PIC Down Under and Across the PacificThe local time for the start of the event is 12:00 Noon on Saturday, January 25 in New Zealand. This equates to Friday night at 23:00 GMT.This should be something new for many of you and will introduce you to the great ATC staff Down Under. It will also be the first good test of the new Oakland Oceanic Center. For full details of the event, including the flight package with everything from all required charts to full FSBuild 2.0 generated flight plans in pdf format, go to www.simsource.net***Routing***Leg 12300Z Auckland to Wellington - South 50 minutes, 300 milesNZAA AA NP AKAVI SWUTH TR LYALL WN NZWN (EVEN Thousands to FL280, then 310, 350)--Or Fly--2300Z Wellington to Auckland - North 45 minutes, 265 milesNZWN WN OH RAN WI AA NZAA (ODD thousands to FL290, then 330, 370)Leg 20030Z Wellington to Sydney - West 3:31, 1251 milesNZWN TANEN M636 PLUGA N750 MARLN MARLN4 YSSY (FL300, 320, 340, 360, 380)--Or Fly--0030Z Auckland to Sydney - West 3:17, 1164 milesNZAA MADEP N774 SHARK.MARLN4 YSSY (FL300, 320, 340, 360, 380)Leg 30500Z Sydney to San Francisco - East 12:55, 6602 milesYSSY NOBAR B580 BOMPS HNL SHARK R465 CINNY BSR.BSR2 KSFO (FL290, 310, 330, 350, 370)--Or Fly--0500Z Sydney to Honolulu - East 8:40, 4436 milesYSSY NOBAR B580 CHOKO.OPACA4 PHNL (FL290, 310, 330, 350, 370)--Or Fly--1330Z Honolulu to San Francisco - East 4:29, 2201 milesPHNL MKK4.CLUTS R465 CINNY BSR BSR2 KSFO (FL290, 310, 330, 350, 370)

You're the best!!!!!!!!Warming up the printer now.Rob.

Testing...Where is Robs post???Regards,Gregg Baker(AAL1220/N1220GB)

Gregg, call me - 806-1644

Hey guys - if you can, use the dispatcher 3 to check its features - I hope final release is close and this would be a great feedback.I'll do my best to incorperate fsMeteo into the flightplan feature until the event, will post info if I'll make it in time.you can download it from http://www.geocities.com/dispatcher3b6/Let me know if you have a problem, there are several other download links - I just don't have it ith me now...Thanks - Ilan

Printed out what I need, it's all great stuff.You guys have done an excellent job!Curious about the route taking us over HNL, I seem to remember being a few hundred miles south of HNL last time I did this hop...closer to the circle path. I assume the route was extended over HNL to hook up with the people departing HNL for the KSFO leg. It does add a few NM's to the route, but I can see why that is necessary....it's all good!Can't wait.Rob.

>if you can, use the dispatcher 3 to check its features

Yea Rob, you could come up with a bit shorter route but we are already getting into San Francisco and 10 AM local time. If we trim much more off of that, OCEANIC coverage will be required at an unreasonable time of the day. That is what took me over HNL in the first place. Then the YSSY-PHNL and PHNL-KSFO idea materialized so lets stick to the plan.I received a lot of feedback from New Zealand this morning. There is an real-world airshow there that day and the New Zealand VATSIM guys will be putting on a display. They are having a local VATSIM event and are VERY excited about the timing of the PIC event. Terry Scanlan says they may even fire up the big QF25 simulator http://www.hyway.com.au/747/747.html and join us on the long haul. Full coverage ATC is a sure thing, including OCEANIC.

Ahhh, I see, it all makes good sense now....great stuff.I'll pack some beer on board for Mr. Scanlan...hopefull won't put us over max TOW ;-)I sent an e-mail to charter.net r.e. FSBuild fuel numbers for the routes.Over to you matey!Rob.

Thanks Rob. As you know, all of the flight plans and fuel calcs were generated using the beta version of FSBuild 2 as I am on the beta team for Ernie's project. This will be a good test for the numbers so I can make any necessary changes to the burn tables before the release goes public in the comming weeks. I added plenty of reserve, hold, and extra for the long routes, we will be loading up 157,351 pounds for the YSSY-KSFO flight.

Hi Mike,You have excelled yourself with this one, as Rob says 'You're the best!!!!!!!!'.Although this is tempting fate, considering my abject failure to join a flight so far, I hope to join at least one leg of the flight.it would be nice to do the full flight but not sure if I have the stamina :-) Well done Sir, you are a star :-beerchug

Hi, The link I posted above has a version for excel97 too; it is somewhat limited in functionality though.This dispatcher is based on Rob Van Leest's work - it is actually the new version of the same fuel planner. Mr. Wagner Beskow started to update the fuel planner, I got involved along the way...See u all,Ilan

One of the many things I had on my mind with this flight was "how do we accommodate pilots from the UK and all of Europe." The short flight time of leg 1 was with you guys in mind. Another good possibility for you is that sometime in the next week you set yourself up to fly the YSSY-KSFO flight. Setup at YSSY, do the preflight, take off for San Francisco, start a chronograph, fly 4X for a period of time (say 1.5 hours), then pause and save the flight right there.Take the amount of time you flew 4x times 4 and add that to 0500Z.On Saturday the 25th, select the saved flight at whatever time the above calculation yielded and log onto VATSIM. A good Idea is to input the flight plan data into Squawkbox before the connection or to use the offline pre-file web site. That way, if you pop up close to someone in controlled airspace there is no delay for you to get the plan posted.In any case, I hope you make it along this time. If not, you need two days worth of excuses. LOL

Good news from Ernie Alston regarding FSBuild. The next build I get on the beta project will be able to take data from FSMETEO, plug current data in from anywhere in the world, build the plan and use valid winds aloft to calculate time and burn. I will provide updated flight plan navlogs on the day of the flight :)

Mike,Have I got something wrong in looking at your timings for Sydney or is there a glitch?Depart Wellington/Auckland 0300Z 3:30 flightThat puts us at Sydney 0630Z yet you have Sydney departure at 0500Z ?Please clarify.Thanks