With a constant stream of aircraft coming our way thanks to third parties and Microsoft partnerships, we’ve managed to pick up a ton of airplanes for MSFS over the last 4 years and there are undoubtedly many more coming our way. With this and some future flight journals I want to go back and spend some time with some aircraft that I really enjoyed in the past but haven’t flown too much recently. Today’s journal has me out in the Microsoft/iniBuilds MU-2. This is an aircraft that I crashed a couple of times when I was learning it but found it very capable and fun too. Let’s fly!

Checking out some new scenery

I recently picked up two pieces of scenery that I haven’t had a full opportunity to use yet. LIBD Bari Karol Wojtyła Airport by Super Sonic Design (which I purchased through Orbx) is an airport that I passed through last year on my way to southern Italy and I made this my starting point with the MU-2.

Here are some images of the airport itself. It’s a single runway airport with facilities for airliners and general aviation too. A number of airlines pass through here including Ryan Air and Air Dolomiti (part of the Lufthansa group). The city of Bari nearby is covered by the Italy world update photogrammetry so it has some custom looks. It’s also just a beautiful city on the coast of the Adriatic.

Here’s what Bari’s airport looks like:

My destination is LGHI Chios Island by iniBuilds. I’ve wanted to do some flights into Greece recently and this is one of the first scenery packs that I’ve bought in the area. It’s a small airport that’s well suited to aircraft like the MU-2. ATR flights from Thessaloniki and Athens served by Aegena, SKY Express and Olympic air all go in and out of here – you bet I’ll be picking up one of those destinations sometime soon and doing a bunch of ATR flying. Future plans!

Here’s what the Chios island airport looks like:

Two hours cruise

The MU-2 is pretty fast as an aircraft of its class goes. The twin turboprop is a slippery aircraft and maintaining over 200 knots at altitude is easy. It didn’t take me too long to remember how to start this and following the checklist I got the MU-2 up and ready to go. I fell in love with the airplane again thanks to the great sounds and good looking cockpit. It also taxi’s really quickly!

I took off on Runway 07 climbing out over the Adriatic and skimming the coast near Bari’s city center located several kilometers away from the airport.

After that we headed south west over the Adriatic. It didn’t take long for Albania and then Greece to come into view, even with the haze being presented by the live weather. Stunning mountain landscapes came into view beneath.

Then we were back out over the waters of the Aegean sea. After some time flying looking around wondering where my destination was (not feeling reassured by the GPS map at all), the island of Chios came into view.

Descending down into the landing pattern, ATC gave me instructions for a direct in approach on Runway 01. I brought the MU-2 in for one of my better landings slowing the plane down and bringing in to park.

A successful and very fun flight in the MU-2 and great to visit some new locations. More again soon!