It’s been a long time since I last did a multi-flight cross country journal so reset the counter to ‘0’ because here comes a fresh new adventure that takes me all the way from southern Europe into the north. My transportation of choice this time around? Flight FX’s excellent Piaggio P.180 pusher prop spaceship looking long distance cruiser. This journal ended up being so long that I’ve split it into two pieces with the second one coming sometime next week.

The mission and the challenge

Two key objectives that I wanted to cover in this journey. First, I wanted to traverse a good chunk of Europe on this flight. The concept wasn’t to cover all of it as that would require a lot of flying back and forth. Instead, this is more of a start in the south and work my way north through several key airports that I wanted to visit or revisit. In the past I’ve already done a UK cross country (something I will probably revisit one day) so I wanted to cover other turf this time.

Another objective? Spend a lot more time with the excellent Flight FX P.180. This twin engine pusher prop airplane was just so much fun when I was reviewing it and I wanted to give it more attention both personally and here on the blog. Multiple consecutive flights really lets you get into the aircraft and get to know it and that’s exactly what I planned for in this journey.

One other goal I set for myself was to, after months of ignoring it altogether, try and make use of the built in MSFS 2024 ATC. With Sim Update 1 it was almost intolerable with its weird directives for altitude changes among other problems. But it was supposed to have been improved in SU2 so I was going to find out.

Chios (LGHI) to Dubrovnik (LDDU)

The first two airports in this journey have scenery that I’ve purchased from the iniBuilds store. We start this adventure from the Greek Island airport of Chios which has become one of my favourite small island airports to fly out of. It’s just big enough to handle a turboprop airliner so a P.180 feels quite capable of getting in and out of here.

After starting up, I got permission to taxi to Runway 19. That requires taxiing down to the end and then coming around for the takeoff. After sitting on the brakes and powering it up, I released the brakes and set takeoff power. Away we went! The P.180 leapt into the air and into the skies!

After several minutes we were turning north west towards our first few waypoints over the Aegean and then Greece proper. Skies were relatively clear for the first part of the flight so we had a great view of the mountains, lakes, and coastlines below.

We hit a few thicker clouds and some scattered showers at low altitudes but that was no concern for us at FL380. The P.180 is a sportscar by turboprop standards and we cruised right over the worst of the weather. Ahead of us were clear skies and the approach into iniBuilds’ Dubrovnik scenery.

After remembering how to setup the approach and get the P.180 configured for landing, I brought it in for a gentle touchdown.

After taxiing to the FBO area I did have a bit of trouble finding a parking space so after making a spot for one I shut down the aircraft for the first successful flight.

Dubrovnik (LDDU) to Klagenfurt (LOWK)

And here we are gearing up for a sunset flight from Dubrovnik to Klagenfurt. This destination was a handcrafted scenery released to us in World Update 6: Germany, Austria, Switzerland. I don’t recall flying in here so it seemed like a good one to visit.

After powering up and getting approval for our IFR flight plan, I taxiied as instructed and setup for takeoff on Runway 11. With the sun at our backs, we took-off into the skies and banked sharply for our first set of waypoints over the Adriatic.

After a lengthy climb to FL380 we headed towards the setting sun over the Adriatic and the scenic views of Croatia.

As the sun set, ATC instructed us to begin our descent. First we dropped down to 10,000 feet and right into some turbulence off of the mountains. As we crossed over the eastern section of the Alps we then overflew Klagenfurt before turning in for an approach on the airport.

Blue hour in MSFS 2024 is absolutely stunning and this was one of the most incredible approaches I’ve flown in a long time. The mountains, the reflections off the lakes, the whole area was just stunning to see in the low light.

Another beautiful touchdown with the P.180 (that’s two in a row for me… unusual!) and then a taxi and park at this scenic little airport. Going to have to visit this one again sometime!

Klagenfurt (LOWK) to Bern-Belp Regional Aerodrome (LSZB)

We’re in the Alps so I thought: let’s have a bit more fun in the mountains before heading north. This next step took me from Klagenfurt over to the Bern-Blep airport and it was a spicy one!

The scenery for this was the already mentioned Klagenfurt and, quite accidentally, Bern-Blep airport included with World Update XVIII. I also own the scenery from Orbx which I prefer thanks to better frame rates and local details but despite being installed it was conflicting. Something I’d fix on the next flight.

Starting off in beautiful early afternoon sun, we started up on the apron where we last left the airplane and got the P.180 ready for its next sortie. After receiving permission, I taxiied to the runway and got clearance to takeoff.

The departure from this airport was just as stunning as the arrival. Lakes, puffy white clouds, villages and towns nestled into the mix… just stunning.

After that, we climbed for a slightly more reasonable FL320 and began our cruise over to our destination.

The first hint that things were going to be interesting was when I checked on the weather update at the destination. Winds, heavy rain, nearby storms! And sure enough, towering clouds appear on the horizon. SU2’s lack of thunderstorms doesn’t make the storms that appear any less concerning.

As we got closer, the weather radar and my flight path began to make things interesting. Turbulence rocked the aircraft and ATC gave us the go-ahead to descend into the mess.

Most of the approach was a mix of sun, cloud, rain, and then a break again and then back into the cloud. I was thankful for the P.180s weather radar display and good situational awareness on the runway ahead because I sure couldn’t see it. Terrain information also helped me avoid some of the lower hills and the mountains on either side.

White knuckled and flying into the airport, I managed to see the runway and set the P.180 down, however, it began hydroplaning immediately and I elected to get back up into the air. It was less landing and more of a bounce.

After slightly hairy go-around, the rain began to move off a bit and I set the P.180 down much more capably this time with no issues.

On a side note: MSFS 2024’s rain clears up on surfaces far too quickly. The airport was in a deluge 5-minutes earlier but now its completely dry? That needs a bit of work.

Taxi, park, shut-down… exhale. That was a more challenging flight than the last few. The fun part of flying with live weather!

Bern (LSZB) to Frankfurt (EDDF)

After the harrowing landing at Bern, I was relieved to discover that the weather had changed quite a bit in the local area from my previous flight. This time around I was flying from Orbx’s LSZB Bern Airport which has a similar level of detail to the one that comes from Microsoft but far greater frame rates.

Departure was straightforward with us taking off after a quick backtrack on Runway 32. Up we went into relatively clear skies with with puffy clouds.

The clear skies and puffy clouds were typical of most of our flight while we cruised at our assigned FL370. Checking the weather ahead, however, revealed that we might be up for another spicy landing though this time into a large airport rather than the small and hilly one that we had just originated.

Sure enough, as we got closer, radar picked up various storm cells around Frankfurt. Descending through thicker clouds, we emerged into what has been one of my all time favourite approaches in this journey so far.

Ahead were dramatic skies, thick forests cut by rail and road, and an incredibly daunting looking rainstorm with heavy rain sitting on half of Frankfurt’s runways. Not the whole runway, just part of it. Absolutely stunning!

As we landed, the rain was slowly shifting along the same axis between us and the runways giving the somewhat unique position of clear skies right to the threshold but completely obscuring everything beyond that.

It was here that I ran into some performance issues. I don’t know if its the upgraded Frankfurt airport, the nearby photogrammetry, a memory leak or maybe the water reflection effects, but something ate away at my otherwise smooth framerates. I struggled to find a quick place to park and shut down (I’m keeping to my goal of starting up and shutting down).

Frankfurt (EDDF) to Malmö (ESMS)

Onwards with the journey! This time, after a quick start-up, we were back on the road again with an late afternoon into the evening flight from Frankfurt’s busy airport and up to Malmö airport located in Sweden. The scenery for ESMS Malmö Airport was another Orbx purchase.

Departure went smoothly here though I had trouble with ATC trying to send me back to 2,300 feet when I had already cleared 10,000 feet. I eventually convinced them to manually clear me up a couple of times to 31,000 feet. Still sticking to my guns on the ATC for this one.

Once at cruise, this ended up being quite a relaxing and easy flight to do. We switched radio frequencies a few times but otherwise it was cruising above some beautiful cloudscapes as the sun gradually began to lower on the horizon. MSFS 2024’s enhanced lighting capabilities in full effect.

ATC, to my surprise, told me to descend much earlier than I expected and so down we came in just over the coast of Sweden keeping some folks up with the loud P.180 blasting in just overhead at 2,500 feet.

Then turning in for final approach and once again setting down with one of my smoothest landings to date. The P.180 has been, outside of that one hairy landing, been very good to me for smooth landings. Very enjoyable indeed!

The scenery for the Malmö airport is great. It’s just the kind of small to mid-sized airport that I enjoy and this one is a real gem. The parked F50 and BAe 146 jets give me future ideas for flights. But in the meantime, time to shut down the P.180 and park it for the night.

Fun so far!

This has been fun so far! It took me several weeks to do this, on and off, typically while also writing the latest news on Stormbirds or running around the house during the longer cruise sections, but doing a big cross country tour like this really provides for some great entertainment.

The unpredictability of the weather (with live weather) just adds to the experience as well and MSFS 2024’s ability to change the time and have it match whatever weather conditions were there at the time further adds to the immersion. Whenever possible, I didn’t look it up before hand and set the time of day largely on a whim. It worked out with some fun flights into quite a variety of conditions.

There’s more to come with part two so look out for that. Plus let me know in the comments if these long distance experiences are at all interesting or not. Have you been inspired to put together your own? Or, even better, have you just done one? I’d love to hear about that too.