The race started well with an Avanti leg from Sochi (URSS) to Turkmenbashi (UTAK) by Mike G, followed by a Bearcat run to Mary (UTAM) by Roman.  I took the baton at that point heading to OPMI.  I had good tailwinds and had good speeds on the 1.5 hr leg.  The descent and approach were normal.  Crossed the threshold at 130, speed decayed to 124 at touchdown then CRASH. What happened, probably a tail strike.

 

Duenna with the red border of shame

 

Proof that the wingman isn't just there to make the baton holder look good... :Big Grin:

Some good news, Eamonn managed to keep everything together and land our continental jet leg on the second attempt.

 

 

A quick snap of Mike and Rob after their "Braille" method Formation Flight. (Looking for the orangutans of Borneo.)

"Hmm - Just sitting here, an hour and a half before the start.
 


"Why not go for a quick flight?" A beautiful morning in Sochi, getting the blood flowing.



Mike and Rob coming in on their formation flight. Excellent job by the 2 of them, multiplayer was acting up and they did approach by voice, only 15 second difference!!  :Applause: 



Just itching to go!!!



A nice warm day in the humid Flores Sea just southwest of Indonesia, seen a few flashes of lightning from the distant cumulonimbus off to the port side. It was so nice out at 16,000 feet I had to open the canopy. Beats the heck out of the weather in the midwest of North America. (If only I could stay B) )

During off time why not practice formation flying?

 

Report from the second CJ leg from India(VEPH) to Thailand(VTBP):

 

Departed from a small airport just north of Calcutta late at night in low vis and rain. A light loaded B737-700 will take off and climb very quickly.

 

 

Enjoying the moonlight over the Indian Sea at FL300 doing around 520 kts on this 995 nm leg.

 

 

Sunrise approaching Thailand and our TOD.

 

 

Approach and landing went smooth untill 10nm where visibility went down to 1/2 mile. All VFR and no navigational aids except for an NDB near the field. Got down low enough to see the ground and then follow the ADF. Spotted the airport 3/4 nm before T/D at a small angle but made a safe landing on the centerline and the baton was free. Flight time for 995 nm was 2 hours 08 min.

 

And the racing action continues this morning. We're making our way up the western part of the Pacfic, heading for South Korea.

 

Here's me on final, landing as a wingman in Indonesia, watching Leon and Nick heading off on the next leg.

 

 

 

And Leon's approach at the end of that leg, in the Philippines. Unfortunately, in Leon's simulator it wasn't quite as dark, as the time setting was incorrect, so we are awaiting a ruling on what the penalty time will be for that.

 

 

Leg 12 WAMM - RPVM

 

Some screenshot highlights from a sunset flight into the Phillippines earlier today in a De Havilland Hornet F Mk 1:

 

 

Darn Computer Gremlins. 

 

DC and Travis setup for the first of the wildcard legs to North America (RJCC-UHPP).  Six minutes after DC's departure he reported on Teamspeak that he had another FSX CTD. (This was the second time in the Race that DC experienced this same mishap.   The prior CTD occurred near the end of his continental jet baton leg into VEPH.)  DC quickly reset at RJCC and took off for the second time.  Thirteen minutes later DC experienced his second CTD.  Another reset and restart at RJCC and 9 minutes later the third CTD and DC relinquished the baton to Travis.  As insurance Rob and I setup at RJCC in case Travis had a problem.  It turns out that we were not needed but we were ready. 

 

 

 

I'm not sure whether to award a

 

 

or a

 

 

Whatever, hang in there boys!

Due to some unfortunate events for the other teams, it looks like we are in the running again, flying side by side with FlightSim along the northern parts of South America.

 

Here are some shots from the last day's racing.

 

Nick landing in Korea yesterday:

 

 

 

Keeping MikeG company on his morning flight.

 

 

 

With some encouragement to make him go a little faster...

 

 

 

Here is a selection of screenshots from the past 24h. Coming in to Kamchatsky(UHPP) we were 2 hours behind the 2 other teams and the batonholder had FSX crash as Jeff described in another post so we depended on Travis making the landing in the Citation X. He did and Arrvoo took the lead out towards St. Pauls Island with me as wing in the PMDG 777. St. Paul was socked in with low vis in snow with high winds so I decided to make an autoland with the T7 doing the ILS 36. It all went well and Arrvoo took the baton in for a safe landing.

 

On top of that Flightsim crashed twice at St. Paul and had to refly the leg. Sim Out House landed at St. Paul with a B2 which was not allowed so suddenly we are in the race again and right now it is a close race to the finish.

 

 

Ready to go from UHPP:

 

 

 

Harv in the Citation X:

 

 

 

ILS 36 at PASN:

 

 

 

A little crowded at this small airport:

 

 

F-86 over BC going to CYVR:

 

 

Waiting for baton to arrive at Vancouver:

 

 

Of to bed and the N. Americans took us down to Puerto Rico(TJSJ).

 

My baton flight from TJSJ-TBPB:

 

 

 

The team continues down to Brazil. Landing at SOOG could be quite a challenge with low clouds and rain:

 

 

 

 

Thanks for watching.

After finally managing to complete a leg as baton pilot, I handed over the baton to Bry and Rob who headed out over the ocean in a B-2 Spirit formation flight.