RTWR Practice #1

[Moses03]

It's that time of year again. I have cobbled up a practice run based on last year's race. Should be a decent workout with a variety of aircraft. Special rules and requirements are below. Everything else is standard RTWR fare.

General rules refresher (Scroll about halfway down page):

http://www.fsrtwrace.com/rules.htm

Since we get most of the forum traffic at SOH proper, we decided to post at least the first practice round over here. Subsequent practice rounds might end up over at SOH Flight Center TBD.

Note: This is open to SOH team members or new SOH members interesting in joining the team only.

Thanks,
Moses

Flight Simulator Around-The-World Race Practice #1

RULES

1. Starting Time.
This practice will begin on Dec 30th at 1400 UTC (0900EST, 1400L) at El Paso International, Texas, USA (KELP).


2. Overview.
The practice starts at KELP and will end at Ushuaia Intl, Argentina, (SAWH). All standard RTWR rules apply.


3. Normal Legs
Normal legs may extend to a maximum distance of 750nm but remain limited to two hours in duration.


4. Jets.
Pilots may complete up to 3 normal legs in subsonic jet aircraft (in addition to the one Galapagos Passage flight-see below). There is no weight limit here. The 2 hour duration and 750nm limits of normal legs apply.


5. Special Requirements.
Helicopters.
A total of 100 nm must be flown in helicopters. Both default and add-on helicopters may be used to satisfy this requirement. The V-22 is not considered a helicopter for the purposes of this rule, while the Pitcairn and Kellet Autogyros are.


Airmanship Challenge.
These three airports are mandatory stops. They feature extremes in terrain and elevation and may have no navaids.


MM0K, Colotlan, Mexico


MHTG, Toncontin, Honduras (Famous real world approach. Slightly less daunting in FS depending on addon mesh and scenery)


SPRF, San Rafael, Peru


Galapagos Passage.
The routing will pass through a mandatory three airport corridor of SKRG-SEST-SESA. The first leg SKRG-SEST must be flown in a subsonic jet. The second leg SEST-SESA must be flown in a 4-engine prop, (DC-4, DC-6, DC-7, Connie, C-97, B-29, B-50, C-124 etc). As always, no 4-engine turboprop may be used.


Weather.
All flights will be conducted using FS2004 or FSX live weather engine (as supplied by Jeppesen). The appropriate setting is Real Weather with 15 minute updates. Special exceptions will be made for pilots who cannot comply. If the Real Weather system fails for everyone, pilots should switch to the "Fair Weather" theme.

[PRB]

WhooHoo, race season! Changing the oil in the P-38, P-51H, Hornet, and TiggerKitty...

[Willy]

Good way to properly break in a new pair of R-2800s attached to an equally new Tigercat.

[Taco]

Things getting back to normal around here, so I should be there.

Jim

[Haitun]

I'll try to join you, guys!

[Quicksand jr]

how do we get signed up?

[PRB]

There is no official sign up as yet. We might do something like that before the race to get an idea of who we can count on when the green flag drops. This may take place at the Outhouse.net site (http://www.sim-outhouse.net). We haven't really decided yet. Right now, just showing up for the practice is all that's needed. We try to give priority to new pilots for flying legs. After a couple you will get the idea. Not really that difficult. Just don't bump into mountains and such while letting down to your destination in darkness...

[Warrant]

Great! Like to learn more about this. Are Connie's allowed? Been flying them a lot lately!

[Moses03]

You could fly a Connie except that they are not fast compared to the late war fighters that do most of the work. Your best bet would be a P-51, Bearcat, DH Hornet, P-38, Corsair etc. Something along those lines.

That said, sometimes the race calls for specialized aircraft like the Connie so we do have one leg where it would be appropriate for this practice run:

"Galapagos Passage.
The routing will pass through a mandatory three airport corridor of SKRG-SEST-SESA. The first leg SKRG-SEST must be flown in a subsonic jet. The second leg SEST-SESA must be flown in a 4-engine prop, (DC-4, DC-6, DC-7, Connie, C-97, B-29, B-50, C-124 etc). As always, no 4-engine turboprop may be used."


Scrolling through last year's race threads gives you a good idea of the ebb and flow of the race and the aircraft in use:

http://www.sim-outhouse.net/forum/sh...Baton-Thread-1

http://www.sim-outhouse.net/forum/sh...Baton-Thread-2

Hope this helps.

[jkcook28]

Hey alright! Bring on the new guy reinforcements. Welcome aboard Quicksand Jr. and Warrant; and tell your friends!
It's a grueling event but very interesting, fun (if you don't get too bogged down in details and planning; tho the rules helped a bunch last year for that) and challenging for your flight skills.
Warrant, you would be an additional bonus being Euro-based for the time zone advantage.
Cyas on the practice field.

[srgalahad]

Quicksand Jr, Warrant, and any other 'new kids on the block'...

After the New Year we'll send out a notice asking for interests, etc. so you can be added to a team list. The main reason is that once we get closer to the race there is quite a bit of SOH Team info and discussion that we keep tucked away in a closed forum (The Hideout) and if you are still keen to be involved this ends up being our "registration".

For now, feel free to ask questions here -and there will be a Practice #1 Baton Posts Thread for posting the required flight info that you can follow. I'm just finishing up a list of links to past threads that should give a comprehensive look at the requirements and skills. One suggestion for now is the "RTW101 - The Racer's Computer" that covers a lot of the basics to get you ready.
http://www.sim-outhouse.com/sohforum...ead.php?t=3408

The purpose of these practice sessions is to get the 'old hands' back up to speed after 10 months off and to ease the new recruits into the fun of RTWR flying, so welcome aboard!

Just a thought.. I assume everyone has already looked at the general route and probably taken a closer look at the known points along the way so there shouldn't be any real surprises... (cough, cough)

Rob

[falcon409]

I've had limited experience with several other races. . .neither of which was anything to write home about but I'd like to give it another shot. I just finished installing the RTW-Duenna and despite having everything set correctly, I'm already getting errors saying I'm not set up correctly, grrrr (the Duenna and I did not get along well at all in my first Race attempt).

I'm flying FS9, I have a registered copy of FSUIPC and my primary aircraft will most likely be the F7F Tigercat. As for the 4-engine props, would I be safe picking up one of the Cal-Classics for that?

[Tako_Kichi]

I'm flying FS9, I have a registered copy of FSUIPC and my primary aircraft will most likely be the F7F Tigercat. As for the 4-engine props, would I be safe picking up one of the Cal-Classics for that?

Gnoopy's TB-50 is one of the fastest race legal 4-engine props but you have to understand her and watch your landings as the nose wheel is a bit fragile. It's also a bit difficult to install as you have to have parts from a couple of other aircraft for the TB-50 to work.

[falcon409]

I've picked up another 4 prop from Cal-Classics Larry. . .however getting it to start is proving a real hassle. . .I can get 3-4 to start and up to correct RPM's, then switch to 2 and it will crank but never go to full RPM (if I bring the mixture up it dies). . .and if I try to go to #1, that kills #2 and then neither of them will crank, lol.

Another hiccup is that my flying is limited to evenings and weekends, my days are spent away from my apartment sitting with my ex's mother who is 86 years old, so any practices (like tomorrow at 8am here), if they are always in the AM will be out of the question.

[Moses03]

The start time is just that- a start time. The practice will probably last several days as it is ongoing depending who comes along to grab the baton.