I’m back on an airliner kick after doing scout helicopters, business jets and some other fun stuff in simulation. This time around I’m putting some time into the PMDG 777, an aircraft that I’ve had for a couple of months now and have started to take out on a couple of shorter familiarization hops. It was time, however, to stretch the legs a bit so I set myself up on a longer route. I also decided it was time to visit some new locations so here’s where the journey gets a little more interesting.

New horizons

The obvious and clear benefit of a world simulation like the kind that Microsoft Flight Simulator offers is that you can fly anywhere on the planet. I’ve taken advantage of that to some extent with journeys that have been in my own backyard (so to speak) but I’ve also ventured to remote locations on the planet over the years too. I did an F28 flight to the bottom of South America, toured Japan, and gone bush flying in New Guinea as just a few examples. Until my recent preview flights with the SWS Airvan, I haven’t really done much of any flying in Africa so I thought it was time to change that.

Spurred on by a very cheaply priced Jomo Kenyatta International Airport (HKJK) during a recent iniBuild sale, I started looking at real world flights and, as it turns out, Emirates flies from here over to Dubai on the regular with their 777 fleet. Good enough inspiration for me!

Learning the 777

I’m flying a bunch of airliners at the moment including the Avro RJ in MSFS and the E-Jets Family in X-Plane (stories for both coming soon) but the release of the PMDG 777 and iniBuilds A350 in the large, long-haul, widebody category has been fascinating me mostly because of their size and capability.

Prior to this flight I had done a few shorter routes with the aircraft but this one I wanted to venture out a little longer. Thanks to some extra time available and time compression I was able to make the journey from Nairobi to Dubai in just a couple of hours of real world time.

The more time I’ve put into the 777, the more I’ve grown to like this aircraft. Its surprisingly intuitive for an airliner and once you understand how it all works together it really just feels like it flows the way it should. Its hard to describe but its utterly satisfying.

Departure wildlife

It was time to get going and so after a few minutes at the terminal I was nearly ready to go. I’m getting faster at setting up the 777 and getting it to fly. Of course, SimBrief helped immensely in getting all of the data and flight route ready.

I did struggle on two points prior to departure. First, no gate appeared to be available for me despite me being parked at a heavy aircraft gate. Second, MSFS 2024 decided that no tug was available to back me out of the gate when it was time to go. I ended up using the reversers to back out.

After that, things went more smoothly. The airport has some great scenery detailing and the whole layout has this flying saucer kind of shape to it which is fun. I taxied the large jet out to runway 24 with a brief backtrack to make use of the full length of the runway.

I’m not sure if this is the scenery or just a random occurrence on the sim but a herd of giraffes were grazing just off the end of the runway. That was kind of fun to see them down there adding a little unexpected life to the scene.

Climbing and cruising

After departure we made a roughly 180 degree turn and set course for Dubai.

The ortho imagery in the area is kind of average, however, the mountains and the terrain relief is pretty good so as we flew over Nairobi I was appreciating the size and scale of the region. This is a new location for me in flight simulation so the sheer novelty to it all was fun.

Climbing to our cruise of FL370 went smoothly with no issues. After that, it was time to buckle up and cruise to the destination. For that I engaged 4X time compression to make the 5 hour flight go past more quickly. It still took a couple of hours and I was both at the seat managing the aircraft as needed but also zooming around the house getting various things done. Such is the life of a virtual long haul flyer!

Our flight took us over Ethopia and Somalia with a lot of varied and rugged scenery. Mountains, hills, desert, and greener pastures alike. The setting sun providing terrific contrast on the relief below.

Dark sky arrival

As the sun set, our flight was now over the Gulf of Aden and at the easternmost tip of Africa. Crossing the water, we then flew in over Oman. Here is where the territory started to look very familiar to me thanks to years and likely hundreds of hours flying over the DCS: Persian Gulf map. Oman and the UAE with the approach into Dubai at dusk was beautiful and scenic in the sim and immediately familiar too.

The approach brought us in on a winding path to Runway 30R at Dubai International. At the moment I don’t have any custom scenery for it but MSFS does have a bespoke version of the airport. It looks alright but it performs terribly as I discovered with frame rate after landing hovering in the teens. Ouch.

Performance issues aside, I shut down the 777 and called it a night.

Since doing the flight in this journal, I’ve put quite a bit of time into the PMDG 777. A review will be forthcoming but I’ve got a bit more flying to do and probably some more journals to share before I do. Having done all of those flights, this is among the most memorable in the type and its what made me truly appreciate the 777 on a longer journey.

Stay tuned for more!