Avsim PIREPS Thread #1

[MM 422]

THIS IS NOT THE OFFICIAL RACE THREAD.Dear Fellow RTWR Pilots,Here is a "Special Rule" for 2007. The Rule is set as a Special Rule because we want to see how it works in practice before making it a General Rule. It has passed the scrutiny of the Advisory Committee, but we now want to put it out for general comment before releasing it formally.Our motivation here is to keep the RTW Race a community event. That is, the race should be kept before the eyes of the full filght-simming community and not buried away as a participant-only event. We started out on the forums. Lots of folks would secretly follow the race at work, hitting refresh from time to time. The RTWR forums got thousands of hits. But with our natural move toward Mulitplayer and TeamSpeak, our visibility has diminished. This PIREP rule is intended to reverse that trend.Note that there is no penalty associated with a failure to comply with this rule. First, we want these public accounts to become the community norm

[Bryan Rosier 31]

I like the sound of this Mike . Whether it should be mandatory or not is another matter but so far as I am concerned a short description of the leg ,once the chaos of the baton handling routine has subsided , is not a big issue and ,like the journal of last years race , gives an "on the fly " account of the race . Even if it allows just a small paragraph of key events it will be something to savour in the future for a minimal inconvienience . Noting the highlights as they happen is much better than trying to recite highlights in a post race summary ,and as a plus , others can get a feel of the race progress as it happens. As for screenshots I use FSScreen with is a simple little program which runs silent in the background . I`m not sure what other people use but its good 4 me :)

[MM 422]

FSScreen is available here at AVSIM:http://library.avsim.net/search.php?Search...=root&Go=SearchIt is simple and unobtrusive. Does just what you want.

[jt_williams 291]

Harv and I drew the long straws for GCRR. Multiplayer glitches for others but I was stable. Easy legs in KingAirs. http://forums.avsim.net/user_files/166813.jpghttp://forums.avsim.net/user_files/166817.jpgSurprised by a flying circus arrival after I landed.

[cbtaylor 15]

Drew a nice leg. Pretty easy flight, but the winds were a little crazy. From the south on the approach to CFV, but from the N/NE at CLP.Shot of Gazer off to port on the way to CFV.http://forums.avsim.net/user_files/166828.jpgSafe at CLP. Lot's of fun, but where's the sun?http://forums.avsim.net/user_files/166829.jpgCB

[MM 422]

Had the opportunity to fly Alex's "Killer Comet". More fun keeping the beauty flying low through the islands and approaching La Palma in a cloud bank. All green. Then a quick diversion to GCHI and back home safely enough in the King Air. http://forums.avsim.net/user_files/166830.jpg

[buzzbee 51]

Nice ride over at 2500 feet. About 59 nm Winds were very high 20 to 30 kts.Then a short hop to GCLP in the Extra. Twitchy that one is.Down Safe, posted my Duenna then set up back towards GCLB in the Jenny for a little formation flying with Stone Cold in the Jenny.

[Guest SoarPics]

Went out to GCGM in the Maule with a nice tail wind. Then back to GCTS. Made a second flight in the 172R to GCLB. Finished by making the short hop from GCLB to GCLP in the Cub. Challenging getting the Cub off at GCLB with a nasty crosswind, but landing at GCLP was into the wind. Ground roll into 20kt headwind in the Cub was only a couple hundred feet (didn't have to touch the rudder LOL).

[Guest 2002cbr600f4i]

So, the gang all is showing up ready to rock. We spent about an hour ahead of time laying out our plan and assigning flights and aircraft to maximize our bonus potentials. About 10 minutes before the Go time, the gang all gets onto our team's FSHost server. Amazing seeing that many planes stacked up, ready to roll. (Reminded me of KATL in real life!)As the announcement comes, the first 2 pilot firewall the throttles and away they go. As soon as they're clear, we punch out the next 2 and so on. As my turn comes up, off I go. Quick run over to GCGM in the Goose.... As I get up and climb to altitude - WOW, it's WINDY!!! Luckily it's an easy flight and relatively short.As I get about 2/3 the way to GCGM, Dan calls out that his computer has crashed and he'll need to restart. I tell him to go ahead and get his computer straightened out. After I land at GCGM (uneventful, although I nearly tipped the Goose over while breaking... Seeing sparks fly as your props plow the ground is usually not a good thing! Luckily, no crash....) I post my Duenna and then switch aircraft to the Cessna 172 (since that's what Dan was supposed to fly) and takeoff. Setting up the GPS to head me to GCLB, I set off.LONG flight in a 172, and lots of low hanging clouds, which were not fun. Decided to go around the island rather than risk hitting a mountain while flying through a cloud. Landing was uneventful.Switched to the KingAir for the final hop to GCLP. Again, uneventful. The cool thing was that I arrived there around the same time as a number of other people so we all got into a nice approach pattern and lined up for landing. Attached are 2 photos I snapped in FSX before our start. Unfortunately, I don't have all the aircraft models so some of the aircraft show up as other defaults.

[DarkCharizma 10]

I got to fly the leg GCTS - GCHI in the Mooney. That shouldn't be too hard, I thought. So I took off, and flew it too GCHI, no problem. Approach, no problem, except I came in a little bit too fast. Then, landing. The plane wouldn't go down! It just floated over the runway. This is a pretty short runway, so you have to touch down pretty early to be able to stop. OK, so I go around, try to slow down a bit more, got the advice to only use one notch of flaps from Gazer, so I'm going to test that. This time I was able to push the plane down on the runway, but way to late, I was on the ground, full brakes, but I was getting closer and closer to the cliff at the end of the runway, and I was still going way too fast to be able to stop before them. So I set the throttles full open and was able to pass just above the cliffs. My next attempt was from the other direction, and that one did not end all to well. I got the plane down early, it bounced, and when it came down again the nose gear broke and the nose went into the ground.Fortunately I had plenty of time to refly the leg, and we also diverted MM to GCHI to make sure we got the airport, and sent a Mooney over the 11 nm flight from GCLB-GCLP. This time I only had to go around once, and then I successfully landed :)Then I had an easy flight back to the long, long runway of GCTS. I thought. About half way, I looked down at the fuel gauge, and then at the fuel flow gauge. I got a little worried, to say the least. It would be close at landing. Very close. I didn't want to worry the other guys, so I didn't say anything on TeamSpeak about it. I was the last one flying, I'm not quite sure whether I was needed to make the full bonus, but from what the other guys said, it sounded like it. I got down safely, and when I was parked off the side of the runway and posted, I looked at the fuel measurement in the shift-z text. It was at one percent (1%)! Too close. Way too close.http://forums.avsim.net/user_files/166839.jpgFive minutes before the startKlas

[Guest thespazzz]

Took off from GCTS in a 182S and nearly got rammed back into the ground due to gusty winds. Once I was about 500 Ft in the air I switched on the autopilot and turned to GCLBThe flight itself was uneventful with tons of clouds and turbulance. Buzz "buzzed" me from below with his C208 Caravan. I lined up for the runway on my approach and crabbed it in. The landing was hard and I bounced quite a few times before the plane settled down.I then flew the Mooney quick over to GCLP which was uneventful.

[Bryan Rosier 31]

Took off from GCTS in the Extra 300S heading for GCLA surrounded by 14 other pilotshttp://forums.avsim.net/user_files/166848.jpgAll went very well nice approach , smooth landing , good Braking down to 10kts then wind spun me around 180 degrees and the plane rolled over :(Returned to GCTS and flew the King Air on the same route with no dramas . Good duenna then returned to GCTS safely to relinquish Baton .

[Bryan Rosier 31]

Well , the first Baton run of RTW2007 for me and started very nicely with a slick baton transfer from Gazer75 in his Avanti . Took of in the DeHavilland Hornet and climbed to cruise altitude . Relaxed and got the mileage covered nicely . Carried out a steep descent into DAUA and lined up nicely on RWY22 . Saw my team mates awaiting my arrival smothering the view of the runway with a big red Blot :( . About 5 miles out I hit panic stations . For some unknown reason multiplayer decided to disconnect and FS9 decided to have a major stutter . I thought it was leg over then all of a sudden FS9 regained its composure and left me to carry out a nice landing. A good duenna ensued and Baton was transferred to Stonecold in the P-51. I really hope not to have that happen again particarly so close to landing . Just calmed down now :)http://forums.avsim.net/user_files/166849.jpg

[Guest 2002cbr600f4i]

Taking the baton as soon as the previous pilot posted and confirmed, I begin my rollout in the Pony. Several of my co-horts are online around me, and giggle as I swing back and forth trying to keep the beast pointing down the runway while at full throttle. Ah, airborne! I had preset the GPS and the AP so I pop her on and the plane immediately begins a climbing left turn... I look out over the airport, down at my teammates and take a snapshot...As I continue climbing, I notice that the AP isn't locking to the GPS's course... HMMM.... I end up just switching to a HDG lock and set the HDG accordingly. Man, it's DARK up here! If it wasn't for the stars, I'd have no idea where the sky ends and the ground begins. Whoa, NICE tailwind! Manage to get up to around 460kts at times!At 25nm out I chop the throttle, aim the nose to the ground and being a steep 400+ kt dive. Looking out the right window I spot the beacon light from the tower and then the runway lights. Turning, I drop the first level of flaps at about 10K ft to slow my decent.Turning to line up now at about 3 miles out, I drop the remaining flaps and finally the gear.Nice centerline landing, only a small bounce. Bring her to a calm stop and kiss the ground. Race Leg #1 under my belt! Woohoo!--Mike

[MM 422]

A useful flight from beautiful Bengazi on the Gulf of Sidra to historic Alexandria. When I asked about getting a card for the library, someone suggested going to the lighthouse! A little historical humor.Took off after Basten and Speed got down in the fog. Got up with Jeff as wingman and got worried as the visibility at HEAX dropped to 4SM with 25kts winds. We climbed to altitude to take advantage of the terrific tailwinds along the Mediterranean coastline. They were pretty consistent between 50-60kts. For a while, we were doing a steady 501kts GS (mostly wind, of course). But nice to see the number exceed the 500kts level!http://forums.avsim.net/user_files/166878.jpgWorried all the way down. The night above was starlight--but trouble loomed ahead with ground mist forecast. No ILS, but a VOR off the field. Encouragingly, the guys on the ground reported that the viz was not terrible... What was it going to be? Being cautious, took a full pattern turning back into the 25kts winds and set up for a solid long final. Approaching the airfield, I expected the visibility to drop precipitously--as it often does. But happily, things were fine all the way down to the brightly lit field. So a little bounce or two and things were safe and sound. All green tonight. Five minutes later rain started pouring down to restrict the visibility just as forecast. Sometimes it is better to be lucky. Whew!Mike MacKuenhttp://forums.avsim.net/user_files/166879.jpg