Some questions about rtw race

[naravac]

I'm considering doing the race.

However there are some questions i would like to ask

1. does the RTW race include crossing the pacific and atlantic?
2. are GA aircraft such as Carenados cessna 182q or P-38 lighting allowed to be used for the flights?
3. does the pilot flying a certain leg of the race have to complete that leg assigned to the pilot?

NARAVAC
Virtual Aircraft Delivery Pilot

[Willy]

1. does the RTW race include crossing the pacific and atlantic?

Either that or going around. Depends on what appears to be the most beneficial to our effort and what if any corridors are allowed across the oceans


2. are GA aircraft such as Carenados cessna 182q or P-38 lighting allowed to be used for the flights?

We do have default flights where a C182 would be flown, but that would only be the default C182. The P-38 has been a mainstay of the race almost since it's inception. Hard to say no to both speed and range.



3. does the pilot flying a certain leg of the race have to complete that leg assigned to the pilot?

Once a pilot posts that he has the baton, he's expected to make his flight all the way to destination. If he crashes or some other ugly thing happens, the responsibility to complete that leg falls to his wingman with a penalty applied to the team. If there's no wingman or the the wingman fails, then the team starts back at departure point with the accordling loss of time from the failed flight.

[Moparmike]

I'm not positive, but I'm pretty sure the Carenado 182s were considered suitable substitutes for the MS planes for those GA flights. the organizers had a list of add-on A/C that they considered equivalents of the stock planes...and I'm sure they'll have that listed again too once the site is back on the air.
The P-38s (in particular but not exclusively DCC's) are a very popular race plane. But you will see quite a variety of aircraft throughout the race too. Most of the SimOuthouse team members are usually found flying WWII warbirds but anything from GA & light commercial twins (piston or t-prop), 4-engine piston propliners or bombers, etc might be seen in the skies. Since it's a race against the clock (and the other teams), the faster you go the better you'll do but there are some situations where "low-n-slow is the way to go" too. :)


The RTW race is a "baton" type relay race as Willy summarized. Once the race begins from the starting airport, a team pilot will fly a leg of the race "carrying the baton" from that airport to one in the general direction of the finish line. That pilot (or his wingman for the leg) has to succesfully complete that leg before another pilot can take the baton for the next leg from it's landing point. A crash or otherwise incomplete leg is considered invalid and the pilot (or another team member) will need to restart that leg from the point of origin.

Most of the team members fly the race online in a multi-player session but it's not mandatory. You can fly a leg offline if your internet connection or computer is not cooperating...the baton's progress is tracked via posts in a specific forum thread so everyone can keep track of where the baton is at. If you can, flying online is the most fun as there is usually several other members online to chat with or give weather reports. Makes a long flight much more interesting!

The usual route for the large ocean crossings in the race is either far north or far south. I.E., the Pacific crossing is commonly flown across from Alaska to Russia and the Atlantic crossing is commonly done via Canada-->Greenland-->Iceland-->Scotland.
In past races, except for a certain few special rule situations there has a time limit for each leg of 2 hours so that pretty much rules that we take these short crossings to meet the time requirements.

I wish I could point you towards the forum threads here from past races but we lost them when the forum puked a while back. Other team members can maybe fill in more details.

Let us know if you're interested. We'd be glad to have ya fly with us!

[Moparmike]

Actually, I just realized that the CFC forums archive still has the race threads from 2005.

Check them out to see what we were doing that year.
http://www.cfcforums.com/showthread.php?t=13818
http://www.cfcforums.com/showthread.php?t=13850
http://www.cfcforums.com/showthread.php?t=13938

[naravac]

Sounds like alot of fun. I would be keen to do some over over water legs. I guess there is a list of suitable that can be used? can the aircraft be used through out the race?

[Dangerousdave26]

Well because of the rules last year we flew a large diversity of planes during the race. There was an aircraft diversity bonus of 30 minutes for each leg over 300nm. We ended up flying


A-26 Invader (4 Legs)
North American P51 (4 Legs)
Lockheed_P-38 (6 Legs)
Socata_TBM-700 (1 Legs)
Republic_P-47 (4 Legs)
North_American_P-82 (3 Legs)
DeHavilland_Hornet (7 Legs)
Beechcraft_KingAir (3 Legs)
Supermarine_Spitfire (1 Leg)
Mig15_S-103 (1 Leg)
Vought_A-7 (5 Legs)
Northrop_B-2 (1 Leg)
Convair_990 (1 Leg)
Aeromacchi_Mb-339 (3 Legs)
Boeing_737 (1 Leg)
Republic_F-84 (1 Leg)
Vought_Corsair F4U 5N (3 Legs)
Lockheed_P-3 (1 Leg)
Grumman_F8F (5 Legs) Be sure to get the long range model
Hawker_SeaFury (1 Leg)
Howard 500 (1 Leg)

Default Class

Piper Cub*
Vickers Vimmy
Douglas_DC-3
Ford_Tri-Motor*
Extra 300s
Beechcraft_Baron
DeHavilland_Comet

Helicopter

Bell_206


And I think that list is missing a couple of legs or planes.

Each aircraft flown had its niche or requirement along with carring a bonus. The rules are fairly extensive and require a Flight Sim Lawyer to understand them but as a new person you are not expected to know them. That job is for the veterans of the race but you are encouraged to read them when they are availible again. The main race page is down and the owner of the site is out of the country and can not attend to fixing it now.

My suggestion is when we post the next practice join us (will be coming soon). Come fly along online if you want to grab the Wingman position it is a great place to learn or just fly the leg and see how it is done.

You will need FSUIPC unregistered ask for instructions on installing it if you need help.

You will also need the Duenna software that validates the flights.

http://johannesmueller.com/fs/web/duenna/

Down load the Full install Rev 44 and update 117 install in that order.

It is fun to say the least.

Dave

[Willy]

Best fun I've had with my pants on.