The CIX VFR Club McCall from the air
Club Events - Christmas Caper 2020
The US Forestry Service in Idaho Needs You!
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Briefing December 2020
Overview For the 2020 Christmas Caper event, your mission, should you choose to accept it, is to spread the word about CIX VFR Club. and to extoll the virtues of the Club & its members, who are some of the most virtuous people in simulated aviation.  In addition, you will be transporting several small cargos and a few personnel between some of the remote airstrips in the USA state of Idaho. The journeys start from the town of McCall, on the western edge of Valley County. Named after its founder, Tom McCall, it is situated on the southern shore of Payette Lake, near the center of the Payette National Forest, managed by the US Forestry Service (USFS). The population was 2,991 as of the 2010 census. Originally a logging community whose last sawmill closed in 1977, McCall is now an all-season tourist destination for outdoor recreation. The resort town is known for its Winter Carnival, extended winters, and one of the highest average snowfalls in the state. Returning to McCall after the last delivery, you will fly a twin to Buchanan (KCCR) in California, some 20 miles east of San Francisco, for a change of scene and a bit of relaxation.
Start Time and Place The event starts on 1st December 2020 and finishes on 31st December 2020.
Flight Planning, Scenery and Star Rules.

Flight planning is a significant part of this event. The departure and arrival airfields are given in the briefing, but because of the terrain, you will be unlikely to be able to fly direct, but will have to find a route through the mountains. Some of the airstrips are small and are in terrain which makes for tricky approaches and departures. You need to be conscious of the aircraft's weight when planning each flight, as the payload of passengers and goods varies. A pen and paper, or perhaps a spreadsheet will be useful as you will discover. Don't forget to allow for your own weight and the weight of fuel when doing your sums. (For realism, why not use your real world weight?). You also need to remember that the C172 burns 8 US gallons per hour, as that will affect your calculations. (Hint: What does 8 US gallons of AVGAS weigh in kilograms?)

Be aware that in this somewhat remote region, fuel is only available at McCall or at Idaho County airfield, Grangeville.

The tour comprises three trips each day for four days. Flights should be conducted in three time slots; 09:00 hrs to 11:00hrs; 12:00 hrs to 14:00 hrs and 15:00 hrs to 17:00 hrs, and you will need to make two flights in each two-hour section. You must remember to set the time before starting each flight/leg and, of course, you must file a valid PIREP for each flight/leg. Having completed one leg, it is recommended that you submit your PIREP to the CIX VFR Club in the normal manner, disconnect from VATSIM for a short while – time for a cuppa – then reconnect, file a new flight plan & then orft you jolly well go again.

Those using X-Plane might benefit from the Ortho4XP photo scenery which is stunning for this area. As for FSX & P3D, there may be suitable scenery packs for this simulator too.

Remember that Touch & Goes are not landings, so should not be recorded as a destination in your PIREPs. The Club Logger ignores them for this reason. The Event Star will be awarded for landing at one of the en-route or destination airfields on the tour. Which airfield that is, however, is a secret!   If you want to start before December 1st, of course you may, but those flights will not count towards the star award.

Quiz Questions: On Day Four, when you file your PIREP for the flight from Krassel to McCall, put the answers to the following questions in the comments section.

  1. How many cans of waste oil you have delivered at McCall.
  2. When you put the Cessna in the hangar at McCall before flying to Buchanen in the twin, you discover something left behind in the baggage compartment behind the rear seats. What is it?
Flights
DAY One
Leg 1 KMYL McCall ID28 Mackay Bar

ID28 / XKID28 Mackay Bar 1S7 Slate Creek
Leg 2 1S7 Slate Creek S80 / KGIC Idaho County Grangeville

S80 / KGIC Idaho County Grangeville U79 Chamberlain USFS
Leg 3 U79 Chamberlain USFS 3U2 Johnson Creek

3U2 Johnson Creek KMYL McCall
DAY Two
Leg 1 KMYL McCall S81 Indian Creek

S81 Indian Creek 0U0 Landmark
Leg 2 0U0 Landmark U70 Cascade

U70 Cascade ID74 Sulphur Creek Ranch
Leg 3 ID74 Sulphur Creek Ranch 2U7 Stanley

2U7 Stanley KMYL McCall
DAY Three
Leg 1 KMYL McCall ID93 / I92 Reed Ranch

ID93 / I92 Reed Ranch U60 Big Creek
Leg 2 U60 Big Creek I08 Cabin Creek

I08 Cabin Creek U54 Bernard
Leg 3 U54 Bernard 2U5 Shearer

2U5 Shearer 1U1 Moose Creek
DAY Four
Leg 1 1U1 Moose Creek S92 Fish Lake

S92 Fish Lake 3U1 Warren
Leg 2 3U1 Warren 24K Krassel

24K Krassel KMYL McCall
Leg 3 KMYL McCall KCCR Buchanen
Passengers and Cargo You need to be sure that the aircraft does not exceed its maximum all-up weight (MAUW) on any leg of the mission. Here is a table of who and what you will carry on each flight. Ask yourself what will you do if you find your aircraft is overweight before departure at any of the airfields.
DAY One
Leg 1 At McCall, load up with your pilot equipment and overnight kit (10Kg), and an 82Kg passenger. Drop off the passenger at Mackay and pick up a 72Kg forestry worker to take to Slate Creek.
Leg 2 Drop off the forestry worker at Slate Creek. Load up with 70Kg of general supplies, plus 60Kg food and 40Kg medical supplies. At Grangeville, drop off the food and general supplies, pick up a doctor (100Kg), taking him and the medical supplies to Chamberlain.
Leg 3 Depart Chamberlain with the doctor, and a 70Kg patient plus a huge 10Kg Christmas pudding that the Chamberlain USFS station made for Johnson Creek (part of an ongoing tradition). At Johnson Creek drop off the Christmas pudding then continue to McCall to drop off both the doctor and the patient.
DAY Two
Leg 1 Depart with two forestry workers (1x77Kg & 1x101Kg), plus two 10Kg chainsaws and 5Kg oil. Drop off both the forestry workers, one of the chainsaws and the oil at Indian Creek. Pick up two more forestry workers (1x87kg and 1x74kg) and a broken chainsaw (10Kg).  At Landmark, drop off the two forestry workers and the other good chainsaw.
Leg 2 Depart Landmark without any passengers and fly to Cascade where you need to pick up some camera equipment (30Kg), a news reporter (65Kg) and cameraman (91Kg) and take them to Sulphur Creek Ranch.
Leg 3 After dropping off the news team and their equipment, pick up two forestry workers (1x79Kg & 1x86Kg) plus two 20Kg cans of waste oil. Drop off the 86Kg forestry worker at Stanley, then fly back to McCall where you drop off the other forestry worker and the cans of waste oil.
DAY Three
Leg 1 This morning, the Managing Director (78Kg) of McCall Rentals and Sales asks you for a lift to Cabin Creek, but he will need to pick up his secretary (65Kg) at Big Creek. They will then both come with you to Cabin Creek.  However, you also load 80Kg food, 15Kg wine, 15Kg beer (Christmas celebrations perhaps?) and 10Kg medical supplies. Some of the food (40Kg) has to be dropped off at Reed Ranch. You fly then to Big Creek and drop off 20 kg of the food, the beer and 5Kg of the wine.
Leg 2 You depart Big Creek with the Managing Director and his secretary bound for Cabin Creek. Here you say farewell to your passengers and drop off 10Kg of food and 10Kg wine (Discrete is the word of the pilot today). From Big Creek airstrip, head off east along the valley aptly named Big Creek before turning south for Bernard US Forestry Station where you drop off the remaining food.
Leg 3 At Bernard USFS, pick up four 20Kg cans of waste oil (although one of them is only half full) and a large box of leather stores (55Kg) and take them to Shearer Forestry Station where you pick up another can of waste oil (20Kg). Fly to Moose Creek USFS to deliver the box of leather stores.
DAY Four
Leg 1 Departing Moose Creek you fly to Fish Lake USFS to pick up a box of herbal remedies (25Kg). At Fish Lake, you are asked to take an injured forestry worker (69Kg) to McCall. However, you first need to drop off the 10Kg of medical supplies that you brought from McCall, at Warren USFS.
Leg 2 Mid-morning, you fly to Krassel USFS and deliver the 25Kg box of herbal supplies before departing to McCall to deliver all the cans of oil and the injured passenger.
Leg 3 This has been an exhausting trip, so after some lunch, your mate who owns a twin suggests you both go to San Francisco for some R&R. You still need to take a briefcase containing important forestry information to the Pacific Southwest Research Station in Vallejo, so you can fly to Buchanen (KCCR) to deliver this. He says you can be pilot in command.  You jump at the chance!
Weather... or Not Before starting we will check the weather. If it is unsuitable for our trip as planned, then we will fix it. Something we can do in the simulator - wouldn't it be nice if we could do it in real life!
What Aircraft can I fly Most of the flights are to be carried out in a Cessna 172. If you do not have this aircraft, then a similar 4 seat single engined aircraft can be substituted. The final flight is carried out in a General Aviation twin, such as a Beech Baron.
ATC At the time of publishing this event plan, ATC has not been confirmed for the airports on the Caper route.
Radio Discipline Take care not to let our Teamspeak chat cut across ATC. Stop any conversation immediately the R/T comes alive, then continue if "he wasn't talking to us". This is difficult because when transmitting on Teamspeak you can't hear the R/T. So be brief on Teamspeak, and be aware that ATC might be trying to get through. If anyone hears an R/T message which seems to be being ignored, just say "ATC is calling G-CIXN" if you have identified the callsign, or "ATC is calling us" which is a cue for everyone to be quiet on Teamspeak until ATC call again (which they will). Remember too that if asked to "Stand By" by ATC, you do not reply - not even "Roger", but simply wait until you are called again.
Remember also that there are several different ATC frequencies in use, and you may not be able to hear when communications are taking place. Make sure you have set and know how to use a Teamspeak mute switch.
Acknowledgements Event idea and planning: John Lygo
Briefing: John Lygo, Dan Cooper, Peter Dodds.
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