The 2024 Australia Rally...

[jgf]

13 hours ago, ViperPilot2 said:

Grab me some Strawberry & Apple KitKats! 

 

Never seen those (fortunately), must be a regional thing.

[jgf]

Left Okierabu on a clear morning and headed south for a flyover of Kadena, from where I've flown SR-71s (and occasionally even landed them safely)

 

 

A course change at Miyakojima, roughly 300 miles south of Okinawa, "a nationally designated Place of Scenic Beauty ... considered by many as one of the most beautiful spots in Japan."  Too bad I couldn't tarry, but there's still 475 miles to Laoago.

 

Along the way I pass Basco, mostly a nature preserve

But also - https://www.popsmokemedia.com/basco-island-at-center-of-u-s-china-geopolitical-struggle/

 

Fortunately I was no threat so passed safely.

Another hour and RPLI, Laoago, is in sight.

 

 

Four hours forty minutes, another 842 miles. I'm in the Philippines.

 

Onward, 780nm to WTBB, Kota Kinabalu International Airport in Borneo.

 

 

[ViperPilot2]

1 hour ago, jgf said:

 

Never seen those (fortunately), must be a regional thing.

 

We have like, one flavor. In Japan, they have about 100.

 

Safe Travels through Micronesia! Love your SuperTimer! The Colors and Digits on your Gauge stick out way more than mine do.

[jgf]

42 minutes ago, ViperPilot2 said:

The Colors and Digits on your Gauge stick out way more than mine do.

 

Possibly because I recolored the background of mine;  the dark grey seems a better fit for some panels.

[PhrogPhlyer]

6 hours ago, jgf said:

flyover of Kadena

Just off your right wingtip is House of Kitchens, home of the best BLT in the world (or so says Playboy magazine).

My father told me he read it in Playboy when I was stationed at Futenma.

I can attest to the Great BLT!!!

[PhrogPhlyer]

11 hours ago, Bossspecops said:

I'm flying an amphibian

I may have to do a couple of the eastern legs with a Bell 47 or other helo on floats.

Digging through hangar for anything that is water friendly.

[TomPenDragon]

The Daily Update

(Cue The Cult’s, “She Sells Sanctuary”)

 

“Hello and welcome to a special edition of today’s Daily Update. Tom PenDragon here, broadcasting from Cuernavaca, Morelos in Mexico, on the other side of the planet from Australia. This is the Rules Edition of the Update. Let’s get right into them, then:”

 

The Rules

 

1. Definitions (used throughout the Rules, described here for clarity)

   1. Route, Race: A pre-defined flight plan published by either ViperPilot2 or TomPenDragon, which is either:

      1. The 1976 Australian Air Rally: Runs from YPJT to YSBK.

      2. Eastern: Runs from YCFS to YBCS.

      3. Combined: Runs from YPJT to YBCS, including the 241.5-mile leg between YSBK and YCFS.

      Attached is the current SkyVector Navlog for the Combined route, which encompasses both the 1976 and the Eastern routes: vp² AU Rally (C) 295 GS.pdf

   2. Timing Modality: Members may fly either of the following modalities:

      1. Timed: Members who are flying one of the Routes described above, who have entered prior to 15 January, 2024, and who are timing and reporting their times in accordance with these Rules.

      2. Free Flight: Members who are flying at will, whether following a Route or choosing their own flight plans, and whose timings, if reported, are not reflected on the Leaderboard.

   3. Participant: The rules primarily cover Timed flying, thus Participant may be construed as someone who is flying a Timed route. Exceptions to this will be noted at the beginning of the appropriate section of the Rules.

   4. Flier: All Gaggle pilots, both Timed and Free Fliers.

   5. Day: A natural day beginning at 00:00:00 and ending at 23:59:59, participant’s local time.

   6. Flight Time: Wheels up to wheels down, as calculated by the Sim and displayed by various chronometers available as gauges in the flightsim.com library, for instance Pierre Fasseaux’s Davtron M803. Note: the use of a chronometer that reports Flight Time simplifies and automates timing and, while not obligatory, is highly encouraged.

   7. V: Variance between planned and actual flight time in minutes, may be positive or negative

   8. Cum.V: Cumulative Variance, the result of adding the V for the individual legs of a race route.

   9. PIREP: A flier’s free-form story (poetry/prose/pictures) of their experiences flying the Gaggle. Though not obligatory, as a courtesy to fellow racers, participants should consider including screenshots of their flight plans, and their actual results for each leg (cockpit shot showing Flight Time on the chronometer).

   10. PM: Personal Messages sent to TomPenDragon to report times as described in IV.3. inclusive. See the Note regarding Confidentiality in PM’s at the end of the Rules.

   11. Organizing Committee:

       1. OGO: The Officious Gaggle Official. Responsible for organizing the Club and its events. ViperPilot2.

       2. TSO: The Timing and Scoring Official. Responsible for conducting events, recording times reported in the prescribed manner, and reporting times. TomPenDragon.

2. Start and Finish

   1. The race will start on 15 January, 2024

      1. Participants may start the race anytime after Sunrise, their local time.

      2. Participants may start the race on any date between 15 January, 2024 and 29 February, 2024. No penalty will be assessed for a late start besides the reduction in days available to complete the race.

      3. All fliers (Timed and Free Flight) who wish to start the event on 15 January must start from Perth Jandakot (YPJT). Those who wish to Free Fly and who start after 15 January may start from the airport of their choice.

   2. The race will end on 29 February, 2024

      1. End time is 23:59:59, participant’s local time.

      2. Should a participant require more time, a penalty of 1 minute will be assessed against their final Cum.V. To be clear, this means a penalty of +1 minute if the participant’s Cum.V is 0 or positive and -1 if it is negative.

3. Routes and Running

   1. Participants may choose to fly any of the routes described in I.1 above

      1. The declaration of a route for purposes of the Spotters’ Guide is considered an intention, not an obligation.

         1. A participant flying the Combined route may opt to curtail their timed flying once completing the 1976.

         2. A participant who completes the 1976 may opt to continue to fly the Combined (same aircraft) or the Eastern (optional change of aircraft, untimed YSBK-YCFS leg).

         3. A free flier who reaches YCFS may opt to run the Eastern route as a timed participant.

      2. A timed route must be flown in the same aircraft from start to finish. Except for refueling/fluid replenishment, repairs to a damaged aircraft, and minor cosmetic changes, a participating aircraft must not be modified during a Timed run.

   2. Should a participant wish to take a break from timed flying, they may free fly:

      1. From and to their last timed waypoint, with no limit to the number or location of stops during their free flight.

      2. In any aircraft they choose.

      3. Timed flying must be resumed from the participant’s last timed waypoint, in the aircraft they were using for their Timed run.

   3. The choice of aircraft is up to each participant. Those running the 1976 are encouraged to use aircraft type/models that flew in the actual 1976 Australian Air Race, but this is not obligatory (see also III.1.2).

   4. Dead reckoning, VOR/NDB navigation, and/or hand-flying are all encouraged, but are not obligatory. Each participant knows their own aircraft and abilities and should fly accordingly.

4. Timing and Scoring

   1. Timing will be done on a Plan vs. Actual basis per leg:

      1. Each participant will complete a flight plan using their preferred tool (e.g. the sim’s planner, SkyVector, FSTramp) prior to departure. In the interest of transparency and courtesy, participants are encouraged to post their plans as PIREP’s prior to or shortly after takeoff.

      2. Actual time will be computed from wheels/skids up to wheels/skids down (in FS2004, from the moment Token Variable boolean AIRCRAFT_ON_GROUND flips from TRUE to FALSE, until it flips back to TRUE again, which is how Flight Time is computed on the chronometers).

   2. Variance (V) will be computed as the difference between plan and actual, in minutes, signed (e.g. Plan 1:24, Actual 1:25 = +1 V; Plan 1:24, Actual 1:23 = -1 V).

   3. Participants will report their results in the following manner:

      1. Via PM to TomPenDragon, in the following format:

         1. Title: Timing

         2. Message: Leg ICAO Code. V. (i.e. YKNG +1)

         3. If a flight covers multiple legs, these may either be reported as a comma-separated string, e.g. YKNG +1, YNSM -2, YCAG +1; or as a table, e.g.

            YKNG +1

            YNSM -2

            YCAG +1.

         4. Using a single thread for all of a participant’s results serves as an easy to follow audit trail in case clarification/correction is needed. Specific questions concerning the reporting of results should be posted to the participant’s Timing thread. If the TSO has made a mistake, the participant can expect a correction and an apology in the following Daily Update.

         5. Upon completion of a route, the date of the Timing thread post will be considered the Completion Date of that race.

         6. Participants should keep their Timing threads as clean as possible. Salutations and sign-offs are unnecessary. Interviews, other co-writing efforts, or any other subject should be addressed in another PM thread, not Timing.

      2. Any result not reported in the above-detailed manner will not be scored or listed on the Leaderboard.

   4. Scoring will be reported once a day via the Daily Update’s Leaderboard. Participants will be ranked via the following formulae:

      1. During a race, by Cum.V/Number of Legs Completed, e.g. Participants A and B both have a Cum.V of +2, however A has completed 2 legs and B has completed 1, thus A (CV/NL=1) will be shown ahead of B (CV/NL=2).

      2. Once a race is completed by all participants, results will be ranked by Cum.V (the Number of Legs Completed being equal for all), and where this produces a tie, by Completion Date, earliest to latest, e.g. A and B both complete the 1976 with Cum.V 0, but B finishes and reports (see IV.3.5) on 30 January and A finishes and reports on 31 January, thus B will be ranked ahead of A.

      3. Should multiple participants finish and report on the same date with the same Cum.V, it is a tie and will be reflected as such.

   5. All participants are assumed to be honorable people behaving honorably, thus timing reporting is on an honor system. Should a participant mis-key a result while reporting, they may correct the error via a PM on their Timing thread.

5. Spirit Of The Race Award

   1. In addition to whatever rewards accompany the winning of a race, a Spirit of the Race Award will be given to the participant or entity that most embodies the amorphous concept known as, “Spirit of the Race”.

   2. This Award will be assigned via popular, timed vote once a race is completed.

       

   Note: The real me now, not a character. I am a retired certified professional Coach/Mentor/Facilitator. I live by an ethic of Absolute Confidentiality. Anything said to me in a PM or other one-on-one correspondence will be held in the strictest confidence – it does not exist beyond the space between me and whoever is corresponding with me, unless specifically requested by me and agreed to by you, and vice-versa.

    

   This said, the portion of the PM that reports legs completed and V’s must be considered by you and me to be non-confidential and subject to public reporting on the Leaderboard – in other words, by reporting your times to me, you give me blanket authorization to report them to the rest of the fliers.

    

   Nothing else that you include in your PM’s to me will ever be communicated to anyone else unless I ask you and you affirmatively agree. For instance, should you participate in an interview via PM, I will ask you at the end if you agree to publish the interview, and will not publish until I read your explicit OK.

    

   Anything else communicated between you and me in your timing reports or any other PM stays between you and me. Whether you consider a confidence to be a sacred trust, an interpersonal obligation, just a nice thing to do, or do not think about it at all, I insist on the same.

[jgf]

Here to further bore you with my exploits.  Departed RPLI and continued south.

 

North of Puerto Princesa

 

Changing course 10k ft over Puerto Princesa

 

Mount Kinabalu, north of Kota Kinabalu

 

The real thing

 

 

 

On final to WBKK

 

948 miles in 5 hrs 7 min.

Can I make it to Perth in two days?

 

 

[ViperPilot2]

1 minute ago, jgf said:

Here to further bore you with my exploits.  Departed RPLI and continued south.

 

North of Puerto Princesa

 

Changing course 10k ft over Puerto Princesa

 

Mount Kinabalu, north of Kota Kinabalu

 

The real thing

 

 

 

On final to WBKK

 

948 miles in 5 hrs 7 min.

Can I make it to Perth in two days?

 

 

 

We'll raise our Ghoptus to you upon Arrival, regardless of the Time. Take a spell for some R & R, then join us on the Rally!

 

Thank you for the marvelous and inclusive Travelogue you've provided us! 

[jgf]

17 minutes ago, PhrogPhlyer said:

Digging through hangar for anything that is water friendly.

 

 

[Airbasil_1]

Well according to the Rules of the Race, Air Service Liège and the RFDS are exceptions. They are both on Standby. 
Allthough if thei're beeing called out and have to fly on SAR Missions, they will have filed Flightplans of Course. As they have to check the weather
situation and the proper Routing and Navigation on everyone of their Flights as well... Even if these Flights are still counting as and will be under the Section "Free Flight".

To your Information:
Air Service Liège is Flying the Western Part of the Race whilst RFDS is Flying the Southern and Easterly Part of the Race. 
So there will be two different departments to call, if you have to call them out for Rescue. ASL's Department will be stationed at Perth and RFDS's Department will be in Port Augusta. 

Both of them are wishing a safe and sound race to all of the participants. 
And never forget the most important of all rules: Communicate, Navigate, Aviate!

Have fun and Fly safe and get back home to your relatives safe and sound!

[ViperPilot2]

I'd like to thank all of the Participants for their patience and interest, and all of your collective help in making this Event a reality. Without your continued cavalcade of Ideas and Enthusiasm our new Club, "Club FS Chachapoya" would not have come to fruition. If you haven't joined, come on along and join up!

 

So... get some rest. Gird thy loins, pack your Gear along with the Aussie Slang Dictionary & the Esky, and get ready for an Adventure! 

 

See you on the Starting Line!

Alan (vp²) 

[defaid]

The thing I liked most about the Bendix (other than the Mosquito and playing make-believe with d j) was the absence of any rules.

 

What I like about this one is the absence of any rules...

 

"What!?" I hear you cry. "Have you not seen Tom's post?"

 

These rules are pretty much just a summary of what we've all come up with over the last 24 pages, just like the run-up to the Bendix. And a lot of them come equipped with a "But if you want to do something else then please feel free".

 

Going to have to make a note that the rules are on p.24...

 

Here's my plan for the first stage of the B&H.

 

My Davtron's flight time doesn't work (it used to, I don't know what has broken). Elapsed time works ok though. My RealAir radio stack seems to show sim-session time but calls it flight time and starts counting as soon as a flight is loaded (doesn't seem to care about battery or avionics state either...).

 

I might try reinstalling the Davtron; I don't want to give it up because I like its appearance and it's built into several panels & VCs. Whatever, screenshots showing zulu time on the Davtron at rotate and at land will ensue.

 

Not fussed about 'winning', only about the accuracy of my plan. On which subject, here it is:

 

 

5 hours 10 minutes 54 seconds. I should have chosen a faster plane.

 

D

 

[PhrogPhlyer]

9 hours ago, Airbasil_1 said:

And never forget the most important of all rules: Communicate, Navigate, Aviate!

I'm sure this was a mistype.

The timeless mantra among those who push real metal through real skies is Aviate, Navigate, Communicate.

This is based on keeping the aircraft safely flying, reaching out for help, and then heading out towards safer skies/conditions. 

https://www.faa.gov/newsroom/fly-safe-prevent-loss-control-accidents-22

 

[TomPenDragon]

2 hours ago, defaid said:

These rules are pretty much just a summary of what we've all come up with over the last 24 pages, just like the run-up to the Bendix. And a lot of them come equipped with a "But if you want to do something else then please feel free".

I'm glad that came through.  One of the reasons I like the Pierre Fasseaux gauge is that it is in .cab format, so I can go into the .xml and see what it is doing.  A quick note on your flight plan (hope I catch you before you take off):  If you are doing recon, it's fine, big if it's for the race, you're missing YKNG.

[JSMR]

Could somebody clarify point 8 in Toms post?

 

What ah…so we need to do on that one?

 

 

[TomPenDragon]

8 minutes ago, JSMR said:

Could somebody clarify point 8 in Toms post?

 

What ah…so we need to do on that one?

 

I'm here (good morning!)  Are you asking about Cumulative V (I'm not a big fan of the abbreviation of the first word, but if I had to spell it out every time I used it in the Rules, I'd still be typing)?

[defaid]

40 minutes ago, TomPenDragon said:

I'm glad that came through.  One of the reasons I like the Pierre Fasseaux gauge is that it is in .cab format, so I can go into the .xml and see what it is doing.  A quick note on your flight plan (hope I catch you before you take off):  If you are doing recon, it's fine, big if it's for the race, you're missing YKNG.

 

Oh pants! Back to the planning stage.

 

I wonder if I can make it without stopping to refuel between Jandakot & Forrest and without getting too far from the ground.

[taoftedal]

On 1/12/2024 at 3:46 PM, Bossspecops said:

The final figures for my ferry flight are pretty mind blowing ...

 

13 hours ago, jgf said:

Can I make it to Perth in two days?

 

13 hours ago, ViperPilot2 said:

Thank you for the marvelous and inclusive Travelogue you've provided us!

 

Agree!  The Bosss and jfg ferry flights illustrate the destination fly-in concept well.  The routes and machines that have taken them from home base(s) to YPJT (not to worry ... jgf will make it) has sparked some great story lines.  Still may require a bit more kicking around the hanger, but let's continue to keep the idea in the oven!

 

[TomPenDragon]

59 minutes ago, taoftedal said:

Agree!  The Bosss and jfg ferry flights illustrate the destination fly-in concept well.  The routes and machines that have taken them from home base(s) to YPJT (not to worry ... jgf will make it) has sparked some great story lines.  Still may require a bit more kicking around the hanger, but let's continue to keep the idea in the oven!

Can you hold that thought for a month and a half, Tao?  At the end of the event, we're going to have a Post-Race Tech thread to discuss what went well and what can be improved, prior to planning the next events.  The event Fly-In seems to have worked very well indeed, I agree. 

 

I have a more immediate question:  Many of you have posted superb stories here.  Would any of you Storytellers like your own Story thread for the race, so that people can see your work as a continuous piece instead of having other people's stories popping up in between?

[ViperPilot2]

My Flight Planning for the Rally...

 

vp² AU Rally (C) 150 KIAS.pdf

[TomPenDragon]

The Daily Update

(Cue The Cult’s, “She Sells Sanctuary”)

 

TPD: “Hello and welcome to a brief Daily Update. Tom PenDragon here. Elias is resting his voice for tomorrow’s start of the Great Australian Air Gaggle. Today, I would like to cover the new Forum structure for the rally.

 

“All Forums for the event begin with, ‘The 2024 Australian Air Rally -’.

 

https://www.flightsim.com/forums/topic/59482-the-2024-australian-air-rally-the-fbo/?do=findComment&comment=310667

“The FBOis the most important and familiar thread. It is where all content that is not a long-form Story goes. It is basically the same as the single threads that we have been using for our events, minus the Stories. All comments about the Stories will go here as well.

 

https://www.flightsim.com/forums/topic/59483-the-2024-australian-air-rally-the-stories/?do=findComment&comment=310665

“The Stories are the Storytellers’ space. ‘Story,’ refers to any long-form narrative, whether told in pictures, in prose, in poetry, any combination of these three, or any other format that the Storytellers amongst us come up with, whether Free-Flying or Timed. As I stated above, all comments on the Stories go in the FBO – let’s leave this one just for the Stories so that they can be read like a novel once we’re done, please.

 

https://www.flightsim.com/forums/topic/59484-the-2024-australian-air-rally-official/?do=findComment&comment=310664

“Official is the Organizing Committee’s thread. The routes, the rules, and key clarifications will be posted here, only by members of the Organizing Committee. Questions regarding the rules, exceptions, et cetera will all be handled in the FBO. The Organizing Committee will post answers of general interest here. Hopefully, the Official thread will never grow beyond one page.

 

“In addition to these, should any Storyteller desire their own thread, exclusively for their Story of the race, please set one up with the title, ‘The 2024 Australian Air Rally - ‘ and the title of your work, so that others know that it is a part of the Rally.

 

“It’s now just past Midnight in Perth – Race Day is upon us!! I would like to close by congratulating all of you who have made this event happen – whether by coming up with such great organizing ideas and asking such excellent questions that, for instance, they had me pulling apart Pierre Fasseaux’s chronometer to see how it works and digging through the SDK to find out why, for a couple of hours yesterday, or helping our fellow fliers with some first-class CFI work or with several cans of paint, or regaling us with their adventures flying far more miles to get to the Gaggle than they will on the course. And a very special shout-out to Radio Chachapoya’s sister-in-print, the Chachapoya Chronicle – sorry, Aussie Correspondent, almost put the, ‘s,’ on it again – for introducing us to his beloved homeland in such an informative and entertaining way.

 

“This is Tom PenDragon for Radio Chachapoya, wishing all of you safe, satisfying, and successful flying. Bye for now.”

[jgf]

The insanity continues, departed Kota Kinabalu this morning;  the flight planner gave me a ludicrous southeast course crossing the island, heading down the east course then looping back to the west;  I deleted half the waypoints and headed south, with just two course corrections (good thing I did).  Though this made the first leg over 450 miles, nothing but rain forest below.

 

 

First change near WRBN

 

Next over WBDM

 

And over the water to Surabaya

 

 

 

1011 miles in 5 hrs 29 minutes.  Fuel remaining is shocking, but mainly due to my forgetting to turn on carb heat for the first couple of hundred miles.

 

Next stop - Australia!  Barrow Island to be exact.

 

 

[defaid]

This time...

 

 

I really need a faster plane.

[ViperPilot2]

42 minutes ago, defaid said:

This time...

 

 

I really need a faster plane.

 

What Altitude are you flying at? Remember to lean the Mixture above 3K'... maybe get you a couple knot increase.