The 2024 Australian Air Rally - The FBO

[taoftedal]

6 hours ago, PhrogPhlyer said:

This is a fun challenge even here in FSX.

 

Very cool PP ... didn't know you were a Swiftie too!  Congrats on all that prize money ... might even get you a couple tickets to a concert ... ?

 

[PhrogPhlyer]

Of course, for those on the US east coast, you can't beat Stewarts, served in a frozen mug.

[MAD1]

Elias. Thanks for your great broadcasts, a lot of hard work by the Committee and yourself to keep all those stats going, week after week. And entertaining commentary to boot.

[PhrogPhlyer]

2 minutes ago, taoftedal said:

NOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

[MAD1]

Am orf guys, catcha all later in this long-haul 24 hour party, will check in to review the damage in about 8 hours, expect to see a few comatose bodies lying around, under the tables, and heaps of empty booze bottles and food all gone. But, there might be the odd 'stayer' whom I might be able to share a few lies with. Until then, it's been a great experience for this newbie.

[PhrogPhlyer]

1 hour ago, ViperPilot2 said:

Nice! Brings back memories of Sundays and Steel Beach (USS Tripoli, LPH-10). Kite flying, fishing, skeet shooting (try that with a Barretta M-9 or M-16!), and BBQs. Way back in the '80s, no women on the ship.

[ViperPilot2]

Everybody get home safe. We'll put things on ice for a few days to recover.

 

With the Club page temporarily down until the Reply issues are attended to, I'll start a new Thread for the next Challenge in a bit.

 

Good job, everyone! 

[taoftedal]

2 hours ago, TomPenDragon said:

The final Leaderboard has been tallied; the final Daily Update has now concluded.

 

Thanks again TomP ... 

[Bossspecops]

Elias' last write-up for the Rally is a total masterpiece! 

 

A thumbnail of the entire event, to say the least, and most enjoyable to read and re-live the whole thing.

 

And I'm humbled and embarrassed to accept the Spirit of the Race Award, many MANY thanks.  

[Bossspecops]

12 hours ago, ViperPilot2 said:

 

 

 

Hmm, that guy on the left, in the baseball cap and shades, look remarkably like Melo.

 

Maybe being aboard that carrier's where he got the familiarity with flying the F-18? 

[PhrogPhlyer]

12 hours ago, TomPenDragon said:

Club Chachapoya’s 2024 Great Australian Air Gaggle is officially over!

A hearty huzzah to everyone!!!

This gaggle, from conception to finish, was a shining example of what the flight sim community is all about, FUN!

Various stories, commentaries and adventures, aircraft and repaints, scenery creation, side line jokes, and countless other actions made this race one for the books.

Well done all, Bravo Zulu. 

[TomPenDragon]

Good morning everybody!  Thank you all so much for a Gaggle that far exceeded my wildest expectations!!  You made Timing & Scoring easy, and the Daily Update a pleasure to write.  It feels weird to log on and not immediately start scouring the FBO for material for it and checking my PM's for timings.  For those who have had kind words for the Updates throughout the Gaggle, thank you so much!  Those sustained me on those rough days when I was tired and RW pressures forced me to "do the show" in a rush.

 

Who knows where we'll go from here?  But where we've been has been pretty damned special.

 

Thank you for that, guys!

[TomPenDragon]

We have one last item of business for this Gaggle: Post-Race Tech (another Radio Lemans thing).  Before discussing the next event, let me ask three questions:

1. What "worked" for you about the GAAG?
2. What didn't work for you?
3. What would you like to see next time out?

My original thought (back in January) was to set up a separate thread for Post-Race Tech, but I think we can handle it here in the FBO, unless anyone has any objections.  Let's keep this discussion brief - weigh in by your end-of-day Sunday the 3rd, if you have an opinion.   Then I'd like to keep the FBO open during the return flights of those  who choose to do them and open up The Next Challenge to figure out what we're doing next.

 

Thanks!

[TomPenDragon]

Let me jump in and take the first shot at PRT.

 

6 minutes ago, TomPenDragon said:

What "worked" for you about the GAAG?

Nearly everything.  I really like this form of Timing and Scoring - it's as fair as an honor system can be, is auto-handicapping (no need to adjust scores for competition's sake), and is quite easy to maintain using the spreadsheets Melo and I developed.

 

I had my reservations about the length and the multi-race format, but I think it worked out quite well in the end.  I don't think doing just the Combined would have worked out, at least not in GA aircraft.

 

The DU "radio broadcasts" were a completely different style of writing for me.  I've never been good at meeting deadlines, but the DU forced me to develop a writing discipline that I've never had before.  I really liked the role.

 

I think I prefer Free-Flying over having to set times or keep to a route.  I think I actually flew more than I would have had I been racing.  When I left Lock Haven, the Saratoga had 15 hours on the Hobbs.  I looked at it this morning and it had 243.  And that's not counting the time I spent sailing or in other aircraft.  And I still have to fly Sara back to Lock Haven.

 

Mainly, though, what worked was the people flying the GAAG.  The discipline that all of you showed in your Timing PM's made maintaining the spreadsheet almost effortless.  Your great stories and scuttlebutt filled the DU every single day, to the point that I wasn't able to develop Claudine's and Elias' stories the way I would have liked (but don't worry, I've got plans for the both of them) or complete the interview series.

 

34 minutes ago, TomPenDragon said:

What didn't work for you?

UnVOZ.  I spent enough time in IT to be of the religion, "Jesus Saves, coz he uses Microsoft,"  so I faithfully backed up my entire Scenery, Addon Scenery, and Texture directories before installing VOZ.  I changed texture areas in VOZ a couple dozen times in the nearly 2 months I've spent here, and I noticed that sometimes it took a scenery backup before changing sets.  This morning, first it told me that I couldn't UnVOZ because it wasn't installed, then after VOZing to the Northern texture set it told me that it UnVOZ'd correctly but did nothing.  I restored from my backups and so far everything looks fine.  Should that change, I'll let you know.

 

The length of the race, both in distance and in time, were daunting.  In my unique position in the Gaggle, it oftentimes felt like a full-time job.  I'm feeling a bit exhausted now and I'm reminded that I'm way too much of a huevón to work so hard.

 

53 minutes ago, TomPenDragon said:

What would you like to see next time out?

I do like these grand, monthlong-plus endurance events.  I'd just like some time before the next one.  Maybe we could hold 3-4 major Gaggles throughout the year, spaced 3-4 months apart, with smaller events or Fly-In Challenges in between.

 

If you'll have me and if RL circumstances permit, I'd like to reprise my role as TSO and Radio Chachapoya.  Yeah, it was tough, but a whole lot of fun, too.

[ViperPilot2]

1. Everything; challenging Routes, flying over Terrain I've never seen before.

 

2. I think everything went well. Once things started rolling, it got very competitive!

 

3. The only way to know if things are gonna work is to try them out and see what happens. Well, we did.

What do I think? Perhaps a shorter Timeframe, and definitely a 'simpler' Target to shoot for. Maybe flying to just

a single Point? A Free Flight event without Timing?

 

I did learn a very good lesson about 'too complex'... Simpler the better. Elias and Radío Chachapoya are a Must from now on. Spread the Word, Folks... let's see if we can get more to join us! 

[Rupert]

15 hours ago, taoftedal said:

 

Very cool PP ... didn't know you were a Swiftie too!  Congrats on all that prize money ... might even get you a couple tickets to a concert ... ?

 

You'll probably see her more often at any KC Chiefs event than you'll ever see her on stage.

 

At least till/if it happens that she and Kelce split up or marry.  Or the celeb normal, marry then split up. 

[Rupert]

Great event!!  Even though I didn't have the time to formally compete I've enjoyed all these posts and yes, flown the whole route as well.

 

I hope life is near enough to normal to compete in the next one!  And yes, I can't imagine there won't be a next one!! (Western Europe?)  Lots of great sites and tons of great scenery there.

 

Michael

[TomPenDragon]

How's Molly doing?  How was her birthday?

[ViperPilot2]

23 minutes ago, Rupert said:

You'll probably see her more often at any KC Chiefs event than you'll ever see her on stage.

 

At least till/if it happens that she and Kelce split up or marry.  Or the celeb normal, marry then split up. 

 

Pigskin Season is over... good riddance! Sports are so 'Tera' Hyped these days it's really getting nauseous to watch them.

 

And 50 Quatloos says "Swift-e" turns into a Nothingburger by Training Camp; it was plain to see from the various Videos that Mama Kelce ain't that impressed with Ms. Swift, and was annoyed that she was interfering with Mama watching her "Two Things At Once" Son catch the Pigskin.

[jgf]

1 hour ago, TomPenDragon said:

I do like these grand, monthlong-plus endurance events. 

 

48 minutes ago, ViperPilot2 said:

Maybe flying to just

a single Point? A Free Flight event without Timing?

 

My feeble mind has been working on just such a flight.  Two airports, both on coastlines, a good distance apart;  fly from either to the other in any aircraft you like on whatever route you like, stopping wherever you like along the way (in the spirit of adventure, a minimum of three stops will be the only "rule").  The goal is the adventure and shared experience.

 

Iqaluit (CYFB), in the Canadian province of Nunavit, is the northernmost airport in the western hemisphere with regular scheduled commercial flights (there are airports farther north but they are small local affairs with traffic mostly between them and Iqaluit;  FTR, the farthest north runway is the Canadian Research Station "Alert" on the NW coast of Greenland about 500 miles from the pole, its only traffic is C-130s bringing supplies and personnel changes).

With a runway of 8500ft and situated on a coast it should be capable of handling any aircraft you wish to use.

This is Iqaluit in FS2004

 

Far to the south is Ushuaia (SAWH), the southernmost airport in the western hemisphere with regular scheduled commercial service;  at the tip of Argentina, it is also the southernmost city in the western hemisphere.  Primarily a tourist and resort area and a staging point for Antarctic flights, its 9200ft runway should be suitable for us. 

In FS2004

 

If I can fly a 75 year old biplane 12000 miles around the Pacific, none of you should have any difficulty with this flight, lol.

[jgf]

21 minutes ago, ViperPilot2 said:

Pigskin Season is over... good riddance!

 

There is no applause emoticon here, or I would wear it out.

[ViperPilot2]

1 minute ago, jgf said:

 

There is no applause emoticon here, or I would wear it out.

Amen!

 

Besides, there's lots of other Sports to pay attention to; the LPGA is starting up, the Spring 'Classics' are almost here, and soon it'll be Baseball!

[Bossspecops]

My thoughts on 'The Gaggle' are probably predictable, a bit anyway.

 

What I liked?

 

The whole affair reminded me of the Compuserve Flight Rallies we flew way back when, and where Melo and I first got together, although it was some years before we actually met. The 'fellowship of the sky' made it what it was then and it still does today, I'm very pleased to say.

 

The timing idea was brilliant, and made a sensible target for all of us without exerting either ourselves or our virtual airframes/engines etc.

 

And thirdly Elias' daily news broadcast, that was an exceptional idea carried out exceptionally well. 

 

What I didn't like?

 

That's difficult, but maybe the sheer length of the Rally, but that's because Oz is a BIG place I guess. I found it quite difficult to make time to do each Leg on the day I set out to do it, and then got shot down by my joystick giving up the ghost, and then my entire SYSTEM going walkabout!

 

What would I like to see?

 

More of the same actually, and I like the idea of 3-4 events spaced along the year with hefty gaps in the middle to restore one's mind to normalcy. 

[JSMR]

Agree above. 3-4 a year max. Maybe a little shorter on length. Maybe a teams event? Like a tag team leg. 

 

But overall, fun stuff! I like flying aircraft I haven’t flown for some time .

 

 

[Melo965]

5 hours ago, Bossspecops said:

Hmm, that guy on the left, in the baseball cap and shades, look remarkably like Melo.

 

Maybe being aboard that carrier's where he got the familiarity with flying the F-18?

 

He does look similar, but you would never catch me wearing shorts.

 

The only carriers I have  been on were the HMS Ark Royal (R09), my grandfather took me on a tour.

And the other one was the USS Midway where she is still docked in San Diego.

On neither carrier did they offer that I get in the cockpit of an aircraft. 

 

The F-18 was sure fun to fly!