I was just checking out your site, as this sounds really interesting, but I have a few questions.

How is a winner determined? How would you know if someone is cheating or not if people can run this when they want to, as opposed to when they have to?

When prizes such as the ones you are offering are involved, a high level of scrutiny must be utilized.

This would be much better accomplished by having everyone running at the same time online where they can be properly monitored, and everyone would know where they stand in relation to others.

And for full realism, wouldn't running clear skies theme totally negate the realism settings? In that area of the world, mountain running with clear skies and no turbulence or wind isn't much of a challenge, or very real at all.

I would like to participate in this, but I find some of the rules and regulations to be at odds with each other and the theme of the race.

LOL! Paul, it was you who got me to start using real world weather for all online flying. Makes each trip a nice surprise.

I will do this flight, as it sounds like a very interesting trip, and also a great excuse to jump online and fly with someone.

But when prizes are involved in an event like this, the worst in some can really show up.   Maybe you should be there to keep them honest with your trusty FSNavigator.

Hey guys... thanks for the questions...

Yes, a high level of scrutiny will be involved.  The Duenna client is being used, which was developed just for such scrutiny - used in the Round the World race every year.  It will monitor whether you've adjusted the aircraft.cfg file to make your plane faster, it will monitor whether you've set up any kind of pausing, slewing, time acceleration, etc., it will monitor whether you've set your realism settings or not... it will monitor every aspect of the flight.  If there's anything in particular you're wondering about, after you've installed the Duenna client and looked at it's capabilities, please ask!

As for the weather... yes, I'm disappointed that there's no way to run "real weather".  unfortunately, the only way to do that would be if everyone ran this race online, at the same time... as you mentioned above.  However, to expect people to be able to do that for an 8-hour race, in addition to any time where they might be socked in by the actual weather, means that the race won't be available to the majority of simmers - namely those with jobs or families that prevent them from sitting at the PC for a 10-hour stretch.

If you do have questions beyond these, there is a FAQ section on the flyditarod.com site.  I would ask that you asked more detailed questions on the flyditarod forums, so that others with the same questions might also see them.

Thanks, and hopefully we'll see you in Alaska next week.

Jimmy

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Well, not always... for example, today was a perfectly clear sky, no wind, and I could easily see Denali from Anchorage - something that only pops up once or twice a month!  It would have been a perfect day for flying.