Alps Bush Trip
“Many Countries, More Mountains”
(Part 1, Lake Lucerne to Bolzano)
This Bush Trip was created using BushMissionGen by f99mlu.
Installation
- Decide which plane you want to use to fly the bush trip and download the zip file of your choice (you really only need one of the bush trip files):
- The file containing “-da40” in the filename uses the Diamond DA40-NG (this is the "main file")
- The file containing “-c152” uses the Cessna 152
- The file containing “-a5” uses the Icon A5
- The file containing “-pc6t” uses the MilViz Pilatus PC-6 Porter
- The file containing “-p28r” uses the Just Flight PA-28R Arrow III
- Unpack the zip file into your Community folder
- (optional) To verify that the trip was correctly unpacked: enter the unpacked folder in your Community folder and make sure it contains the file “manifest.json” at the top level
- Start the bush trip from the Activities menu in MFS
The Trip
The trip starts in Buochs in Switzerland, close to Lake Lucerne. We’ll fly around the Rigi massif, visit the Einsiedeln Abbey, fly over the Sattelegg Pass and drop into the plains east of Lake Zurich. We’ll visit the Principality of Liechtenstein and Lake Constance. We’ll fly through the German Allgäu area and see Castle Neuschwanstein. Then we’ll do some mountain flying along the Zugspitze mountain, have a coffee in Innsbruck in Austria, and fly over the Brenner Pass into South Tyrol (Italy) to Bolzano.
What you need to know…
- Weather is set to Live Weather. I like to fly in real weather if it’s VMC (visual meteorological conditions), because it provides for more interesting flying (wind conditions change, updrafts and downdrafts seem to be more noticeable). Also, selecting Live Weather is the only way to unlock the weather controls in MFS bush trips. If the weather doesn’t suit you, just pick any preset you like. If you want to use the “Snow” preset, I recommend you delete the bottom two cloud layers or move them up.
- Multiplayer is enabled. Bush trips can be fun group activities!
- Checklists, re-fueling and assistants are enabled, ATC is disabled.
- The parking brake seems kinda broken in bush trips currently. Don’t rely on the visual indications in the cockpit: if the parking brake lever seems to say that the brake is not engaged, but the plane still isn’t moving, toggle the brake.
- The bush trip starts cold & dark at a parking spot. If you usually start on the runway and you don’t care to learn how to start the plane, just hit Ctrl+E to start the engine.
- If you use the Diamond DA40, remember to check your fuel tanks often and use the “Fuel Transfer” switch as required to avoid fuel imbalances.
- South of Innsbruck, the quality of scenery… erm… degrades slightly. The AI appears to have some trouble identifying and constructing roads in areas with large elevation changes, and ground textures are sub-par in places, so expect to see some funny shit. I’m sure a “World Update Italy” will fix a lot of these problems at some point in the future.
Optional scenery
I use the following add-ons when flying this trip, kinda ordered by how important they are to me. They are all optional. Get all, some, or none at your discretion. I would strongly suggest you download at the very least the World Update.
- World Update 6 (Germany/Austria/Switzerland) – free from the in-game marketplace
- We Love VFR - Region 1 – adds obstacles like chimneys and antennae to large parts of Europe, I feel this is a must-have for all VFR flying, but the route descriptions do not rely on the mod being present
- DA40-NGX Improvement Mod – free aircraft mod, recommended if you enjoy a more realistic version of the DA40; be prepared to read the documentation and to treat your aircraft with a bit more care than the default model (e.g. do not stay at full power after take-off, this might damage the engine; the Navlog leg times are quite accurate at a power setting of about 80%), I don't have as much experience with the JPLogistics C152, but I understand that it's a great realism mod for the default 152.
- G1000 NXi – improved avionics, free from the in-game marketplace
- [LOIR] - Reutte-Höfen Airport, Austria – free airport scenery, includes Ehrenberg Castle and a spectacular bridge, totally worth it!
- Swiss Airfields – free airport sceneries
- Bregenz, Austria – free city scenery, includes the famous floating stage
- Bozen/Bolzano, Italy - Photogrammetry – free city scenery, includes Castle Sigmundskron
- Bolzano San Giacomo airport (LIPB) – free airport scenery
- ITALIAN ALPS 20m DEM - High Resolution Terrain Elevation Data from LIDAR Imaging – free digital elevation data at a higher resolution than default
- Bushtalk Radio - Audio tours and virtual tourism for MS Flight Simulator 2020
- OrbX LOWI Innsbruck Airport – payware airport scenery, probably not worth getting it just for this trip, but worth having if you fly a lot in the region
- The Fall season from “4 Seasons Pack” by Bijan Habishi – payware, replaces deciduous trees
Some random advice about mountain flying
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Water is life. As long as you’re following major rivers, you will almost always be able to climb with the terrain. A brook can be treacherous, it can lead you to its source in high terrain. A road can be treacherous, it can disappear into a mountain tunnel and leave you in a dead end with few, if any, options. If you get lost, stick to a major river until you figure out what to do.
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Altitude helps. But being low is way more fun.
- Wind can be a bitch. While the wind and turbulence modelling in MFS seems less sophisticated than advertised, it can produce severe updrafts and downdrafts when flying over elevation changes. This can become challenging (and fun!) when you hug the mountains.
Known issues
- In this initial release, all text is english. If there's interest, I can add a German translation.
A final request
After completing the trip, please consider taking a “short” survey about your experience flying the trip. The survey does not collect any personal data, should only take a few minutes, and might help me to improve this bush trip and to create better bush trips in the future. Thank you!
Is it maybe possible to use the JF PA28?
3 years ago
Your wish is my command. You can use the Arrow now. I hope you enjoy the trip!
3 years ago
aurel42
trickedlist