'Lo all!

The really rotten thing about finding the Gee Bee and Mew gull as I did was that I had to go to work right after; limiting my pleasure time with these beauties.

Still; while at work I got a-thinking about something; and I thought you might like it.

Sadly; the age of the Great Air Races is long past; but perhaps we can bring it back briefly.

I propose a race; details thus:

Aircraft: Dehavilland Comet.
(Why the Comet? First; it's a fast plane. Fast, that is, for the era in which we're simulating; the 1930's. Second; it's a pretty challenging airplane to fly; especially from the VC. Don't want this to be too easy. Third; it's a stock plane; so everyone will have it. Fourth; it looks great - ideal for screenshots.)

Course: London-Cairo (Total 1900nm.)
This is a long flight; but not too long; quite challenging navigation-wise since it includes long water stretches, mountains, and desert. No specific checkpoints along the course; each pilot chooses the route he/she feels most comfortable with.

Mode: Single-player.
Can't possibly get everyone together to fly it in MP.

Settings: 100% realism; weather set to Real Weather With Updates.

Rules:
1) GPS is disabled for the flight; it makes navigation too easy. Besides; they didn't have it in 1939. Constanly checking the Map View is strongly discouraged; same reason.
2) Pilot starts at time of his choosing; from London Heathrow.
3) Pilot can take as long as is necessary in real time to complete the flight; landing and saving as required.
4) Finishing time is taken from game-time. IOW; if the player takes off at noon and lands at midnight (GMT); the flight of course took 12 hours - even if it took him 3 days  real-time saving a couple of times along the way to finish.
5) Upon finishing; Pilot posts his time (and screenshots) at the Freeware screenshots forum. Winner is decided by shortest flight time, of course.
6) If a pilot goes down; he/she's out - no reload. (And we want screenshots!! )
7) Winner gets a beautiful nonexistant trophy; a million dollars in imaginary currency; and the respect and admiration of absolutely no-one.

Cheating: There is of course no way to prevent someone from cheating in such a race; but this is just for a bit o' fun; an honour system is more than good enough for us. Besides; I think we all agree that there's no fun or point to cheating; even if you win it's pretty hollow innit?

Sound like fun?
Let's do it - it'll be a gas!

Takeoff's from Heathrow International (EGLL).
Destination is Cairo Intl. (HECA).
Straight-line travel (via GPS info) is 1908nm.

If you've never flown the Comet before; you're in for a challenge; especially on landing. It's a racer; so there's zero forward visibility.
It's also got a few rather interesting flight characteristics you'll discover soon enough.
It's max listed range is about 900nm. so refuelling will be required.

Timing your flight is easy - in the VC there's a rather nice wind-up chronometer mounted by your right elbow.

Ideal flight time outght to be around 10 hours; though the actual time is likely to be considerably less as pilots push their aircraft hard.

cheers!

I will begin flight next week. that give me a week to pratice with that plane. if i feel fine i might start sooner.

hehehe that will be fun.

fox

Sounds like fun 8)

At least it'll give me a break from my Australian trip

Like Fox, I too will try-before-I-fly

Carl out.....

Hey Ozzy, how come you moved it dude ???

I'm not questioning your judgment or anything but.....
Quote:

Just thought I'd ask.

Carl out.....

'Cos it belongs in the MP forum
All MP stuff belongs in the MP forum, this is where we come to organise this sort of fun

ya  8) sounds awesome im n if its ok dehivland comet? i think we should all use the same view (probably VC) so there is no unfair advantage whial taxing and low flying   sooooo when and where?

I'll have a shot at it, Staiduk, If I may.  I love the DH88.  Probably start tonight.  Are you on your way?

Hi Nav; sure it's OK if you warn folks about that Rube Goldberg fuel system; it took me a few flights to get the thing down as well. It's not as if a pilot wouldn't know about it beforehand in RL.

(Geeps - you did London-Melbourne? Yikes - THAT must've been a flight! This one's pretty short - only about 8-9 hours.)

However; I'm going to stick to my guns regarding GPS.
I know it's a pain; but the GPS really does make things too easy. If someone gets lost or chooses an unwise route; that's all part of racing innit?
No GPS puts everyone on the same page. Actually; so would using GPS; but in that case; everyone will be making a beeline straight for Egypt; time will be decided strictly by speed over the ground.
Without it; choosing the best route ahead of time is critical; and part of the race strategy.
(Actually; dead reckoning down to Cairo isn't that tough overall; once you get over the Alps (and a bit past) ground reference is largely coastal; which is quite easy to follow, IMO. )


Oh; and BTW - I haven't started yet. I was about to but got called into work. I'll be starting Friday.

Thanks for coming on so promptly, Staiduk.

That Melbourne trip was 'something' - I though that i might not live long enough to finish it!  Some lovely screenshots made it worthwhile though - like this one of dawn over the Timor Sea:-



You're the boss over GPS - "But oonder PROtest, surr," as our battery sergeant-major used to say on occasion.  Wait till you try flying for hours with nothing but that crappy little compass to look at!    Still, that's what the real guys had to do.

Glad you didn't rule out going over the Alps.  They didn't have pressurisation in 1934, but they DID have oxygen bottles!  All I have to do now is FIND the b****y Alps!   

OK - for the information of other competitors.  IMO, the Comet is the most interesting/beautiful default aircraft on FS2004.  And marvellous fun to fly, the power-weight ratio is terrific, she's a true racer.

But the 'interest' starts (and often finishes, at first) when you try to take off.  In the first place, the DH88 had British engines, which turn in the opposite direction to American ones.  So it swings to the right on takeoff - and HOW it swings!

Make sure that the tail-skid is locked - there's an icon for a sub-panel to lock it.  You'll need full left rudder, and maybe some differential brake as well, to keep her straight.  The other thing is that she doesn't lift her tail herself, like other taildraggers - you have to push the stick FORWARD to get her to do that.  Then get her off as soon as you can, or you'll be visiting ATC in the control tower..........

About fuel, unlike most FS aircraft, some fuel management is required.  Have a good look at the fuel panel - there is a 'crossfeed' setting, but the default setting is 'OFF'.  That means, of course, that the engines are feeding off separate tanks - and de Havilland's undoubted genius extended to making the tanks of different sizes, so that, late in the flight, the one using the smaller tank is liable to stop!  So make SURE that the crossfeed lever is pushed in at all times.

The only other snag comes when you save the flight.  When you reload it, you'll find that the crossfeed will have been reset to 'OFF' - so you may be missing an engine.

OK, you think, 'Ctrl-E' to restart.  Not necessarily so.  Saving the flight also means that the game will have reset the mixture to 'full rich' - so if you're at any height, you'll need to lean it off before you can get the engine re-started.  Luckily there's another sub-panel that shows you the mixture settings, so if you are forewarned there's no problem.

Finally, you'll find that saving and reloading the game has also opened the cowl flaps.  Make sure to close them again.

OK, I've said my piece.  Everything else you need to know is in the 'Flight Notes'.  See you for a beer in Cairo - I plan to be first there, of course, so it'll my shout........

Quote:



Right here.

Nice to look at; unfortunately the maker made the flight characteristics quite a bit too easy to fly - I tinkered around with the C of G for a whil until it was appropriately unstable.
Lots of fun; and a great engine sound.

ROFL - such is the joys of long distance racing!

Yup; I'm over Bosnia myself; so we're probably pretty close. At least you've got a tailwind - I've had a nasty crosswind the entire trip so far!

BTW - don't worry too much; you're heading for North Africa - those clouds are bound to clear up by the time you get there...

OK, made it. 

Left Heathrow 02.02 GMT, 20th. October.  Arrived Cairo 11.14 GMT, flight time 9 hours 12 minutes.  Pity, I was hoping to 'crack' nine hours.

This is landing at Cairo - I've got other screenshots too, I'll start a screenshot thread when I have more time.



Good luck Staiduk, hope you can crack the magic nine 

Hi Staiduk!

Yes - luckily I'd kept a 'paper record' as well.  Didn't notice the hour jump until I was past Crete, the time was correct up to then - for a moment I dreamt of making it inside eight hours, then I realised that that would be impossible, about a 250-knot average, so the computer must have stuffed up in the 'save'!

Nice if we could dead-heat, after all the effort we've both put in!

Hi rob, welcome!

Staiduk and I have finished our runs - you can find our screenshots and experiences, and some advice that may be useful, on 'Freeware Screenshots' - probably on page 4 or 5 by now, though.  Mine is called 'DH88 Comet London-Cairo Race', Staiduk's are "The Race', parts 1 and 2.

Best time so far is 9 hours 12 minutes.  I reckon that's quite beatable, if you have reasonable luck with winds and put your foot down a bit earlier than I did.

Just one thing - keep a rough paper record of distances, times, etc., between sessions.  Staiduk and I both found that the time 'jumped' an hour during the trip.  It may not happen to you, it could just have been the clocks changing from summer time.

Good luck, keep us posted! 

Wowzers, Nav - 9 minutes difference between us!

I wouldn't say it was tactics as much as I would being paranoid of having the wind flip me into the side of a mountain, way up in the Swiss Alps.  Eating my co-pilot didn't seem too appealing and all.

As for the stop, I had roughly 40 gallons in the centre tank and 35 or something in the other two - I probably could have made it with fuel to spare, but I had no idea if I was going to end up in Egypt or not, so a touch of extra fuel in case I needed to reroute (and nap) was in order. As for the time, I thought that all flights were counted from the second the wheels got off the ground 'til touchdown.

Either way, it was fun, and I realized that I know the European landscape A LOT more than I had expected.  After leaving Greece, though, I just kind of picked a logical bearing and shot for it.