WORLD AIR RACES - TRIAL EVENT!

[AS 2 Tom Little]

Exciting news! AirSource member AS 423 Simon Utley submitted a great idea and a "trial" leg one special crew pass has been added for us to enjoy. The possible ongoing event is called "WORLD AIR RACES". If demand is high enough we will continue to add legs and refine the series as needed. EMT is also in discussion about some other ideas around the event if it becomes popular enough.

RULES:

Each leg has a MAX SPEED (KNOTS) and MAX ALTITUDE (FEET MSL) requirement (see within the crew pass description). At this time it's the honor system, and requires using myAAS (myAAS does constantly monitor altitude and speed but there is nothing in place that will disqualify a participant at this time).

Start myAAS recording as soon as you lift off, end myAAS recording as soon as you stop after touch down at destination airport. You can also use a stop watch within the sim aircraft or a real stop watch. Be sure to notate in the comments your exact time.

Members can fly the flight any amount of times they wish to better their times.

Crew pass shows the suggested aircraft but any aircraft can be used as long as the flights posted max speed is not exceeded at any time during the flight. Be sure to PIREP the flight with the actual aircraft used in the simulator.
IMPORTANT NOTE about airspeed and altitude: Please set your autopilot to coordinate with the Airspeed and altitude showing in the myAAS program. i.e. if max speed it 170 knots, then assure you are NOT going over 170 knots on the myAAS airspeed panel. Same with altitude.

WEATHER needs to be set to clear skies, calm / zero wind, standard pressure 29.92 (1013 millibars)

ROUTE - any route can be utilized by the participant as long as MAX altitude/speed requirements are met. A sample route for LEG ONE is here [PASC-PABT]: https://skyvector.com/api/loadplan?id=1 ... -152.37781

See current available leg(s) here http://air-source.us/operations/crew_pa ... LDAIRRACES

Simon is sponsoring this event so will monitor results and post a reply here to keep us updated as times are submitted.

[spotsey]

Hi there,
Just a couple more Race Requirements that have to be broadcast:
Regarding flying at no more than 170kts, this should be done by monitoring the myAAS bar visible at the top of your screen when flying. The TAS (True Air Speed) indicated is what you must use to monitor your flight speed , adjusting your throttles to keep the TAS readout under 170kts. It will be different to the IAS setting on your autopilot, if you are using one.
Also please would you start the flight on myAAS as you lift off, this will cause the flight to pause, but once you have started the flight on myAAs you just unpause the Sim. The flight recording on myAAS needs to be stopped on touchdown as well.
Leg one is a trial leg so Tom and the team are ironing out all the bugs to give us a great race format.
Have fun. Simon.

[spotsey]

Hi there,
A bit of depth to the choice of flying a race through mountains, or any other natural obstructions...Due to the altitude restrictions the valleys you have to fly through create the 'race track' as the mountains on either side hedge you in. Taking the 'racing line' around the corners, close to the mountain sides would save you time, and there are opportunities to take short cuts with a few hundred feet altitude to spare. If you plot a GPS route and IFR it you will loose out to the pilots who plot a GPS course and fly with a heading bug on that course but cut every corner and take shortcuts over lower ground that becomes visible. Part of the challenge is that there can be various different flight paths that could be used and it is up to each of us to try and come up with the quickest route.
Thanks, Simon.

[spotsey]

Hi again,
regarding the earlier post about Pireps..

"Also please would you start the flight on myAAS as you lift off, this will cause the flight to pause, but once you have started the flight on myAAs you just unpause the Sim. The flight recording on myAAS needs to be stopped on touchdown as well."

As Joe Hamilton has pointed out to me, when you land you need to finish your roll and stop your aircraft before you attempt to save the myAAS flight file. This is because there is a time lag on the recording and if you stop it on touchdown it will still have your altitude as several hundred feet up!!

Regards to you all,
Simon.

[spotsey]

Hi there,
I would encourage all who read this to have a go at this World Air Races-Trial Event. I have flown it several times in a Learjet 45. Some stats from my last run: Flight Level-4500ft. Autopilot Speed Hold-158Kts. myAAS TAS (True Air Speed) reading-167Kts.(Must be no more than 170Kts). Flight Time- 1hr 19 minutes. I have found that once you are at altitude and have the speed set to keep you just under the 170kt TAS readout, it stays that way for the duration of the race, until you throttle back to prepare for the approach, making sure you don't shift the TAS reading above 170kts. So, during the flight you get to enjoy some close-up mountain scenery, especially as you are low and fairly slow. Must be great viewing in MSFS. Have a go, let us know what you think of it all.
Simon.

[spotsey]

Hi there,
It could be that the lack of navigation aids such ILS system to help you land at PABT may put you off the challenge of flying the race.
I have found that there are two essential tasks to master, flying the descent to touchdown and getting on the correct runway heading to land.
When creating the GPS Flight Plan for the race using the Flight Planner tool, using your Mouse drag the flight path line from the point on the landing airstrip out on the same line as the strip, you will need to zoom in to do this. You may need to create a couple of waypoints like this, making a longer approach line, you need about 8Nms.
Fly the flight using the GPS nav settings.
When you turn onto the final GPS approach make sure you are about 2500ft above the strip altitude.
Select approach speed, flaps and gear.
When the strip becomes visible under the aircraft in the spot view you have set up, set the altitude on the autopilot to zero and set the descent rate to -800ft.
As you fly the approach, using the spot view of your aircraft, adjust your rate of descent on the autopilot to keep the start of the runway just below the wheels of the landing gear, all the way down the glide slope to touchdown.
Nearing touchdown it is better to have a bit of height in hand, you can increase the descent and when nearing touchdown reduce the descent to create a flare for a soft landing.
This is how I flew and landed my Learjet 45 the three times I have flown this Trial Event.
Once you have mastered this, no small backwoods strip will put you off.
Simon.

[spotsey]

Sorry, I should have said you need to create a Spot View of the rear of your aircraft and have it in the top left corner of your screen. Zoom out a bit on it. You will then use this view to control your descent to landing.
Simon

[spotsey]

Hi again,
Another thing I do with the Spot View of rear of the aircraft, as I near the mountains I stretch the Spot View window right across the windscreen of the aircraft, zoom out as far as it will go, and this gives me a great view of the aircraft flying ahead of me, and the terrain. I am able to fly close to the mountain sides as I can see how far the wingtips are from them. Also, if I am getting close to a ridge cutting across my flight path, if there is no light under the wings it shows me I am flying lower than the height of the ridge, giving me time to change course. And obviously it is all set up for the approach, I can clearly see the start of the airstrip in the distance under the aircraft, and thus am able to fly a successful approach and landing.
I hope this will encourage you to have a go at some mountain valley flying.
Simon.

[AS 2 Tom Little]

Thank you for the pointers Simon!

[AS 2 Tom Little]

I have started a discussion thread in the general forums for feedback, ideas, gripes etc. about the World Air Races event. Please see here -> viewtopic.php?f=1&t=8086