A Flight Simulator Odyssey

by Charles Gulick

Steel Yourself

Chart: Detroit
Title: STEEL YOURSELF
En Route Coordinates:
   Aircraft: N16712, E19173
   Tower: --
Altitude:
   Aircraft: 1781
   Tower: --
Heading: 312
Time: Daylight

Ahead is downtown Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania, at the confluence of the three rivers for which Three Rivers Stadium (in Roberto Clemente Memorial Park) is named--the Monongahela (to your right), the Ohio (a continuation of the Monongahela), and the Allegheny.

The skyscrapers with which you're about to mess around mark Gateway Center, situated adjacent to Point State Park. Together they comprise the Golden Triangle of America's "Renaissance City," so-called for its rebirth from what was the dingy steel city of smoke and soot not many years ago, de-scribed by its own mayor as "the dirtiest slag pile in the United States." In 1980 Pittsburgh launched Renaissance II, its second improvement program since World War II.

Your mission is to fly between the two rightmost buildings, then around the left side of the third building. To accomplish this you needn't stay on your initial heading. Approach the problem any way you see fit. You may find it's a bit tougher than it looks. And like any good stunt pilot, you may want to fly over there and assess the layout of things before your first attempt.

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