Before you start reading this. Please know it’s a fairly long post. But totally worth the read. It’s also a MASSIVE compliment to Laura, Philip and the rest of the developers that make Infinite Flight possible.
I’ve been flying on Infinite Flight for almost 5 years now. And this flight, the one this post is about, the other night was by far and away the best flight yet…because I was mirroring a real time flight of a buddy of mine. The results were incredible…to both me and him. I don’t think anyone realizes how accurate the developers have actually made IF. The comparison to real life are unbelievable!
So a couple nights ago I decided to mirror my buddies flight from Paris to Washington DC. He’s a captain on a Gulfstream G550 for a Fortune 500 company here in the USA. (Sorry, not telling who). Anyway, he did a quick 24hr turn around trip to Paris and was headed home from LFPB, which is located just South and to the West of Charles de Gaulle (LFPG). LFPB is used mainly for corporate aircraft. I told him what I wanted to do and asked for his flight plan. Since we don’t have the G550 in IF (hint hint) I decided to do it in the Citation X, which he also flew for 10 years. Once he assured me I could actually make the flight in it, I loaded up and started entering in the flight plan he gave me. Now, once he was over the Atlantic there wasn’t any way points, so he listed Longitude & Latitude (L&L). I had no way of entering those. Yes, there’s is way, but I didn’t have time to search and figure it out.
Here’s his real flight plan. LFPB-KIAD
I entered in all the way points and right about the time I was adding fuel he sent me a text saying that he was getting ready to taxi in 2 minutes. Flight time for him was 8:27 and flight time for me was showing 8:23. Wow…we were already pretty close!!
So I proceeded to taxi to 07 which takes a bit. (Did I mention we were parked in the exact same spot?
I didn’t know what runway he was using, but 07 is 9,000ft+. I figured he’d be pretty heavy with the amount of fuel he’d have on board for his trip across the Atlantic, so I headed to 07 as well. So now I’m off. I make a left turn immediately and start heading for my direct to EVX. On my climb out, I get on Flightradar24 on my phone. Sure enough he took off 07, but approach made him make an immediate right turn and loop back around, direct to EVX. I look and we’re close to identical on our speed and VS. I was just a couple thousand feet higher. Pretty soon he’s faster then me but climbing slower then I am. So I lowered my VS to what his was showing and gained speed, ultimately letting him catch me in height.
I’m watching him and me climb out. We turn at the same time at EVX and are now direct to SENLO. We hit SENLO and he turns. As soon as it shows him turning, my Citation banked right. Literally with-in 5 seconds of each other. He told me was going to be at FL400 for the crossing so I had that set. Come to find out leveled off st FL380. So I made the change as well. He did ultimately climb up to FL400 and I followed shortly there after.
G550 turn at SENLO
My turn at SENLO
As we’re climbing out I start getting some turbulence. He had said earlier he’d send me a text using the G550’s WiFi but I didn’t want to bug him on the climb out. But wondered if he did. I’ll get to that in a sec.
As I was watching us climb out, I started looking at what I was seeing and what Flightradar24 was saying. They we’re almost identical.
G550 real-time stats
My stats at the same time as his. Compare them. There close to identical.
Notice the OAT, wind, winds direction, speed and altitude.
Knowing it was going to be a long flight, I put my iPad on the charger in my room and started watching an episode of Blue Bloods. Out of the clear blue Marcus sends me a text asking me if I was still flying. I said yes and that I was monitoring on LiveFlight. Then we started talking about the similarities between his flight and my flight. And holy crap it was scary how accurate Infinite Flight was. Now remember, I couldn’t enter in the L&L. So I was flying direct across the Atlantic and he was flying to his predermined L&L. Even then they were spot on. Read our texts…
Talking about how accurate our L&L are…
Then I asked about the bumps on the climb out and also mentioned how much flight time I had left. We were with-in 2 minutes of each other!!!
Same turbulence and flight times were 2 minutes apart!
We started talking about fuel burn. Which obviously the Citation X and a G550 are totally different. But look at his answer when I asked about the Citation Xs fuel burn. Remember. He flew the X for 10 years before moving over to the G550 for the last 10 years. Again spot on. What do you think about the G550 burning 8.39 gallons a minute? Yes, you’re reading that correctly…8.39 gallons per minute. Holy crap!
Anyone want to pay his fuel bill?
After this I went to bed. Set my alarm for 0 dark early so I could descend and land. When I got up I couldn’t find him on Flightradar24, figured he was descending as well and I wasn’t going to send him a text and bother him. I knew we’d catch up later. On my descent into KIAD I had some more turbulence along with a low ceiling and a bit of overcast. By the time I landed I was early. I’m sure somewhere, while I was asleep, the winds changed. I ended up landing with a total flight time of 7:49. I couldn’t wait to ask him if he was early as well. Along with hitting turbulence on his descent in. Holy freaking crap! Have a read…
Our flight times were nearly identical
It’s been almost 5 years now that I’ve been screwing around with Infinite Flight. Never once have I realized how accurate it is. I think we all just take advantage of flying and don’t pay attention to the little details that the developers have put in. Yes, I’m sure there’s a few on here that have entered real flight plans and flown them. I have as well. But I had never mirrored a real flight in real time. I was, and still am, absolutely shocked how accurate IF is. It’s a true testament to the work they put in behind the scenes. Absolutely amazing!
So, from one long time subscriber…Thank you guys, and gal;) for everything.
And if you ever do add the G550 (hint hint) please let me know. I’ll get you all the stats and specs you need. ;)