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Post by Allan Lowson on Aug 7, 2020 0:11:10 GMT
The 2020 TACR is now available for test flight and pilot registration with flights scheduled for September.
All piston-engined and turboprop aircraft are eligible.
Further updates of files will follow.
Airfield, routes and flights for FS9, FSX, P3D and XPlane will be available from mid August.
Test flight information is available. FS9, FSX P3D and X-Plane files are available to download to simplify setting up the test flights.
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Post by Johan van Wyk on Aug 11, 2020 23:36:56 GMT
This is a timer for the X-Plane users. The script will auto start (forward speed > 5 knts and Throttle > 75%) and stop (at fully stopped) a flight timer as per rally requirements. After putting it in the FlyWithLua scripts directory move the mouse to the right edge of the screen and two little HUD windows will pop up, one with the timer info and one with fuel available and fuel used data (in gals). Timer for X-Plane
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Post by Allan Lowson on Aug 12, 2020 19:08:43 GMT
Johan,
Thank you very much for providing the timer for x-Plane.
Cheers, Allan
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Post by Allan Lowson on Aug 17, 2020 23:53:21 GMT
The original inspiration for the rally is the route followed by airmail pilots in September 1920. At that time the airmail route followed the railways and the mail was transferred to trains at sunset, then returning to the air at dawn the next day. One map that I have seen suggested that pilots typically flew from New York to Chicago. The trains then took over until Cheyennes when the pilots took over to fly to San Francisco. The Pilot's Notes from 1921 divided the route into eight legs. We have divided those down into 12 individual flights with two flights each on days four and five. Flight times for each of the flights on days four and five should be added together so that we can have ten individual times submitted for the rally. Pat Healy flew the airmail route in 2010 in a Scout. You can find details of his flight (and other long distance routes that he has flown) here: Pat HealyHe mentioned that he had difficulty finding a pass described as the "Secret Pass in the Humbolt Range" 170 miles from Salt Lake City en route to Elko. So there's a challenge for pilots to see if you can find the pass and grab a screenshot. As the railways are not always clear or particularly accurate in sims we have selected airfields mentioned in the Pilot's Notes as waypoints. So the pass may not be exactly on the routes provided. Pat has included an annotated copy of the 1921 Pilot's Notes on his website with Google Map diagrams. Cheers, Allan
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Post by douglas on Aug 25, 2020 7:10:56 GMT
I've registered and have flown the test Flight. Next I've dowloaded the flightplans (.pln / .FLT / FSSAVE / .WX) and put them in FSX (Documents/FSX files). When starting FSX and loading the first flight I expected to see specific weather parameters for the different weather stations along the route, however when clicking on the weather map in FSX (weather/user defined weather/customize) for instance for TACRO 1, I see the same standard parameters for every weather station on the map along the route (wind calm, 59F/41F, 29.92). Is this meant to be? I thought the weather files are custom made? I ask this question because I (and all the participants) need the weather parameters in your flight planning sheet to calculate WCA, TAS, GS etc. for flying to get as close as possible at the target time.
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Post by Allan Lowson on Aug 25, 2020 19:20:26 GMT
Douglas,
Thanks for joining in.
When I researched weather for the dates in a previous year Fair Weather was the closest to the actual conditions for each airport. A couple had some cloud, but that was in the boring flat areas so we have stuck to the Fair Weather throughout for this event.
Crossing Australia in March the weather was fairly consistent too! Next March we will have to find some sub-tropical weather to stirs things up a bit.
Cheers, Allan
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Post by douglas on Aug 25, 2020 19:46:58 GMT
Thank's Allen, now I can make my flight planning calculations based on the WX files as they are (Fair Weather).
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Post by skmcconnell on Aug 29, 2020 4:51:40 GMT
This is a timer for the X-Plane users. The script will auto start (forward speed > 5 knts and Throttle > 75%) and stop (at fully stopped) a flight timer as per rally requirements. After putting it in the FlyWithLua scripts directory move the mouse to the right edge of the screen and two little HUD windows will pop up, one with the timer info and one with fuel available and fuel used data (in gals). Timer for X-PlaneThanks for the Timer, I will give it a workout this weekend
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Post by skmcconnell on Aug 31, 2020 17:28:01 GMT
I confirm the Timer Johan van Wyk provided is by far superior to the one I have been using, his timer should be made available to X-Plane users as part of the X-Plane files after we obtain the appropriate permissions.
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Post by douglas on Sept 1, 2020 13:17:17 GMT
How do you post your pictures in the TACR 2020 Screenshots page?
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Post by Drake on Sept 1, 2020 13:48:42 GMT
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Post by Drake on Sept 1, 2020 14:07:24 GMT
Sorry, I seemed to have uploaded the wrong last 3 images. Here they are labeled. Just a learning curve error.
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Post by douglas on Sept 1, 2020 17:34:26 GMT
Hi Drake, could you give me some advice how to upload screenshots?
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Post by Drake on Sept 1, 2020 17:59:32 GMT
Here is the site I used and the links it created that I used to post the pictures. Regards Drake
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Post by Allan Lowson on Sept 1, 2020 21:53:42 GMT
Hi Drake,
I had not seen this before commenting on the screen shot posts! If you have been using postimages I don't know how your earlier images disappeared. I had meant to comment that they were missing but other things got in the way.
Cheers, Allan
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