**Hello Team Avsim**

[Sonar5 3]

Hi all,Sorry I haven't been around much. I have a huge project for work, and it's taking a ton of time from me right now.I hope to be able to make a few flights, but I have to upgrade my psu, and I'm on FSX, so I also have to find a new plane to master and quick. My Avanti steed has not been updated for FSX yet. (I uninstalled FS9, dumb move but it is what it is, it's the optimist in me.)**Any suggestions, I'm open to them. new PSU should be here by Friday.I will be limited in flying to Pacific time, evenings and the weekends. I will be able to monitor threads while at work though. :-)I'll try to get up to speed in the next few days, and feel free to email me or msg me here if you need anything.**Tom and Avsim have been gracious enough to allow me to be a moderator in the forum again, so whatever you need from me, I'm also here for that as well.For you newbies to the team, welcome aboard, we're all here to help and are glad you chose to become a part of something special you're sure to cherish and remember. We've all made some good friends across multiple sites and teams, and this year is bound to be more of the same.We are the Target folks, they're all gunning for us, so strap on the Avsim Team Spirit, be prepared to work hard, and have tons of fun along the way.Let's keep that AVSIM trophy in Virgina, shall we!Best,JoeSonar5

[Guest 2002cbr600f4i]

Joe, I think a lot of us are planning on the Shockwave P-51H, although you might have a problem installing without FS9 (the installer HATES FSX, but once you have it installed into 9 you can move the files over.)Alternatively, while you'll be giving up some speed, Shockwave's Wings of Power WW2 Fighters package has a P-51D that will install directly into FSX.Actually, having somebody on the west coast for night flights would be helpful so the Europeans and us east coasters don't have to stay up so late and can be rested up for the next AM.Hope to see you up there man!--Mike

[RFields5421 1]

I haven't tried moving the Avanti to FSX. My past experience with FSD aircraft tells me it would be a bad idea.Dave Copley's P-38 works well with FSX, though two gauges need to be removed from the panel - RSTART1.GAU & RSTART2.GAUYou might also want to replace the diveflaps with the one from the Mooney Bravo.There is a somewhat unpleasant effect of the lower 20% of the screen still showing the panel when in the external views.

[Guest Speed]

I have tried and the gauges dont work (same for all my FSD aircraft). You could replace them all but I think it would be too much work.

[RFields5421 1]

I still view the Avanti as the ultimate race aircraft.Fast, good legs, capable of most runway situations in the hands of a good pilot - and pilots have to FLY it rather than jamming the throttles wide open and taking a lunch break until time to descend.But without the FSD gauges, I don't think you could fly it so close to the barber pole. Tiring, frustrating and a lot of work but loads of fun when done right.

[jt_williams 291]

Reggie, I agree with you regarding the Avanti. One other virtue of the Avanti is it's ability to get high. It allows the Avanti pilot to take advantage of jet stream winds when they're favorable. It is a very capable aircraft but you have to stay on your toes or it will bite you. A small wind shift when flying close to the barber pole can burn the unwarry. The Avanti has produced some of the fastest legs for AVSIM, but the number of busted legs while flying this bird is also high. I love the Mustang for sentimental reasons but I hope to have an opportunity to fly the Avanti this year. I would like to fly a lot more aircraft in my hanger (such as the Aerostar) but since this is a race, speed trumps, so a lot of fine aircraft will not see baton or wingman duty.Jeff Williams (KDCA)

[StoneC0ld 5]

Like last year, the ** P-51H seems to be the common bird this year, although there are a couple reasonable alternatives (all for FS9 though)...My suggestion, if you're willing to buy the ** P-51H (which is good since it is FSX compatible, just can't be installed directly to FSX), is to reinstall FS9 for the sole purpose of installing the P-51D/H package.... Move the aircrafts over to FSX from there, and re-uninstall FS9 once the race is over... :)

[buzzbee 51]

Jeff,I am going to have to put in some Avanti practice legs. I have been having fun with it. I still get nervous as I get up close to the barber poll. Do you fly it wide open as close to the edge as possible or do you give your self a little reserve? I start to get the overspeed warning before I cross the overspeed threshhold. Last night I just pulled the overspeed alarm circuit breaker and tried real hard to pay attention and blew it.

[RFields5421 1]

Once I'm a few hundred feet off the ground and retract the gear, I never fly the Avanti wide open. Close but not wide open.If you are flying at close to the barber pole - do not use the auto throttle. It's lag factor will overspeed and crash you.There are a couple different situations when flying the Avanti.The most dangerous is in areas with spotty or changing weather coverage - Iceland to Greenland is one. We know that the weather stations change suddenly on the BGBW-BIKF route about halfway.A hard weather station change can result in 50-60 kts reversal / change in KIAS. If you are close to the barber pole, the aircraft overspeed "severity" will crash the aircraft before you can get it slowed down. You've got to be 30 kts or so under the barber pole when these shifts hit. The good thing is another pilot or wingman a bit ahead can spot these wind shifts for you, or WeatherSet 2 can give you a warning. Most of the extreme shift areas occur over the ocean between to land masses. Really isolated land areas like the interior of Australia might also be a risk.A key warning is if to two airports (BIKF and BGBW) have very different weather at the 30-40,000 foot level.For normal hard flying where you are not worrying about extreme weather shifts - the key is the MMO 0.70.I fly it watching the mach # - not the barber pole and try to keep it at 0.68. I may have momentary overspeed, but get it slowed quickly.This is where the RTW Duenna program really helps. It keeps track of the cumulative total overspeed time. If the severity of overspeed is minor, you can usually have up to 60 second on a flight and not crash. If I get to 45-50 seconds total overspeed, I have to pull it back to 0.65 mach.Descent is a dangerous time in the Avanti. That sucker is slick and does not slow down. You can easily overspeed while in a 1500 fpm descent if the throttles are not pulled back.Even with the power cut back to idle you can gain speed descending at over 2000 fpm.It's an exciting fast aircraft, and you better take a bathroom break before a flight - because you cannot leave a hard charging Avanti for that long.

[buzzbee 51]

Reggie - Thanks for the input.

[Guest thespazzz]

I'm new to the avanti this year so i've been getting some time in.My method for flying this bird is once i'm at altitute. I get the plane up on the barber pole about Mach .68 to .69.This WILL TRIGGER the Avanti's over speed alarm but I actually find it helpful. Clicking the red over speed lamp will silence the Aural Alarm so long as your speed remains the same or below. If your speed increases the aural alarm will sound again until you silence it.This is useful because I find I can keep it very close to the .70 limit and still be able to pay attention to radios, GPS, and what have you if my speed increases at all the alarm sounds agian. This won't help in massive wind shifts however as flying .69 you can still hit a wind change that will put you .72 or higher. This WILL probably take the plane out regardless. Keep in mind this is my FIRST YEAR flying the avanti and even then I plan to stick with my beloved P-38. So don't take my words as gospel. It may be helpful, it may not. The impression I get the Avanti is the type of plain that you have to find your own technique in.