Round-The-World Race Round-Table

[PRB]

I had heard/read in here or the FS9 forums that the RW Weather updates in FSX were no longer working. . .do you know anything about that?

I did, then I heard that it was working again. It seemed to be working again during the Holkham run.

[TeaSea]

Dates!!!

Lots of things going on.

[PRB]

Dates!!!

Lots of things going on.

Traditionally, the race has started on the same weekend as the Daytona 500, or the weekend after Valentines Day. No word yet from the Race Committee on the exact date as yet.

[PRB]

A word about choosing an airplane to fly. This can sometimes become a touchy subject, but, heck, I've been in worse trouble, so here goes. The race usually is limited to piston powered planes, or turbo-props with no more than two engines. Legs are limited to 700 NM in range, and no more than two hours in duration. So, you need a piston powered plane that can make a 700 NM leg in two hours or less. This means warbirds. There are a few exceptions, such as the P.180 Avanti, but historically, warbirds have dominated these race legs. But making 700 miles in two hours means you need a pretty fast ride. P-40s are out. Early model Spitfires, Hurricanes, F6Fs, A6Ms, P-39s, Me-109s, no chance. P-38s can do it, but a good tail wind helps. But P-38s can easily make a 650 mile leg, and most legs are something less than the maximum of 700 miles. And P-38s are easy to land, which means they are a good choice for bad weather and darkness, on short legs (500-600 NM). In addition, you get maximum “style points” in a P-38. Ok, that's just my biased opinion. Milton Shupe's F7F-3 is a good choice for anything up to 700 NM. She's faster than a P-38, but is also a “nose-dragger” and easy to land (just don't get slow on final, or it WILL kill you). The fastest planes are the P-51s, of any variety. If I have to fly a “pony” I choose the WarbirdSim P-51B. Among the warbirds, there are two that are simply “off the charts” fast. In fact, many of us think these two planes are un-realistically fast. They are the A2A P-51H and the Alphasim DeHavilland Hornet. Both of these are FS9 planes, but the P-51H works just fine in FSX. The Hornet has short legs, so it's better for, well, short legs. Until and unless these two speed demons are deemed illegal for having “hot” flight models, they are legal, and well represented in these races. This is just a basic overview of this subject. Others may want to add to or revise my remarks.

Exceptions: Of course, why wouldn't there be? There are also “wildcard” legs, and legs that allow jets, over some parts of the world. Sometimes. We have to wait for the rules to come out...

[AussieMan]

I have the current Duenna working and showing all greens in P3Dv1.4 and using Active Sky.

[robert41]

I think my biggest issue is having the time to fly a specifically scheduled event. Last years RTW race was out because of my work schedule. Same with last fall's transcontinental event. Last minute, had to work that day. Perhaps I could participate in another way.

[PRB]

I think my biggest issue is having the time to fly a specifically scheduled event. Last years RTW race was out because of my work schedule. Same with last fall's transcontinental event. Last minute, had to work that day. Perhaps I could participate in another way.

One thing about not having time. This event will last about four days, non-stop, day and night. At any point during that time, there will be a pilot in the air, on a two hour leg, and the next leg will need to be flown. So, if, at any time during those four days, you have a couple of hours free, you drop by and see if anyone is setup for the next leg, and if not, you could fly it. The exceptions to this would be if the next or current leg is one of the "wildcard" legs, which can be quite long sometimes. Also, there are indeed other ways to help. Sitting at the destination airport and reporting weather conditions and terrain "features" to avoid is always very helpful. It's a two hour leg, you'll have time to shoot a couple approaches, from each end of the runway, to see which has the least amount of these "features" to deal with.

If you're online, your plane will be visible to the incoming pilot at ten miles. This is sometimes helpful as well, especially in bad weather. If there are already ten planes parked at the airport, online, that can become a problem in itself, as it will drag frame rates down to dangerous levels for the inbound pilot. It's been a while since we've had that problem, however...

[teson1]

I definitely will participate.
This is still the best event of the year.
Nothing equals it in terms of tension of pushing through night rain and storm to advance the team, and online cameraderie.

Nevertheless I have a few gripes where I see room for improvement to foster participation to the race:

1) Length of the race/running the race into the work week.

The race running till the middle of the week is pretty tough on the ballance between sim/private/work life, and by wednesday dedicated pilots get pretty drained after several nights with little sleep.
Also, it can get very pretty lonely Tue/Wed morning around 8:00Z when US ppl go to bed.

I'd appreciate if the race could be run on week-ends only.
Something like this: Split the race in two parts and run over two week-ends.

Week-end 1 (about 35-40 hrs of race time):
Start as usual around 15:00Z on 1st saturday.
Run the race non-stop until sunday night. Last flights to start not later than something like 6:00Z monday morning (asia ppl + late US ppl + early EU ppl online).

Then Race stops for the teams where these flights ended till the next WE.

Week-end 2:
Start friday evening something like 24:00Z (US ppl home from work).
Run non-stop to the finish line (probably 35-50 hrs flight time remaining judging from last races).

IMO that would allow for a more healthy compromise between work and sim life and would reduce the stress of the race (and I suspect that Fri/sat nights more pilots would be online than Mon/Tue/Wed nights)

2) Apparent steep learning curve for Newcomers, and fears of hurting the team.

I remember my trepidation when joining the RTWR about letting the team down by crashing or other newbie errors.

But that has been greatly addressed by the Rookie Mulligans introduced last year, which should definitely be continued into this year (and maybe even in addition to the free baton transfer a landing crash should be accepted as valid flight with a moderate penalty like 30 min ?).
With the Rookie Mulligan a newcomer making an error has very little risk of hurting the team as long as he's flying with a solid wingman, which would take a heavy weight off a newcomer's shoulder.


Looking forward to meet ya all in the race

[Milton Shupe]

I like your concept Teson; maybe the committee can shape something like that. Thank you for your thoughts.

[crashaz]

I'm in once again!


Had Tom Allensworth ask me at Simcon why I wasn't flying with Avsim.... told him I want to fly with Milton! He understood.

[Milton Shupe]

I'm in once again!


Had Tom Allensworth ask me at Simcon why I wasn't flying with Avsim.... told him I want to fly with Milton! He understood.

Ha! Now that's funny no matter who you are :-)

Thanks and know that I feel privileged to fly with the SOH team.

[Tako_Kichi]

The first practice has started so those who've shown an interest jump in and give it a go!

The practice thread can be found in the RTWR forum:

http://www.sim-outhouse.com/sohforum...d=1#post859198

[MM]

Pat, it would be wonderful if we could get the Duenna to work in a P3D environment. I have PM'd you asking for some details. Any help would be much appreciated by all. If you get a chance to respond, that would be great.
Thanks,
Mike

[AussieMan]

Pat, it would be wonderful if we could get the Duenna to work in a P3D environment. I have PM'd you asking for some details. Any help would be much appreciated by all. If you get a chance to respond, that would be great. Thanks, Mike

Mike,

I will get you some screenshots later tonight and post them for you.

[AussieMan]

Mike, you have a PM.

[PRB]

I'm posting this here and in the practice thread, to show what a "real" race leg looks like. When the pilot flying the current leg has landed, but not before that pilot has posted the baton is free, you make your post. By this time you're sitting on the runway, real weather loaded, local time of day set, duenna launched, and destination airport punched into the GPS. Of course you've been in this state for the five minutes waiting for the baton holder to land, hoping the weather gets better (it won't) and wondering why it's taking so long for the sun to come up. The post is simply this:

I have the baton, KVAY - KDPL, WBS P-51D (restored).

Now just hope I don't crash while demonstrating a "real" race leg...

[PRB]

If you are flying as "wingman" (wing person!) to this flight, you would do the same as above, and post "I am flying wing to PRB, A2A P-47D" Flying as wing, BTW, is a great way to do a first leg. You get to do all the things you do as a baton holder, but the pressure is less.

[PRB]

You should make frequent posts letting the team know of your status. This way the next pilot, waiting for you to land, has some idea of how much time there is to grab a hotdog and coffee from the diner next to the control tower. Even if you're online and telling lies on TeamSpeak, this is still important. The next pilot may not be online, but just checking this the race thread.

30 minutes out...

[PRB]

At some point you would make a post something like "15 minutes out. Last post before landing." Usually because you've kicked off the auto pilot and will be too busy to post until on the ground.

[PRB]

As soon as you land, you post: The baton is free at KDPL!

http://fs-duenna.com/flights/ShowFli...JYM1kU1Ua9wIgU

Also post the link to the duenna site that's in the text file the duenna makes at the end of your flight. And pots the jpg image too. You can make your "baton free" post with no attachments, so the next pilot can go. You have an hour to post the "paper work" validating your flight.

[PRB]

Style points if you take some screen shots along the way, to add credibility to your tall tales and sea stories (lies) about your flight. See? easy as that. Just don't crash, like I almost did on take off. It had been a while since I've flown this bird, and Her-Torkyness tried to kill me, swerving to and fro down the narrow runway... And it's short, so I tried to yank the beaste into the air at the last minute, then heard that Accu-Feel rumble that told me I was in grave danger (is there any other kind?). Made it though!

[Tako_Kichi]

NOTAM

There has been a news release in the RTWR forum, please read and discuss.

http://www.sim-outhouse.com/sohforum...and-Discussion

[Tako_Kichi]

Practice 2 has started and the details are here:

http://www.sim-outhouse.com/sohforum...r-Express-quot

All you folks who said you were interested NOW is the time to jump in and get your feet wet.

If you have any questions about how to get started then shout up as there are many on the team more than willing to hold your hand to get you flying.

The bottom line is that if we don't get enough pilots we will not be able to participate!

[Tako_Kichi]

Practice 3 has started and the details are here:

http://www.sim-outhouse.com/sohforum...din-South-quot

All you folks who said you were interested NOW is the time to jump in and get your feet wet as this is likely to be the last practice before the race starts.

If you have any questions about how to get started then shout up as there are many on the team more than willing to hold your hand to get you flying.

The bottom line is that if we don't get enough pilots we will not be able to participate!

[Viper007]

Hello,

I have flown in RTW before; P38, F7F I think which I 'graduated' to and I find is an awesome plane (if it is the blue one as I recall); I just need to find the whitelist; download locations etc.

I am in if you will have me but I have a few questions; I think there is another thread for those and I will post them there; I know how to connect an all but my biggest concern is the server and ow to connect to it; there have always seem to be problems in this area (not here with you guys cause I never flown here as I recall !); it is with those darndable port numbers 12345 or whatever HAHA (!) and the limit to the nimber of players that can connect and people getting bumped or not being able to connect cause some people are already logged in etc...!

I am wondering if you guys can set up a Teamspeak class on server connecting !

I will tell you that other groups have tried VPN with some success; there is also Hamachi which I will be testing on my own in my own flight simming ventures and have used before; also with good success and ease of use (AND the ability to see each others' models not that that is needed here !); this stuff probly doesnt apply here but I think player inter-connectivity has always been an issue with MS Flight sim.

So I will hop on over to the discussions pages; the practice leg #3 I see you all went thru 2 practice already !

I have also made some Livestream videos of my flightsimming ventures; my upstream is slow and I wont be streaming if I fly in the race due to lagg concerns; I will be getting a faster IP service for streaming in March so I will be streaming flightsim alot I hope !

I have 2 streaming sites that are listed on my website if anyone is interested; I am updating that and restarting my Special Ops Org for Vatsim as well; might as well give that another try too !

Hope to chat with you all soon...

Viper007