Spookster67
Charter Member
I have the baton, LRCK to UKCC, Alpha DH Hornet, FSRealWX Pro.
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Please see the most recent updates in the "Where did the .com name go?" thread. Posts number 16 and 17.
RTWR Practice 2: The W->E Thread
- Thread starter PhantomTweak
- Start date
Spookster67
Charter Member
But, strangely enough, the direct way from Europe to South Korea IS North East!At least it wasn't a NE route
Here's where we've stopped so far, and where we're heading.
http://www.gcmap.com/mapui?P=egph-eddk-epwr-epkk-umgg-lrck-ukcc-rkss &MS=wls&DU=nm
A direction of roughly 60-70 degrees is good for now...
A great tool for route planning is "Destination Finder for FS9". It's a neat utility that will easily answer questions like "show me the airports that are between 400nm and 500nm from my start point, in a direction of between 40 and 80 degrees.
It's available here: https://library.avsim.net/search.php?CatID=root&SearchTerm=destination_finder_for_fs9_v1.1.zip&Sort=Size&ScanMode=1
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Spookster67
Charter Member
ETA 40 mins.
Spookster67
Charter Member
ETA 20 mins.
... and some possible route planning
http://www.gcmap.com/mapui?P=ukcc-u...zmmg-zbhh-zsjn-rkss ukcc-rkss &MS=wls&DU=nm
... and some possible route planning
http://www.gcmap.com/mapui?P=ukcc-u...zmmg-zbhh-zsjn-rkss ukcc-rkss &MS=wls&DU=nm
PhantomTweak
Members +
Ok, I see now. The Great Circle route is what's going to get us there fastest. I understand a bit better.
Now, my question would be, if I may ask, from UKCC there appear to me to be two choices along that general heading: One is about 296 mi, one is about 606 mi. Would it be a better choice to take the shorter stop, and hop from there to the next destination possible along this basic heading, or take the longer as a wild card type leg? Or even longer, on a airliner type leg?
In other words, stick to he general heading constraints, and plan stops using whatever means necessary, like longer wild card legs, relatively short hops, etc, as needed, or stick more to the distance restriction of 500 mi, and deviate from the heading, as I did unknowingly?
Like I said, I am really bad at route planning, and ANY advice or suggestions are always more than welcome. Or even a policy statement sort of thing I could follow, that the SOH Team tends to stick to. I am new to this team's means and methods. I am very sure that by now you all have a set of parameters that works best for you all, and I want to follow this policy.
Thanks very much for the help. I really do appreciate it.
Just so you know, I am very thick skinned. Statements like "No, you idiot, like THIS!" don't bother me in the least. I went through Marine Boot Camp. I've been yelled at by the best.
Have fun all!
Pat☺
Now, my question would be, if I may ask, from UKCC there appear to me to be two choices along that general heading: One is about 296 mi, one is about 606 mi. Would it be a better choice to take the shorter stop, and hop from there to the next destination possible along this basic heading, or take the longer as a wild card type leg? Or even longer, on a airliner type leg?
In other words, stick to he general heading constraints, and plan stops using whatever means necessary, like longer wild card legs, relatively short hops, etc, as needed, or stick more to the distance restriction of 500 mi, and deviate from the heading, as I did unknowingly?
Like I said, I am really bad at route planning, and ANY advice or suggestions are always more than welcome. Or even a policy statement sort of thing I could follow, that the SOH Team tends to stick to. I am new to this team's means and methods. I am very sure that by now you all have a set of parameters that works best for you all, and I want to follow this policy.
Thanks very much for the help. I really do appreciate it.
Just so you know, I am very thick skinned. Statements like "No, you idiot, like THIS!" don't bother me in the least. I went through Marine Boot Camp. I've been yelled at by the best.
Have fun all!
Pat☺
Spookster67
Charter Member
Tomorrow night I'll dust off my headset and remember how to log into Teamspeak. For tonight, I'll just have to let you know I'm arriving by forum posting...
... starting descent, there in 6 minutes.
Spookster67
Charter Member
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srgalahad
Charter Member 2022
Pat,
You'll get variations on this but there are a couple of things to consider. First, this is PRACTICE so things are pretty low-key and the general idea is to shake off rust, remember the basics and gradually polish the details. As such, there is very little fuss about route planning as long as we generally head toward the designated end and discuss ideas or concerns along the way. We all have different skills and not everyone is a strategic or tactical thinker.
Once we get into 'race mode' much of the planning comes down to 1) where in the world we are, 2) How much flexibility there is in the rules as far as route options, 3) personnel available. Last year's format pretty well tied us to a simple route but there were still decisions based on leg-length and types of aircraft to be used to best optimize race progress. If the routeing is more free then it's likely that there will be a couple of people come forward who have honed their skills by previously making errors to plan the strategic route and most of the details. Planning can be a lot of fun and rewarding, but ti isn't easy and takes time to learn the tricks.
Even with all the micro-planning that can be done , there is one basic thing to bear in mind: in the end, General Rule 10.C applies "The baton-carrier has the final say on any given flight – its route, aircraft, and all other aspects of the flight – are his/her responsibility."
You'll get variations on this but there are a couple of things to consider. First, this is PRACTICE so things are pretty low-key and the general idea is to shake off rust, remember the basics and gradually polish the details. As such, there is very little fuss about route planning as long as we generally head toward the designated end and discuss ideas or concerns along the way. We all have different skills and not everyone is a strategic or tactical thinker.
Once we get into 'race mode' much of the planning comes down to 1) where in the world we are, 2) How much flexibility there is in the rules as far as route options, 3) personnel available. Last year's format pretty well tied us to a simple route but there were still decisions based on leg-length and types of aircraft to be used to best optimize race progress. If the routeing is more free then it's likely that there will be a couple of people come forward who have honed their skills by previously making errors to plan the strategic route and most of the details. Planning can be a lot of fun and rewarding, but ti isn't easy and takes time to learn the tricks.
Even with all the micro-planning that can be done , there is one basic thing to bear in mind: in the end, General Rule 10.C applies "The baton-carrier has the final say on any given flight – its route, aircraft, and all other aspects of the flight – are his/her responsibility."
If anyone can take a better leg, direction and range, feel free to throw out this leg and use that. I am always happy to be educated in "How to".
Hi Pat, there are a number of us on the team who work together to decide on the route during the race and usually it's a case of establishing the basic course initially and then fine tuning it constantly as the race progresses. The shortest distance between any two points on the globe is a straight line and we try and stick to the straightest line we can given the locations of possible airports. Each of us have our own favourite tools when it comes to planning the route, some like to use FSNav or some other sim based navigation/mapping tool, Spookster likes to use the Great Circle Mapper (which is a great tool) while I like to use Google Earth with the FSX airports plug-in to give me a quick and dirty look at where we are going and then final checks for distances etc. are done in the sim's flight planner. I can quickly draw a line from point A to Point B and then see all the airports that are available along that line.
Let me give you an example for our current practice with a screenshot from GE.
The blue line represents the shortest possible route from the start to the finish.
The red line represents the legs flown so far.
The green line is the shortest straight line route to the finish from our current (at this time) location.
The purple circle has a radius of 500 Nm (the current max. leg length) and shows which airports are available for the next leg.
The small white icons with a red cross are every airport that is available in FSX and they can be turned on or off by country or continent or even just specific airports as required.
As you can see we are currently a long way from the ideal blue route but that route was not valid as the airports in northern Russia are few and far between. We had to come south but not quite as far south as we now find ourselves. There is a line of airports that will still take us to our destination along the green line (we will obviously have to zig and zag a bit) and we may have to accept less than ideal airports in terms of runway surface, nav aids and lighting in order to get there.
The SOH route planning team have been together for many years and and we find that our various planning systems work for us and we all over-see the route to check for errors/better routing/'gotchas' from the Race Committee (i.e. where they deliberately try to lead you into unforgiving territory.....lol) and anything else that might crop up like weather or the sudden need to put down in an unexpected place for some reason.
These practice sessions don't usually have a pre-set route like the race itself and each pilot picks up the baton and heads off in what we all hope is the best general direction to get us to the finish. Sometimes we go the pretty way (like now) rather than the direct route but the practice sessions are more about getting back to landing the aircraft safely with crashes turned on (some of us only fly like that for the race), getting back to using the Duenna (and remembering to start the darn thing eh Dave!) and generally just getting all the bugs and crashes out of our flying before race day.
Hope that helps you to see how we operate and the tools we use.
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PhantomTweak
Members +
Many thanks!That explains things perfectly. I see where I SHOULD have gone, and where I DID go. I messed up, I admit. I apologize to all for that. Having said that, I can see where I now need to route myself. I need to figure out at least one routeing tool, like the Great Circle one, which seems to have the functionality I need. I've been using SkyVector, and all I can do on that is guess as to length. I plug in airports until I get a leg that's about right, but I can see where that method isn't adequate. It led me far astray as far as direction goes. I will try a different tool or two, and see what I can do. Thanks again for clearing all this up for me.
Just to note: I'm glad there's a team in place for this already
In your own words, I am far more a tactical thinker than strategic. I will be unable to join the fun for the next 2 days, as doctor appointments prohibit my flying. Diabetic foot injuries doth sucketh...
I will be back and rarin' to go Thursday, though. Naturally, by than we'll be on another practice round, and I'll be lost all over again.
See y'all ASAP!
Pat☺
Just to note: I'm glad there's a team in place for this already
In your own words, I am far more a tactical thinker than strategic. I will be unable to join the fun for the next 2 days, as doctor appointments prohibit my flying. Diabetic foot injuries doth sucketh...
I will be back and rarin' to go Thursday, though. Naturally, by than we'll be on another practice round, and I'll be lost all over again.
See y'all ASAP!
Pat☺
I have the Baton URWW to UARR in the F7F Tigercat FS9 Default WX
85 nm out
12 minutes + approach time.
12 minutes + approach time.
