Pacific Rim 50's Jet Race Rules

[Willy]

Operation Sim-Outhouse RIMPAC 2010

AKA


Nifty 50s Pacific Rim Jet Race

Overview


It’s December, 1959. The US Air Force is holding a World Air Power Exposition at Edwards Air Force Base, in California. All the countries of the world are invited to attend and display their latest military aircraft. The exposition will also be used as a training exercise to develop air routes along the Pacific Rim, and as a bit of a semi-unofficial contest of speed and efficiency between the participants. As such, all the participating aircraft will begin their flight to Edwards AFB from Darwin, Australia, and will be required to stop at several major cities along the Pacific Rim.

Event Start Time


The event will begin on at 1200 GMT, on 23 April 2010. The event will continue until all pilots have completed the event, or until it is reasonably clear that no more pilots will complete the event. This event can flown either online or offline. The Sim-Outhouse FSHost server will be available for those who prefer the online experience.

Aircraft


Any sub-sonic military jet powered aircraft that was in service before December 31, 1959 is eligible. Sub-sonic in this case means that the aircraft must not be able to achieve Mach 1.0 in level flight at any altitude. If the plane cannot achieve Mach 1.0 speed in level flight, it is eligible. Each race participant must choose one (1) aircraft to fly for the entire event. If there is any doubt about an aircraft’s eligibility, please post it in the race overview thread.

Aircraft Modifications


The aircraft’s panel.cfg may be modified to add or remove gauges from the cockpit panels. The aircraft.cfg may be modified only to add radios,autopilot sections and/or effects like smoke or lights. No modifications to the performance of the aircraft or fuel capacity are allowed. No Ito or Mark Rooks aircraft.

The Route


The event will begin at Darwin, Australia (YPDN) and end at Edwards AFB (KEDW). Requires stops include: Halim International Airport, Jakarta (FS9: WIIH, FSX: WIHH), Hong Kong (Old) (VHHX), Yokota Air Base, near Tokyo (RJTY) and Elmendorf AFB, Anchorage AK (PAED). There is no minimum or maximum leg lengths, no wild cards, and no corridors.

Pilots can land at any airport with the following exception:

As the Cold War is still running strong, landing in the Soviet Union (Russia), China, or North Korea is prohibited. However Soviet Premier Khrushchev has graciously allowed us to use Yelizovo Airport in Petropavlovsk-Kamchatsk (UHPP) in return for possible Soviet entries into the event. Pilots who land at UHPP are strongly requested by the Soviets to either stay on the flightline with their aircraft or only go to the airport’s Pilot’s Lounge. Be prepared however for extensive “Customs” searches of aircraft by agents of the KGB.



Navigation


Navigation will be by NDB stations, VOR/DME or dead reckoning. You may not use GPS, or any third party navigation application that displays your location on a map. Drift gauges may be used.

Time of Day Settings


The flight legs may be completed using local daylight. This simulates the fact that crews would complete legs when convenient. However, three legs must be ended in darkness. The duenna time stamp will be used to verify this requirement.

Weather Settings


The sim must be set to use real weather, updated every 15 minutes, with the “update winds aloft” check box checked. The use of third party weather add-ons can be used for their textures only. All racers must use the sim-based FS weather engines to generate the weather conditions.

Realism Settings


You must fly with the "unlimited fuel" box in realistic mode (that is, unchecked.) Crash detection must be enabled, and Aircraft Stress Causes Damage checked. Allow collisions with other aircraft should not be checked, especially if flying online. The flight model General and Crash Tolerance sliders must be set to the most realistic position (full right.) It is recommended, but not required, that pilots fly with P-factor, Torque, and Gyro settings to full-right position.

Bonuses


A 30 minutes bonus will be awarded for each country in which a full stop landing is made, to complete and start an event leg, not including Australia and the United States.

Bonus Countries

(1/2 Hour Bonus for Landing Here [1 Bonus per Country])

Indonesia

Philippines

Singapore (British)

Malaysia

Cambodia

North Vietnam

South Vietnam

Macao (Portuguese)

Hong Kong (British)

Republic of China (Formosa)

South Korea

Japan

Canada


Other Nearby Countries (No Landing Bonus)

Territory of New Guinea (Australia) (Now PNG)

Portuguese Timor

Brunei (British)

Burma

Laos

USSR (No Bonus)



Excluded Countries (No Landing Allowed)

USSR (Except UHPP)

Peoples Republic of China (Mainland China)

North Korea


Awards


Eco-Fuel Award: An award will be presented to the pilot who completes the event using the least amount of fuel.

Speed Demon Award: An award will be presented to the pilot who completes the event in the least amount of time, to be determined by adding the duenna Flight Times, minus bonuses.

Leg Procedures


Start a new thread in the Multiplayer forum at Sim-Outhouse with your name in the title. When starting a flight, post something along the lines of "Flying from XXXX to YYYY.”

When landing, post that you have landed at y and attach the two (2) Duenna files to the post. Also post the distance covered (NM) and amount of fuel used (by weight).

NOTE: The amount of fuel used can only be obtained by comparing the fuel load at take off with the fuel load after landing, therefore it is important to note these values before exiting FS after your flight. If you forget to record the fuel used, the leg will have to be re-flown. Of course, this is only important if you are going for the fuel efficiency award. Fuel used can also be taken from the difference in weight between takeoff weight and landing weight which can be obtained in the Duenna text file. All fuel notations to be done by weight in pounds, not by gallon.

The Duenna program is recommended, but not required, to track flight time throughout the event. You should post both the image file and the txt file (the latter providing detailed information) to authenticate each flight. See http://johannesmueller.com/fs/web/duenna/

If you choose not to use the Duenna program, your flight time will count the forum time from your departure post ("Flying from x to y in aircraft z") until your arrival post ("Arrived in y"). A screenshot of the MSFS Flight Analysis Screen, zoomed out to show both departure and arrival points, is required to validate your flight if the Duenna is not used

Crashes


If you crash due to “pilot error” (trees, hills, building, rocks, goats, over speed, over stress, running out of gas), the leg must be re-flown. In this case, the time spent on the mishap leg will count against your total time, so the mishap duenna file must be posted. If the crash wasn’t your fault (computer crash, critical spousal “honey-do’s”) you can cancel the leg and fly it again later. In this case the time spent flying the leg will not count against your total. However, keep in mind to post about your crashes in the Pilot’s Lounge thread as we are easily entertained.

[RedGreen]

A couple of questions:

Does Hong Kong count as a 30 minute bonus (as a British Protectorate)?

Would using the option to land at UHPP give a 30 minute bonus for landing and taking off in the Soviet Union?

[Moses03]

A couple of questions:

Does Hong Kong count as a 30 minute bonus (as a British Protectorate)?

Yes. You have to land outside of Hong Kong to pick up China bonus.

Would using the option to land at UHPP give a 30 minute bonus for landing and taking off in the Soviet Union?

Yes.

[Moses03]

The section in red has been eliminated from rules. Apologies for any confusion.

Aircraft


Any sub-sonic military jet powered aircraft that was in service before December 31, 1959 is eligible. Sub-sonic in this case means that the aircraft must not be able to achieve Mach 1.0 in level flight at any altitude. Note that this means aircraft that have a maximum Mach number equal to or greater than 1.0 listed in the aircraft.cfg will not be eligible. If the plane cannot achieve Mach 1.0 speed in level flight, it is eligible. Each race participant must choose one (1) aircraft to fly for the entire event. If there is any doubt about an aircraft’s eligibility, please post it in the race overview thread.

[jkcook28]

That takes out the A-4 then. I'll update a new choice in the entry thread later today.

[Moses03]

I'm confused. I thought the A-4 could not hit Mach 1 in level flight?

[jkcook28]

I'm confused. I thought the A-4 could not hit Mach 1 in level flight?

It can't, but the way I read this: Note that this means aircraft that have a maximum Mach number equal to or greater than 1.0 listed in the aircraft.cfg will not be eligible. it's not eligible.

In the ,cfg it reads max mach=1.20

:isadizzy:

[Vicious]

It can't, but the way I read this: Note that this means aircraft that have a maximum Mach number equal to or greater than 1.0 listed in the aircraft.cfg will not be eligible. it's not eligible.

In the ,cfg it reads max mach=1.20

:isadizzy:

That's the line that has been deleted from the rules. Now, as long as the aircraft does not exceed M1 in level flight at any altitiude, even if the Max Mach in the cfg file is greater than one, the aircraft is legel. Therefore your Skyhawk should be fine.

At least that's my current understanding.

Vicious

[MaddogK]

The section in red has been eliminated from rules. Apologies for any confusion.

Aircraft


Any sub-sonic military jet powered aircraft that was in service before December 31, 1959 is eligible. Sub-sonic in this case means that the aircraft must not be able to achieve Mach 1.0 in level flight at any altitude. Note that this means aircraft that have a maximum Mach number equal to or greater than 1.0 listed in the aircraft.cfg will not be eligible. If the plane cannot achieve Mach 1.0 speed in level flight, it is eligible. Each race participant must choose one (1) aircraft to fly for the entire event. If there is any doubt about an aircraft’s eligibility, please post it in the race overview thread.

If you eliminate that section then you open up a LARGE loophole allowing most anything that doesn't show a recorded speed higher than mach 1 in duenna- impossible to prove without a calculator as mach 1 speed varies with altitude. A mach .99 A/C may very well have a max mach number of 1.4 in the config. Since the sample rate in Duenna is about 10 minutes between samples, you could cross the supersonic boundry and slow to get sampled sub-sonic, then speed up again.

The A-4's ive tested routinely have a max level speed of M 0.8, but show M 1.2 in the config.

*** Congrads on making the rules MUCH more complicated.

[Vicious]

I think the change was made to allow for a wider variety of aircraft that are not capable of exceeding mach in level flight, but have a config max mach greater than 1. There are quite a few aircraft that fall into that category so I can understand the change. It does rely on the honor system to verify the plane you fly can't exceed mach in level flight, but we're all honorable here so that shouldn't be a problem.

Vicious

[MaddogK]

but we're all honorable here so that shouldn't be a problem

:violent:

Quote Megatron: "You dare use the 'H' word to me?"

...You havent given me time to recover from the last time an 'honorable' pilot bent the rules.

[jkcook28]

Proving that I can't read, I see now the red text was removed from the rules! Duh.
So I stick with A-4C then.

My head hurts.

[Vicious]

:violent:

Quote Megatron: "You dare use the 'H' word to me?"

...You havent given me time to recover from the last time an 'honorable' pilot bent the rules.

Sorry, I wasn't aware that these races have had problems with rule bending?

Vicious

[RedGreen]

...You havent given me time to recover from the last time an 'honorable' pilot bent the rules.

I can assure you that the pilot you're referring to will not be flying with us in the RTW next year. Your friends at Flightsim don't like a cheater anymore than you do.

[Dangerousdave26]

I can assure you that the pilot you're referring to will not be flying with us in the RTW next year. Your friends at Flightsim don't like a cheater anymore than you do.

Guys lets leave that discussion for another thread or the TS server.

Some place where those of us who survived it can laugh about it as we all hold the desire for the same standards of fair play.

[Moses03]

I think the change was made to allow for a wider variety of aircraft that are not capable of exceeding mach in level flight, but have a config max mach greater than 1. There are quite a few aircraft that fall into that category so I can understand the change. It does rely on the honor system to verify the plane you fly can't exceed mach in level flight, but we're all honorable here so that shouldn't be a problem.

Vicious is exactly right.

Not going by the Max mach cfg entry of 1.00 as a high water mark is the thing. Case in point; The F7U I am flying has a Mach entry of 1.02 in the cfg. I lobbied the RTWR committee to allow it as it will only exceed Mach 1 in a steep dive. Wanted to fly it because I just thought it was a cool looking 1950's fighter, not because of some unseen advantage in using it.

I don't think we have made the rules more complicated. The only thing to worry about is exceeding Mach 1 in level flight (at any altitude), and the cutoff date. Let's have some fun with this.

If someone really wanted to cheat, there is always a loophole somewhere. The Duenna can be tricked in a few ways. I would never begin to think that any of the simpilots that frequent here would ever do so.

Kevin

[PRB]

A word about the Mach issue. You can blame me for this one, and it has at its root something EasyEd pointed out before one of the RTW Races. Ed wanted to fly the RAZBAM A-4, but since the max mach listed in the aircraft.cfg was above 1.0, it was not legal, period. It didn't matter that the RAZBAM A-4 could not achieve mach 1.0, not even in a dive. At the time, the RTW Rules were not clear as to how a plane would be ruled illegal in this case. It didn't actually say “as listed in the aircraft.cfg max mach”, it just said “sub-sonic”. Well, the A-4 is sub-sonic. You cannot make that plane go mach 1.0! But it was declared illegal based on the fact that the max mach is above 1.0 in the aircraft.cfg.

So, for this race, we wanted to stick to sub-sonic, but make it a “realistic” rule, and make “sub-sonic” mean “planes that cannot go supersonic”. Wow, that's pretty complicated, I know...

Where it did get complicated was in my bad decision to try to write the rule in such a way as to make clear that it didn't matter what the aircraft.cfg said. We should have simply wrote “sub-sonic means if it can go supersonic than you can't use it.”

But the worst thing we did was 1) to post the original rules with the statement written “backwards”, saying that it the aircraft.cfg listes mach 1.0 or above, then it was illegal, and 2) to make another statement to the effect that the plane was only illegal if it could achieve “above mach 1.0”, leaving open the possibility of planes flying at mach 1.000999 being both supersonic and legal at the same time. It was supposed to say “1.0 and above”, meaning supersonic, just supersonic. If it can go supersonic in level flight then it's illegal! :isadizzy:

So, I apologize for writing the rule for something that should have been very simple, and turning it into a headache because the rules were poorly written.

I now have a new found respect for the makers of rules on the RTW Rule Writers Team, and I will never think bad thoughts about them ever again!

[Willy]

I'm a bit guilty too on the confusion as I had my fingers in the same pie.

[smilo]

sorry Paul, I have to disagree with your last line;
..."and I will never think bad thoughts about them ever again!"
IMHO, now you have every right to think what you want.
you have been there, done it
and know better than most of us
the trials and tribulations of the job.

many thanks for taking on the task
and taking responsibility for any misunderstandings. :salute:
that goes for you, too, Willy.

it's all clear as mud

[MaddogK]

Ya, thanks team for setting up this event, and trying to maintain order. No offense meant from my previous post, just stating my opinion that is has the potential to be a fiasco with the rule mod, than the 'cut and dry' original rule. Time will tell, but thanks for trying something different.

[Dangerousdave26]

I think it is important that we remember that these events are here for fun and part of the fun is trying new rules which make it more interesting. Simply using the same old same old RTWR rules would stink.

Speaking of Rules I suppose I should go read them.

On another note I think its a good idea that other people try their hand at writing the rules. It gives these events a greater depth. So way to go Willy and Paul even with a small error you did good.

[smilo]

I'm not sure if you want me writing the rules,
heck, I have enough problem following the ones we got.
case in point is the no GPS rule.
I understand the concept and the reasoning,
but to be honest, the majority of my FS9 flying is by GPS
and I'm not very good with that.
I have little or no experience with the other Nav Aids.
my Duenna should be, shall we say, interesting.
I will give it a try, but honestly,
I may have to disqualify myself from the competition
and fly the race with my GPS. sorry.
I figure that it is best to be truthful,
than to pretend I am something that I am not.

[Willy]

Smilo, just give it a shot. You'd be surprised how close you can get just by using dead reckoning. All you have to do is get it into range of your nav radio set, then follow the needles on in.

[jkcook28]

I'm not sure if you want me writing the rules,
heck, I have enough problem following the ones we got.
case in point is the no GPS rule.
I understand the concept and the reasoning,
but to be honest, the majority of my FS9 flying is by GPS
and I'm not very good with that.
I have little or no experience with the other Nav Aids.
my Duenna should be, shall we say, interesting.
I will give it a try, but honestly,
I may have to disqualify myself from the competition
and fly the race with my GPS. sorry.
I figure that it is best to be truthful,
than to pretend I am something that I am not.

Smilo, fly online with me and Dave during the event and we teach you in route. Getting there is the easy part; 0 vis with no precision approach is when it gets "interesting". :d

[Kowalski65]

Can I come flying too?

I am hoping for good weather so I can follow the coast Assuming I can solve my fuel problems!!!!!
Likely enough in Oz, not a snowflake's chance in hell up in Alaska