London-Melbourne 2014: A Heads-Up for October

[MM 424]

Just a heads-up.

In October 2014, the Spring Events Team will be hosting another run of the London-Melbourne MacRobertson Challenge. This is the 80^th anniversary of the actual event and we look forward to the experience. The setup will be similar, but not identical, to that of the 2009 event: two classes (Golden Age and Modern General Aviation), two competitions (Speed Race and Handicap Race), use real weather but fly on your own time. To gain a sense of how things might work, you can download the 2009 London-Melbourne Rules here.

Note: Please post any questions or comments in the SOH thread.
http://www.sim-outhouse.com/sohforum...663#post898663

Hope to have you all aboard for maybe the last running of the L-M. (Unless we try for the 100^th anniversary!)

Best,
Mike (for the Spring Events Team)

[arrvoo 6]

Hopefully going to join this one. I entered but never finished the 2009 race so would like another shot at it.

I'm having some pc stability issues atm (may mean having to buy a new one ) but should be sorted by then

[spokes2112 179]

Looking forward to it.

[cbtaylor 15]

I'm in.  Not sure I can slog through with a 'Golden Age' entry, but will certainly pull something together for the modern GA class.

[tjmoores 1]

i can't post in the soh thread, so i'll ask here, in the 2009 rules it says: "the class winner is the one that completes the course and all requirements in the least amount of race time (flight time is the amount of time an aircraft spends airborne from takeoff to landing, measured by the duenna program, the race time total adjusts the cumulated flight time for any penalties)

so does that mean that only the time spent airborn is counted or all time is counted whether airborn or not?

[cbtaylor 15]

Hi TJ

 

It will be just the "Flight Time" as reported by the duenna for each flight.  Typically, each pilot will be required to report their own time using an online spreadsheet that the race administrators will create based on pilot registrations.

 

When the registration period is announced you will need to register as a racer at the Outhouse.  You will see a thread for that in their "Around the World/Multiplayer Events" subforum when registration opens.  Once the race officially starts you will need to start your own thread in their multiplayer forum to announce your race start and legs, and post the .jpg file that the duenna creates after each flight just for verification purposes.  This will be similar to the leg posts that we create for the RTWR, but each pilot has their own thread.  Only the time you spend in the air will be used to score the race, along with any accrued penalties.

 

This system works really well for races where everyone flies on their own as time permits.  They typically allow about a month or so to complete the race course.

[spokes2112 179]

AP Service - Tulsa, OK
 
August 1934 -
 
 Two years ago, April 1932, pilot Roman Stoviak created a debacle by crashing 3 times in  William G. Skelly's only prototype of a new luxury aerocraft, The Spartan "7W Executive",  during the famous "Cape to Cape" race which was held on the continents of Europe and Africa. Since that time things were afoot in Skelly's office. A new division of Spartan Aircraft company was formed, Spartan Aeroplane Racing LLC. The formation of this new division is to participate in the upcoming MacRobertson race from London, UK to Melbourne, Australia.
 
 After the formation of the new division a crack team of aeroframe specialists was sent to Hudiksvall, Sweden and Prague, Republic of Czechoslovakia to search and obtain usable parts from the crash scenes before sending them back to Tulsa, OK via steamliner & trains.  In the same timeframe Skelly also procured sponsorship so that the daunting cost of aeroplane racing would not be handled by him alone.
 
 The sponsors include - Spartan Aircraft Company*, Hamilton Standard Propellers, Champion Spark Plugs, Pratt and Whitney Radial Engines, Sperry Autopilots, Camel Cigarettes, Jeppesen Aeronautical Charting, Bendix Navigation Radios,  Pabst Brewery, Skelly Oil - Aromax Aeroplane Fuels*, Aircraft Magneto Service ("May The Spark Be With You") & the newly formed Spartan School of Aeronautics and Technology*.  
 
  In the first year of the of the rebuild, the aeroframe was located at the Spartan Aircraft Factory's main site near the Tulsa Municipal Aerodrome* on Sheridan Street. At the factory the aeroplane received a new engine & propeller along other newly manufactured parts as part of the prototype testing program. Recovered parts from the crash site were also refurbished and used. The newly rebuilt aeroplane was repainted to include sponsorship logos required by the agreement between Skelly and the sponsors. The aeroplane is named "Miss Lorraine", the probationary pilot's sweetheart. It has an Air Commerce Regulations registration of "NC12RS".
 
(* Owned, formed by, and/or operated by William G. Skelly) 
 
 After the rebuild the aeroplane was trucked to the newly formed "Spartan School of Aeronautics and Technology" on East Pine Street where it received a complete cockpit rebuild of which some items are of an experimental nature. The students at the school studied the cockpit layout, revised it for a better work load, (NO 2d pop up windows!) then sent it to the avionics shop for installation of the new radios and instruments. "Bendix Radios" supplied 2 new ADF-1-12C automatic direction finder receivers along with assisting the students in developing a new "crystal" controlled communication radio that has, as a feature, an electro-mechanical standby frequency selector. The students were also involved with the "Sperry Company", developing a new "flux-gate" vertical compass. This new heading indicator does not rely on gyros but rather measures the Earth's magnetic field in order to keep proper heading whereas a gyro compass will drift after some time giving an inaccurate source in which to hold a heading while under autopilot .
 
 The students at the school also invented and perfected some new technologies too. Because of the new  "flux-gate" vertical compass it was deemed that the "Sperry Mk III" autopilot be able to use a switchable input for redundancy. It can be selected to slave the vertical compass' heading or be set to the default mode where the pilot would manually input the current magnetic heading via compass. This new experimental "front end" to the Sperry Mk III  also has an ingenious & experimental feature which relies on barometric pressure to hold and/or deviate, at a set rate, the altitude in which the aeroplane flies while on autopilot. This feature also has a switchable input, again, for redundancy where the default mode relies on the artificial horizon's vertical gyro to control pitch. An outside air temperature gauge was replaced after showing inaccurate readings since it's installation in the 1st, now destroyed, prototype.  
 
 Oklahoma State University's chemical department also contributed to the new air racer. The previous placards and instrument backlighting relied on a radioactive ink that would magnify a dim backlight to be observed by the pilot. The chemical department invented a new ink that is not radioactive, provides better magnification and clearer representation of the dials and displays. The Spartan students applied this new ink to replaced placards and instrument faces while the aeroplane was in the avionics shop.
 
 The aeroplane has recently been flown 8 times while at Tulsa Municipal Aerodrome where it was deemed flight worthy. The only mitigating factor in participating in the October dated MacRobertson race is Roman, the assigned pilot, who is in a probationary state at this time.  It is his duty to become more proficient in this new prototype aeroplane before setting off to London, UK.  Much of his practice time will be held in the Pacific Northwest, and, on Saturday afternoons/evenings to be joined by his peers providing feedback.
 
 
 
   
 

 
 

 

 
 
AP Service - TULSA/OK/081834/0525
 
     

[cbtaylor 15]

Yeah, he's offered me one, too.   :ph34r:

 

It's down to this or the ol' gooney bird...unless I can master the Comet in time.