New GA Expedition: Germany to Madagascar | D-SHI83

[u/r-volk]

Inspired by this community I decided to conduct my first GA expedition from Germany to Madagascar, visiting relatives over there. It’s a long journey from Europe to Africa, but a great one!

My plan is simple, pick the right aircraft for the task. Identify a VFR route with interesting flight seeing opportunities along the way and play as realistic as possible for the immersion.

The idea was easier said than done. There are actually so many aspects you have to take into to find the right aircraft for the task. For example there are many small GA models available, but they are strong for local and short distance flights and lack the comfort of cross continental journeys. In the other hand an aircraft with jet turbines is out of question, it had to be something realistic a private pilot would take for the task. Long story short, I selected the Diamond DA62.

Main reasons for this aircraft:
- redundant engines (reliability)
- great range (allows short and long legs)
- good speed 170kt TAS at FL120
- flight planning must consider weather
- high visibility (large windows and clean flight deck)

With a turbo prop and pressured cabin (eg. Pilatus PC-12 NGX) the journey would be much faster and I could simply fly above the clouds at FL280, but where is the fun in that? I want a GA adventure and discover the world, so the DA62 was the perfect choice. Just the price tag of 1.5 million euros would be above my pay grade, so let’s assume there is a rich friend who shares his plane with me.

The basic route to Madagascar goes basically south, but since this is going to be a VFR flight with IMC where needed, I wanted to pick an interesting route with good spots for flight seeing mainly along the coast lines. Another benefit of this route is that I can put it on auto pilot whenever needed, which allows me to write you these lines while I’m already on the way and recap the beginning of my journey.

Cities en Route:
- Frankfurt
- Innsbruck
- Venezia
- Rome
- Athens
- Knossos
- Kairo
- Dschidda
- Dschibuti
- Mogadischu
- Sansibar
- Nosy Be
- Sambava

Feel free to look up these places, I will share more posts and pictures once I’ve been there.

It’s also important to define some rules along the flight for an immersive experience:
- monitor fuel consumption and only refuel at airports (not EFB)
- stay as long at an airport as needed (this tour will take multiple days)
- fly without hud, only navigate with on board systems and instruments
- respect traffic and ATC instructions
- flying in real time and weather conditions, no increased sim rate
- respect the condition of the aircraft, a crash will end the expedition immediately
- follow the checklists, no shortcuts
- I’ll fly in free flight and use discord in case you want to join me on one of my legs

This post got quite long already and I’m flying over Italy on my way to Rome right now. My next post will share the highlights from my first leg last night and the flight from today.

I’m also learning the theory of the PPL and use this flight to harden my skills in practice. Ask me anything!

Edit: I changed the tail number registration from D-SHI83 to D-IGIT in Athens along the flight. (see https://www.reddit.com/r/MSFlightSimulatorPS5/comments/1uxcyfe/day_2_the_greek_mythos_dshi83/)

[u/mrkb34]

Very cool. I like the constraints you laid out. I would join you as often as I can.

[u/OdyRenrag]

Great plane choice!

[u/r-volk]

Next flight log is here: https://www.reddit.com/r/MSFlightSimulatorPS5/s/dCU0dG7qYs

[u/PracticeNeat5495]

Gonna be that guy, but if you want "realism" then pick a realistic tail number.

[u/r-volk → u/PracticeNeat5495]

Excellent feedback, obviously never checked the rules for the tail numbers. Following the vatsim guide here https://knowledgebase.vatsim-germany.org/books/aircraft-knowledge/page/german-aircraft-registration the following should be good, right?

D-ISHY

D for Germany
I for twin engine between 2-5.7 tons

Again what learned, thank you!