[ MSFS2020 | VATSIM ] from the 1957 Northwest schedule, the PMDG DC-6 KMSP-KMKE-KYIP!

At least once a month, we like to break out our PMDG Douglas DC-6 and fly it on a re-enactment of a couple legs from a historic timetable -- and tonight, with Chicago ARTCC hosting a "Windy City Wednesday" featuring O'Hare, Midway, and Milwaukee, we centered our search in that area! TimeTableImages.com turned up a trip from the 1957 Northwest Airlines schedule -- flight #210 -- which, during its cross-country trek, flew from Minneapolis (KMSP) to Milwaukee (KMKE) then Detroit (Willow Run)(KYIP). That seemed to fit the bill perfectly! The catch was, during my preflight setup I discovered that there was already a NWA210 on the network, in a DC-6, at Milwaukee -- who had been online since well before I posted my intended itinerary in my Discord. Great minds think alike, I guess! It was all for the best, we figured, since I would probably have a better time listening out for a callsign ending in "514" like I usually use.

With no VATSIM ATC on at Minneapolis, we sequenced ourselves out between jet arrivals and intercepted our route. All things considered, despite a bit of weather in the area, the flight was relatively well-executed. Just as we were starting to wonder which of the four Chicago Center controllers we should reach out to once crossing the boundary, a Minneapolis Center came online. We did jump the gun with respect to our initial descent -- we mistook a crossing restriction for the next VOR down the line as being for the one we were just about to cross. Fortunately this didn't end up causing any major traffic issues.

It took us a moment to explain to our Approach controller that we would need a shallower initial descent, but, with a slight adjustment to our inbound heading we got the few extra track miles we would need to get established on the approach. Speed control on final went relatively well and we continued our streak of being on top of the approach and landing speeds using drag only, rather than continual power adjustments (which are frowned upon in those giant radial engines). Our touchdown was nice and smooth, and we taxied in to end a successful first leg.

We departed for leg two and again felt like we handled the plane according to spec. With the weather behind us, Lake Michigan looked stunning as we made our way toward the old Detroit airport, Willow Run, which served as Detroit's major passenger hub before it was supplanted by the modern Detroit Metro Wayne County. The older airport has changed a lot in its configuration and the terminal building isn't even there anymore -- but we'd had it on good authority that the West Ramp was where it used to be.

Chicago Center was keen to renegotiate our route into YIP, but then our Cleveland Center coverage hopped offline just as we were about to cross the boundary -- and with the need to self-vector onto the ILS to Runway 23, we decided we preferred our route to end at the original VOR rather than the one we'd been rerouted to. From there, though, we flew a pretty basic downwind, base, and intercept vector and soon had Runway 23 at Ypsilanti in sight. For the second time this stream and numerous times since beginning to fly the DC-6 regularly again, our approach and touchdown went as well as we could have asked -- and our modest power reduction and modest flare at the end resulted in a greaser that I'm not even sure anyone felt. We agreed that, right now, this plane is probably the one I'm having the best time flying! -- Watch live at   / slantalphaadventures