MAD1

RW weather. Warning. East coast part of the event, Sydney to Cairns. Possible cyclone (hurricane) developing off Queensland. If anyone is using RW weather, be aware of the following. 'Tropical Low 05U'. http://www.bom.gov.au/cyclone/index.shtml 05U hasn't yet developed into a cycline classification (when it'll receive a person's name as its title), but it is a RW concern, including for MAD1's home base. (This is how we get major flooding, previous heavy rain events saturate our catchments, which is the case now, and a cyclone tracks south from QLD into the north coast of NSW, deteriorates into a low, which just sits over us and dumps heaps of rain.) If the organisers deem the event is nominally based around RW weather, then they might have to consider re-routing the east coast event to go inland and e.g. end at Darwin. (One option would be to adopt the QANTAS old (obsolete, back in the days of the prop liners) 'Kangaroo Route' (Aus to UK via Singapore, hence e.g. Sydney or Brisbane to Darwin) across western QLD and across the Northern Territory (NT). Alternatively, pilots might choose to delay flying north of Brisbane until they can get a safe path through to Cairns. Too early to know yet, we just have to wait and see what 05U does and where it tracks.

Ahh, all logical and sensible (so I've changed my opinion of you from 'this guy is completely nuts' to 'this guy is dedicated'). Thanks for the quick reply.

Morning gents, some of us are online 'live'. Just sipping my 'wake up' cup of tea or three, it being RW 11 am here at home in the Northern Rivers of New South Wales (NSW). I now understand the post times, as when I hover over e.g. 'Posted 16 hours ago' it pops up the timestamp, which I see is my own local time. OK, yet another little thing I can tick off as 'understood'. As I stated 16 hours ago (my last night), today being Saturday, hope to start engine in a few hours time and do the 1st leg to Katanning, will land, rest and review. Best wishes to everyone and those still doing the 'big ferry' and yet to get to Perth, wow, your trip is a greater adventure than the race itself. Question to Melo965, why did you get the Chippie dropped off at Darwin and not get your flyboy mates to haul it all the way to Perth? And isn't it a rather small aircraft to being doing such 'long haul' right across the continent from Darwin to Perth?

The Chachapoya Chronicle. Social section. Coffee in Aus. It's simple and easy. A 'normal' coffee can be: 1. 'Cappuccino'. Made on milk, fluffed up. Whatever that is called in the USA, I don't know. (If you don't want cows milk, then add 'on Soy'.) 2. 'Flat white'. Same as Cappuccino but not fluffed. (It's not hard, Aussies are straight-forward people, if it's 'flat', it's not fluffed, not a Cappuccino!) 3. 'Short black'. A true espresso, black brewed coffee, strong, in a small cup. Probably they'll give you the traditional glass of water with it, just like in Italy. (Nah, just get it yourself from the free water jug on the counter. Generally only understood and available from the higher class cafe/restaurant, where they will serve it to your table with the glass of water.) But the younger set, the hipsters in the big cities, are very knowledgeable about 'coffee culture', and know all the variants, including getting extra strong 'double shot' etc.) 4. 'Long black'. A short black but with more water, hence 'long', i.e. a flat white but without milk. This might equate most closely to USA standard coffee. Melbourne is considered by many, especially Melbournians, as the best city in Australia for good coffee, has a strong 'coffee culture'.

The Chacapoya Chronicle. Travel News. The 2024 recreated Benson and Hedges 1976 Great Australian Air Race. Report 2 by your Aussie Correspondent. Location: Jandakot. Date and time (RW): Friday 19 January 4 pm (Jandakot time, Australian Western Standard Time, AWST), temp 28C 82F (lovely pleasant temp). The great race has finally started, the Gaggle is gaggling, streaming out along the route. Many still to start. Listening to Radio Chachapoya and Elias's Daily Update (‘Posted 10 hours ago’, your reporter is still unsure about the flightsim.com times shown in posts, and the international nature of the Chachapoya coverage). The Leaderboard shows that defaid has got to YFRT Forrest, Bossspecops got to YCAG Caiguna, ViperPilot1 (VP2) and Scottish Mike have both done the first leg to YKNG Katanning. (Some of the others may have done legs but haven’t posted their official results yet.) Your reporter strolled around the GA parking area at Jandakot this afternoon and chatted to a few flyers, including MAD1. He and his Cessna 182RG have been there for a week, he was putting final setup touches in his cockpit, his mechanic having completed a check-over of the engine. Chronicle obtained this interview. Chronicle: “Hi MAD1, how’s it going”? MAD1: “Not bad, am pretty well ready. Hope to get away tomorrow, Sat morning. Plan to do only one leg per day, with rest days in between. (I’m still working, Mon-Wed, with my laptop with me, so am planning to do this as a ‘working holiday’)”. Chronicle: “So what do you think of this race, and this American-led Chachapoya thing”? MAD1: “Well, I like Yanks, have been to Yankie-land, plus the other nationalities involved. I think we have a great gang, the Gaggle. It’s been a big adventure for me: upgraded from my trusty Cessna 172 to the 182RG, had to finally come to grips with nav (have only really done circuits around my home airport, YLIS Lismore, about 30km by road west of YBNA Ballina). So heaps of fun.” Chronicle: “Well, best of luck for starting the journey, hopefully tomorrow, I’m catching lifts in planes eastward, so will catch up with you and the rest of the Gaggle over the next days and weeks.” MAD1: “No worries mate, will see you when I see you at an airport on the route, both to Sydney, then the extra free-flight up to Cairns.”

My apologies, I now see the stories in pages 1, 2 etc. So, have changed to red wine now and just settling in to enjoy (finally, have been trying to read stuff since Tue Aus time, but RW interferes) reading Elias's interview with VP2. All good now, am a happy camper. (Thank God the grog cupboard has supplies!!)

Just closed flightsim.com and re-opened, hoping to see all the stories. Nup. So Tom, please sort it out.

Finally got a chance to sit down with a nice glass of white wine, ice in it (to use the 'great Australian adjective 'bloody' ' "bloody hot here mate, mid 30s C plus high humidity, sweat just dripping off me, well, that's the subtropics in mid-summer (for USA folk, probably similar to Florida). Now, I was looking forward to reading all the stories and seeing all the screenies, but I can't see them in this FBO. Sorry TomPenDragon "what the bloody hell have you done"! Have closed and re-opened threads, don't see them. So, my understanding, we now have 2 threads, the OFFICIAL (great) and the FBO for everything else. Is that right? Somebody please help me out. Plan to do 1st leg tomorrow morning (my RW Sat morn, NSW time. Is Fri 6:12 pm now RW time.) Thank God the grog cupboard has supplies!

My 10 cents worth! Guys, guys, you're making it all too complex! 'Bureaucracy gone mad' (I'm a government worker, a 'public servant' in Australian language, 'civil servant' in UK language, this reminds me of my government department! Oh sorrow!). A little whinge, why wasn't all this thought and set up months ago? And, what the hell does FBO stand for (newby question), nobody has stated what the acronym stands for? (All above is tongue-in-cheek, so don't get upset.) On a serious note, am happy with whatever the bosses decide. (PS: I hope to do my 1st leg to Katanning today, failing that, tomorrow. I want to take the time to properly plan it before I start engine, and to enjoy the whole experience. Have been so far. Just gotta get rid of the pesky RW intrusions, now I put a piece of wire into the ride-on mower tire/tyre and have to take it off, take it to town and get it fixed. Drat!)

The Chacapoya Chronicle. Travel section. The 2024 recreated 1976 Benson and Hedges Australian Air Race. Report 1. By your Aussie Correspondent. Your faithful correspondent has been off duty since last week. (Pesky Real World, RW, matters have interferred, including that annoyance, RW work to pay the bills. I work Mon - Wed, plus wife arrived back Sat after 3.5 months round the world trip, 15 hours direct flight on Delta Airlines, Los Angeles to Sydney, then Sydney to Ballina. Hence part of the reason for your correspondent needing to work.) According to correspondence received at the Travel News desk, including listening to Radio Chacapoya, it's been a quite start to the race. We now see that the Leaderboard is starting to be populated. As has been stated by the race organisers, there is plenty of time to do the race, it was never a requirement for participants to commence on 15 Jan. Sometime in the next four days, your faithfull correspondent will file Report 2, including more in the theme 'Aussie Culture' and a note about the airports after Forrest through to Parafield (Adelaide). Please feel free dear reader to send any questions to this newspaper and your correspondent will attempt to answer them.

The Chachapoya Chronicle comment by your Aussie Correspondent Technical note 1: it's The Chachapoya Chronicle, a newpaper, not 'Chronicles' as Elias states. Technical note 2: Airbasil_1's scenary. The mountains he refers to are proabably the Flinders Ranges, I'll investigate and report. So guys, make sure you set your season to summer, RW we're in mid-summer, and those mountains never get snow (or only rarely, the odd flurry). (In NSW, I'll report on a scenic diversion for those interested to our 'Snowy Mountains', yes, real name, which gives a hint at their nature in winter. (Fact: more snow area than in Switzerland! Climate change is affecting them nowadays, the 'snow bunny' snow fields, good chalets, ski lifts, down-hill runs, might be threatened, and alas so would the 'apre ski' nightime fun.)

Chachapoya Chronicle. (Part of the Chachapoya Media group). Travel section. By your Aussie Correspondent. I've had a private correspondence from Elias Pacheco, anchor of Radio Chachapoya. It seems there is a thirst from some non-Australians in the Gaggle for more reports, and it seems I'm hired as an official correspondent. (However, there seems some misunderstanding about wages, Elias seemed to indicate that it's ungentlemanly to discuss money, and we'd sort that out later!) My next report will cover the next three airports to Adelaide: YCDU Ceduna, YPAG Port Augusta, YPPF Parafield (the major GA airport for Adelaide). Until then ... Special Report - Aussie Culture - by your Aussie Correspondent For the high-brow and educated members of the Gaggle, who might be inclined to cultural things, here is some poetry, read by actor Jack Thompson, and a song. All countries have myths and legends, we do too, and many today in 2023 would question whether they're relevant or appropriate for our highly urbanised society. But, the Gaggle is and will be flying over the country, and perhaps can appreciate the ethos of past eras, 150 years ago. 1. 'bloody'. The great Aussie adjective. 'Tumba Bloody Rumba' by John O'Grady. (Jack Thompson link above, at 3 minutes into the recording). ('bloody') 2. '... the vision splendid of the sunlit plains extended ...'. 'Clancy of the Overflow' from 'The Man From Snowy River' by Banjo Patterson. Words, song. ('overflow' is a side channel to a river, an anabranch. In the 'inland', being very flat, the watercourses can be very braided, known as the 'Channel Country', especially in far western Queensland.) More in future reports.

Well, I signed off 'over and out' as MAD1, no intention to communicate until 15 Jan (US date, 16 Jan WA date). So here is my alter ego, the 'Aussie Correspondent'. I should have applied to the Editor of Radio Chachapoya, Elias Pacheco, for a job, probably voluntary (no pay) as a Chachapoya 'Aussie Correspondent' (if there's a newspaper accompaniment to the Radio, perhaps the 'Chachapoya Chronicle', then I'm filing my first copy here. (Did intend to pm Elias to apply and seek permission to publish, but as he's asleep at this time, am applying the old adage 'Take action and seek forgiveness later'!). As a rolling series of articles, here is a start (places are numbered in the B&H race order). They'll hopefully be of interest to the 'armchair travellers' in the Gaggle. (References will be to Wikipedia, Google Maps [G] which has good photos, and others including Geoff Goodall history). There are many stories to tell, but limited space in the Chronicle, and your correspondent has a life to live and can't waste all his life compiling stories.) 2 YKNG Katanning [G]. Deep in the wheat belt (and sheep belt) of the Western Australian dry farming lands. From the coast, e.g. Perth/Jandakot, there is the coastal strip, with good rain, and good farming. Further east, you pass into dry country. Flat as a tack. For some, quite boring. But rich farming, large hectares (acerages) out here. 3 YNSM Norseman [G]. Minerals country, gold. 4 YCAG Caiguna [G]. We're far into the Nullabor Plain now, desert country. For us east coast folk, nothing worthwhile out here. However, the desert country, like all deserts, to those who grow to appreciate them, is very beautiful in it's starkness. (I just wouldn't want to live here). Between Balladonia to the west and Caiguna is Australia's longest straight stretch of road, 146 km (90 miles). 5 YFRT Forrest [G]. In the 'middle of nowhere'. Now we're on the main east-west route for both flying and trains. In the old days, West Australian Airways was a major player pioneering the air route from the east side to the west side of Australia. So why is there a fully paved airstrip here? Well, it's an emergency diversion airfield for flights across Australia, a Jumbo can land here. Nowadays, commercial flights from Adelaide and Melbourne cross the Great Australian Bight, but a few decades ago, without comms and nav, they stayed over land, with Forrest being one of the few waypoints. It's also on the Trans-Australian Railway, which once ran the Indian-Pacific cross-country train (which runs now only as an exclusive tourist train). (Reference: song, Slim Dusty 'Indian-Pacific'). Interesting helicopter story. The longest straight length of railway line in the world is east of Forrest, 477 km (296 miles). Your 'Aussie Correspondent' for the Chacapoya Chronicle, signing off for now.

A-OK.

Thanks old guys for the explanations about 'how you do it'. Now I understand fully, and can start to play like that now that I'm getting simple nav and Flight Planner under my belt (again, all FS2002 defaults, no desire to fiddle). It makes it so much easier to have a real life 'uncle' guiding me, with 'hey buddy, don't do that, ignore that doco, do this ...' etc. JSMR. Had a good chuckle at your blunder, when I saw your first screenshot I noticed no wheels. Good to see that the sim is realistic enough to model that, no amount of power will help! So bosses, my final post (I hope) until Mon 15/1 (US date, Tue 16 Jan WA date) [as you no doubt know, Aus, like UK, writes dates in format dd/mm/yy not US format mm/dd/yy, hence I'll always put it in format day daydate mon year e.g. Mon 15 Jan]. My rig's last details: the FS2002 Help (pic attached) states that the C182RG is based on the R model. Looking at Wikipedia, it might be manufactured from 1977, so lets call it that, 1977. 'R182 Skylane RG.Four-seat light aircraft with retractable landing gear, powered by a 235 hp (175 kW) Lycoming O-540-J3C5D piston engine, gross weight 3,100 lb (1,406 kg) and certified on 7 July 1977.' To VP2, you asked me awhile back for my nominal altitude and speed. Can only plan for one leg at a time, so leg 1 YPJT>YKNG planned 3500 ft, 140 knots. Will see how that goes. MAD1 over and out.

It's 7:30 pm here, 3:30 am Florida. Over a glass or 2 of red wine and snacks (one has to be civil) just watched the launch from Cape Canaveral of the Peregrin lander to the Moon. All commercial components: ULA's Vulcan booster and Peregrine 2nd stage. Astrobotics built the lander, a small company in Pittsburgh. Glad to see Pittsburgh leading USA technology again, being the former 'steel town' and having gone through the doldrums since the 1970s. Very inspiring all round. Mission so far is flawless. Looks like you US guys are now ready to start hauling cargo to the Moon! Such inspiring stuff inspires me on further! Have a workaround to my little problem. Since last post, been in the sim, and the World > Map View allows me to move both aircraft and tower. Moving the tower to the missing strip's lat long, e.g. attached is YKNG Katanning, gives me a visual map to steer to, fly to the tower, and can land or overfly those coords. Plus, the tower view shows the aircraft landed at that place, so can get a screenshot proving I was there. I tested all that. Nothing visible in the scenary of course, and I also tested a takeoff from the bumpy ground to ensure I could get off, all good. That'll do for me. So happy days ... 'Onwards and upwards'!

Great, tnx VP2. Can you give me the 2 missing legs below please, heading and distance, then I think I've got all I need: strip hdg dist YPJT Jandigot > YKNG Katanning 139° 131 nm YKNG Katanning > YNSM Norseman YNSM Norseman > YCAG Caiguna 092° 190 nm YCAG Caiguna > YFRT Forrest From there on I'm OK via the built-in airports hence Direct GPS.

Tnx jgf re 'simplest thing is to note the coordinates of those airports and do a flyover', and PhrogPhlyer re 'Or use the closest NAVAID (VOR/NDB)'. Had been thinking of something like that. That'll work, I can get the lat long for YKNG Katanning, YCAG Caiguna, work out a heading, distance, direct from YPJT, fly there and tootle around to try and visually find the strip (my default has no wind, so no drift). Will cobble some method together, and in Aussie slang 'have a go ya mug' (sometimes, especially in the old days, my father's generation moreso, heard at sports events, e.g. football - being Australian Rules (sometimes referred to by derogators as 'aerial ping pong'), or the even harder knockem-about stuff of Rugby Union, or the third variety of Rugby League. We generally refer to the foot-only football as 'soccer').

Morning gents, it being 11:26 am Mon 8 Jan here in NSW. Some points: 1. Wow, what a great lot of good info since yesterday. It all really helps me understand this sim world. Glad you 'old boys' sought clarification on some things. 2. Seems we're all 'in the thick of it' planning and prep wise. 3. Question re those doing ferry flights to get to Perth e.g. Bossspecops, and practice e.g. ScottishMike Jandakot to Caiguna. How do you guys do it in your sim, you don't sit there for all that time e.g. hours, to do the flight do you? Do you turn autopilot on? Do you do time acceleration or make jumps forward in your flight plan? If the answer to latter is no, you run the sim in real time for the entire flight, again wow, that's dedication. I would have thought a long international flight would be so boring, hours, that nobody would bother doing that in the sim using real time. 4. To quote the two well-known international statements A "How hard can it be", B "What could possibly go wrong', plus my own C "Presumption isn't confirmation" which I often quote to myself and my work colleagues ('Somebody did check the oil didn't they'? 'Hey, the battery is flat, Bob was supposed to charge it', Bob: 'Huh, what, not me, that was supposed to be Bill wasn't it? I don't no 'nuthin about that!' etc. etc.). Re 'curt', don't worry bosses, you have to be curt and clear with your destructions (I met Curt Intone in a bar once, nice fella, Curt didn't say much but what he did say was very profound. I wouldn't try to borrow 5 bucks from him though!) 5. Finally, 'Houstin, we have a problem' in the MAD1 world. Of all the 26 strips in the entire adventure, all except 2 YKNG Katanning, YCAG Caiguna (presumably because they're so tiny and nondescript) are in my default FS2002 airport list. So in the in-built Flight Planner, I can't go there. So, my strategy: 5.1. Is there a simple, quick way I can add them into my airport list (remember, I didn't want to fiddle with config, wanted to do it all 'off the shelf' with the defaults). Am happy to do a little fiddle, would be handy for adding stuff in the future. 5.2. If 5.1 not available, then am happy to switch to Free Flight. Have enjoyed and learnt so much via this adventure so far, and my Adult self (who has let my Child self have a bit of a run around the playground for the last week) is advising that I was probably being too ambitious and niave, and now it's time for the Adult to step in and take control of MAD1 and go Free Flight. (And my Parent self is reminding me my wife is coming home Sat 13 after 3.5 months away overseas visiting family, and I might become afeared of retribution for not doing chores/projects and playing with FS instead (see statement B).

OK, am progressing. Just cleaned the cabin ceiling, had a bit of mildew from being closed up. Looks great now, 1981 cream vinyl. And just now had a first look at SkyVector. Nice! Created an account, started to fill in a Flight Plan. Will now compare with the FS2002 inbuilt facility. YPJK > YKNG 131 nm. So, if I can flog the plane to do 150 nm/h average (maxing at 165), SV estimates 53 min. That's bearable, steering all the way. (I note SV specifies not to File unreal flights, so presume I'm OK using the planning part, just don't File a plan etc.) Also, I now understand this comp, it's not a speed race (fastest wins) but an accuracy race, precision (I like that), person closest to their planned timing wins. Now, I presume it's not in the race spirit, but I realise a person could be sneaky and log a slower flight time for a leg, go faster and get to the destination early, then just tootle around in a personal holding pattern before landing right on the planned time. I wouldn't do that of course.

Here I am, ready and waiting, parked near 06L YPJT.

So, bosses, some newbie-type questions (perhaps you've already stated, but don't recall seeing this detail, I've read the VP2 original post and have copied it and printed it, so have that detail, including 'On the Days you are Flying: 1) Route time for each leg begins when you roll for Take-Off (or Lift Off if flying a Helicopter), and ends at a full stop on Landing, or when the Skids touch the ground. If not stopping at a given Airport, you must still overfly that Field. Record the time when directly over the Field as the End Time of one Leg and the Start Time of the next.') 1. Timed entrant. Are we required to land at each airport, or can we simply overfly but record the necessary info that we were there e.g. screenshot? Hence 1st leg YPJT Jandakot > YKNG Katanning. [Update: think the answer is, 'Either, land or overfly as a waypoint, but if latter, still report in the PIREP each leg's times.] 2. Event start is Mon 15 Jan. Is that local time for the airport i.e. YPJT? (Not USA time). Hence is that anytime beginning 0000 hrs 15 Jan Australian Western Standard Time (AWST)? (AWST=UTC+8, they don't do daylight saving, hence Sun 14 Jan 1600Z). I might be starting YPJT time about noon Mon 15 and just do YPJT>YKNG only. https://www.timeanddate.com/worldclock/australia/perth

Tnx VP2, that really helps clarify the other gentlemen's posts. Will practice all that today. Have got my YPJT flight saved, ready for takeoff in the C182RG, in my FS2002 default, am parked near the Tower near 06L which is the default runway.

PS. Yep, the FS2002 info says 'constant speed' prop, and I have FS2000 and the hardcopy book that came with that, think is the same aircraft, says 'McCauley 2-bladed constant speed'.

Tnx taoftedal for the vid, just starting watching the beginning. Very informative. So guys, that's enough for this newbie, me, to take in for today, head is starting to hurt (mowing is now looking more attractive, and the rain has stopped). Am really enjoying the learning, a steep learning curve for me. Can see it'll be a long road from here to the Concorde!!!!