vcaptmattsmith

All,From time to time, some of the aircraft used in the race become unavailable to new race participants. This is normally due to the aircraft being discontinued by a developer (freeware or payware) and the model being withdrawn from distribution.Thus the aircraft no longer meets the historical requirement of "publicly available for download or purchase two weeks before the race starts".The Executive Committee has no desire to punish pilots who have legally downloaded or purchased aircraft for use in the race, but we must also maintain the ability for new pilots to compete on an equal footing. We cannot condone copyright violations of providing unlicensed copies of aircraft to team participants.Thus we will likely be forced to establish a list of "Discontinued Aircraft" which will be ineligible for the race.We have no desire to force pilots to verify the availability of their aircraft every year, nor will we condone 'ambush' declarations that an aircraft used in good faith during the race is suddenly ineligible. This process needs to be public and open to discussion by all interested race members.We invite members of the various teams to comment on how the Executive Committee might establish such a list, identify such aircraft, what type of time frame might advisable to notify participants of aircraft ineligibility, etc.Thanks, in advance, for your thoughts!MattFor the Executive Committee

Hi All,We are pleased to announce that the 2012 Flight Simulator Around-the-World Race will begin on February 18, 2012 at 1500 hours UTC.See you then!-MattRTWR Executive Committee

Minor updates and corrections to both the General Rules and 2011 Special Rules and their FAQs have now been posted. Pilots who were previously confused by particular points should recheck the rules for clarification. Substantive changes have not been made; we have simply updated the documents to be clearer and, where errors were noted, fixed the errors.Notices to Airmen for the 2011 RTW Race may be found here: http://www.fsrtwrace.com/2011RTWRNOTAMs.pdfFinally, team briefing committees have been issued passwords for the briefing sheet system and allowed to unlock one continent.Best of luck!

Flight Simulator Around The World Race Home (Edited by Sonar5 to insert race Home) It's our pleasure to today reveal to the community a preview of this year's race. We're not revealing too many details, but we want to give everyone a heads-up about certain things. We'll monitor the various team forums and, of course, our own forum on this website, for questions. 1. Weather. In 2010 all pilots will use the MSFS Default (Jeppesen) weather engine. Select Real weather with 15 minute updates (if you can possibly do so). It is now apparent that we need a level playing field with respect to the weather. Other weather systems have terrific features, but the need for competitive balance mandates this uniform standard. You may use the textures of the other weather programs, of course, but must use the MSFS weather engine. 2. Informal Norms. We would like to encourage pilots to fly in a realistic world. In particular, we want to avoid pressure to fly over a "bald earth," without terrain or autogen, with merely minimal cloud coverage. On the other hand, we understand that some pilots' computers impose limits on the realism with which they can fly

Thanks for the info on FSUIPC.As far as the effect in the real world:Windshear is a real phenomenon, however it typically occurs only with severe weather and near the ground. An example would be a thunderstorm producing heavy downdrafts that spread outward in all directions upon hitting the ground. This can create currents of wind that run opposite the prevailing wind and, in essence, the effect seen in the MS real weather engine. The MS engine is unrealistic in that it creates such windshear areas in places where you wouldn't typically find them in real life - at cruise, with winds aloft.For a somber example of the reality of windshear and what it can do, see here: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Delta_Air_Lines_Flight_191Anyone else have any experience with this? REX? ASX?Cheers,Matt

Hi all,I have a question for folks who have purchased add-ons that purport to solve the "windshear" problem that the default real weather engine produces.In brief, this problem is presented when winds in one area are opposite in direction to those of an adjoining area; when flying from the first area to the second, the aircraft experiences a sort of windshear. Suppose, for illustration, that as you're flying with a 25-knot tailwind you enter a new wind area where there is a 25-knot headwind. FSX simply changes the winds instantly, leading to an instant 50 KIAS jump in airspeed. If you are within 50 knots of VNE, you are likely cooked.As I understand it, ASX solves this problem by loading weather for surrounding regions as well as the current region and smoothing the variations so that rather than experience an instant change in winds, the weather would instead gradually transition from one wind direction to the other, over which time the aircraft would maintain roughly the same IAS. This seems to me the most realistic way to deal with this problem (which I suspect is the result of the incomplete data that FSX is modeling the weather on.)I am also given to understand that FSUIPC has a feature that addresses the above problem in a similar manner.To conclude, my question is:Has anyone used any add-on to address the problem I described above, and if so, what did you use and how well did it work?Thanks very much!Matt

In an effort to improve the 2010 RTWR, we are soliciting feedback on the rules via our forum. A poll has been posted asking whether pilots prefer simple rules or variety in the race. Please visit http://www.fsrtwrace.com/forum.htm to share your thoughts and preferences.Thanks!Matt

The RTWR Executive Committee today announces the 2010 Flight Simulator Around-The-World Race. It is our pleasure to invite the same teams that made last year's race our most competitive ever to join us again in 2010; pilots who competed with the now-defunct FS-MP.com will be competing from their new home at iFlyOnline.com. Any interested pilots should visit the discussion forums of the team of their choice for information on joining and guidance on preparation for the race. Team members and others may contact the Executive Committee via the Contact page on www.fsrtwrace.com with any questions. See you in February!-----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------Matthew Smith, [email protected] | Executive CommitteeMicrosoft Flight Simulator Around-the-World Race | www.fsrtwrace.com

Learned on FS, beginning at age 10, with version 5.Got my PPL at 17. I think we were on FS8 then.70 hours to date. Would love to get the -IA and -MEL at some point, but school and work are likely to put that off for at least the next few years.Good thing FSX is so darn good.

We have announced the final results for what was possibly the most exciting Around-the-World race ever.Standings are at www.fsrtwrace.com .Teams did an excellent job of flying and navigating and the margin of victory this time around was slimmer than ever before. The committee congratulates Team Avsim for a hard-fought and well-won victory, and all of the other teams for an especially well-run race. See you next year!Avsim,Well, you guys did it. Fantastic job in winning an extraordinarily hard-fought race. We had no idea it would be this close, or so well-done. You flew largely error-free and you flew extremely efficiently. We're all extraordinarily impressed, and can't wait to see you all try to defend your trophy next year.Again, Congratulations!Matt

This post ends the Kickoff Event and begins the circumnavigatory portion of the 2009 Around-the-World Race.Best of luck to all the teams!Go.Matt

Greetings to the Race Community:This post officially begins the 2009 Flight Simulator Around-the-World Race Kickoff Event.You have two hours and thirty minutes to complete the challenge outlined in the Special Rules for the 2009 Race.Following the Kickoff Event, a second post will be made beginning the Around-The-World portion of the Race.Best of luck to you all!The RTWR Executive Committee | www.fsrtwrace.comMatthew SmithIan DaleReggie FieldsMike MacKuen

Please join us for a discussion of this year's race over TeamSpeak at 6PM this evening. The server address is 208.59.114.141.Thanks!Matthew SmithExecutive CommitteeFlight Simulator Around-the-World Race

Hi all,I'm happy to announce the start date for the 2009 RTW Race - 21 February. We've yet to zero in on a starting time, but will be working on that as we develop the rules specific to this year's race.I know there's been some confusion about this, and I apologize. This will be the final date, and we'll work to be more definite, earlier, next year.Cheers,Matt SmithRTWR Executive Committee

It is my pleasure to announce the results of the 2008 RTW Race.First Place: Sim-OuthouseSecond Place: AvsimThird Place: FlightsimCongratulations to SOH, who have for the first time taken the "Tornado Trophy." This year's race was another very close contest. Congratulations to everyone who participated.We welcome your feedback as we think about plans for next year.Again, Congratulations!Matt SmithRTWR Executive Committee