RTW102 -- Basic RTW Flying

[srgalahad]

In this installment (RTW-102 -- Basic Flying) we'll go over some of the principles of Basic RTW Flying. Where possible, credit has been listed or names retained to show the original authors, whom we all thank for their input.
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2006 Around the World Race - The Story

http://forums.flightsim.com/vbfs/showthread.php?t=136488&highlight=rtw
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A fantastic starting point for additional information - N3306TX's Homepage

http://home.comcast.net/~tmaddox3/
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RTWR Suggestions (from 2007) (Reggie Fields and others) Here are some suggestions posted on the FlightSim.com multiplayer forum - put up in January 2007. (Worth reading for new members...and reviewing for veterans.)
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Individual Practice for the RTWR Race RFields (1-16-07)

There are several types of practice very useful for the MSFS Around-The-World race in my experience.

A. Airport/ Aircraft Handling
B. Aircraft Speed Runs
C. Baton Coordination
D. Scouting Technique

The most important thing is to pick an aircraft with good speed, and good handling with which you are familiar.

A. Airport / Aircraft Handling - here I recommend you pick a series of airports about 20-40 flight minutes apart. This should be a mix of lighted airports, unlighted airports. Be sure to include some without any ILS and some with an ILS. Pick some with short runways, some with long runways. If possible, pick some with geographic obstructions (mountains / granite clouds)
Learn to fly the route direct from airport to airport - first in good weather, then again in progressively worse weather and at night. You are trying to develop several skill sets. One of course is the ability to make a landing visually. Another is simply being able to find the airport and line up with the runway.
Another important skill is knowing when to break off a landing you cannot make and go to an alternate airport.

Where? Alaska, Greenland, Iceland, Norway, Sweden all offer great series of airports. This time of year there is little sun light, probably poor weather and reduced visibility. Also try a run or two across close islands in the southwest Pacific, the equatorial regions of Brazil or Africa - southern India. There you are going to find very few airport with lights. I assume it's because the tropical regions have relatively stable daylight hours each day. There will be places during the race where landing at these type dirt strips is required. There always is each year.

Many of people have said this but it still gets lost - The fastest aircraft isn't important - being able to land the aircraft you fly safely on poor airports is critically important

B. Aircraft Speed Runs These seem to get most of the focus, and to be frank sometimes our team tends to choose airports / flights a bit short of a great distance. The key here is - how much distance can you get in two hours. Climbing at best ground speed - descending at best ground speed - knowing how to stop an overspeed situation.

***I assume most folks know you get a maximum of 60 seconds total overspeed per flight before your aircraft crashes. But be aware that certain high levels of overspeed can crash your flight in just a couple seconds.***

One important thing is learning to estimate arrival times. The GPS ETA is ALWAYS wrong. Flights are almost always 5 to 15 minute longer when you slow down to land.

C. Baton Coordination This is the mechanics of making a post to claim the baton, a post to release the baton and posting the verification. It is also knowing how to handle lost voice communications, lost FSHost links, etc.

Personally I'm a great fan of the RTW Duenna program - I use it all year to document my flights for my flight log. However, everyone must know how to take a screenshot of the Flight Analysis screen and post that screen shot.

Some other items - if you have a key combination setup to reload the user aircraft - make very sure it is something you will not accidentally hit while flying. That will invalidate your flight.

If you fly a multi-engine aircraft - be sure to have a key setup to resynchronize the throttles. It is too easy to accidentally shut down an engine when using the chat window in multiplayer.

Be real sure you know how to take screen shots - there are some freeware programs which can automate this. Posting descriptions of your flight and screen shots makes the race easier to follow and attracts more pilots.

Setup a NotePad template document with "fill in the blanks" for your baton posts.

D. Scouting Technique (Let's call this "looking ahead") In a perfect race a pilot will never make a landing which he has not practiced.
Yeah, right !!!!
First - do practice how you will scout a landing - this is especially important for night and visual landings. It is perfectly within the rules and spirit of the race to "turn on the lights" for a practice approach at an airport when the real landing will be at night. Check the terrain - verify the buildings, hills and trees which might be in your way.

Then be sure to reset your clock properly.

Also think about how you would want someone to report issues / obstacles, things like that to you - and how you would relay them to the pilot with the baton.

This is also a place to know how to do a "follow me" approach; however, NEVER EVER get in front of the baton pilot on an approach during the race, unless you have discussed it in advance with that pilot - 30 minutes or more in advance. Last minute changes and unexpected aircraft almost always result in a crash.

Also practice diverting to a nearby airport. Such things as winds, lighting, weather / visibility or terrain, can all make it necessary for you to land at an alternate.

While you are at it - practice missed approaches - know exactly how to "go around" what has to be done to get your aircraft to climb - yet not overspeed from full throttle. How to make a reasonably tight pattern and land on a second attempt.
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You can practice a lot of RTW flying on your own. The Team practices will then be easier to follow and pick up on the details of Baton Posts and cooperation.
More suggestions follow in the next installment

Rob

 

[srgalahad]

RTW102 installment #2

Continuing from the previous post, here are a few more things to study and practice on your own. Remember - you're the one flying and you should know best how to make your aircraft perform to the limit.
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Climb and Descent - Racing Principles TornadoWilkes (1-17-07)

In order to win the race, it is vital that the pilot gets the aircraft to the optimum altitude for the particular aircraft. Subject to engine performance high up, at altitude a fixed wing aircraft flies faster in the thinner air.

With this in mind and realizing that any pilot can play with the throttles until the plane is flying just below its maximum speed (Vne) it becomes obvious that potentially it is more difficult to gain an advantage over your opponent during the cruise phase of the flight than during other times. In fact if we discount the weather or navigational issues and focus purely on pilot ability the best time for outperforming the opposition during a flight is actually during the climb and descent, where vital minutes can be gained or lost.

It is obvious that as the faster less sticky air is up high the ultimate racer will want to get up there ASAP and conversely wish to leave that less dense air as late as humanely possible. How? Climbing and descending a normal aircraft for ultimate performance is usually done using the airspeed gauge. Each aircraft has that sweet spot on the airspeed gauge the ultimate velocity where the engine is providing the lots of power and the airframe is producing the least acceptable drag. Go too slow and the airframe drag increases with the high angle of attack digging deep into the atmosphere to keep the plane airborne. Go too fast and the sticky air clings to the outside of the plane holding it back like running through mud.

Finding that compromise airspeed as you climb, gets you high faster and knowing precisely when to descend whilst keeping the needle bouncing off the barber pole yet still not overrun the target airport is a true black art in vertical navigation. Knowing how to do both separates the losers from the winners.
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apollosmith (1-17-07)

Tornado's post is spot on and should be a must-read for all RTW pilots. This is why heavy duty aircraft like the P-38 (yeah, yeah.. I like it!) work well - they get up and down fast, especially when you add in a few minutes of WEP at low altitudes.

I would add that you must also take into account winds aloft. Flying at a less optimal altitude of (for instance) FL180 with a 20 knot head wind will likely be better than flying at the optimal altitude of FL270 with a 100 knot head wind. Also, flying too high at FL320 with a big tail wind can be better. Install the a winds gauge to see winds at all altitudes and know how your aircraft performs at various altitudes.

***Also, the only time that IAS matters is when you're climbing and descending. Oh, and when overspeeding. Ground speed is what matters in this race.***

And be careful riding the barberpole. Dramatic wind shifts can easily throw you into an overspeed. Such shifts happen a lot on the race because we're flying a lot in remote areas. You have 4 or 5 seconds of overspeed before you crash. Ensure your aircraft has an overspeed alarm that makes it obvious when you're overspeeding. I have built a gauge that plays an alarm and (optionally) a lit up button when you're overspeeding, if anyone needs/wants it. The extra speed is not worth the chance of riding the barberpole too closely.
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Everyone is always asking which is the fastest aircraft to fly for the RTWR.

My standard answer is one which you can safely, always land in adverse conditions. Anything to avoid a crash penalty.

Here were the aircraft used in the 2007 race by team and the number of legs flown (leaving out required and jet legs). I suspect we allow owe Dave Copley some money.

FlightSim.com
P-38L – 22; P-38M – 8; WoP P-51H - 14; Piaggio Avanti – 2; Maule M7 260C – 1; P-47M - 1; Piper Cheyenne – 1

Avsim.com
WoP P-51H - 23; Piaggio Avanti - 7; AS dH Hornet - 5; P-38?? - 3; P-38L - 2; P-51D – 2

Sim-Outhouse.com
P-38 – 15; AS dH Hornet - 10; Do-335 - 2; P-47M - 2; WoP P-51H - 2; C-310 - 1; Howard 500 - 1; P-82B - 1; PBY - 1; Rufe – 1; RB-50 - 1; Seafury - 1; V-22 - 1
SOH P-38 breakdown: P-38F - 1; P-38J - 2; P-38L - 10; P-38?? - 2

Reggie Fields, KADS, Addison, TX, USA
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Which plane do you use to land in dark, unlit dirt fields at night?

Hi John,
I've practiced this many times and I suppose the most important criterion is the color of the resulting flames. If they're truly bright enough, then the ambulance can find you more quickly.

The concept is clear -- in spite of good planning by pilot and route planners, events can conspire against us. Trying to land in a race environment in the dark, at an airport with no lights, surrounded by dark, unknown terrain without preparation and help has a high risk-factor. (crashes cost penalty time). Practice it to see what it's like, then Avoid the situation if you can plan for it and ask for help if it's a necessity!

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This is a generic overview of RTW Flying. In may cases people will want more specific information about types and techniques which are better asked in the private Hideout Forum in case the question or reply involves a tactical 'secret'. However, general questions are fine in this thread as others may be wondering the same thing.

Rob

 

[fliger747]

Concorde: Gets up and goes! I made a very conservative decent, might have been able to knock off 5-10 min in full race mode. Don't forget to deselect reheat as you still get a lot of thrust and very high fuel consumption on descent and approach. Brakes are bad, will not stop plane without reverse! reverse very effective.

Dump all load and take full fuel.... gives more options.

T.

 

[fliger747]

Couple of other ones: Choppers; make sure the Duenna is OK right after tko, if ya lift straight up, before making fwd progress, it may flag red.

Autopilot: Might just happen that autopilots may be banned for planes that did not have them, note the autopilot check box on the Duenna.....

T.

 

[jkcook28]

Couple of other ones: Choppers; make sure the Duenna is OK right after tko, if ya lift straight up, before making fwd progress, it may flag red.

Autopilot: Might just happen that autopilots may be banned for planes that did not have them, note the autopilot check box on the Duenna.....

T.

Hmmm, one would think a big CH-53 would have an AP if any would. But don't really know.

And we know that's a can-o-worms that can be applied to many warbirds too if they so desire to open it!