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Post by pterodactyl (George) on Aug 24, 2011 19:25:31 GMT -5
Hey Paul great picture and as far as I am concerned and probably alot of us here are concerned anything from that era is a goddess. Those things you are parked next to have no soul. The ol' tramp will fit in right next to the rest of us with our ol' tramps
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Post by allardjd on Aug 27, 2011 12:02:36 GMT -5
Newbie here, and first post.
I flew one leg in the Australian Rally (as part of the Mutley's Hangar team) and one leg as a MH team member and also a personal entry in the 4-leg Mutley's Easter Bunny rally. That's the sum of my experience with these things, but I do enjoy them.
After having created the airport diagrams for all the airports in this rally, I note that many have no MS fuel pump. I suppose getting fuel to those airports in the RW might be a matter of flying it in or packing it in on the backs of llamas.
Anyway, in the interest of realism I'm considering not adding fuel at these airports - only re-fueling where the airport has it in FS and attempting to load enough fuel to carry me through until the next airport with fuel. The challenging part is the first six legs, up to SKCL Cali (SKBO -> SKOC -> SKLA -> SK53 -> SKPI -> SKIP -> SKCL). That's 1,021 route miles to the first airport with fuel - more with approaches, etc. Not sure if the ol' Centurion will have legs that long or not. The high altitudes will help, but...
This will require logging the amount of fuel remaining at each destination and starting the next leg with that amount. If it proves infeasible, I can alway give up on that and add whatever is needed for the next leg when I come up short, but I'm going to give it a try anyway, just to see how it goes.
I'm wondering if anyone else does this kind of thing in the interest of reality and extra challenge?
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Post by ddavid on Aug 28, 2011 1:48:18 GMT -5
Hi John Firstly, Thanks for the plates at the Hangar - they're really useful. Mind you, you've got to see the terrain to understand Andrew's convoluted mentality (Hi Andy!)... As to your suggestion re fuel - well, the DC-3 spec says a range of approx 2000 nm with extra fuel, so I should be O.K. We'll see... Cheers - Dai.
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Post by Andrew Godden on Aug 28, 2011 5:11:36 GMT -5
Welcome to the Forum John.
The short answer is yes, some participants do go that bit further to make the event more realistic and challenging for themselves. Those with capacity in their aircraft will sometimes carry cargo for the local communities. In some cases, the larger entries will carry 44 gal drums of fuel and offload it as they go, either for their own use or for the event overall.
Whilst individual Flight Leg distances are not so much of a problem in this event, the "hot and high" conditions will prove interesting with aircraft loads, particularly if you are "ferrying" extra fuel.
Cheers Andrew
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Post by allardjd on Aug 28, 2011 9:35:34 GMT -5
Yes, carrying the extra weight will be an issue but those kinds of challenges are what makes it fun, I guess.
I looked at the range specs of the Centurion and I'll be nipping at the edges of the envelope to make the distance of the first six legs without refueling, even if I can manage the high altitude takeoffs and landings while carrying the extra gas. Some of the larger AC would be better able to handle it but those will present their own challenges on 39 foot wide runways. I reckon the crash time would count for PIREP purposes?
If fuel looks too tight at any point, I can abandon my self-imposed restriction and load what I need, but will give it a try to begin with.
John
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Post by pterodactyl (George) on Aug 28, 2011 21:33:07 GMT -5
So I'm not going to be her during the opening and decided to fly the first three legs to cover my time away. High altitude landing and takeoff is a lot different then our normal flying. I thought I was doing something wrong on the third leg because everything looked wierd. Not the leg info, it turned out my DUMB Microsoft Windows XP SP3 decided to crash my video program again. After landing I couldn't shut off FSX so restarted my computer. Now no Flight Sim period, no google earth (use it alot for work here), stuttering scroll function. Anyway, Andrew so far the rally has been great, while I'm gone I am letting our computer geeks try to fix this problem permenantly (6 times trying to recover is enough for me). If I can get it back before Leg 4 is needed I will be back in the thick of it. Good Luck to all the others flying.
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Post by oldpropfan on Aug 29, 2011 0:00:21 GMT -5
I normally fly the DC-4 with 4000 lbs cargo and 40% fuel in these events but I've tested the smaller fields with a 7500 lb load so I have room to ferry fuel if anybody needs me to drop some.
In fact, for a little extra fun I could ferry 5500 lbs of fuel to SK53, which is 1/2 way to Cali, and when I get there we could start a new thread where anybody who needs fuel takes some off the total and adds only that amount to their tanks. When the total is 0 the fuel is gone unless some of the other pilots bring in more. Just an idea for those that want to add a little extra immersion to the flights. IRL there's actually fuel at SKIP but only JP1.
If you get to some of the smaller fields and see big cracks in the pavement it's probably going to be from me. The AIP for Ocana lists the runway max at 41800 lbs, as it's the first stop I might be a few tons over that.
Al
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Post by Andrew Godden on Aug 29, 2011 3:16:51 GMT -5
Al,
Between 2 DC-4s, 2 DHC-4 'Caribous', and a swag of DC-3s, if we were to co-ordinate a fuel lift, we should have more than enough and then some to fire up the "barbie" at the end. This being Colombia, I'd be more concerned what some of the pilots might fill the empty cargo space with!!! ;D
Cheers Andrew
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Post by brett on Aug 29, 2011 12:13:34 GMT -5
Does a TuroCHARGED engine disqualify an aircraft from this event?
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Post by Allan_Lowson on Aug 29, 2011 14:18:39 GMT -5
As long as there are pistons bouncing about in the middle of the engine any form of charging is ok, the DC-3 would not make it past 10,000' without charging for starters!
The Tudor will be dropping off about 7 tons of fuel from the tanks over the first two legs alone. That will still leave it over 60,000lbs so I'll have to tiptoe in and out of that first field.
With Andrew now in charge of vice, I'll let him sort out the local transport contracts. Just knock three times and ask for Hernando, and watch out for Uncle Max.
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Post by paulvdberg on Aug 29, 2011 16:11:01 GMT -5
No extra fuel for me, I'm afraid. My C-46 'Cokemando' ...er.... 'Commando' is as heavy as she is. Will uplift her at each field to the minimum required. No payload either. (officially, that is... )
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Post by Andrew Godden on Aug 29, 2011 19:22:07 GMT -5
Does a TuroCHARGED engine disqualify an aircraft from this event? Brett, No. A turbocharged engine is permissible under the rules, as it is still a reciprocating piston engine. As opposed to natural aspiration, the turbocharger just provides forced induction which, in aircraft engines, negates some of the power loss that occurs as the aircraft climbs to higher altitudes. Unlike turboprops which are a gas turbine where the output is used to drive the propeller through a reduction gear. Cheers Andrew
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Post by johnl on Aug 30, 2011 6:24:39 GMT -5
With a range of only 400nm, I'll be grateful for the odd fuel cache, as installing nav radios and oxygen hasn't left much room in the the Auster.
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Post by allardjd on Aug 31, 2011 9:38:32 GMT -5
I burned about 22 of 88 gallons on the first leg. Even though that is one of the longer legs I don't think the remaining fuel is going to stretch through the next five legs, so will most likely be taking advantage of a fuel cache at one of the intermediate fields.
It seems there are plenty of other things to keep one busy in this terrain without worrying about fuel economy. On the good news side, the 210 had no problems getting out of Bogota with full tanks, thanks to that nice long runway. The turbocharged version would be a nice addition.
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Post by Brett on Aug 31, 2011 12:32:26 GMT -5
Does a TuroCHARGED engine disqualify an aircraft from this event? Brett, No. A turbocharged engine is permissible under the rules, as it is still a reciprocating piston engine. As opposed to natural aspiration, the turbocharger just provides forced induction which, in aircraft engines, negates some of the power loss that occurs as the aircraft climbs to higher altitudes. Unlike turboprops which are a gas turbine where the output is used to drive the propeller through a reduction gear. Cheers Andrew Ok great, thanks for the reply. I will be flying a Beagle Basset CC.1 that's been in my hanger for awhile with no flight time. Has some bugs in it but should work fine. Hurricane Irene has played havoc with me getting in my reg before deadline but hopefully I will get to be included in the rally. Thanks, Brett
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