[ MSFS2020 | VATSIM ] the newly updated JustFlight BAe146, KMCI-KORD-KBUF!

Tonight, Chicago ARTCC hosted its celebration of the 80th anniversary of O'Hare with an FNO entitled "ORD: Established 1944"! Single-airport FNOs have been contentious of late, with VATSIM's increased traffic levels. However, if any airport can successfully pull one off, it's O'Hare, with its SIX parallel runways!
The JustFlight BAe146 had a substantial update, so we elected to fly the vintage regional jet tonight. It now includes the option of a "UNS-1" FMS, although for tonight we elected to keep things "Slant Whiskey" like usual. The plane allegedly got a flight-dynamics overhaul which was supposed to make it more stable during takeoff and landing. But the first big enhancement we encountered was the boarding and disembarking process, which we saw could be done in "instant" or "realistic" timeframes. We didn't catch, at first, that you also had the choice to run it in five- or ten-minute options. We had trouble getting the stairs to disengage, and later discovered that stairs, doors, and hatches all pull away on their own. We'll know for next time!
When we first connected at Kansas City (KMCI), there wasn't any VATSIM ATC there, yet we were pleased to hear several pilots using the correct CTAF -- a trial policy still underway within VATUSA. However, we were even happier when Kansas City Center popped in while we were getting ready. We had a brief moment of wishy-washiness over which runway we were departing (both of us trying to accommodate the other until one of us eventually had to make a decision), then, had a brief moment of confusion over how I should be joining the Lakes Five (which the controller instructed as "... direct BLUZY" but I was trying to prompt as "... join the Kansas City 075 outbound radial" or similar). Center was still busy getting the rest of the event traffic squared away so we just left the rest unspoken.
Our arrival had a bit of an interesting twist, too -- typically, RNAV arrivals are often "profile descents" wherein altitude restrictions are at multiple points, and the FMC helps meet each one via an economical descent path. These are assigned with "Descend via the {procedure name} arrival." Conventionally-navigated STARs can't be assigned in that fashion, because the altitudes listed on them are "expected" altitudes and the controllers must assign those explicitly -- "Cross {waypoint} at, and maintain, {altitude}." The Bradford Eight contained a bit of a trick in that NEWRK is depicted with an "AT" restriction of 11,000 -- so the controller can assign this one in either fashion. Just as we were realizing this, though, they came in right on cue with the explicit crossing restriction at NEWRK.
As we were vectored toward our final approach, the sim started to get a little laggy and I worried it would knock us off of the livestream. But, the sim remained just barely playable enough to keep both the stream and the plane stable. We landed slightly long but pretty smoothly, and it did seem like the plane was much less "squirrelly" on the rollout than we were used to it being. Then, we realized we were hearing faint music in the background -- and I was confused about where it was coming from, until several viewers pointed out that it was yet another of the plane's new features!
O'Hare's Ground team did a stellar job managing the massive traffic crunch, even with several pilots getting disoriented and making wrong turns, and our turnaround at O'Hare went pretty efficiently despite the high volume. For our part, we managed to navigate the taxiway maze without any major issues, and soon we were shuffling off to Buffalo (KBUF). O'Hare has that interesting note on its departure about keeping 250 knots until advised, regardless of whether you've climbed past 10,000 feet MSL -- and we had initially blown that off because we generally keep 250 in the climb in this aircraft anyway. But when we leveled off at 10,000 for a bit, we almost accelerated before deciding to keep 250 in preparation for the rest of the climb to cruise -- and were suddenly glad we did as the contents of the note re-entered our conscious thoughts!
The entire trip to Buffalo became about staying out of the massive thunderstorm line, and Chicago and Cleveland Centers were gracious enough to accommodate a more-or-less continuous left-of-course deviation. It eventually came to pass that we had no choice but to cut through the storm front to get toward our approach, but fortunately we weren't rocked and rolled too badly as we dipped into zero-vis. We broke out at 2,300 feet. The plane yelled at us on short final because I had opted for a Flaps-24 landing rather than the standard Flaps-30, and that might have triggered some warnings with the aircraft thinking we hadn't gotten into our landing configuration. However, the landing did indeed proceed as planned and was a fairly passable one at that, especially considering the adverse weather. -- Watch live at / slantalphaadventures

[@PhillipStratton]

Great stream as always

[@Rhinozherous]

Click on the top of the checklist on the yoke to toggle it. Where the clip holds the paper. You can also toggle the whole yoke with the "Pedal adjust" lever on the left (and right) sidepanel.

[@SlantAlphaAdventures]

oh, the top clickspot gets rid of the whole thing? I'll try that. thanks!