KMIA TO KIAH-Another Virtual Airline Joined

Yes, yes....another one :-)  One of the Nutters, aka Mr. Tango, posted a few days ago in our Facebook chat conversation that he was impressed with United Virtual Airlines.  So naturally, I had to find the link and check it out for myself.  The entrance exam was taken, the application was submitted, and bingo...another airline to compete for my time.  Their custom ACARS is very well done and I really like the Simbrief integration.  Complete flight planning with a click of the button and a generated dispatch.  Well done to the developer for that one.  We completed an earlier group flight from KIAH (Houston Intercontinental) to KMIA (Miami, International) and had a great flight with six of us.  That flight was captured and posted over at Facebook so if you're a Facebook user, check out the various screenshots that were captured).

On this particular flight, I decided to complete the return flight to KIAH from KMIA and even for the late hours, Miami approach/departure was on-line and the airspace was quite busy.  The flight immersion is great when sitting at the gate and listening to the various flights arriving, departing, lining up for landing, etc. at the airport.  I know VATSIM can be intimidating at times but it really completes the experience in my opinion.  I loaded up my 737-900 NGX and after programming the FMC and loading the virtual baggage, we were ready to taxi to runway 9.  I recently added REX Texture Direct with Soft Clouds to my FSX install and along with Active Sky Next, I have been very happy with the results.  My past two flights have taken place with some great weather, aka rain, clouds, lightning :-)  Yes, great for flight sim screenshots but not good for real world flying.

The ground crew pushed me back from the gate and after a successful engine start, my virtual first officer and I completed the necessary checklists and we were rolling to to the RWY 9 holding point via Sierra.  I received my take off clearance upon reaching the holding point and within a few seconds, TOGA was pressed and the engines were roaring as we accelerated to rotation speed.  Also, since I set up my flight to match the actual departure time...early morning, the sun was peaking through the clouds in the eastern sky.  My first officer called out "rotate" and our journey began via the WINCO 1 Departure to 5,000 feet.  The departure controller quickly cleared us direct to WINCO with a climb directive to 16,000 feet.  My TCAS was showing other aircraft in the area and the controller began providing directions to the traffic and to maintain visual separation.  Again, another addition to the immersion of flight sim with other on-line pilots!  We reached 16,000 feet and after a few minutes, we were cleared out of the airspace with a switch to the advisory frequency (Unicom) since Miami Center was off-line.

Unfortunately, I didn't depart early enough and by this time, Miami Center went off line followed shortly by Houston Center, Jacksonville Center, and KIAH approach.  So, the rest of the flight was completed without ATC interaction but I still enjoyed the two hour flight with the beautiful visuals.  I had to keep an eye on the weather at KIAH since a large storm was brewing in the area.  The rain had subsided as I began my arrival via the GILLL1 arrival for the ILS approach to RWY 27.  The arrival was uneventful with my plane being the only one flying into the airport at the time.  I didn't grab any "final approach" shots since I was too busy flying the jet.  I prefer to land "manually" so the workload increases in the cockpit and doesn't provide many opportunities for screenshots.  I touched down on 27 with a nice landing rate and vacated the runway and made my way to Gate C34.  My virtual ground crew was excited to see me, ready to unload the plane to cap off an on-time arrival for my virtual passengers.  Also, a nice shout out to the Miami VATSIM contollers this weekend.  I had two great flights into and out of Miami and without them, it would not have been as enjoyable.  Enjoy the shots and until next time, keep flying the virtual skies!

Add-Ons Used:

1. FSX w/DirectX 10 Enabled (Steve's DirectX 10 Fixer)
2. PMDG 737-900 NGX in United Colors
3. Latin VFR Miami Scenery
4. FSDreamTeam Houston Intercontinental Scenery
5. Active Sky Next with SP2
6. REX Texture Direct w/ Soft Clouds
7. Aerosoft AES ground services
8. FSDreamTeam GSX ground services
9. VPilot for VATSIM Network Connection
10. VATSIM Network
11. Orbx FTX Global and Vector

Facebook Pictures Link:
Facebook Flight Simulator Pictures
Virtual United Airlines:
United Airlines Virtual