I’m back into the cockpit of the Fokker F28 by Just Flight. This 1970s era airliner has classic systems and liveries and for this flight I decided to fly an SAS marked F28 from a Danish island up to Arlanda airport near the Swedish capital of Stockholm. Did I mention that the weather was atrocious? Heavy rain, heavy clouds, and low visibility meant relying on the airliner’s older avionics to save the day!

Through the storm

My route for this journal saw me fly the Fokker F28 using a VOR-to-VOR routing that took me from Bornholm Airport (EKRN) up to Arlanda Airport (ESSA) north of Stockholm. Both airports feature custom scenery that came free with World Update V: Nordics. It’s a Word Update that I, sadly, haven’t spent much time with but am determined to explore quite a bit more over time.

The route I’m flying today doesn’t correspond with any real world routing as most flights out of this airport are short hops to Copehagen. But I wanted to stretch the F28’s legs a bit more so … I did this instead.

Adding to the challenge was the weather. Heavy rain and low cloud at my departure airport started things off. Visibility was good enough that I was able to backtrack down to the end of Runway 29 and then depart into a steady headwind. I was immediately engulfed by the low cloud and was up and into the sky.

Around 10,000 feet I broke through the clouds and got up into much clearer air while also turning to the north and looking to pick up my first VOR.

In older airliners, prior to the invention of GPS, navigation was often done by homing in on a beacon near or along a route that would then get you to your destination. These beacons are now slowly being phased out although the routing that they established is sometimes still the basis for routes now flown by GPS. The history of this is something that I’m still digging into but I find it fascinating to be sure.

Tuned on the beacons frequency I eventually picked it up as the F28 moved onshore over Sweden.

I was treated to clear skies along this middle part of the route and I got a chance to check out some of the scenery along the eastern coastline of Sweden. What I could see ahead of me was a portent for what the end of my flight was going to be like and the METAR at Arlanda airport indicated low clouds at 500 feet and rain. This was going to be a challenge… but I don’t write a blog called “nice weather birds” and flying into wild weather is something that I enjoy in a sim!

Passing over the first VOR, I tuned the next beacon for Arlanda airport and homed in on that. The distance to the beacon steadily ticking down on approach. ATC tried to send me to runway 08 but without an ILS approach I asked for a change to runway 01R. Then it was just a matter of trying to get the airplane on the ground.

Heavy rain appeared on the radar ahead and I had hopped that I wouldn’t have to fly through it on landing. I did …as it turned out.

Landing in almost zero visibility

Descending down through the clouds I made a series of turns to get me lined-up with the runway. Then I attempted to follow the ILS down to the runway but managed to miss it and only saw the runway as I passed over it. I’ve made a lot of mistakes flying airliners in MSFS and this was one of them but it ended up working out well doing a go-around and following a better path down the second time.

I saw the runway with just enough time to get lined-up and down onto the ground but not without some very challenging flying and a bunch of glideslope warnings going off. It wasn’t a pretty approach but the actual touchdown was about as smooth as I could make it.

Then a taxi around the terminal and into a parking space.

What a challenging but fun flight in the Fokker F28! I’ve been impressed by what Just Flight has done with this aircraft and I’ve had fun flying this airplane with VOR beacons rather than the GPS. I’m not doing this completely by the book but that’s ok and if you’re like me and enjoy these kinds of flights, doing it in an older airliner like the F28 may offer a great experience that takes you beyond the typical. Clear weather… or not!