[ MSFS2020 | VATSIM ] "River Run" continues down the Mississippi, in Mississippi, in the WBSim C152!

For our third season of "River Run" we chose the Mississippi River -- and tonight, spent a good amount of time in its namesake state! We resumed the trip from Cleveland, Mississippi (KRNV) -- and although the shape of our itinerary looked like a backwards question mark, the only question of the evening was whether we'd survive the brutal winds battering us all evening. We did, but, not without some effort!
From our origin, our first stop was McGehee (7M1), 32 miles west and across the river on the Arkansas side. It was the night's longest leg, and the one we had the most trouble navigating purely visually. That was partially accountable for a missing square lake, but also because we were getting blown way further north than we realized. When we finally thought to compare the loops of the river further north with the window picture, we figured out where we were -- but a cross-check via VOR confirmed our theory. The landing at McGehee was a battle unto itself, as the windsock was basically straight out to the side, and a wind gust took us into a slight skim of the runway before a fairly gentle final landing.
Leg two was to Lake Village (M32), straight off to the south along the highway, and we reiterated our discussion from a previous stream about why a long straight-in to a non-towered field often wouldn't be ideal in the real world. But here, we went ahead in that fashion, and landed a bit long because we used the centerline to gauge how well our crosswind correction was dialed in. Otherwise, though, we felt pretty good about it in light of the conditions.
Our next trip took us to Greenville (KGLH), and with Memphis Center online, we would need to talk to them in order to be allowed into the Delta and onto the runways and taxiways there. He was moderately busy with jet traffic spread all over his airspace, but, didn't seem too put out by our request. He simply cleared us to land, so we entered a right base to Runway 18R and set it down nicely on the "centersmudge."
Our fourth stop was our first private strip of the evening, Abide (MS30). Straight south by eleven miles, we found a driveway with a cul-de-sac nice and tight up against a treeline. As it turns out, that was indeed our destination -- and as we were rolling out after a nice smooth touchdown, we saw the windsock buried in the woods to our left.
Leg five was another where we basically went straight south, and slightly west, to Steele Farms (90MS). It was another narrow paved farm strip, and another straight-out and straight-in situation. This time, I had a little trouble spotting it -- but after a 90-degree turn it came right into sight. A left base to final worked out well, and we slid the plane sweetly onto the concrete surface.
Our sixth destination was Cottonwood (6LA1), the first and only non-paved strip of the night, and our first stop in Louisiana. The 3,500-foot grass field was purportedly straight off to our southwest, nestled up against a lake which came into view shortly after departure. It wasn't immediately obvious what the runway surface was, but as we got closer it became more clear and we eventually set down gently onto the turf. The presence of a fuel truck reassured us that we hadn't landed in a random field, as we occasionally do on this series.
Finally we headed to Byerley (0M8), just north of the town of Lake Providence, also in Louisiana. This was another one basically straight out from our origin and another one tucked in among a lake. It was all the more readily visible due to the flashing threshold lights which we noticed more-or-less as soon as we were airborne. It took us a couple tries to get aligned with the centerline from as far out as we were, and then we were late getting the power down and flaps deployed. In the end we essentially pulled the power and glided it the rest of the way to pavement, then taxied in to poke the chest of the marshaler on the ramp. It was as good a time as any to call it a night! -- Watch live at / slantalphaadventures