Sixty-one DC–3 Flights in Yemen and the Red Sea region

Schedule effective 1st October 1955                                                                                         Download 61 flights here.

Thanks to DCA1541, George Blundell-Pound, DC–3 Airways pilots may now fly in a part of the world that is very under-represented in our VA. Aden Airways, a subsidiary of BOAC, derives its name from its main hub city, Aden, a major port and business center in Yemen. The British influence (BOAC) exists because Aden was a Colony since 1839 (but was returned to Yemen in 1967).

Aden Airways should be OK for both fs9 and FSX.

There is something for everyone in this collection of flights. Route lengths vary from 29 to 670 NM. And don't mistakenly think that "Desert Country" is flat, flat, flat. You will note recommended flight altitudes as high as 11,000 ft. Also, heed such instructions as: "Depart Rwy 25 turning right onto 274°... Have a care for the high ground immediately West," or "... and a quick descent to Rwy 16!" If that's not enough, more than a few Navaids will initially be out of range (designated by an asterisk in the flight instructions) so some Dead Reckoning navigation will be needed. All this adds up to hours of enjoyable flights.

First Class or Tourist Class, Sir? You've got to be kidding. In a twenty-one-passenger DC–3? Aden Airways solved it nicely, though. One structure of flights, labeled "Main Line" Services, is First Class flights. Passengers are allowed up to 30 kilos of baggage and a Hostess and Bar are provided on board the flight. That should take care of the rigors of that "Up and Down" 29 NM flight. "Main Line" flights are easily identified in the attached authentic 1955 timetable because their schedules are printed in Black.

Tourist Class flights carry the interesting designation of "Caravan Class" Services, and are also easily identified because their schedules are printed in Red. Tourist-class passengers are limited to 15 kilos of luggage, but worse, there was no hostess-bar service available on board.

 

 For those who wish to enhance the fs9 African Scenery, a landclass file is available on both FlightSim.com and AVSIM.com. The filename is afrilc.zip, a 4 MB file by Jim Keir. I didn't find an FSX equivalent, but perhaps that default scenery is already superior to the fs9 version. Yemen fs9 mesh scenery is also available, AVSIM only, from Michael Speck. Three files for the whole country: yemen_mesh1.zip, yemen_mesh2.zip, and yemen_mesh3.zip ... 14 to 19 Mb each.

So grab the attached timetable, and like any other passenger, choose your flight, then go to George's well-done flight descriptions for the flight info. For those who like to navigate with a little help, George has provided ".PLN" files for each flight. If you prefer FSNavigator (fs9 only) then it is just a few key strokes to create your own flight plan from George's flight descriptions.

Please note that Yemen time is GMT + 3 and all times in the timetables are "Local."

Thanks again to George Blundell-Pound for Aden Airways and its sixty-one DC–3 flights. It is a superb piece of work.