How about a simple Challenge Flight for us Niners?

[ViperPilot2]

Third Test Flight complete!

Aircraft: F-5E Photo Lightning (Copley P-38J)

Takeoff from KHLC: 0738 CDT

Wheels Stop @ KFSW: 0900 CDT

Elapsed Time: 1:22

Altitude: 20,000' (FL200)

Power Settings:

 

Climb to Altitude: 40# MP/2500 RPM

Cruise: 40# MP/2400 RPM

 

Fuel Remaining: 45%

 

I paid so much attention to the Clock at Throttle Up that I forgot to press the Start button on my Timer!

 

Bolloxed up the Landing once again; still taking too long to Descend, and too fast approaching the Airport.

Well, that's what 'Testing' is all about! 

 

 

 

Thanks for the Tally sheet! I'll compile one and post it. If you would, please indicate if you're 'Testing' or are submitting Times to be counted as your actual 'Competition' Time(s).

 

DD... My first Post pretty much sums up the "Rules" except for a couple that were hashed out in the Discussion throughout the Thread...

 

-- Any Fighter or Fighter/Bomber used in the Conflict. Prototypes are allowed upon Approval. Basically, if you want to fly it, just ask.

-- NO altered FDE's.

-- Panel Mods allowed. Adding GPS is okay.

-- Clock starts @ Throttle Up, Clock stops when Parking Brake's engaged.

-- Time Compression Allowed.

-- Fly the Entire Route in one shot, or fly it in Legs. Add your Times to get the Aggregate.

-- HAVE FUN.

-- THE HONOR SYSTEM RULES. Be Fair, and be Honest.

 

That's about it. Anything I missed? If you're not sure of something, just ask!

 

Welcome to anyone looking, or joining us for the first time!

 

A heartfelt Thank You to everyone else who's playing along. It's most appreciated! 

 

 

[ViperPilot2]

2 hours ago, ScottishMike said:

“OK, guys and gals, team de-brief”.

We congregated in a corner of the Retro Inn.

“Just keep your voices down, I think Defaid and his team are still here.”

The inn had a retro feel to it, dark wood and poor lighting, good Brandy though.

“This place smells like an old man cave, old cigars, stale beer and B.O.” Suzanne added.

Yes, relaxing, I thought, but said nothing.

“OK let's move outside.” We sat at one of the wooden pic-knick tables, sharp clear mountain air a nice change from L.A.

“John, good and bad?” I asked

“Well, it all seems good, the problem is getting more speed. 380 Kts at 20,000' is not bad but the Sea Fury is faster. I am pretty sure I had prop and mixture at optimum. I tried climbing to 22,000' but the speed dropped from 406 Kts to 403”

“You climbed just as the wind dropped, so maybe it was that. Try climbing again on the next leg. Try at 25,000'.” I added.

We had had a tail wind swinging from 200 to 218 degrees at 17 to 19 Kts giving us a cruise up to 406 kts. Around the Nevada border the wind swung round to between 111 and 135 degrees at 10 to 9 Kts. negating some of the gain. As luck (and the Cortez forecast) had it, the wind dropped to zero around the second Colorado crossing.

“Also the autopilot acts strangely” John added “The altitude and vertical climb on the “modern” stack work as they should, but to set heading I have to use the old unit. Suzanne set the bug to 053 degrees before departure, once this heading is in it's not possible to change it. I had to use the grey turn knob to change course. Not too much of a problem if I'm just following the red line on the GPS though.”
“Anything you would like the organisers to change?” I asked.

“It would be nice if they provide a table of who has entered and times and stages completed.” Suzanne added.

“Well, I've tried to keep track, so far I think it's as follows:”

 

JSMR Mustang P-51D Still testing

TaofTedal Sea Fury Leg one 1hr 22m (Might have completed more as well)

ViperPilot2 F-5E (P-38J) Still testing

Defaid Mosquito Leg one 1hr 36m

JGF P-38 Leg one 2hr 12m

DangerousDave26 B-29 Still testing

and us of course:

ScottishMike Spitfire IVX Leg one 1hr 24m

 

“Anybody anything else they would like to add?”

silence.

“OK, briefing for the next leg first thing tomorrow morning.”

 

 

I wonder if there's really a place like "The Retro Inn" in Cortez? 

 

Long as they serve good Green Chili, Mexican and Rez Food... I'm IN. If they serve a decent Navajo Taco, I'm double IN!

[jgf]

This is not an entrant, just an exercise for my "civilian" P-39.  All military equipment removed;  fuel tanks replaced with bladders, and aux units installed where the wing guns were, resulting in about 15% more fuel;  original Allison replaced with the turbo-supercharged Allison from a P-38;  aggregate result is about 300hp more, good to around 30k ft, and about 500lbs lighter.

 

 

 

Since there is no need for machine gun butts protruding into the cockpit I could fashion a more conventional instrument panel, and being a civilian airplane I replaced the nuts-and-bolts utilitarian cockpit with something more appropriate but retaining the basic P-39 design (still very much a WIP, I'm working on the texturing).  Timer shows I touched down with a 1hr 59min time ....and 12% fuel remaining, good thing I didn't push for more speed.  Was getting low fuel warning with 60 mi to go.  Cruised at 15k ft, 35mp 2500rpm, around 290kt gs.

 

[taoftedal]

Last leg is in the book!  Wheels up at 8:00am (CDT), Touchdown at 10:15am (EDT).  Total Time 1:15.  Average Speed 432nm/1.25hr = 345kts.  Again, climbed out at 40 inHg/2,400 rpm (normal climb setting) at 2,500 fpm to a cruise altitude of 17,000.  17,000 gave me a KIAS of 289kts with a GS of 362kts.

 

Before adding it all up I think I should fly the first leg again at the continuous max setting (40 inHg/2,400 rpm).  Flown at max power (49 inHg/2,700 rpm) my engine would have turned to mush far from Cortez.

 

[defaid]

4 hours ago, ViperPilot2 said:

-- Clock starts @ Throttle Up, Clock stops when Parking Brake's engaged.

 

Oh... Ahh well, with the weather between Cortez & Hill City, I won't be winning. I may even struggle to make fifth place...

 

Leg 2
KCEZ to KHLC
Wheels up 1339Z
Touchdown 1500Z
Flight time 1h 21m
Start-up fuel 61.4%
Shut-down fuel 6%

 

 * * *

 

Sunday morning. Another motel layover.

 

The ice machine in the hallway had kept us both awake until the navigator, resourceful as ever, grabbed a marker pen from her flight bag and taped a sign on it that said: "Do not use this machine: Urine in ice!"

 

Definitely time to leave.

 

After yesterday's delay for some unforeseen paperwork, a taxi across town brought an early start with dew on the grass.

 

5th September 1948. 0730 hrs local.

 

No sightseeing on this leg -- we were both a little tense knowing what lay ahead.

 

Wheels up.

 

Somewhere over the rainbow -- sorry: I mean over the Rio Grande, Wagon Wheel Gap I think, we briefly discuss the possibility of deviating to scare motorists on the Monarch Pass but at 60 miles north of the direct line, it's just too far off track.

 

The camo is working better this morning.

 

San Luis Valley, presaging what's to come.

 

433 miles across the width of Colorado, over the Great Divide with miles of dusty mountains rising beneath us to within a few hundred feet and finally sweeping down to Kansas, Dorothy and thoughts of Pat Metheney.

 

Kansas puts us both in mind of Lincolnshire: flat and dull, all fields like a nightmare feed-sack sick blanket, spattered with those little bullseye FS9 towns. If the centres had red roof tiles and the suburbs blue slate they'd all be RAF roundels. You can't even navigate by them - they're identical.

 

Navigation then is reduced to a heading and a time, everything extraneous burnt away, and Heaven help the pilot should he deviate in any way.

 

Kansas. How can you navigate this?

 

"You have to get this one spot-on nav, cos there's nothing else to go by. No pressure."

 

"Just shut up and fly the damn plane." The tone of voice says "You mess up, you're walking." With the option of "... from up here, so don't push it."

 

Soo... no pressure then.

 

The girl's a bloody miracle-worker. She gets us directly over Oakley Muni, possibly on the strength of prayer but I suspect some innate arcane ability. It's a cross-track error of four miles, planned on the fly, that tells us exactly what we need to know: where we are.

 

48 miles from goal.

 

KOEL four seconds early.

 

It resets any timing inaccuracy and gives us a relatively short run so minimal errors from here onward.

 

We fly the original calculated heading, paralleling the plan track, partly to aim off and partly because it will allow a left turn straight onto final. The wind is 020 at 23g30, bitterly dogged in its unkindness, and we're going for rwy 35. Since passing Oakley the relief of discovering that we really are in the right place has made us brave, so to hell with any AI. We have FSUIPC.

 

"Will you let us down or should I grab a parachute?" Well-versed in the black arts, she's already relaxed. The world rearranges itself around her to put Hill City Municipal Airport seven oblique miles away.

 

"30 seconds boyo." Just enough time to look through the port prop at a five-mile-distant smear that might be Hill City.

 

Destination lost in the monotony.

 

"Turn." Peremptory but she knows we're good.

 

Directly north: runway 35 is actually 001°. Sliding alongside South Fourth and looking along the length of North Fourth, marvelling at Kansan imagination, we're already lined up so we pull sharply up in a flight idle variant of a Stranger to the Ground bomb-slinging manoeuvre and when the nose drops, so does the gear.

 

Dumping airspeed.

 

Down.

 

You know what? I left the brandy in Cortez.

 

@ScottishMike Good to know someone had some use out of it

 

*      *      *

 

Because they seemed to fit, I borrowed the motel story from Kevin Garrison. The sick-blanket was Donald Bodey's.

 

D

[defaid]

3 hours ago, ViperPilot2 said:

I wonder if there's really a place like "The Retro Inn" in Cortez?

 

Yes, there is. I found it on Google Maps. 2101 East Main Street, I think.

 

It seemed like an appropriate place to stay.

[ViperPilot2]

33 minutes ago, defaid said:

 

Yes. There is. I found it on Google Maps. It seemed like an appropriate place to stay.

 

Yep. There's Mexican, Chinese and a local Burger joint, so that works for me! 

[JSMR]

We’ll, I’m gearing up for the race start. Two tests are enough for me. I think it’s time.

 

Since it’s a fun event, and we aren’t racing for $25,000 USD (although admittedly that would be a reasonable race win earnings that ViperPilot2 might consider for next time. ), I’m going for it. 
 

 

A few things to take care of, and then I’m launching.

 

[ViperPilot2]

Fourth Test Flight complete!

Aircraft: F-5E Photo Lightning (Copley P-38J)

Takeoff from KFSW: 0705 CDT

Wheels Stop @ KFSW: 0932 EDT

Elapsed Time: 1:22

Altitude: 20,000' (FL200)

Power Settings:

 

Climb to Altitude: 40# MP/2900 RPM

Cruise: 40# MP/2900 RPM

 

Fuel Remaining: 30%

 

This Flight went much better, and the Descent was a breeze! 

 

 

That completes my Test Flights, and I think I'm ready to go. 

 

For the Actual Flight(s), how does this sound for the sake of uniformity... Clock starts at Throttle up. When you land, Taxi to the Fuel Pump, then Stop your Timer. Once you're full, taxi to the nearest(?) Runway. Start your Clock at Throttle up. Etc, etc...

 

That means a little planning to land on the Runway closest to the Fuel pump.

 

What do you think, folks? Please chime in... 

[jgf]

Descent is always a breeze, it's that stop at the end that can be problematic.  I recall years ago reading a report of a plane crash blamed on "attempt to descend below the level of surrounding terrain".

 

As for rules, whatever you like (I'll be bringing up the rear anyway).

[ScottishMike]

The bar was busier, the Retro obviously came to life in the evening.

John saw her look round. Spotting him alone, Suzanne joined him.

“Thought you didn't like it in here?”

“I don't, but it's cold and dark outside. Don't go heavy on those. Another long day tomorrow.” She replied.

“Yeah, for what?” his speech slightly slurred. She wondered how long John had been sitting here, a beer and brandy chaser on the table.

“What do you mean “For what?”?” she asked.

“I was talking to one of the guys from Defaids' team. They seem to be having more fun. They have a navigator. The pilot's not alone. What do I do? Alone in the cockpit following a red line on a screen, a lot of fun that is.”

Well, Suzanne thought, if he feels like that after completing the race leg over some of the worlds' most spectacular scenery heaven help us once he clears the Rockys.

“My life is meaningless. No wife, or girl friend, kids. Nothing, just following that red line.”

Why was it that when men got drunk they went one of two ways; aggressive or maudlin.

“Just pretend you're following your yellow brick road.” She tried humour. She wondered weather he needed a hart or a brain, probably both.

“What do you mean?” he replied, reference lost.

“You're heading for Kansas tomorrow.” a hint might help.

“So?.” He replied.

“Never mind. You need to get yourself to bed ready for tomorrow.”

“And what happened to our chase plane? Mike promised a jet, a Challenger or a Lear not that Brazilian army surplus crate we've ended up with.”

“I'll talk to Mike tomorrow as we chug along behind you in the crate. Now lets get you to your room.”.

She got him to his room, opened the door and shoved him in, slamming the door behind him. No way was she going in the room. The man with no bmp seemed to be losing his mojo as well.

To clear her head she decided to walk to the airfield, check the Spitfire and crate were ok.

[taoftedal]

... and now a word from one of our sponsors.

 

It just so happened that a USAF Lockheed U-2 reconnaissance aircraft made an emergency landing on August 3, 1959, at the Cortez Municipal Airport.  Major Hsi-Chun ‘Mike’ Hua was on a training flight originating from Laughlin AFB.  The U-2 aircraft engine flamed out at 70,000 feet at night, and Maj. Hua was able to navigate through the dark valley to an airport that wasn't on his map (nor did he know of its existence).  The Cortez Municipal Airport was the only one in the area with the runway lighting left on through the night.

 

(Now ... there’s a challenge).

[JSMR]

7 hours ago, ViperPilot2 said:

 

 

For the Actual Flight(s), how does this sound for the sake of uniformity... Clock starts at Throttle up. When you land, Taxi to the Fuel Pump, then Stop your Timer. Once you're full, taxi to the nearest(?) Runway. Start your Clock at Throttle up. Etc, etc...

 

That means a little planning to land on the Runway closest to the Fuel pump.

 

What do you think, folks? Please chime in... 

 I could be wrong think some like taofteda  have already done race legs? Is that right? 
I'm happy either way although for simplicity, wheels up/down seems pretty simple and will be fair the B-29 which probably will be taxiing like an old truck around the airport. 
 

[ScottishMike]

It's taken me two weeks to get my pilot to remember to do a time check and record fuel quantity when he lands. If he does one of them I consider myself lucky. Not a good idea taxiing to the fuel, it would automatically go to 100% again, then there would be no way of knowing how much had been used on the flight. I think simple is best .

Start time when the wheels leave the ground. Finish when the aircraft comes to a halt. I'm sure air traffic won't mind us stopping on the runway for a second or two to record fuel, time and take a couple of pictures.

[ViperPilot2]

I brought up the 'fuel pump' deal just in case someone's interested in flying the Course in one shot instead of individual Legs. But, Start the Clock at Throttle Up and stop the Clock at Wheels Stop on the Runway after Landing works too.

 

Maybe at this point it would be a good idea for everyone to post their Current Status; looks like a couple of us have completed Testing and are ready to roll, A couple have started in earnest, and a couple are just starting out.

 

So... my Tests are complete and I'm ready. Gonna stick with the Copley P-38J (F-5 PR).

 

Just post who you are, the Airplane you've chosen to participate with, and if you've started your Money Flight, the Times for your Hops.

 

If there's any Housekeeping chores that need to be hashed out, please sound off. 

 

Thanks again for participating! 

 

 

[JSMR]

2 minutes ago, ViperPilot2 said:

I brought up the 'fuel pump' deal just in case someone's interested in flying the Course in one shot instead of individual Legs.

 

 

 

Oooh. I'm starting to think this might be a good idea. My speeds are down on the Sea Fury, and Spitfire and somebodies P-38 (or was it the Mosquito?). I'm WELL off the pace! 

Maybe I have the wrong altitude? Oh man.

 

Either way, tomorrow will either be the first leg, or to hell with it, I'll load her up with fuel and fly the whole damn thing in one stop.  

[jgf]

43 minutes ago, ViperPilot2 said:

interested in flying the Course in one shot instead of individual Legs

 

I thought of doing that by putting the 150gal drop tanks on the P-38 and going non-stop, though flying the route city to city.

 

But I'll be flying the "real thing" in the basic P-38J point to point, doing one more test flight to check fuel burn (maybe can be more aggressive on the throttle).

[ViperPilot2]

Here's the List, based on going through all of the Posts in the Thread:

(please correct me if I missed something)...

 

VP2 -- P-38J (F-5B) 

JSMR -- P-51D

jgf -- P-38J

taoftedal -- Sea Fury (Completed all 4 Legs); #1 -- 1h 22m  #2 -- 1h 19m  #3 -- 1h 11m #4 -- 1h 15m

(I think these are his Final Times...)

defaid -- Mosquito

ScottishMike -- Spitfire

DangerousDave -- B-29

PRB -- F7F Tigercat

 

[ViperPilot2]

1 hour ago, jgf said:

 

I thought of doing that by putting the 150gal drop tanks on the P-38 and going non-stop, though flying the route city to city.

 

But I'll be flying the "real thing" in the basic P-38J point to point, doing one more test flight to check fuel burn (maybe can be more aggressive on the throttle).

 

Try 40# MP/2900 RPM... I used that Setting climbing out from KFSW to 20K', then kept it there all the way to Cleveland. I was getting 215 kts. IAS, and about 317 kts. GS. I landed @ Cleveland with about 24% Fuel remaining. 

 

I flew the first Leg conservatively, and opened it up on the rest. I think 40/29 will work for the Money Flight. Give it a try and tell me what you think, since we're flying the same bird (almost)... 

 

Made a major mistake earlier, and forgot to welcome PRB from SOH to our little fracas. My bad, Sir! 

[taoftedal]

I've been drumming up a few sponsors for us ...

 

 

 

[jgf]

Gave the P-47 a shot.  Cruise 15k ft, 45mp, 2300rpm, showing around 296 kt gs (for some reason this dropped nearly 10kt the last 40mi. Finished in 1hr 56min with 49% fuel remaining (?) after about 612mi.  (This was flying direct gps route, last flight in P-38 was VOR to VOR, about 645 mi.)  Checked the cfg afterwards and found that, while not visible, the aircraft by default had a pair of 75gal drop tanks, so 150gal extra for a total of 450gal, thus used about 225gal for the trip.  Could make it without the drop tanks and probably be a bit faster.

 

 

Where's the blasted airport?

[ViperPilot2]

28 minutes ago, taoftedal said:

I've been drumming up a few sponsors for us ...

 

 

 

 

A few more...

 

 

[defaid]

16 hours ago, ViperPilot2 said:

For the Actual Flight(s), how does this sound for the sake of uniformity... Clock starts at Throttle up. When you land, Taxi to the Fuel Pump, then Stop your Timer. Once you're full, taxi to the nearest(?) Runway. Start your Clock at Throttle up. Etc, etc...

 

defaid & defaid junior

de Havilland DH.98 Mosquito B Mk.IV (Just Flight / Aeroplane Heaven)

added a chronometer (Serguei Gorelik, davtron_v12.zip from another library)

 

First leg 1 hour 36 minutes (adequate)

Second leg 1 hour 21 minutes (slow)

 

I considered these to be comp times; both were measured wheels up to touchdown. I've only just clocked your post half way down page 4 about continuing with test flights until everyone's comfortable and then starting in ernest.

 

If timings are changing, please can you all collectively devise a suitable handicap to cover the missing taxiing: I don't think I want to start again as that would probably delay me by another fortnight, though I'm very happy to adopt the new rule for the remaining two legs. On top of which...

 

... both legs were hand flown in weather and under defaid junior's instructions, with no electronic navigation equipment and no autopilot. Despite being in good hands, Kansas was truly stressful. And thoroughly satisfying in hindsight. I simply can't imagine doing this at night or in IMC, with inaccurate weather forecasts. Honestly, WWII crews were unbelievably skilled and this race is elevating my respect to open-mouthed awe. In my mind right now I'm comparing their equipment with what's available in the new TBM 960. If anyone is curious and has a spare half-hour, steveo1kinevo's latest video is a superb advert for modern electronics, Daher and Florida's traffic controllers.

 

D

[taoftedal]

11 hours ago, ScottishMike said:

 

“Just pretend you're following your yellow brick road.” She tried humor. She wondered whether he needed a heart or a brain, probably both.

“What do you mean?” he replied, reference lost.

“You're heading for Kansas tomorrow.” a hint might help.

“So?” He replied.

“Never mind. You need to get yourself to bed ready for tomorrow.”

 

 

Watch out for those 'Flying Monkeys' ... The Flying Monkeys - YouTube

 

[ViperPilot2]

2 hours ago, defaid said:

 

defaid & defaid junior

de Havilland DH.98 Mosquito B Mk.IV (Just Flight / Aeroplane Heaven)

added a chronometer (Serguei Gorelik, davtron_v12.zip from another library)

 

First leg 1 hour 36 minutes (adequate)

Second leg 1 hour 21 minutes (slow)

 

I considered these to be comp times; both were measured wheels up to touchdown. I've only just clocked your post half way down page 4 about continuing with test flights until everyone's comfortable and then starting in ernest.

 

If timings are changing, please can you all collectively devise a suitable handicap to cover the missing taxiing: I don't think I want to start again as that would probably delay me by another fortnight, though I'm very happy to adopt the new rule for the remaining two legs. On top of which...

 

... both legs were hand flown in weather and under defaid junior's instructions, with no electronic navigation equipment and no autopilot. Despite being in good hands, Kansas was truly stressful. And thoroughly satisfying in hindsight. I simply can't imagine doing this at night or in IMC, with inaccurate weather forecasts. Honestly, WWII crews were unbelievably skilled and this race is elevating my respect to open-mouthed awe. In my mind right now I'm comparing their equipment with what's available in the new TBM 960. If anyone is curious and has a spare half-hour, steveo1kinevo's latest video is a superb advert for modern electronics, Daher and Florida's traffic controllers.

 

D

 

Since taoftedal also posted his Times as 'competition' Times, you can log your first two Times as Competition also, and continue from there... is that acceptable? Frankly, I think the rest of us were in Test mode, and are pretty much ready to go. From reading the Posts, I don't know if DangerousDave and PRB are ready yet; I'm sure they'll both chime in regarding their Status.

 

It may seem that the 'Rules' appear to pretty loosey goosey, and to be honest, they are. This is all new Territory, and I'm not gonna start nitpicking. More than anything, I just wanted to see a group of folks running a similar Course, how long it took to complete it, and to have some fun within the Sim. Just the fact all of you are participating is icing on the cake for me; the Trip Narratives are Rocky Road ice cream with the cake!