Paughco
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Nice day for somethin'.
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Post by Paughco on Aug 15, 2019 7:13:06 GMT
Mikey's letting me fly C-FDTD.
Seeya ATB
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Paughco
Junior Member
Nice day for somethin'.
Posts: 98
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Post by Paughco on Aug 11, 2019 21:59:08 GMT
Apologies, I will load up flightplans with waypoints in place of the wayward beacons tonight. As some pilots have submitted testflight times I will not change the test flights to void causing any more chaos than I already have! I have been double checking the first 8 legs for A to D over FS9, FSX, and P3D default installs and all known glitches between the sims seem to be under control. For now....... Cheers, Allan Allan: Hey, man, don't sweat it! You are a volunteer, therefore we have no right to complain! I did find, on the description for test flight B in P3D, the route, which is from the Mont Joli NDB to the Presque Ilse VOR. Those places actually exist in P3D! I think I might actually fly Mikey's CF-DTD, unless somebody else wants to fly it, in which case I'll go back to my usual DC-3 Airways livery.
I'm trying to figure out the main differences between routes A and B. From everything I've seen, it looks like Route B has longer segments, and goes over some obstacles, such as mountain ranges, that Route A goes around. Wonder which one would be best for a '40s - '50s airliner such as a DC-3?
Seeya ATB
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Paughco
Junior Member
Nice day for somethin'.
Posts: 98
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Post by Paughco on Aug 11, 2019 21:17:46 GMT
Trying to figure out which of my massive fleet I should use for this flight. Hmm. Lessee here... This one?
Or this one?
Seeya ATB
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Paughco
Junior Member
Nice day for somethin'.
Posts: 98
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Post by Paughco on Aug 11, 2019 21:03:22 GMT
Allan: First, thank you for your work in preparing this rally. I plan to fly a C-47 on this flight, mainly so I can add to my hours with DC-3 Airways, but also because I enjoy flying with Ernie and Nancy. I started out thinking that I should fly route A, but now I'm thinking maybe I can do route B, as we do have oxygen on board the aircraft. I've looked all over but have not found the waypoints for test flights B and C. Also, as discussed earlier, the waypoints for route A don't show up on P3D. Please let me know if the waypoints for test flights B and C are available somewhere and overlooked them. Meanwhile, I'll hold off on making my test flight until I can see the test flights and actual routes for A and B.
Thank you ATB
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Paughco
Junior Member
Nice day for somethin'.
Posts: 98
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Post by Paughco on Aug 8, 2019 2:35:11 GMT
OK, I think I've got it.
Flight A: Low altitude, best for non-pressurized aircraft, such as my MJ C-47 in DC-3 Airways livery.
Flight B: Medium altitude, best for pressurized aircraft, such as my A2A Connie.
Flight C: High altitude, best for high-performance serious boogie mobile aircraft, such as my A2A P-51D, or the Spitfire Mk II. The Spit is cool, but the civ 51 has a GPS and autopilot .
Flight D: The half-marathon option, where you get the 13.1 bumper sticker.
Man, it would be so cool to run three entries, A, B, and C, as described above. Not sure if I can get away with that. I have to ask myself, what would E. K. Gann do? I think Ernie would go for the C-47.
I'll run test flight A this weekend.
WAIT! While working on my flight plan for test flight A in P3D v4.5, I notice the complete non-existence of the starting and the end points for test flight A. There is no Kinloss VOR, but there is a Kinloss Air Base. Also, there is no Duncansby Head NDB, but there is a Duncansby Head Light House, and it just happens to be about 61 miles away from the Kinloss AB. Should I use these for the test flight? Or should I wait for further instructions?
Seeya ATB
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Paughco
Junior Member
Nice day for somethin'.
Posts: 98
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Post by Paughco on Jun 14, 2019 4:10:19 GMT
Please check registration dates on draft rules. OK, I guess "draft" is there for a reason.
Totally looking forward to this flight!
Thank you ATB
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Paughco
Junior Member
Nice day for somethin'.
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Post by Paughco on May 1, 2019 23:39:02 GMT
I'm really looking forward to this flight.
Thank you! ATB
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Paughco
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Nice day for somethin'.
Posts: 98
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Post by Paughco on Apr 5, 2019 16:10:46 GMT
Just finished Flight 10, and managed to get a few pictures. Here we are just after taking off from Balimo (BLI) (still need to go through post-takeoff checklist):
The airplane is still pretty clean:
Here we are, flying over Daru (AYDU):
Holy bleep! You see the size of that shark?
Me: "Hey Ernie, what's happenin'?" Ernie: "Boy my ass is sure tired."
Here we are passing Yam Island:
Here we are on final into Horn I (YHID). I'm reminded of the theme song for that old Saturday morning cartoon show, "George of the Jungle." Last line was "Watch out for that tree!":
What a long, strange trip it's been! Thank you Blue Grass GAAR guys for putting it together!
Seeya ATB
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Paughco
Junior Member
Nice day for somethin'.
Posts: 98
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Post by Paughco on Mar 27, 2019 15:44:36 GMT
WOW! This is gonna be a long, strange trip! Hope it's not scheduled during motorcycle riding season in the Pacific Northwet (May - September). OK, I looked it up on Wiki and it looks like it'll fit right in to my busy schedule! London to Darwin Race of 1919
I looked up another link, which is an announcement of the event: Flight, issue May 22, 1919.
Looks like the rules for the flight were pretty simple:
"In early 1919, the Commonwealth Government of Australia offered a prize of £A10,000 for the first flight from Great Britain to Australia, under specific conditions. In May 1919, Billy Hughes, Prime Minister of Australia, and Senator George Pearce, Minister for Defence (Australia), in consultation with the Royal Aero Club, stated that valid aircrews must all be Australian nationals, the aircraft must have been constructed in the British Empire, and the journey must be completed within 720 consecutive hours (30 days) and be completed before midnight on 31 December 1920. The departure point must be either Hounslow Heath Aerodrome (for landplanes) or RNAS Calshot (for seaplanes and flying boats), with reporting points at Alexandria and Singapore, and final destination in the region of Darwin. Each flight was to take place under the competition rules of the Royal Aero Club, that would supervise the start, and control the competition generally."
In looking at those rules, it seems to me that the organizers of this flight shouldn't worry too much about routes. All they have to do is:
1. Require leaving from Hounslow Heath Aerodrome... Uh-oh. First problem. Maybe require leaving from Heathrow (EGLL), which is about 4 miles away from Hounslow. A bit of thought might be required to accommodate flying boats and seaplanes.
2. Set the finish line as Darwin International (YPDN).
3. Require all entries to check in at Alexandria International (HEAX) and one of the several airports at Singapore; Changi (WSSS) looks pretty good, plus it's close to water for the seaplane guys.
4. Keep the timing: 720 hours total start to finish, completed before (Zulu or local?) midnight on 31 December. Maybe forget about the 1920, since this is a reenactment.
5. I hope you don't require British manufactured aircraft, as I want to fly my MJ C-47.
6. I hope you don't require that we all be Australian nationals, as that would limit your list of competitors.
Stick pretty closely to rules 1 through 4 and you greatly simplify all the worries about navigation and such. Leave that to the individual crews competing in the event! Whatever you all decide, I am looking forward to this. Should be a lot of fun! I predict you'll get a bunch of folks from DC-3 Airways.
Seeya ATB
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Paughco
Junior Member
Nice day for somethin'.
Posts: 98
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Post by Paughco on Mar 27, 2019 15:38:52 GMT
Hey, cool pics,..that makes me think of flying the DC3 again! What type of DC3 do you exactly fly? Jazz: Thanks, man! I fly the Manfred Jahn v3.14 C-47 in DC-3 Airways livery in P3Dv4.4. Add "Accu-Feel" from A2A and it's close enough to A2A quality. Having Ernie the copilot and Nancy the stewardess add to the fun. Highly recommended.
I like that C-119! A long time ago I was in the Air Force ROTC and a bunch of us got a ride in a C-119. I got a few minutes in the left seat!
Seeya ATB
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Paughco
Junior Member
Nice day for somethin'.
Posts: 98
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Post by Paughco on Mar 27, 2019 3:29:47 GMT
Flight 07 was totally illegal. I don’t know who is in charge of this stuff, but if it was the USA I’d have folks from the VFAA rappellin’ out of those black PAVE Hawks, comin’ to take my ass away! Starting out, I checked in with ground control to ask for taxi instructions. They said that the field was IFR. I started to look into filing an IFR flight plan but Ernie just turned off the radio and said “Let’s go.” Climbing over those mountains was fun. Got her up to almost 200 mph on the descent on the other side. Flew out over the ocean to descend to 500 feet so we could approach Saidor. Got a nice shot out the side window. Madang was IFR also. We did a stealth GPS approach to Rwy 25. Nothin’ like it!
So here we are, heating up the engines, climbing at 1,000 fpm over the mountains:
Ernie never complained. I like him much better than that useless copilot in my A2A Connie. Here we are skimming the treetops as we try to make it through the monkey filled clouds:
Over the top. Hang the f**k on!
There's Saidor, coming out of the gloom!
Looks kinda funky. Don't think we'd be able to show Nancy much of a good time in that place.
It was a good flight. Nobody died.
Seeya ATB
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Paughco
Junior Member
Nice day for somethin'.
Posts: 98
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Post by Paughco on Mar 21, 2019 16:31:37 GMT
Got a few shots during Flight 05. Here we are shortly after leaving Gurney:
Ernie's ass was tired, but those seat cushions we ordered from Amazon will never catch up with us at this rate:
Uh, Whisky, Tango, Foxtrot! That is one small strip for this bird, even if it's only a touch and go! Get ready on the throttles!
Had to hand the camera back to Nancy and fly the airplane!
Seeya ATB
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Paughco
Junior Member
Nice day for somethin'.
Posts: 98
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Post by Paughco on Mar 8, 2019 2:47:28 GMT
Here we are at the beginning of Flight 01. ORBX had a sale recently, so I picked up on the Australia LC.
Here we are on final into Cooktown:
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Paughco
Junior Member
Nice day for somethin'.
Posts: 98
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Post by Paughco on Feb 23, 2019 21:32:32 GMT
Thank you guys! I appreciate the flexibility that you are allowing for this rally, but I have a request. Please don't make it so complicated to run that you get completely turned off by the complexity of administering the rally. No matter what you do, we will fly the route - as they say, "any time, any where." There is no penalty for anything - you guys can't take away my virtual pilot's license and DC-3 Airways won't fire me, so I can take just about anything you throw out there and modify as necessary to make it flyable in my MJ C-47. I just want us all to have a good time, and that includes you, the designers, and ultimately the administrators, of this great series of rallies!
Meanwhile, this rally looks very intriguing!
Seeya ATB
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Paughco
Junior Member
Nice day for somethin'.
Posts: 98
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Post by Paughco on Feb 14, 2019 2:06:57 GMT
I plan to time all my flights with that FTime flight timer. There's a download link on the GAAR 2019 flight test page. It measures the time from 35 KIAS on takeoff to 35 KIAS on landing but if you slow below 35 KIAS but remain above 25 KIAS, a gust will simply extend the time. Only after slowing below 25 KIAS will the timer reset to zero the next time 35 KIAS is exceeded. It is advisable to pause the flight after you slow below 35 KIAS and to write down the time on a note pad before proceeding. I've got mine set up so that when I hit Shift+1 it appears on the screen in the virtual cockpit in my MJ C-47.
Had to use the stopwatch on my iPhone due to the unusual flight profile on the test flight, but no worries.
Seeya ATB
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