http://i.imgur.com/raun7mU.jpg
It's the Norwegian freighter (car carrier) MV Saint Petersburg, the first ship to arrive in the search area.

http://i.imgur.com/GL8nJBh.jpg
Compare to the real picture:

http://i.imgur.com/1CSUTbe.jpg

http://i.imgur.com/tdRQsdY.jpg
With the visibility improved, we climb up to 5000ft and continue our search.

http://i.imgur.com/ywehfub.jpg
However, no other sightings besides the St. Petersburg are made - just miles of endless ocean, far away from any land.

http://i.imgur.com/tlgbmPg.jpg
After almost 3 hours in the search area, we start getting low on fuel, so I get all our engines back online, climb over the clouds, and head back to Perth at almost 30000ft.

http://i.imgur.com/d25niTS.jpg
Soon, the sun begins setting already.

http://i.imgur.com/jQlPHcF.jpg
Sunset over a very remote part of the ocean.

http://i.imgur.com/x4TdwtH.jpg

http://i.imgur.com/Pfnxpxf.jpg
We make our way back towards Perth in the dark.

http://i.imgur.com/KBHcN8L.jpg
Lined up on final to Pearce, more than 11 hours after we took off from the same runway.

http://i.imgur.com/5eJYGKz.jpg
Taxiing back to the ramp...

http://i.imgur.com/mrHmzF1.jpg
And that completes our flight for today. The real crew would be ready to fly againt he next morning.

Hope you enjoyed it! :up:

Nice flight! I'm sure that was fun to sit through. :)

Haha, who said I was sitting? :P (I work from a stand-up desk these days). It didn't stop me from cooking a couple of meals, going out to the store, and taking a nap, lol

Most interesting :cool:

Great stuff. Although be aware these screenies will no doubt end up on some news channel as genuine footage. :)

I would love to see the reaction of air passengers if the pilot said that over the intercom.

I would almost pay to see that.

To be fair, the standard P-3 crew has 3 pilots on board, just 1 of whom can perfectly well fly the aircraft on his own if needed. And for airline flights of more than 8-10 hours, there's always a relief crew - and again, only one pilot needed at the controls for the cruise stages of flight.

Now, the guys I don't envy are some of the bomber pilots. B-2s routinely fly 20+ hour missions with only two crew, no relief pilots, just taking turns at power naps - that's stamina!

I know somebody who is related to one of them.

Sounds really really fun to be honest. Leave in the really early morning, fly to the middle east, blow crap up, come home for dinner. :D

EDIT: Man get on Skype sometime! I've got fast enough internet to talk!

I'll try and get back :D Like I said, just been really busy...

***

Meanwhile, that thought with the bombers and stuff sort of got planted into my head :O:

http://i.imgur.com/1RXpnRk.jpg

http://i.imgur.com/6tXFzyp.jpg

http://i.imgur.com/oBHXhdG.jpg

http://i.imgur.com/IbHYwIF.jpg

http://i.imgur.com/X3vODxq.jpg

http://i.imgur.com/ex7S6BN.jpg

Ah...the B-1!

I love flying the B-1 on "missions" in FS2004. It's quite fun.

Yeah, great plane no matter how you look at it. And still counts as the loudest plane that I've had the pleasure of hearing :D

Meanwhile, some more normal pics of my recent flying:

http://i.imgur.com/dRppFau.jpg

http://i.imgur.com/2zxhEQo.jpg

http://i.imgur.com/sX1rpiv.jpg

http://i.imgur.com/Dm61GTi.jpg

http://i.imgur.com/2DTSe25.jpg

http://i.imgur.com/EJDteMm.jpg

http://i.imgur.com/RgJbYyd.jpg

http://i.imgur.com/1niyoyM.jpg

Yep, makes for a fantastic alarm call at 0615 every morning as they set off to bomb the crap out of Tora Bora.

Honestly, 0615-0625, without fail. If OBL was there then he'd know exactly when to duck, and live another day.

So this might be a more appropirate picture for you then :D

http://i.imgur.com/8ly4Sux.jpg

Nearly, take away the houses and the lush greenery, and make it a bit sandy... :03:

http://i.imgur.com/rf1jHjm.jpg?1
Good day, sir!

A little tribute flight for my next door neighbour, a big Spitfire and aircraft fan, whose funeral it is today.

RIP Guy

http://i.imgur.com/BOuJXsq.jpg

Blue Skies Guy

:salute:

Patrol in early 1915.
http://i.imgur.com/UDVlzVW.png

Falcon 4.0 forever! :rock:

Hard to believe it's been around for 16 years already, and is still being worked on and improved - and is still unmatched at many of the things it does.

http://i.imgur.com/l1EfMfw.jpg

http://i.imgur.com/AhcJaJ8.jpg

http://i.imgur.com/i46j9yo.jpg

http://i.imgur.com/xEfCt9Z.jpg

http://i.imgur.com/jfa5nTN.jpg

http://i.imgur.com/gOss4HV.jpg

http://i.imgur.com/FPmVFjG.jpg

http://i.imgur.com/EnQz4ym.jpg

http://i.imgur.com/TcbAWfA.jpg

http://i.imgur.com/5LGMfsY.jpg

http://i.imgur.com/ID7McOJ.jpg

http://i.imgur.com/xSG8DSb.jpg