London Melbourne 2014: Help Thread

I like the auto arm too but for this event, keep in mind if you tick that setting you might paint yourself into a corner.

For example, if you get lost and land at the wrong airport your Duenna will end the flight flight there and you might get hit with a landing at an "other" airport penalty. Otherwise you can land with the Duenna still running, ask for directions (check map) and then be on your way to the intended correct airport.


From the rules:

If you are hopelessly lost, you may land and ask for directions. As long as you do not refuel, there is no official timing involved here except for the fact that your Duenna clock is running. You land and then take off without "releasing the baton". While stopped on the ground, you may consult all your maps, including your electronic moving maps, to find your location. After "asking for directions", you then take off again while the Duenna is still running.


You don't have to save your flight or time after each run but if you do decide to fly more than one segment per day you do have to keep the time linear. In other words you can't keep resetting the time back to get perfect daylight.


Rules:

When you make multiple flights on the same real life day, you must make the simulator takeoff time of each subsequent flight follow the simulator landing time for the preceding flight. For example you dedicate a Saturday afternoon to make several flights. The first lands in Karachi at 10:08 am local simulator time. The next takeoff, from Karachi, must be after 10:08 am local simulator time. You land at 12:31 pm and then take off after 12:31 pm. And so on for every subsequent flight on that Saturday.
Thus, if you wish to make several long flights in one day, you should start early in the simulator morning and may find yourself flying into the simulator night.


Make sense?
Kevin
 
A question regarding multiple flights on the same day (while I await patiently the committee's number crunching for my plane of choice):

Kevin, you gave an example where the flight lands at 10:08, so the next flight must takeoff at 10:08. If partaking in the speed race, would the ground time be added in? As in, the flight lands at 10:08, ground time is a mandatory xx number of minutes, the next flight takes off at 10:08 + ground time?
 
Jim, as long as you start your next flight later than 10:08 you will be fine. You don't have to be that precise. The aim is to keep the sim clock going in sequence so that you don't start the second flight at say 8:50.

Depending on where you land the ground time added would be:

(1) Official Required Control and Optional Checking Points.
(45 minutes for the Speed Race, 0 for the Handicap Race).


(2) Unofficial but Listed Refueling Airports.
(90 minutes for all Golden Age pilots).


(3) Other Unlisted Airports.
(150 minutes for all Golden Age pilots).


(4) “Getting Un-lost” Fields.*
(0 minutes, but ONLY if you neither reset Duenna nor take on fuel. 10 minutes if you restart without refueling. Otherwise as (3) above).

You don't have to actually wait out the times above. They will be added separately to that segment either by you or one of the committee. PRB will especially be paying attention to all the flight times and ground times to keep things in order.

*Note that (4) is currently being tweaked. Please stay tuned.

Also- We should have an answer on the Caudron any time now. Thanks for your patience!
 
To: JimmyRFR.

Jim, we have already communicated directly to you and your Canadian backer. This, the formal part of the message, is published here so that everything is transparent. It is a note from "Slipstick" Williams, Tex Winter's main test pilot and part time engineer.

--------------

The charismatic Caudron C.450 by Gilles Faulmeyer is certainly eligible. The delay is generated by a need to look more closely at the handicap values.

The difficulty lies in the speed/range differences associated with runs a different altitudes. For the Handicap Race, where the number of stops matters relatively little, the key factors are speed and distance. The range is important to the extent to which a longer range allows a pilot to slice hundreds of miles off the route. For most aircraft, it is worth giving up a few knots of true airspeed in order to shorten the route.

However, in the case of the Caudron C.450 and the Gee Bee Model Z, the range stretching associated with higher and slower flying does not help on the overall distance. Thus, the question is "how much range is needed" in the tradeoff against speed.

For the short-legged racers, the race will comprise of 24 legs. The question is: how much range is necessary to fly the main number of those legs? The longest leg is from Athens to Aleppo (652.7nm). However, because most legs are much shorter, the racer will not need to fly at the speed/altitude that yields 653nm but once in the race. If we take a rough demarcation point of 500nm, we see that 18 of the 24 are shorter. Another 5 are between 507-567nm. And only one over 600nm. So a speed/altitude/range combination that yields a maximum speed for about 500nm would seem to be a reasonable standard.

Our tests (maximum throttle and automixture) show the following results for the Caudron C.450. Each set of numbers are the maximum speed, altitude, and range.

201…10,000…581
205…7,000…505
209…4,000…445

Setting a handicap speed of 205 (which yields a range of 505nm) means that for 18 legs the pilot can fly at 205 KTAS or faster. Many legs can be flown at 209 KTAS. For the remaining six legs, he will have to fly slightly slower. Given the relative number of miles at the different speeds, the pilot should be able to exceed the 205 average reference speed during the course of the race. (Of course, the need for climb/descent/approach/roll out will mean a slightly slower racing speed. And winds, weather, and pilot skill will matter a lot.)

Hope this helps understand the behind the scenes testing, calculation, and evaluation.
 
Sample Run ... Posting flights 101

... or officially posting your progress throughout the race.



To make up for the sim not having real spectators or a way to actually man the Compulsory Checkpoints to verify that each pilot made it ... Each pilot will start his own thread to announce his official start and what aircraft he is using.

He will make individual posts that basically substantiate each and every take off and landing from the start at Mildenhall AB London (EGUN) to his successful landing at Essendon Melbourne (YMEN) ... and ALL points in between.

With the exception of an occasional "Atta-Boy" from members of the Peanut Gallery, other pilots and such .... and maybe
[== done - da - done - done === sung to the theme from the old TV series "Dragnet" ] ..... a word from Miss Nellie ... all of the parts, legs, segments, what have ya including total time of each pilot's trip "Down Under" can be complied from that pilot's posts ... like a log or short journal.

Done correctly a total stranger to the event should be able to "walk up" and read your consecutive posts and add up all of the flight time as well as see at a glance (each post) where and when you had a crash (if at all) as well as whether or not you made every Compulsory Checkpoint or stopped for fuel or just to get directions .... whatever.

For our purpose this "Duenna" you have heard about or seen mentioned will fill the gap of no simulated witness to events by validating and documenting more than you can imagine or I want to get into now.



This is a Sample Run .... just a short hop out of Mildenhall EGUN in the deHavilland DH 80 Puss Moth ... to Crowfield EGSO

Include the departure airport's ICAO code and your intended destination airport's code and what aircraft you are flying.

Maybe a little "color" like a comment on the weather or a concern you may have as you begin the takeoff roll .... like do I have enough fuel? .... or will the current wind stay "with me" .... or why when I look in the mirror do my nose and ears look bigger every year?

Then make the post (hit submit reply) and start your takeoff roll making sure to push the "I have the baton, BEGIN" button on the Duenna or by having checked prior the Arm baton auto-pickup box.

As you climb out check that the Duenna has started recording and all is "Green" .... just like when you were sitting waiting to take off.

While you fly to your destination your post will be on your thread in the forum .... anybody reading could see that you had just taken off .... know where you intended to land and probably make a good guess as to when you would arrive depending on the aircraft you posted you were flying.

Then after landing .... plane stopped .... Duenna stopped .... you post that you have arrived safe .... down safe ..... whatever .... and then locate and attach the two files auto-generated by the Duenna .... just like you would a screenshot.

You'll need both the jpeg (Map) file and the txt Log file that will show up as a link in your post.


You can see what they look like in the next (2) post(s).


Your thread will show all of your activity in chronological order .... a rhythm of take off post .... landing post .... take off post .... landing post .... and so on and so on.
 
Leg 1 .... Sample Run

Taking off a bit early to make the day longer .... maybe get in an extra flight.

Light variable winds and very hazy - foggy


Leaving now EGUN - EGSO in the deHaviland DH 80
 
Realistic Environment - Special Conditions

Reading through the rules carefully I noted the following section:

Realistic Environment. Please run the simulator with realistic scenery/mesh/clouds set-tings. While you are encouraged to maximize realism, these are the absolutely minimal conditions:
 Scenery. Autogen density: Normal. Scenery Complexity: Normal.
 Mesh. Keep the terrain mesh you normally use. A minimum standard would be the default mesh (with a 38m resolution setting in FSX).
 Weather. Weather options: Real-world weather (updated every 15 minutes if the internet connection permits).
 Clouds. Cloud draw distance: 60mi. Detailed clouds/Cloud coverage density: Medium. (And for FS2004, 3-D cloud percentage: 100.)

If your computer equipment does not allow these minimum settings, please ask for a waiver and you will automatically receive one.


During testing for the Modern Era I found that I was unable to complete a planned leg into EGLC without getting VAS warnings and in several instances actual OOM. This occured with my default realism settings which are higher than the minimum. The aircraft is quite complex and the problem on this leg the route crosses the following scenery addons:



Scenery 1 - UTX Europe
Scenery 2 - FTX Global
Scenery 3 - FTX EU Landclass
Scenery 4 - FTX England
Scenery 5 - FS Genisis Mesh

I tried enabling and disabling the scenery addons but was unable to reduce the VAS in static tests by more than 3K. I have had to reduce the sliders below minimal settings to achieve a safe VAS on arrival in England. I will likely need to request a waiver prior to flying this leg.

My normal high settings have be OK for practice legs in other parts of the route where the scenery demands are less intense.


Other participants who are running complex scenery and/or aircraft may want to perform similar testing.
 
Thanks Austin for the demo postings.

A couple of things that I'll add...
anomalies appear, errors happen, mistakes might be made - share the agony and the details. Miss Nellie respects honesty and abhors the devious, so if something doesn't "seem right" with your flight or results, 'fess up. It's easier all around to get an early resolution to those situations so you can move on, rather than have one of the eagle-eyed auditors notice a discrepancy and raise it with the committee or the audience later. Sometimes it's simply a clerical error or oversight in posting that can be rectified with an admonishing note from "Herself" but in any case sooner is always better.

Also, while this is very independent and disjointed compared to the RTWR, we do encourage interaction, so if you feel comfortable flying online and/or lust for company, include it in your departure post so the bored ones can perhaps look over your shoulder or add moral support. The SOH flight servers are available (4 ports) and for those not familiar, we can provide guidance. Never know when it would be handy to have someone keep you awake on a 6-hour flight in the wilderness.

While the Committee will be reviewing the flights, we encourage all competitors to do the same. Look at each others' posts and Duenna files. Ask questions if there's something you don't understand. Regulatory questions that you might not wish to discuss in public can, of course, be directed to any of the Committee via PM. Otherwise you might just see something in the flight record that can give you a clue for an upcoming leg of your own.

This is an endurance event so don't rush... make sure you have all the boxes ticked or not, check your results and posts and check that you actually post and say what you mean. That way, those of us who have made all the mistakes in the past won't have anything to tease you about before we go and repeat those mistakes :dizzy:
 
P3d users - duenna setup instructions here

All P3D Users,

The following are the steps for setting up P3D & Duenna for the upcoming MacRobertson 2014 race. These instructions will be included in the next rules release in the appendix section(s).

P3D SETUP

1. Setup the P3D realism dialog as shown in the picture below. During testing it was found that changes to the dialog may not stick on the first time. It would be a good idea to re-open the realism dialog after it has been closed the first time to double check and confirm that the settings indeed reflect what is required.

2. After confirmation of the settings restart P3D.

3. From this point it may be a good idea not to touch these settings until after your participation in the race. Note - Duenna will not reflect these settings. It will still show a Red Realism box and a Red or Yellow Real-WX box. Disregard any warnings that may pop up from Duenna when started.

P3D Realism.jpg


DUENNA SETUP

1. In the Duenna settings dialog as shown in the picture below, highlighted in red, (disregard other settings as shown, it's just an example) enter the path to prepare3d.cfg into the FS9.CFG (when non-std) text field. The paths, as an example, are shown below and reflect the Windows 7 operating system. Other operating systems may vary. Replace the red USER NAME part of the path with the user name of the account used for P3D. Verify that the path to prepare3d.cfg is correct by using Windows Explorer.

Code: 
Prepar3D v1 = C:\Users\[COLOR=#ff0000]USER NAME[/COLOR]\AppData\Roaming\Lockheed Martin\Prepar3D\prepare3d.cfg
Prepar3D v2 = C:\Users\[COLOR=#ff0000]USER NAME[/COLOR]\AppData\Roaming\Lockheed Martin\Prepar3D v2\prepare3d.cfg

2. Save settings

3. Exit Duenna

4. Restart Duenna when ready to use. From this point it may be a good idea not to touch these settings until after your participation in the race.

Duenna EX.jpg

DUENNA USAGE

Duenna will still show a Red Realism box and a Red or Yellow Real-WX box when started. Disregard (ignore/close) any warnings that may pop up. Use Duenna as normal for the flight. After the flight, and as long there were no other discrepancies, Duenna will still show an "Invalid" flight. Disregard this and upload the .txt & .jpg as required by the rules. The fs-duenna.com tracking page will show the flight as "ok/errors". The MacRobertson race tracking page will also show on their "legs" subpage that the flight was invalid. It is up to Ms. Nellie and the Race Committee to disseminate the data that was uploaded and manually verify the leg.
 
Thanks to all for the examples and run-throughs, it helps a lot!

Also, thanks to the committee for continuing to work on the Caudron numbers. Very much appreciated!

I noticed that auto-mixture was used in determining numbers, is this allowed / encouraged?
 
Just wanted to add... Wouldn't have been able to do testing without Ed (falcon409). Without his testing it would have been tough, if not impossible, to figure out what was missing and why errors were triggered.

Thanks Ed,

Roman
 
JimmyRFR said:
Thanks to all for the examples and run-throughs, it helps a lot!

Also, thanks to the committee for continuing to work on the Caudron numbers. Very much appreciated!

I noticed that auto-mixture was used in determining numbers, is this allowed / encouraged?
Click to expand...

Jimmy,
Auto-mixture is allowed (and highly encouraged for those who may not be used to all the intimate details of powered flight or tend to forget the use of checklists). It maintains a consistent fuel/air mixture and this makes it ideal (essential) for testing and comparing aircraft performance.

Manual mixture control is a refinement that can yield benefits but also, as many can testify, lead to embarrassing moments, coughing, sputtering and even frightening silence.

Of course, use of the adjacent selection (Allow unlimited fuel) is NOT condoned :redfire:

Rob
 
srgalahad said:
Manual mixture control is a refinement that can yield benefits but also, as many can testify, lead to embarrassing moments, coughing, sputtering and even frightening silence.
Click to expand...

Or even unintentional flat spins when flying a twin in a RTWR race leg! :banghead: :angryfire:

DAMHIKIJD OK! :dizzy:

:toilet_claw:
 
Duenna application will not work.

Hi.
I tried several times to install the Duenna application and the update and then start it to configure it.
Each time I try to start it, the following message appears: MSInet.ocx or one of its dependencies not correctly registered: a file is missing or invalid."
I've checked the ...System32 directory and the file msinet.ocx is there so I'm not sure what is going on. Again, I've installed, un-installed and re-installed four times so far and all to no avail.
I install all applications using Administrator rights so that is not an issue. The operating system is Windows Vista Home (32 bit).
I hope someone can provide me with some guidance before Saturday, 10/25/2014, otherwise I'll have to back out of the race.
Thank you.
 
Hi OFF,

Not sure if this will work, but it looks possible. I've never seen the problem you are having, but after some Googling, I found an article that might help, HERE. Worth a try in any case.
 
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