Flight simulating - just got a lot geekier!

I went and got myself Microsoft's Flight Simulator, the 2004 edition. So far I've just been getting to grips with it, but I just did my first landing. If you've read this blog, you'll know that I spent quite a lot of time taking off from Manchester, and trying to land at Liverpool.

Only natural then that I should do the same sort of thing with this. In fact the program had me taking off from Liverpool, eastbound, so going to Manchester seemed like the simplest thing to do.

I passed it on my right, then circled round and came in at about 90 degrees to where I thought the runway should have been. So I had to circle back again. I came in at a bit of an angle, but landed really smoothly. Inevitably, I slewed off the runway because I was using the differential brakes, but if I'd been doing it for real, I'd have probably survived.

I didn't take any screenshots at the time, but I sort of took off again and tried to land. This time I crashed, but this is what it looks like...



Circling around...




Approaching the runway...

Anyway. How's this for a hard luck story?

I got everything right. It was just spot-on. I passed Runcorn bridge and had a perfect glide path into Liverpool. Dead centre. Nose lifted slightly as I touched down and....

I crashed.

I'd forgotten to put the undercarriage back down.