Hi all.I looked at the DC2 "Uiver" flight schedule of the 1934 England- Australia Race, here is the jpg located:http://www.avsim.com/hangar/flight/dc2uive...ne_race_eng.htm I wanted to refly the same race at the same scheduled time.In my dreams only! I used the R4D DC3,I expected this plane to easily make it.(the original DC2 had 4 flight crew and even 3 passengers!)Using direct GPS and going 155-160 knots,(I could not give it any more throttle!) i could not even make it. I flew from Bagdad to Jask,(842.34 nm) my GSP said: ETA in about 6.10 hours or so.the original schedule said flying time: 5.13hours.Middenhall to Rome (792.70 nm) takes me half an hour longer going top speed and not slowing down to find a way through the Alps. No, just bounced of the mountains and keep going full speed :-)so much for re-creating the legendary journeys of the past :-) cheers!

Are you sure it was not due to winds that it took you longer?

They most-likely had a tail wind the entire way since winds traditionally flow eastward do to the Earth's rotation.----------------------------------------------------------------John S. MorganReal World: KGEG, UND Aerospace Spokane Satillite, Private 130+ hrs.Virtual: MSFS 2004"There is a feeling about an airport that no other piece of ground can have. No matter what the name of the country on whose land it lies, an airport is a place you can see and touch that leads to a reality that can only be thought and felt." - The Bridge Across Forever: A Love Story by Richard Bach

>>Using direct GPS and going 155-160 knots,(I could not give it any more >>throttle!) i could not even make it. I flew from Bagdad to Jask,(842.34 >>nm) my GSP said: ETA in about 6.10 hours or so.Using the DST triangle (distance, speed, time), it is easy to see that with a still wind, the 842.34/155 = 5.43 hrs. Your GPS will work off of your ground speed, not your IAS, so you have quite a strong headwind there. Also, the DC2 had a flying time of 81.2 hours upon completion over a 10,723nm course. That equates to an average ground speed of 132kts. My guess, is that they had as much tailwind as headwind as, in reality, a DC3 won't do much more than that as TAS over an extedned period. Check your wind settings.Just another wee point. Winds aren't generated because of the Earth's rotation. Even if they were, it would be a head wind. Wind is generated by atmospheric pressure gradients. The predominant upper winds are Easterly at the poles and the equator and westerly at the mid latitudes. The wind enroute at 10000' would probably be predominantly westerly but would also be somewhat dependent on what specific local weather systems were in play.

I probably should have gone into more detail then I did. Correct, it's pressure gradients for the most part, but the rotation of the earth and the lovely coriolis effect tend to make the winds overall path easterly, atleast over the US. This is witnessed if you watch clouds on the satellite and the Jet Stream.----------------------------------------------------------------John S. MorganReal World: KGEG, UND Aerospace Spokane Satillite, Private 130+ hrs.Virtual: MSFS 2004"There is a feeling about an airport that no other piece of ground can have. No matter what the name of the country on whose land it lies, an airport is a place you can see and touch that leads to a reality that can only be thought and felt." - The Bridge Across Forever: A Love Story by Richard Bach

>>I probably should have gone into more detail then I did. Correct, it's >>pressure gradients for the most part, but the rotation of the earth and >>the lovely coriolis effect tend to make the winds overall path >>easterly, atleast over the US. This is witnessed if you watch clouds on >>the satellite and the Jet Stream.Unfortunately, this is a very very complex subject. It is the subject that trainee pilots fail most during ground school. Be rest assured, the rotation of the Earth does not cause the wind. The coriolis force balances the pressure gradient to form the geostrophic wind. The geostrphic wind does not travel in any particular direction, it flows parallell to the isobars. Then there is the isallobaric effec. Jet streams are high and fast, too high for the DC3 and are caused by a completely different set of circumstances relating to the location of large land and water masses.A point of fact is that the earth's wind is generally light an easterly (from the east) at the poles and the thermal equator (inter tropical convergence zone or ITCZ) and strong and westerly elsewhere. A huge simplification, but a good starting point. I am happy to explain further, but it will be painful reading. Best look it up on the web somewhere for a readable description.

I have quite a few aviation weather books on my bookshelf I have read. It's difficult as you say to explain it all adequately and in all the details it really needs to be explained in. So many complexities to it and that blasted Chaos Theory makes it all the more difficult. Those butterflies need to stop flapping their wings so much. :-lol----------------------------------------------------------------John S. MorganReal World: KGEG, UND Aerospace Spokane Satillite, Private 130+ hrs.Virtual: MSFS 2004"There is a feeling about an airport that no other piece of ground can have. No matter what the name of the country on whose land it lies, an airport is a place you can see and touch that leads to a reality that can only be thought and felt." - The Bridge Across Forever: A Love Story by Richard Bach

>>> Wind is generated by atmospheric pressure gradients<<

>A point of fact is that the earth's wind is generally light an>easterly (from the east) at the poles Errr...no, I don't think so. All winds are southerly at the North pole, and all winds are northerly at the South pole. In fact, the poles are the only places where the wind blows both from and to the same direction. It's not possible to have easterlies *at* the poles.RegardsBob ScottATP IMEL Gulfstream II-III-IV-V L-300Washington, DC

And in the interest of complete pedantry I point out that is true in the real world, but not in the sim world, which is actually a cylinder. Those MS people, reinventing the globe!Allcott

is that true? the sim world is a cylinder? if true, that would explain the distance problem. ( i have a feeling i may be missing some sarcasm here) on a much less advanced note, i've noticed some buildings are much taller than they actually are (about 1.5x). i have a feeling ms did this for drama, anyone else notice this? empire state in particular is too big, i can see it out my window, and it isnt as tall as in fs. i wonder if its a scenery problem on my end or something?