I'd previously, in a post here, traced the route and recollected some of my thoughts from a (RW) Road trip I'd taken many years ago (actually in a Tourist Bus-liner) from Las Vegas to Grand Canyon. For that flight, I'd used the (iniBuilds) Mitsubishi MU-2 twin turboprop. During that post, I learned that one of the most famous and most historic of U.S. Highways, namely U.S. Route 66, that starts out from my hometown Chicago, and traverses ~2,500 miles westward across the heartlands of America, finally ends in Los Angeles, California. And also, that the Route 66 passes through Arizona, about 50 miles south of Grand Canyon... 

The 2nd motivation for this post is my desire to fly the Pilatus PC-12 NGX, the Asobo/Carenado version, for the first time in MSFS2024. I've recently seen this NGX being flown around here in this Forum...🙂..., and, of course, who can ignore that (riveting) bit of the PC-12 NGX (Air Ambulance) action featured in the MSFS2024 launch video...you know...the PC-12 NGX (gingerly) swooping down to land on a (remote) red-soiled dirt-strip...could it be somewhere Australia maybe...🙂..., to airlift an (immobilized) patient requiring urgent medical attention. So, you've now seen umpteen times how the patient is carefully carried by the medics, on a stretcher, to the door of that PC-12 NGX, and now, thanks to yours truly, you'll also see one picture from inside that PC-12 NGX (Air Ambulance) cabin...🙂... (see shot #4 below) ... 

Please note that this PC-12 NGX is a default aircraft in MSFS2024 airplane library, whereas you might also recall that there was a payware Carenado PC-12 (standard version) sold in MSFS2020 Marketplace, which I'd acquired. The (Standard) PC-12 and the (Upgraded) PC-12 NGX are really two different beasts...🙂...

"The Pilatus PC-12 NGX is a significantly upgraded version of the standard PC-12, featuring a more advanced avionics suite, a significantly improved cabin interior, a more powerful engine with better fuel efficiency, and improved performance capabilities like faster climb rates and cruise speeds, making it a more modern and capable aircraft overall compared to the original PC-12."

Now, if you get to try (or have already tried) this (default/Carenado) PC-12 NGX, in MSFS2024, you might notice that there are some inherent imperfections in this SIM version e.g., one relating to capture of Localizer and Glideslope signals for landing (basically, the [NAV]/[APR] buttons on the MCP do not activate the way, they are supposed to, at least in my case, and also so, based on some on-line user reports). After an hour of trials and errors today, I finally came up with a method (surely not the way the "real" PC-12 NGX works...🙂...) that did let me enable the LOC and GS guidance for completing an ILS touchdown. Nonetheless, this a/c is indeed a very nice (free) aircraft available in MSFS2024, that deserves to be flown. And if you have been used, in the past, to the (standard) PC-12 flightdeck avionics displays (most of us would surely recall the (trendsetting) simulation of the PC-12 from Flight1 from the long-bygone FS9/FSX days...I had that PC-12 in a DVD...🙂...), welcome here to the large flat-panel glass screens of this latest PC-12 NGX.

Now back to U.S. Route 66...The history of the roadway in Arizona to be (later) adapted for Route 66 actually traces its roots back 70 years before the Route 66 was officially so designated (in 1926). A Wagon Road (called Beale Wagon Road) was first built in the 1950s across Arizona and other adjacent states, under the supervision of a Naval Officer, named Ned Beale, to help with westward migration. Curiously, though the term "Wagon" seems to imply horse-drawn carriages, the primary mode of transport duties, on this Wagon Road, had initially involved not horses, but camels, special ordered from Egypt, along with Egyptian camel drivers. Over the "Beale Wagon Road", in the desert landscapes of Arizona, the camels could carry heavier loads and also proved faster and stronger than horses. But this arrangement didn't last long. Apparently, "...the camels were foul-smelling, evil-tempered, and ugly...and also scared the horses away..."...🙂...and had to eventually go...Oh well...it was worth a try...

So, for this post, I've roughly followed the route of the original Route 66 across Arizona, from Kingman (KIGM) to Flagstaff (KFLG)...see my MSFS MAP shot #2. Please note, this roadway segment, though still available today for (historical) travel, has been replaced by a straight-through (modern) interstate, I-40, on which I'd travelled during my (RW) road-trip from Las Vegas to Grand Canyon. However, for this post, I am traversing the same dreary (and arid) desert landscapes, as the (original) Route 66 once did, and on which once the (Egyptian) camels ruled the day for travelers, but here now I travel in the comfort of a (Swiss) PC-12 NGX...🙂...hence my title, Camels to Airplanes...

The most significant landmark of my dry and rocky (still somewhat fascinating) passage today is the Humphreys Peak, impressively standing tall at ~13,000 ft, just ~10 miles north of the Flagstaff (KFLG) airport. Below, you will see a few close-up images of this mountain, as I've flown past it on my final approach to Flagstaff airport's ILS RWY 21.

Hope you enjoy this collection of images of this sharp-looking (single-engine) PC-12 NGX turboprop a/c, travelling here across this Arizona desert landscape and near about the historic U.S. Route 66. Next time I come across bits of Route 66 in suburban Chicago, I would be also thinking about those Egyptian camels of the Beale Wagon Road...🙂...

Thanks for viewing...!

Edited January 13, 20251 yr by P_7878

Nice shots !

cheers 😉

Beautiful pics! 😉 

pmplayer, Will, John, and HiFlyer:

Thanks for the comments and responses...!

And glad you liked the pictures...🙂...of this pretty a/c flying over this stretch of bleak (Arizona) deserts landscape...🙂...