RTW General Rules and Charter Updated for 2007

Hi everyone,Here in the United States, all eyes may be on the Super Bowl, but let's not forget that we've got a much more important contest approaching - the 2007 RTW Race!I know we said that we would keep the General Rules fairly constant from year to year, but we really wanted to clean things up and try to make everything more straightforward, so we've updated the General Rules with a new format and nomenclature.Additionally, we have made a few *minor* substantive changes to the way the race works. Probably the biggest substantive change is to limit flight legs to 750 NM at a time. This is intended to place more emphasis on teamwork and baton handoffs, and also to allow more pilots to fly, since it splits up the race into slightly more legs. Additionally, it mitigates the effect of so-called "hot" flight models, which pilots might otherwise use to cover extremely long distances in a single flight leg. In short, this rule moves the focus of the race ever-so-slightly from cruise flight back towards takeoffs, landings, airmanship, and teamwork.In any event, this change is fairly minor - it should only come into play in a few circumstances. And rest assured that we'll be putting in ample ocean-crossing corridors and wildcard flights that will allow teams to fly around the world choosing from infinitely large selection of routes. The special rules are yet to come. :-)Other changes focused on team organization - we've asked teams to be a little bit more forthcoming with their communications information, to allow more people to follow the race - but at the same time we recognize that teams need private communications, and we've provided for that. Additionally, we define more closely the relation of authority of the team vs. that of the baton carrier.Finally, we cleaned up certain loopholes and ambiguities dealing especially with baton transfers, wingmen, and pilot eligibility.Take a look at the race website for the new rules: http://users.adelphia.net/~mattsmith19/RTW/Hope everyone likes what we've done!Personally, though the changes are minor, I think that the cleanup and few additions we've made will add quite a bit to the race.As always, our ears are open for suggestions, complaints, and objections.Best Wishes,Matt SmithChairman, Executive CommitteeMSFS RTW Race