alive... 100 kts : checked...

V1... Rotate !













Positive rate: Gear up !













We can really feel the heavy 747-400 with this new iFly 744

Flying manually the aircraft is just fantastic.





"Speed Bird 108, passing 1500 ft climbing 8000 ft"

"Copied Speed Bird 108, contact Dubai approach on 124.90, bye bye"





Now we have to change our frequency to Duba� approach.













After passing ASTES, first turn to follow our SID : DARAX 2G

















Duba� is looking very beautiful from here, but nothing compared to our wonderful 747 =D













Now we are reviewing the "After Take Off Checklist" with the F/O :





AFTER TAKEOFF CHECKLIST

Landing Gear................................. UP and OFF

Flaps...................................... UP and No Lights













G-CIVZ has only 299 seats and the payload is quite light.

The aircraft climbs like a rocket !













Passing 13000 ft alimeters have to be set to the STD setting,

Once all flaps and slats are retracted the F/O engaged the VNAV mode.













Passengers can relax now, the first drinks are coming soon ;)

All the engine sounds of the package are great and really well done, the RR sounds are definitively favourite.













The ATC instructed us to maintain FL230 a few minutes for traffic reasons but we will be cleared to continue our climb to FL340 very quickly.

















Once we are stable at our first cruise level we can revert the passengers signs to AUTO





















We are now flying above the North Arabian Sea heading to Iran airspace.













Fuel checks are really important during long haul flights.

The First officer is now beginning to compare fuel values with our operational flight plan.













The heavy bird flies very well in this beautiful sky.

Now operating in its natural environment.













As for me, I can enter some new wind forecasts... the FO is too busy with trying to close the sunvisor ^^

















We reached the Iranian airspace and we will fly over the country from the south to the north.













Sorry guys, your tray table is going to stay empty:

iFly does not provide your meal with the package... ^^













And soon, it's time for our first step climb to FL360.













"Speed Bird 108 heavy you're cleared to climb FL360, report when steady"





Let's climb !





















At FL360 we are surfing on a cirrus layer

















Passengers who have a window seat appreciate the flight with this nice view













All the main tanks now contain equal fuel quantity.

Let's close the crossfeed valves to get into "Tank To Engine" configuration.













300 tons are cutting through the air ...

Uhmmm... we are light today !













Take a look to the operational flight plan:

We are on time and have 200 kgs of fuel more than expected =)













Look how detailed the aircraft is.

This cockpit and external model are the most beautiful ever done for FS9... Without any doubt !

















The sun has now moved to my side.

Fortunately there are sunvisors that prevent us from becoming as red as a tomato.













But the Queen of the Skies doesn't care, she flies like a bird in the sky...

Actually she flies a bit faster than birds...













We have been flying for almost 5 hours now and it's already time to climb our final flight level : FL380

















Here we go.

FL380 and planned arrival in 1hour and 53 minutes













This rudder looks like a shark fin in the ocean doesn't it?













From time to time we must check all systems on the lower EICAS screen.

Everything is good.

















Strong headwinds made our fuel consumption worse than expected and we are now a bit late.

We are currently flying over Germany and will have to prepare our descent very soon.

















Actually we have just received our Approach clearance to London













It is time to put our descend wind forecast into the flight management system.

With those values, the VNAV path will be corrected and the aircraft will be able to follow the calculated path.

















And also time to prepare for the descent, approach and landing!





We have been cleared for the BIG1E arrival as expected, let's review this STAR which is not complicated.

After the STAR we will follow the BIGGIN transition to the ILS 09R













We must review the entire procedure then check that everything is ready for approach in the cockpit.

There are several ways to prepare an approach briefing, as for me, I use RAMNS: Route, Altitude, Minimums & Missed approach, Navaids, Speeds.













After the approach charts have been reviewed we can take a look at the taxi chart which is also very important, even more so with such a Jumbo on a big airport like London Heathrow.

Here is the taxi chart with the taxiways we will use after landing to join the gate 533.









From our landing data, we can chose our autobrake setting to decelerate enough for N4E which is the taxiway we will use to vacate the runway.

The best setting to do so is using Autobrake 3.













Now that everything is completed and ready we can inform the ATC of our expected time for our TOD so they will be ready to give us the descent clearance when we request it.

We will use a continuous descent profile which is the best descent path to save fuel.

Expected TOD : 12:43z

















DESCENT CHECKLIST

Recall................................................... Checked

Autobrake..................................................... Set

Landing Data................. VREF __ Minimums __

Approach Briefing............................. Completed













Guys, I know you all like to fly here at FL380 in this beautiful aircraft, but it is already time to descend...

We are first cleared for FL240 while we are just passing over the coast.

















The aircraft is following the descent path very very well.

No need to use spoilers.

















Now over the North sea :

A thought for people in the Channel tunnel who would have been much faster in a 747...

























We are not alone in the sky !

We are joined by a multitude of airlines flying here from all over the world.





We are about to reach FL210.

















Let's listen to the ATIS and copy our landing clearance :













A few minutes later : we are on approach.

We have to reduce the speed to 220 kts





















I must admit that the Jumbo is not the most silent crossing the skies over London... Anyway !













Last turn of this flight to get established on the ILS runway 09R

















On long final :





LANDING CHECKLIST

Speedbrake................................................. Armed

Landing Gear................................................ Down

Flaps............................................ __ , Green Light





















On short final :





Minimums ! Landing !

















Touchdown moment :

It was not a kiss landing... I have an excuse : there is crosswind today at heathrow and I am taking screenshots. =D

















"Speed bird 108 heavy runway 09R is vacated"

"Roger 108 contact heathrow ground on 121.85, see you!"

















We decided to use the 2 engine Taxi procedure to save fuel as we have used more fuel than expected (about 1,2 tons)













Arriving at the gate, we just have to follow the automatic park assistant.

Block On time : 13:11





We are finally 3 minutes late.













SHUTDOWN CHECKLIST

Hydraulic Panel................................................ Set

Fuel Pumps..................................................... OFF

Flaps ��.......................................................... UP

Parking Brake�................................................ __

Fuel Control Switches................................. CUTOFF

Weather Radar............................................... OFF

















We can switch off all the fuel pumps except the Main 2 Aft for the APU.

In fact the fuel pump would normally still work to feed the APU even if not pushed ON.













The jetway is connected and deboarding can begin.

Thank you for chosing iFly for your flight ! (Y)

















It's 13:23 UTC : we deserves a good rest now ! ...













...And our 747 deserves a good clean, the cleaning and catering services are already there to prepare the aircraft again.













Once everyone is out and everything is okay, we can leave the aircraft.

For us it's time to go home...













Say goodbye to the majestic Queen of the Skies... and see you for the release... =)









***THE END***





Credits









Thanks to Karl Freeman for his authorization to use his real world photo (title picture)

British Airways One World Livery by Colin Lowe

Writen by Maxime Konareff

Edited by Jannie Roelofse





Hi all,