MattI did my own testing last night and can confirm all you said is true. This change only affects the plane if it goes over the barberpole (which "realistic" pilots wouldn't do any way). In fact managed to get 540knts out of it at FL360 witha high tailwind :)This is all a little irrelevant anyway, as no-one will be using the Avanti anyway with a 8500ft limit, as it's a tortoise at this altitude

Jeroeon,Thank you for clarifying your position.All you had to do was challenge our ruling on the Avanti with that objection and appeal to get the freeware P-47 disqualified.I can only act about what people tell me. Please don't think that because we didn't rule on the P-47 we're in some way biased, it's just that no one challenged it. The reason the exception was made about allowing the updated model was that we released the rules ourselves after the 14-day deadline, so clearly we couldn't expect people to comply with it this year. If there's an aircraft you want to use that was released after this deadline I'm happy to extend the same courtesy to you.Here's where we stand now: I will speak with the Committee about the modification. If we determine that what you say is true and the Vmo value can cause crashes at speeds below Vmo, we will change things.Do you wish to officially challenge the eligibility of the P-47? You claim to have data showing that it is unrealistic. I would be most interested to see it.Best,Matt

Jeff,I'm beginning to agree with you!-Matt

Jeroen,As we've encountered many times in testing as well as during the race last year this can be reached easily by accident even when staying far below the stated value due to sudden pressure or wind changes caused by weather updates.I've crashed frequently when flying at speeds BELOW the barberpole due to this phenomenon.I find this suprising and interesting.I've flown the FSD Avanti for a few hundred hours and had less than five crashes due to overspeed. In last year's race I made three flights where I kept the aircraft within one or two kts of overspeed. (Only one was an offical flight - one was a test and one I blew the landing).I never use the autospeed - when flying near the barberpole I keep my hand on the throttle ready to pull back and pull back on the props if the speed jumps. For normal flying I set my speed 30 kts below the barber pole - which is approximately where the real world Avanti pilots I get to talk with tell me is a reasonable speed - and the FS weather changes have never caused an overspeed / overstress crash at those settings.There is also a setting in FSUIPC to smooth the sudden weather changes which helps with the hard boundaries FS has for weather stations.Frankly in my testing, the Mike Stone Beech Starship with the Alaska Winds config file is much more prone to overspeed crashes than the FSD Avanti at altitude.You've reported issues with this aircraft several times over the past year - issues which almost no one else seems to be able to confirm. I'd like to have a side discussion with you after the race is finished - specifically about your system configuration and some of your addons.Let me know if you are available.Thanks,Reggie

Several people last year (and again this year during training) encountered sudden overstress situations in the Avanti when flying her below the barberpole (which is set well below the structural limit of the airframe as we all know).Usually these seem to happen just after a weather update or moving from one reporting station to another, making me believe it has to do with pressure differentials.These we have now identified are also the most likely cause of the problems with Concorde when crossing the Atlantic. They always during our testing appear at the same points on flightplans (flying the same plan several time the problems happen at just about the same distance from the same waypoints when approaching the US/Canadian coast whenever there is a low pressure area over the first reporting station after the Atlantic weather gap).Even more damning, two people crashed last year in the Avanti due to this phenomenon in roughly the same spot over the North Sea when one took off to replace the other on the flight from Norway to the UK.I was one of those people... And that was the third I think crash I had during the race flying the Avanti, and at the time I never flew her above the barberpole.The aircraft has now among us gained a reputation as being a speed demon but very sensitive to overspeeding, and I for one will constantly fly with one hand on the throttle to avoid that (I too don't use the autospeed setting on it).

Yes the hard boundaries of weather zones are well documented, at least in the AI community.The "border" around the UK is one - the North Sea change can be drastic. That was the only time I slowed my flight out of ENOV when I came to that boundary - also flying at FL270-290 was faster that night than higher up. Having a scout 30 minutes ahead really helped. Still wish I hadn't hosed the landing at EGLC.Another boundary is within about 200 nm of Greenland where those weather stations kick in.And as you noted near Canada.One of the biggest "issues" with FS is mid-ocean weather stations a few hundred miles from any other weather station. Bermuda is one of those.Of course in general the higher the latitude - the more likely there will be significant changes in weather.One of the techniques I use is to check my route on the weather map screen and see if there are weather stations which will be near my long overwater flights. That gives me a special warning to be prepared for sudden changes. Just part of my pre-flight planning routine.

>> the Thunderscreech is still banned Aww no, can I appeal.... again? ;-)

Also banned is flying a Ch-47 near a default FS fuel station.

Lol

I'm actually just about to start to run a series of tests in the Avanti in various scenarios, using both the default numbers and the RTWR'06 mandated numbers. Will take several hours, of course, but will report on my findings......