I’ve felt recently like I’ve wanted to get in some PMDG 737 flying again and so over this long weekend (it’s Canadian Thanksgiving eh!) I got in a pair of very enjoyable flights in the 737-900. Both were scenic and featured some dramatic scenery including a great west coast flight from Vancouver to San Francisco and then a second flight from Denver to Las Vegas chasing the setting sun. Here’s the story and the screenshots!

Scenic mountains, Golden Gates

Both of my flight this weekend were in PMDG’s 737-900 with a United livery. This, longest of the 737NG series, airliners are cheaper than the popular -700 and -800 and kind of unique with their long fuselage requiring careful handling to avoid ground strikes particularly on takeoff rotation. Though not rare by any stretch of the imagination, the 737-900 is still a bit of a unicorn selling in far fewer numbers than the nearly ubiquitous 737-800.

The first flight started off at CYVR – Vancouver International Airport. This is one of Canada’s busiest hubs and there’s a beautiful scenery set done for the airport that I have not made nearly enough use of.

After start-up and pushback from the gate, we got clearance to taxi and headed down over to runway 08R. Behind us was the Pacific ocean, to the left were the Rocky Mountains and the skyline of Vancouver, ahead more mountains and a clear departure into the afternoon sun.

After takeoff, we turned south and flew over Vancouver Island, Victoria, and then crossed the border flying over the Olympic mountains.

Over the next hour and a bit, the flight traversed a good chunk of the west coast of North America. Flying over Portland, Salem, Eugene, and over various mountain ranges and national parks like Klamath National Forest & Butte Valley National Grassland and Mendocino National Forest. Though clouds obscured part of the scenery, this is a stunning area to fly at both high and low altitudes – on that point I must make it a subject of a future journal to take a GA or bush plane and explore some of these areas at low altitudes.

As we neared San Francisco it was time to descend and a few steps brought us down parallel to the Golden Gate bridge as we descended down into an approach that started south of the city and then in over the bay and a landing on 28L. It was a stunning approach and I got what I think are some great screenshots.

Chasing sunsets all the way to Vegas

My second flight was spurred on by the first. I had such a great time I wanted to fly it again. This time it was another 737-900 flight, United Livery, heading from Denver to Las Vegas.

Again we pushed back and made the lengthy taxi out to Runway 8. After a brief wait, it was departure time and we took off on runway 8 before looping back, up and over the city of Denver and into the setting sun. The mountains, the sun, and the clouds made for a stunning backdrop.

The fun part about taking off into the sunset like this and traveling west is that you end up with a couple of sunsets. The sun set as I was taking off, it set again as I was climbing out, and it set a third time as I hit my cruise altitude. That was cool!

On this flight I was followed closely by a friend of mine also flying a 737, his was a 737-600 in the classic United Livery that looks fantastic.

As the sun set over the mountains of Colorado and twilight took over my friend managed to catch me and we ended up with a totally standard airliner formation complete with photoshoot. They do those on normal passenger flights right?

Joking aside, this was another fantastic flight in the 737-900 and it was topped off by the approach into Las Vegas. With a partial full moon and the ground bathed in a blue white light, the city lights of Las Vegas came up and then the Las Vegas strip in all of its glory began to make itself known on the horizon. The white beacon from the Luxor being impossible to miss! Yep, its Vegas alright!

Landing, taxi, park. What a flight!

Scenery used on this flight was fsimstudio’s CYVR Vancouver International and Fly Tampa’s KLAS Las Vegas Airport and City scenery (all bundled together).