Bluegrass Airlines, September 2007

Pan American Pacific Clipper Operations

By Bill Von Sennet

From	To	Heading	Distance	NDB	HF	Notes
San Francisco	Koko Head	241º	2076 nm	KH 316.0		Waypoint
Koko Head	Honolulu	various	25nm	PC 317.0	Oahu 790	Overnite Stop

Lift off from San Francisco at sunset.

(If I left 16:00 according to the schedule I would arrive at Honolulu in the dark)

Koko Head, about to turn right downwind for Honolulu.

Turning final for Honolulu SeaBase in Pearl Harbor

Touching down at Honolulu.

Left San Francisco at 20:00 local (0300z) Arrive Honolulu at 07:30 local (1730z)

Cruised at 135 knots with real weather. Date set to 18 July 1941.

From	To	Heading	Distance	NDB	HF	Notes
Honolulu	Tern Island	278º	486 nm	TI 324.0		Waypoint
Tern Island	Midway Island	286º	650 nm	MA 325.0	Midway 840	Overnight Stop

Pacific Clipper departing Honolulu for Midway

Pacific Clipper on approach to Midway

I flew this segment according to the FSAviator instructions, limiting indicated airspeed to 135 knots. Cruise was at 8,500’ Departure from Honolulu SeaBase was at 8am local (1800 z). Time over Tern Island waypoint was at 9:52 local (20:52 z). Arrival at Midway was at 14:00 local (0100 z) 7 hours elapsed time. Arrived 2 hours early per the 1941 schedule. Real weather, winds were usually 19 knots tailwind quartering 40 degrees off to the side (variable from 60º to 125º). I performed the functions of Pilot and Flight Engineer. Every hour I would ask the navigator (FSNAVigator) for a fix to determine my position relative to projected course, and then make necessary adjustments in heading. You could also use the GPs to perform this function.

I won’t bore you with anymore of my flight experiences. Here are the navigation instructions for the remaining flights.

From	To	Heading	Distance	NDB	HF	Notes
Midway Island	Wake Island	235º	1029 nm	WK 326.0	Wake 830	Overnight Stop
Wake Island	Apra Harbor, Guam	256º	1311 nm	GI 327.0	Guam 750	Overnite Stop
Guam	Manila, Philippines	277º	1374 nm	ML 328.0	Manila 770	Overnight Stop
Manila	Macau	320º	627 nm	MC 329.0	Macau 860	Stop
Macau	Hong Kong	76º	36 nm	HK 330.0	Hong Kong 870	Destination
Manila	Swallow Reef, Philippines	225º	605 nm	SR 331.0		Waypoint
Swallow Reef	Singapore	240º	694 nm	WSSB 320.0	Singapore 880	Destination

From	To	Heading	Distance	NDB	HF	Notes
Singapore	Swallow Reef, Philippines	59º	694 nm	SR 331.0		Waypoint
Swallow Reef	Manila, Philippines	45º	605 nm	ML 328.0	Manila 770	Overnight Stop
Hong Kong	Macau	256º	36 nm	MC 329.0	Macau 860	Stop
Macau	Manila, Philippines	137º	627 nm	ML 328.0	Manila 770	Overnight Stop
Manila	Apra Harbor, Guam	88º	1374 nm	GI 327.0	Guam 750	Overnight Stop
Guam	Wake Island	64º	1311 nm	WK 326.0	Wake 830	Overnight Stop
Wake Island	Midway Island	46º	1029 nm	MA 325.0	Midway 840	Overnight Stop
Midway Island	Tern Island	100º	650 nm	SR 331.0		Waypoint
Tern Island	Honolulu	95º	486 nm	PC 317.0	Oahu 790	Overnight Stop
Honolulu	Koko Head	104º	16nm	KH 316.0		Waypoint
Koko Head	San Francisco	38º	2076 nm	TI 318.0	Treasure I 820	Destination

From	To	Heading	Distance	NDB/VOR	HF	Notes
San Francisco	13 nm W of Golden Gate	225º	16 nm			Waypoint
13 nm W of Golden Gate	23 nm W of Lompoc	214º	140 nm			Waypoint
23 nm W of Lompoc	San Pedro	95º	137 nm	SPD 319.0	San Pedro 850	Enroute Stop
San Pedro	Koko Head	250º	2212 nm	CKH 113.90		Waypoint
Koko Head	Honolulu	various	25 nm	PC 317.0	Oahu 790	Overnite Stop
Honolulu	Palmyra	186º	960 nm	PA 321.0		Waypoint
Palmyra	Canton Island	218°	779 nm	CI 322.0	Canton 730	Overnight Stop
Canton Island	Rotumwa, F.I.	217º	883 nm	RM 323.0		Waypoint
Rotumwa F.I.	Noumea, New Cal.	212º	846 nm	NWSB 320.0	Noumea 780	Overnight Stop
Noumea N.C.	Norfolk Island	154º	412 nm	NF 260.0		Waypoint
Norfolk Island	Auckland, NZ	127º	591 nm	NZAB 320.0	Auskland 700	Destination

From	To	Heading	Distance	NDB	HF	Notes
Auckland, NZ	Norfolk Island	307º	591 nm	NF 260.0		Waypoint
Norfolk Island	Noumea, New Cal.	336°	412 nm	NWSB 320.0	Noumea 780	Overnight Stop
Noumea N.C.	Rotumwa, F.I.	036º	846 nm	RM 323.0		Waypoint
Rotumwa F.I.	Canton Island	039º	883 nm	CI 322.0	Canton 730	Overnight Stop
Canton Island	Palmyra	038º	779 nm	PA 321.0		Waypoint
Palmyra	Honolulu	003º	960 nm	PHSB 320.0	Oahu 790	Destination
Honolulu	Koko Head	104°	16 nm	CKH 113.90		Waypoint
Koko Head	Los Angeles	048º	2212 nm	KSPD 319.0	San Pedro 850	Enroute Stop
Los Angeles	23 nm W of Lompoc CA	275º	137nm			Waypoint
23 nm W of Lompoc	13 nm W of Golden Gate	320º	214 nm			Waypoint
13 nm W of Golden Gate	San Francisco	44º	16 nm	TI 318.0	Treasure I 820	Destination

It has been over 5 years since Bill Odell and I created the “The Clipper” featuring the Pan American Trans-Atlantic Routes.

In the interim, we have new aircraft and flight dynamics available. The finest Boeing 314 Clipper is a payware product from Pilot’s http://www.b314clipper.com/indexA.htm

It comes complete with a scenery package that included many PanAm bases along the Pacific and Atlantic Routes. They include long range radio direction finders. All the bases for the San Francisco-New Zealand Route are included. The route to Singapore and Hong Kong has Treasure Island, Pearl Harbor, Wake Island, Guam Island and Manila bases.

In order to be able to use the HF Direction Finder at additional bases:

Midway (freq. 840)

San Pedro CA (freq. 850)

Macau (freq. 860)

Hong Kong (freq. 870)

Singapore (freq. 880)

I added these five lines to the PILOTS_B314_dfstations.dat file located in the main Flight Simulator 9 folder:

28.220278;-177.371944;840;0;Midway;

33.728056;-118.278056;850;0;San Pedro;

22.211389;113.541944;860;0;Macau;

22.323333;114.203889;870;0;Hong Kong;

1.426667;103.895000;880;0;Singapore;

Flights using the Pilots B-314 or B-314A will not use the NDB’s and the waypoints shown above. They will fly direct using the HF Direction Finder.

If 39.95 eur is a bit steep for you, there are freeware alternatives.

Mike Stone’s B314 is on our server. Download sb314.zip

The Pacific Clipper textures by Wayne Tudor and Dale Deluca are available at www.avsim.com filename is paab314.zip (1.2 mb)

The Yankee Clipper textures by Wayne Tudor and Dale Deluca are available at www.avsim.com filename is paa_yc.zip (1.3 mb)

The BOAC Clipper textures by Wayne Tudor and Dale Deluca are available at www.avsim.com filename is boacb314.zip (1.2 mb)

Panel by Ken Mitchell is at www.avsim.com filename is b314km_panel.zip (9.9 mb)

Get the updated B-314 flight dynamics by Bob Chicilo. Filename is b314up.zip (39k) available at www.flightsim.com

The manifold pressure does not indicate correctly. (cruise is at about 15”) I fly cruise at 1700 rpm and decrease throttle as fuel is burned to maintain 110 knots. The only change I made to the aircraft.cfg file is to change fuel_flow_scalar to 0.80

This results in performance similar to the actual schedule times.

For those that don’t have the Pilots B-314 package, scenery is available, although the locations may differ.

Download the float base scenery from the Bluegrass FS 2004 Hangar Scenery section. It has all the NDB’s needed to fly the PanAm Pacific routes. If you already have the Float Base Scenery then just download the panam_pacific.zip file which contains the NDB’s.

Pan American only flew the New Zealand route for a short time before the United States entered World War II on 7^th December, 1941. All Pacific Clipper operations were suspended on that date, and the Clippers that survived the initial attacks were moved to serve in the Atlantic during the war.

The Boeing 314 was turned at Manila and the Manila-Macau-Hong Kong portion of the route was flown using Sikorsky S-42’s.

I flew these flights at 16x while at cruise altitude.