Some thoughts and ideas about Sunday's race - you might want to read

[RFields]

I think Bobby Labonte is going to put Richard Petty's #43 back in victory lane for the first in almost 20 years.

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Re that other minor event which starts Sunday about the same time - 1700 UTC.

I've been told I can let you know some things I've learned about the RTW Race - subject to last minute changes of the organizer's minds.

(1) The argument that there are many DC-3's flying with updated avionics has been won. You can replace the DC-3 panel with modern avionics. Personally I enjoy the panel by Norm Hancock available at http://www.dc3airways.com/panels_fs2004.html Another excellent source is http://douglasdc3.com/fs2004/fs2004.htm

WARNING - Always make a backup of the default panel, and if you are not familiar with adding panels and do not have time to test before Sunday - use the default panel.

(2) svenks (Sven Sorensen) on Avsim wins the "Best Guess" prize this year - supplying Berlin with an airlift is going to be the kickoff - but there will be some additional conditions & requirements like start airports, types and number of flights, etc. People who cannot fly on multiplayer with a lot of other people present will be able to fly this event off-line and post their Duenna verifications.

(3) Flying in the Alps at low altitude will be a part of the race near the end. There will be bonus hours for using higher resolution 76M mesh. Those such as FSGenesis, FSGlobal, RealScene and many payware and freeware mesh's will be acceptable. If you have a question about a specific mesh - ask.

Two of the excellent freeware mesh's available are:

Yohann Baptiste's - eur_srtm_07.zip on Avsim (52MB)
eur_srtm_01.zip on Avsim is a very good companion - also 52MB in size

Holger Sandmann's - available on FlightSim and Avsim - alpsw_fe.zip, alpse_fe.zip and alsp_up1.zip (127mb total download size)

For dial-up folks - the single 52MB download of Yohann mesh is sufficient to meet the requirement.

This 76M mesh is optional, but will add bonus hours. It will not be needed before Tuesday, Feb 21. Should you have concerns about downloading such a large file - remember other team members might be able to full the requirement and dial-up folks could do spotting and provide additional assistance.

(4) Speaking of low altitude - be ready to fly any flights starting in the eastern hemisphere at a Pressure Altitude of 8,500 ft or lower. That is the altimeter needs to be set at 2992 / 1013.

Duenna will record your PAR. If you go over 8,500 ft - you get a flashing yellow warning, if you violated the restriction for two consecutive minutes - you get a solid yellow warning, and the flight is invalidated with a red flag the next time you are above 8,500 ft PAR.

Note the PAR altitude of 8,500 ft may be above or below the real altitude - your altimeter is the judge. Most folks should modify some of their aircraft panels to have an altimeter you can be certain you can set to 2992. The default King Air 350 altimeter is on everyone's computer and easy to substitute.

Now to answer the obvious question - what are the boundaries of the "Eastern" and "Western" hemispheres? The position of the takeoff airport - if the longitude is E - the 8,500 foot limit applies, if the longitude is W - fly as high as FS will work.

----- Don't bet the farm on these because something can always change - but I'm sure the final rules will be very close.

AGAIN - backup and test....the absolute worst time to try a new mesh, scenery or panel is during an official baton flight.

Finally - GO BOBBY AND KYLE !!!!!!

[Moses03]

I don't like the idea of screwing around with new mesh this close to the race but so be it.

Thanks for the headsup-

Moses

[Ferry_vO]

So we need to avoid the Alps and the Himalayans, but we can fly over the Rockies and the Andes.

I suppose we will need to haul a certain amount of cargo to Berlin, and will need to a certain amount of flights to Berlin before the race starts.

[Panaka]

off to mod my panels. Everything in the eastern hemisphere is a bit much to skirt around.

[Willy]

So we need to avoid the Alps and the Himalayans, but we can fly over the Rockies and the Andes.

I aint afraid of the Alps. I've got a nice bright orange P-38 in my hanger that flys well thru those valleys. :d

[Ferry_vO]

I aint afraid of the Alps. I've got a nice bright orange P-38 in my hanger that flys well thru those valleys. :d

That might be the case in good weather and daylight, but in any other circumstances I'd say avoid the mountains !

Better lose some time because we fly around, then lose time because of a few crashes.

[Senator_Tehocan]

i've got a NICE big map hanging in my room showing all the alps, with valleys, and altitude (in meters). ain't afraid of those alps, not even in bad weather. used to fly through those things in an F16 back then in my FS02 days. (ok wasn't always under 8500ft) with my P38 that's no problem at all

[Panaka]

And there are one or two routes that you can fly under 8500ft all the way.

[Willy]

When we were working on our Alps Rally (that is on hold for now), I was flying them in real Wx and had a blast even with 0 viz.
GPS = Ground Picture System :d. BTW, I'm using this route for a race practice run in the F4U-4. One of those cure or kill ideas. :costumes:

I've installed Holger Sandmann's mesh (my first ever mesh install :d ) and it's went pretty well and looks a lot more craggy & rocky than the default. If you go with this one, make sure you get the update that goes with the main two files.

[JETninja]

Willy, I just downloaded both Mesh's (Broadband) and didn't notice an update. Do you have a File Name?

And I want to clarify, are David's Race version of his P-38L eligible? Having a Panel issue with my regular "L"....

[Willy]

dcc's race version P-38s are not legal as are the Reno Racers, Gee Bees, etc.

Holger Sandmann's - available on FlightSim and Avsim - alpsw_fe.zip, alpse_fe.zip and alsp_up1.zip

The one in bold is the update.

[mississippi]

I don.t no abort mesh but 99 Carl Edwards in he's Ford is going to do what we going to do Avsim and Flightsim blow all there door's off sunday . :wiggle: :d

[Gnoopey]

I aint afraid of the Alps. I've got a nice bright orange P-38 in my hanger that flys well thru those valleys. :d

you should be Willy, it's still winter and the wx isn't very nice at the moment. But yeah, that bright orange color of Yippee would be easy to spot for the rescue teams :D

People over here, that apply for a PPL have to do a special 'Alps introduction' prior to 'let 'em loose'. This is also highly recommended for any experienced pilot who's visiting the alps only on occasion ;)

[Henry]

i do a lot of flying in the alps
actually most of my mossies i fly there
try out in a p38 time i think:d
willy thats only the update there is one other
lets see if i can help
no promise but ill try
H:d

[JETninja]

The one in bold is the update.

Ahh, OK..I missread it...two different author's meshes. Need one or the other...not both. Using the first one...I don't spend that much time over there. Thanks!