Author Topic: The Cabins - Perfect for Beginners  (Read 3470 times)

Doug

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The Cabins - Perfect for Beginners
« on: August 17, 2014, 10:16:23 AM »
Before RTMM started, the United States Forest Service Cabins were already placed in Tongass X and PFJ ... later in SAK.  These were "built into" the programs. So when "we" were beginners, all we had to "go find" were the cabins ... and the "finding" became the focus of the game for most of us.  The tiny USFS cabins are almost a needle in the huge haystack and vastness of Alaska.  You can fly over them at 1200 feet and not see them! 

70 of the cabins were not put into these programs. We have added all 70 of the "Missing Cabins," so you will have every USFS cabin in our area, and you can download all of them in a single zip file from THE CABINS page of RTMM. (Look in the Installation Section). When you download that zip, install it per instructions, then download the To/From flight plans for the cabins ... you will immediately be "seeking" over 300 locations.  We've made it easier with the flight plans. On the Cabins page, you'll also find a picture of the REAL cabin (click on the name), a picture of what it looks like in your sim, what the flight plan map looks like going to it, what program it is from (Tongass, PFJ SAK) and whether or not the water freezes. There are starting points for you with exact latitude, longitude and heading so you can START at a cabin and fly back to an airport.

All of the flight plans (except 3) are for LOW and SLOW flight ... put your altitude on 1200 feet. The flight plan will guide you around the mountains.  The weather, as you will discover, in Misty is "MISTY!" and a lot of the time! Often the ceiling is about 1400 feet, so we fly UNDER the weather so we know where to come back down and not find ourselves staring at a mountain side on decent ... best to keep the water in view. Running a real weather program can add immensely to your experience. On the Misty's Place page, there is a live weather cam for Ketchikan Harbor ... you can see there what weather you can expect.

In the "distance"screenshot below ... there are TWO cabins, you are about a mile away! The telltale smoke from a chimney might be your first clue!  From the screen shot, you can see how difficult these are to find ... however with that difficulty comes a great deal of satisfaction when you pull up to the shoreline and see the detail of each location. (close up shot).

"The Cabins" web page is a great place to start because you can have so many "seeking" opportunities with VERY LITTLE downloading and installing.  And for a bonus, you get details on all the lighthouses that are in our RTMM area ... these are INCLUDED in the packages, they are also included in the To/From flight plans. If you go to the LIGHTHOUSE section of the page, you'll see details on each one. These too are REAL and positioned where they actually reside.

For the beginner, you will discover that RTMM is not about the final location (although we have some that are breathtaking in detail and complexity), but focus of RTMM is getting "From Here to There" ... the focus is on the JOURNEY. Flying RTMM, you will discover Alaska ... flying low and slow, you will see it UP CLOSE, and with the incredible graphics of FTX/ORBX and Tongass X, you will feel as though you actually visited these beautiful places. The Cabins is a great way to begin your "low and slow" bush flying experience. Welcome aboard!

Doug/RTMM

The Cabins RTMM Web Page

NOTAM: Don't forget you can click on the picture to enlarge it.
« Last Edit: August 17, 2014, 11:03:43 AM by Doug »