It’s been a little while since I did a flight journal and even longer since I did a general aviation based one. I’ve been meaning to visit some airports that I’ve bought or have come with various World Updates and just haven’t gotten around to it. So I’m on mission to visit a bunch of places that I’ve never been and I’m starting with two airports from World Update 14: Central Eastern Europe.

Rijeka departure and climbing

I’m in the pilots seat of the Aero Ae-145, a Czechoslovak twin engine general aviation airplane built in the late 1940s. This aircraft was Local Legend 11 and it came packaged together with the World Update. The two fit together well thematically so I wanted to stay on theme and explore this part of the world in this charming little airplane. My full review is over here if you want to read about the Ae 45 and Ae 145.

Starting just after dawn at Rijeka, I went through the various checklists to get the Ae 145 setup for departure. Although the aircraft is simple enough, it is also a bit unique owing to its heritage and designers so its not exactly the same as starting up as Cessna or a Diamond or any of the other general aviation airplanes that I’ve become accustomed to over the years.

After a brief time I was taxiing to runway 14 and climbing away from Rijeka airport.

To climb the nearby mountains I needed to clear at least 5,000 feet so I set a northerly course that took me over Rijeka proper before turning north and looping back as we slowly climbed up. The Ae 145 is reasonably sporty but its not a fast climber and so it takes its time getting up to altitude. But we did get there and I set a nice and safe 7,000 feet as my cruise altitude.

The fog, lakes and rivers

After cruising for a while I found myself with Zagreb to the south and Ljubljana to the north. An area steeped with history, I could see none of it as thick fog blanketed the area. The fog covered the entire area like a giant and mostly featureless lake. Occasionally a hillside would pop up through the fog.

The fog began to clear and ahead there was farmland, small towns, and Lake Balaton off to my right. This large lake is a significant landmark of the area and it took me back to some campaigns I played during my IL-2 Forgotten Battles days flying interception missions over Lake Balaton in a Bf109. The skies here, however, were peaceful and the lake and surrounding area beautiful.

Eventually I would cross the famous Danube river with the Hungarian capital of Budapest off to the south of me.

Fuel check looked good. Only 20 gallons remaining, however, with my destination now not too far off and my fuel burn at an economical rate of 5.4 gallons an hour, I figured had just enough to reach it despite the strong headwinds. I continued to lean my engines as much as possible.

Approaching Poprad-Tatry Airport

A long stretch of relatively flat farmland and towns slowly gave way to some more hilly terrain and mountains on the horizon. With the increasing elevation of the terrain, I told my autopilot to climb to 8,000 feet. Just to give some extra comfort as I approached my destination.

After a mostly cloudless, high pressure influenced sky, I was also getting into my first few scattered puffy clouds. Nothing to worry about but they did make a nice change of pace after the clear skies.

After incredible satellite imagery for most of my trip, here the imagery began to break down as I approached Poprad-Tatry with some generic images breaking up the otherwise detailed terrain. Huge swaths of the world of MSFS are beautifully detailed but there are some areas, even in zones that have been touched by a World Update, that aren’t quite up at the same level.

With just a couple of gallons left in the tanks I lined up for a final approach at Poprad-Tatry and brought the Ae 145 for a smooth landing. This is a really cool airport with wide approaches but with hills and mountains bounding the whole area. The texture work on the runway and aprons is ok but I did really appreciate the concrete slab construction which is so typical as you get into eastern Europe. Its well captured here.

That’s the end of this story but the beginning of a series that I hope to embark on with a mix of airplanes of all different categories from general aviation to helicopters to airliners. More airports to visit all across the world!