The 2024 Australian Air Rally - Official

[TomPenDragon]

The Organizing Committee's thread.  A (hopefully) short thread to serve as a quick reference for the routes and the rules, so folks do not have to search the FBO for them.  Post your questions and comments to the FBO; we will answer them there and re-post key items here.

[TomPenDragon]

The Route:

vp² AU Rally (C) 295 GS.pdf

 

jgf's ICAO Code-Airport Name Correlation

 

YPJT - Jandacot

YKNG - Katanning

YNSM - Norseman

YCAG - Caiguna

YFRT - Forrest

YCDU - Ceduna

YPAG - Port Augusta

YPPF - Parafield

YREN - Renmark

YNRC - Naracoorte

YWBL - Warrnambool

YMMB - Moorabbin

YMNG - Mangalore

YTOC - Tocumwal

YNAR - Narrandera

YPKS - Parkes

YBTH - Bathurst

YSBK - Bankstown

YCFS (YSCH) - Coff's Harbor

YBNA - Ballina

YBCG - Coolangatta

YBBN - Brisbane

YBRK - Rockhampton

YBMK - Mackay

YBTL - Townsville

YBCS - Cairns

Edited January 19 by TomPenDragon
18 Jan. Added jgf's ICAO Code-Airport Name correlation

[TomPenDragon]

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 (posted above).

   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 also the note regarding Confidentiality in the original Daily Update post)

   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 may report their results in either of the following two manners:

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

         1. Title: Timing

         2. Message: Leg Destination 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.

      2. Via a post to the FBO thread, in the format described in IV.3.1, inclusive.

      3. Requests for corrections and clarifications may either be made by PM or by a post to the FBO, the surest way of getting the TSO's attention is via the former.
      4. All waypoints must be reported, and must be reported in sequence.

   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.

Edited January 19 by TomPenDragon
18Jan. Major update to time reporting, also includes the minor clarification from 15Jan. 19 Jan. IV.3 updated to reflect merger of Stories and FBO threads.

[TomPenDragon]

Edited January 26 by TomPenDragon
19Jan. Updated Melo965's aircraft photo. 26Jan. Updated Melo965's aircraft.

[TomPenDragon]

Official start of the race: 05:24 a.m., Perth.

[TomPenDragon]

A quick Rules clarification for Timed flying:  I need the destination waypoint for time reporting, e.g. when flying from YPJT to YKNG, your report should read YKNG v.  I also need the individual variance for each waypoint, not the aggregate, e.g. YKNG -1, YNSM +1, not YKNG -1, YNSM 0 (adding -1 and +1 to reach 0).  And every waypoint must be recorded, in sequence.

[TomPenDragon]

Summary of changes to the event made on 18 Jan.:

1. Variances may now be reported by PM or posted to the FBO as described in Rules, IV.3 inclusive.
2. Posts from the Stories thread have been merged into the FBO in correct chronological sequence by Adrian K, the flightsim.com webmaster.  The Stories thread has been eliminated.  Bookmarks for the Stories thread should redirect to the FBO.

[TomPenDragon]

Official end of racing for those in the AEDT time zone.

[TomPenDragon]

Official end of racing in Cairns (AEST).

[TomPenDragon]

Official end of racing in Perth (AWST).

[TomPenDragon]

Official end of racing in the UK.

 

Official end of the race.

[TomPenDragon]

[TomPenDragon]

One last thing: Attached are the source files for the Timing&Scoring spreadsheets used during the Gaggle, which are:

 

GAAGLB - The Leaderboard

GAAGSG - The Spotters' Guide

 

I use LibreOffice, so the original formats are .ods.  I've also converted them to Excel (.xlsx).

 

GAAGSource.zip