Mike. Please check PM's.

Apparently there will be no altitude restrictions this year?If so... the Columbia 400 (Eaglesoft) is a great aircraft for this event.

I just flew the first leg of last year's race EDDI->ESMQ... in the Columbia:DIST 271.7nm EST ACTGS 196 193FUEL 24.9 25.2ETE 1:22 1:24

That's a pretty good leg for the Columbia.Just checked the 2006 race stats. Jeroen was the AVSIM lead off pilot. He flew that leg in the P-51H in 1:04 with an average speed of 255.The fastest leg in a general qualification aircraft was flown by Sonar5 (PJON -> PHSF). He flew the Piaggio Avanti 818 miles in 1:58 averaging 416knts.Jeff W

The Columbia is a rather fast single prop. I would strongly suggest it as a replacement for legs where the Cessna 172/182/208 tends to be used. It is even easier to fly than the Cessnas.Most private/non-military prop aircraft will be hard pressed to even come close to what military props can do for sustained airspeeds.

Thanks! That link had some good info....I'm DL'ing the P38L, p38L-Racer and P38M right now to try on FSX. I also ran over to Fry's tonight and picked up the Shockwave WWII Fighters package. Considering also getting the P51 package as well (Is the H model THAT much faster than the D??? I know they made a lot of engine improvements, but geesh!)Gonna try to get a bunch of flights in over the next 2 weeks with these.Too bad I can't bring my desktop machine into the office. I'm twiddling my thumbs at work waiting for new projects to come in, and could get a LOT of test flying in... --Mike

Ok, just tested out the P-38L+M packages in FSX. They work, but there are "rstart1" and "rstart2" gauges that are not supported (they're older FS98 gauges). Also, I had some graphics corruption when I switched from VC to 2D. From that point forward, no matter what view I switched to it kept the bottom portion of the screen displaying the gauges. Still, very flyable in FSX and certainly fast. VERY easy to handle + land (even with full realism cranked up.) Took off, climbed to 8000, kicked it to high speed, circled around and landed at another municipal airport on the first try.I also took the WW2 Fighters P51-D for a spin. WOW Twitchy! Also very hard to take off (so much engine torque, didn't want to go down the runway very straight...) But likewise, I managed to take off, climb, fly to another local municipal and land on first try (although it was a pretty fugly landing, you guys weren't kidding about the bouncing!)Anyhow, I'm going to try to get as much practice in with these two as I can.Any recommendations on good difficult approaches/airstrips to practice getting into?Also, I would recommend to any FSX users, for the competition, crank the autogen off, AI traffic, cars, boats, etc all OFF. You want max FSX performance, looks don't matter as much (although I did use 2M scenery and have most other stuff turned to at least mid settings.)--Mike

Best to practice at a high altitude airport like KASE. Also a 20knt crosswind will help prepare you for the worst and you might want to try some 1/4 mile visibility landings using the GPS which can happen in the race.Actually maybe we should do some multiplayer circuits so we can critique each other's approaches.

Hey! Lookie what I found in my hangar. Almost forgot I had her.Not that I'd use the FW190 over the Pony (last year clearly proved the 51 is the superior mount), but coming across this bird got me all misty eyed.Oh - for '06 Vets. Speaking of old birds, no Talon for me this year. Daddy got a new glow toy from the wife on X-Mas.MUHAHAHAHAHAHA!!! :D Someone had better put up a 'No Low Alt Supersonic Sprints By Off-Duty Pilots' NOTAM this year.

Hah! You can race me in my new plane, B1-B :D

http://forums.avsim.net/user_files/165580.jpg

I just recently joined the team and putting the finishing touches on my new system before I get ready to dive into some practice sessions. I'm still not decided on what to fly. I have quite a bit of experience with the default aircraft and practically no experience with warbirds (although I'm sure I could get a grip on them very quickly). I was kinda leaning towards the KingAir. Any other suggestions?

Hi.I would definately recommend you try out the P-38. Fast, fairly easy to handle and above all, it is one of the best freeware offerings around. But visuals and sound are superb!But the King Air: While a nice plane, it is too slow for this...BRGDSSven Sorensen, EKCH

Mike, I downloaded one of the P-38Ls to try in FSX. How did you get it into FSX? I don't have FS9 to install to first. Thanks,Dan