FSX Flight Plan for OB-9 Bayshore Michigan IFR high speed low altitude military training route. This is the ninth in a series of flight plans I have uploaded. This route goes through flat and rolling terrain and over water in Ontario and Michigan. These are great routes for B-52, F-111, B-1B, B-2 A6, A4, Vulcan and any fighter or bomber enthusiasts. Of course you can fly the route with any aircraft of your choice. Included in this package are two spectacular gauges by Karol Chlebowski for TFR flying and Pave Tack which includes many advanced features for bombing, navigation and reconnaissance. These two gauges will greatly enhance your ability to fly these challenging routes and are a great companion of the flight plans. Another option to download Version 2.1 of my mini panel which has all this functionality and more.
Background:
Strategic Air Command (SAC) from the early 1960's through the 1990's had many Low Altitude High Speed Training Routes throughout the United States where it's aircrews could practice Low altitude Terrain Avoidance Navigation, Simulated Bombing and Electronic Warefare Training. These routes were called "Oil Burner" until the mid 1970's when they were renamed "Olive Branch" to be more politically correct. Each route had an associated Radar Bomb Scoring (RBS) site that provided Bomb scoring and Electronic Warfare activity. These routes were located in very unpopulated areas. Each route also had a name normally associated with the nearest town or village closest to the RBS site.
As an old B-52 crewmember myself for over 14 years I flew most of these route routinely. Although that type of flying can't totally be simulated these Flight Simulator routes using some of the very nice add-on aircraft come very close to reality. I will be releasing more of the "Oil Burner" routes as I get them developed. I have been able to get the data for most of the routes from old paper charts and files I had stored away for years. I have also been able to find much information on the internet the on routes I did not keep the charts from. Even though these routes are old some of them have been renamed and are still in use today. I think you will find these fun and sometimes a bit challenging to fly.
Overview:
FSX flight plan for the Strategic Air Command's OB-9 Bayshore Michigan bomb plot. This is an excellent route to fly Terrain Following (TFR) tactics using Karol Chlebowski's F-111. Karol also provides a very unique instrument called Pave Tack (see Pave tack Notes) that was designed to be used on routes similar to this. I highly recommend you down load and install Karol's fxpiggb5.zip, fxpiggb7.zip and zzpiggz1.zip and use one of his F-111 aircraft to fly this route. You can of course fly this route with any FSX aircraft you choose. I also use the Captain Sim B-52 which is a very good also. There are many great Freeware and Payware options that were made for this type of high speed low altitude flying and bombing.
Many of the targets on the Oil Burner routes were not visual target. I have added object at each target so you can see something in the target area. The bombers that flew these routes used radar for aim points that were offset from the target itself. The targets for this simulationw are contained in the .BGL file provided.
Installation:
1. Place the .FLT .WX .FSSAVE and .PLN files in "\Documents and Settings\Your User Name\Documents\Flight Simulator X Files" folder.
2. Place the .CAB files in" \Microsoft Flight Simulator X\Gauges" folder
3. (Optional) If you desire to simulate the release of weapons please download and install "weapons_pack.zip" following the instructions provided by the author. Skip Step 3 in the Weapon Pack installation instructions. This step is already included in your Flight Plan. If you wish to change the weapon type from the one I included then you can edit DroppableObjects.0 in the .FLT file with notepad and substitute any of the many different weapons. Follow the Weapon Pack authors instructions if you do this.
4. (Optional) If you want the TFR and Pave Tack capability the panel.cfg file/s of the aircraft/s you intend to use on these routes needs the following updates. You will find the panel.cfg file in the panel folder of each aircraft and make edits to this file with Notepad. Excellent documentation for the use of Pave Tack is included in this zip.
The installation is a copy and paste approach. Insert a new window entries into the Windows Title section of the panel.cfg.
[Window Titles]
Windowxx=Pave Tack
NOTE: the xx wil be changed to the next available number at the end of the list in Windows Title. You will use this xx number later.
Insert the following to lines at the end of the main aircraft panel window to add the panel icons. Normally found in [Window00].
NOTE: the yy and zz wil be changed to the next available numbers.
NOTE: I have placed these icons on the top left corner of the main panel window. The size and position can be changed to suit your needs, but the ident MUST be 1515, this allows you to click the screen to toggle the pop-up. I will not go into how to make this change of position and size because there are several programs and info on how to do this on the web. Search is your friend.
Next we add the following to the windows section as the last entry:
Note: Replace the XX in [WindowXX] above with the xx used above in the Windows Title.
(Suggestion) Another method to have access to TFR and Pave Tack is to download and install one of my mini panels. I have developed minipanels with both analog and glass cockpit gauges. I recently updated both minipanels to version 2.1. If you decide to take this approach, decide if you want analog or glass cockpit style panels and download one or both of them from AVSIM or SurClaro. Search either site for "FSX_GlassMiniPanel_V2.1.zip" or "FSX Analog MiniPanel_V2.1.zip".
I realize this will sound complicated to some but I think you will be very pleased with the final results after you have selected which options you wish to take.
Usage:
Start FSX and select the route by clicking the LOAD button on the FSX Free Flight panel. Select either "Entering OB-9 Bayshore Michigan" or "Approaching IP OB-9 Bayshore Michigan". You will most likely get a message at during the loading process indicating the aircraft cannot be found on your system. If you click the "Close" button on that window your default aircraft will be loaded. You can always select the aircraft first that you want to fly before you click the LOAD button. The aircraft you selected just will be flown but you will still get the warning. Again just click "Close" The best approach is to make a minor edit to the .FLT file located in \Documents\Flight Simulator X Files" folder with notepad. Once you have the .FLT open search for sim=. No open the aircraft.cfg file with notepad of the plane you desire to fly and copy TITLE of the desired aircraft. Now paste that title of the aircraft you selected over the "CS B-52 BUFF Exterior Paint0" to the right of sim= and save the .FLT file. Now you will not receive the warning during the loading of the route.
The entering OB-9 flight will Start at the entry point for the route at 24,000 feet at 280 knots. The autopilot is already set to the entry altitude, speed and all radios and NAV aides are set to the appropriate frequency. You will then start a descent to 3,500 feet at 3500 ft/sec. Once you level off set the altitude window in your autopilot to the clearance plane level you wish to fly (e.g. 400 feet) and click the TFR button installed earlier on the main panel in the upper left hand corner. If you didn't install the TFR fly the IFR altitude listed in the route profile below. You will then continue through the route to the bomb run at Bayshore MI. Accelerate to 370 knots. You can use the Pave Tack (see Pave Tack Notes) to aim at the target in the Run In mode and release the bombs with the Shift D keys. After striking the targets slow to 280 knots to begin your egress of the route as shown below in the Route Profile. You can continue on to your post strike base at KI Sawyer AFB Michigan.
If you selected the "Approaching IP OB-9 Bayshore Michigan" you will start just short of the Initial Point (IP) for the bomb run at low altitude. The autopilot is already set to the altitude, speed and all radios and NAV aides are set to the appropriate frequency. set the altitude window in your autopilot to the clearance plane level you wish to fly (e.g. 400 feet) and click the TFR button installed earlier on the main panel in the upper left hand corner. If you didn't install the TFR fly bomb run at 2,300 feet IFR altitude or any altitude you wish. You can use the Pave Tack to aim at the target in the Run In mode and release the bombs with the Shift D keys. This is a very challenging bomb run because of the terrain in the target area. Target Descriptions are in the Route Profile below. After striking the targets slow to 280 knots to begin your egress of the route as shown below in the Route Profile. You can continue on to your post strike base at KI Sawyer AFM MI.
You also have the option of flying the route from takeoff to landing. To do this Start FSX and on the Free Flight page select Flight Planner. Click the LOAD button on the Flight Planner page and select "OB-9 Bayshore MI.PLN" from the list of files. You will need to configure the aircraft for takeoff on your own. After you have successfully taken off and have the airplane cleaned up for normal flight turn on the autopilot and click the NAV function. Also turn your GPS/NAV switch to GPS. Set 24000 feet in the altitude window of the autopilot and turn on the altitude function. This will take you to the entry point of the low altitude route where the procedures will be identical to the entering the route as documented above.
For weather conditions I have light winds and good visibility set. I you desire different weather you can set it using the normal FSX procedures for changing weather conditions. You can save these weather conditions by clicking Flights\Save and overwrite this route or create an new name for the flight on the Save Screen.
Route Profile:
Pt_A Cross at 24,000 or as assigned. Start Descent to 3,500 MSL
Pt_F TA/TFR Initiation Point
Pt_K Start Descent to to 2,300 MSL
Pt_T Initial Point (IP) Start Maneuver Area
Tgt_A Target overwater
Tgt_B Target overwater
Tgt_C Target overwater
Tgt_D Target overwater
Pt_W End Maneuver Area TA/TFR Termination Point Start Climb to 25,000
Pt_AC Exit OB-9 Cross at 25,000 MSL
Note: Altitudes from Point F - Point W are IFR altitudes. TFR is authorized between these points if you so desire and have the visibility Of course you can fly any altitude you like. These were the IFR altitudes actually used on this route.
[CREDITS AND ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS]
Thanks to Karol Chlebowski for the use of the very impressive Pave Tack and TFR gauges.
[COPYRIGHT & DISTRIBUTION]
The software contained in this archive is supplied as "freeware", and as such no fee or charge may be made for its use.
The author grants permission for the free distribution in its PRESENT FORM ONLY, however the aforementioned archive and its contents, as well as all other freeware files included in this package remain the exclusive copyright of their respective authors, and again, no charge may be for any part of this archive.
DISCLAIMER
There is no warranty or guarantee of any kind, expressed or implied, for any problems whatsoever resulting from the use of this software (though its very unlikely). The user assumes all risk related to the use of these files.
