SKBM - Barranco Minas
Posted by Paul Glanville on 05/11/2012
Barrancomina is a small town in the shore of the Rio Guaviere, located about 136nm NNE of Mitu (SKMU) at approx 3:30N/69:48W.
It's got a dirt strip - SKBM - that is surprisingly similar to Araracuara's (SKAC) - it's about the same length&width, runs roughly the same direction (09/27 vs 10/28), and the easterly approach for both is up-hill. Unlike SKAC, there is not even a single NDB within 50nm, if you are short on 09 (or long on 27) approach you end up in a river (as opposed to a ravine).
Both approaches have their downsides, but having tried both, I think that rwy09 is somewhat easier to land on. I haven't tried take-off on 27 yet but my guess is that it would be easier than the two times I barely got airborne by the end of 09...
SKBM is a work-in-progress, available for download & testing in the forums. It is in the forums so that folks can check it out and offer criticism, etc. At some later date when it is ready we'll shift it over to TAV's official download section.
TAV forums are UP
Posted by Paul Glanville on 04/29/2012
Finally....
We've got connection problems, and cosmetic weirdness, but the forums are basically UP.
Weird behavior:
The Forum kit does not (yet) recognize TAV at all, so
- a separate registration/login is required, and
- there's no clean way back to TAV from Forums
Workarounds are:
- register separately, and
- open forums in a separate tab
I'll deal with this stuff in time...
New fix updates available
Posted by Paul Glanville on 04/17/2012
The TAV Fix Survey has completed checking every Colombian airport for new fixes.
A fix update for 2012.04 (consisting of fixes from SKAS, SKBQ, SKCG, SKCZ, SKFL, SKGO, SKIP, SKSA, SKTM, SKUC, SKVV, and SKYP) is available now for download in the Scenery section.
Simply attach the file to your fix data file as usual.
These fixes have been submitted to Robin Peel.
Since we started the Survey, TAV has submitted 166 new fixes to Robin Peel's database. And we have approximately 80 more new, updated, and deleted fixes for which we are awaiting advice from Mr. Peel before submitting.
Or, to put it another way, in Colombia alone we found nearly 250 faulty fixes in the X-Plane dataset.
I would like to take this moment to once again thank the TAV pilots who have helped in this effort.
I would also like to remind you all that there are more countries to survey and additional volunteers would be appreciated.
A330 available for download
Posted by Paul Glanville on 04/07/2012
FINALLY.....
I finished the A330.
It's based on Samen's A330-RR which, at least presently, is not available for download at any of the usual sites...
I've made a few 'adjustments' to the original though, like getting the HUD to work (mostly) - nothing dramatic.
LEBL: Barcelona
Posted by Paul Glanville on 03/03/2012
I just added SKBO-LEBL (TAV2901) and back (TAV2902)
Haven't been able to find any good routes across the lower North Atlantic though
I'm trying the following route for LEBL-SKBO and it seems OK as a starting point:
LEBL 27R to SKBO 13L/R:
lebl kugax senia mg atono ug427 pbl ua550 kikas buv buv1a skbo
AIP Spain is bi-lingual:
http://www.aena.es/csee/Satellite/navegacion-aerea/en/Page/1078418725020/
update 04/28:
Avianca flies SKBO-LEBL and back every day in their A330; routes are:
SKBO GUXUN3 ZIP W44 BUV UA567 STB UG431 PJG UA516 MILOK A516 PJM RKDIA 27,-50 32,-40 37,-30 41,-20 BANAL PETEK UM422 STG UN725 DGO UN725 LOBAR LEBL
-- and --
LEBL SENIA UW96 NEXAS UN975 ELVAR ORSOS GUNTI 38,-20 36,-30 31,-40 26,-50 18,-60 PPR UA550 KIKAS UW40 BUV VULAM VULAM1E SKBO
Both routes work OK (but SKBO-LEBL is too long for x-flightserver - simply delete a few fixes in the flightplan that you submit to XFS)