Official GAAR 2013 Forum

[davidrevans]

What you have to do simon is fly aircraft of lower preformance , Spitfires and Mustangs are a handfull. Me I chose slower ,tried a P-38 ,and a Tiger Cat, once and found out I did not have time to drink my thermos of coffie with a liitle touch of stimulants, to fight off the cold you know..

[Allen Peterson]

Well, the AC 560A is more my speed!
I just finished my flight fron Coeur d'Alene (KCOE) via Adak, Kamchatskiy, Komatsu, Okinawa, Iwo Jima, Siapan, Guam, Truk, Rabaul, Henderson Field to Bankstown. Whew, what a flight, almost 60 hours flying time over ~25 days. Visited a lot of places I've only read about.
I had an interesting experience on the last leg to YSBK.
I was flying in Rx, on GPS at 7500' and had a good tail wind pushing me along at ~190 kts.
The weather was cloudy, nothing to see but solid gray. According to the GPS map I made landfall at Coolangatta, still nothing to see. I checked the panel, everything looked OK and I knew where I was. I then got busy looking for VORs or NDBs to track.
When I looked out the windscreen again I saw moutainous islands in a sea of gray. Holy Moley, where am I? The GPS map showed me over land, maybe the GPS had gone south. I checked the FS map and it showed me over land. But why am I seeing islands in a sea of gray??? I checked the instruments and all was OK. I checked the latitude and longitude, all OK. Maybe FS was screwy. Should I save the flight and restart? But why save a faulty flight. What to do. If I'm not where I should be how can I find YSBK?
I calmed down a bit and looked out the windscreen again. Now I saw mountains and, faintly, land through the haze. Slowly it dawned on me that while I was busy with the VOR/NDB searches I had flown over the foothills south of Coolangatta and what I saw was just the mountain tops poking up through the haze, looking like islands. My eyes and brain had deceived me. Anyway, I found YSBK and landed OK.
The next time I read about a crash I'll have a better understanding of phrase "the pilot became disoriented".
Allen

[pterodactyl (George)]

Talking about broken airplanes. I am currently stuck in Russia waiting for a new yoke coming in from Canada Post so I can continue my trip to OZ. Probably should have relied on a dog sled or one of our fellow travellers to have the parts. Hopefully back int the air this weekend. Bot word it has been delivered to the local flight ops and waiting for it now to be trucked to the remote field where I am stranded. The P38J is coming down in original colors this year as well cause I ran out of painting time to give her a proper GAAR Livery. Perhaps next year.

[davidrevans]

while your in Russia ,see if you can find the location of Capt.Zlogg and his bootleggers...my supply of his special fuel additive, bug cleaner, body warmer , and medical elixer is running out.. Just enough to make it untill the start of the GAAR..

[katiepipkin]

It's not a proper GAAR without Captain Zlogg and his kettle.

[Andrew Godden]

Haven't heard from CAPT Zlogg yet. Last year he started but was a DNF after about three flight legs. Hopefully he will join us and regale us with more great stories of Motherland ingenuity.

[Capt Zlogg]

Hello from ze Great Mozzerland,

You silly clots over there, greetings from ze workers paradise.
We did not forget you! We shall be present this year - last year we were urgently needed for another very important project decreed by the Kommintern - we are NOT sorry for that since our workers expect us to be at the ready at once.

You will be delighted to learn we shall market our innovative products again this year. Cousin Viktor has brought up some wonderful ideas which we put into production.

As to the aircraft we shall use we have numerous offerings - we just wait for the highest bid from the kapitalistny manufacturers with the most attractive package.

Proppy is currently undergoing an upgrade in Holiday Resort number 57 near Magadan. He had some kapitalistny distortions from a recent trip to the lair of the Dark Forces. You will be pleased to know he further refined the kettle in close cooperation with Babushka.

greetings

Capt. Zlogg
vp. KGB Air Droppers
Director Swiss Cheese hole designers & drillers

[pterodactyl (George)]

Capt Zlogg:
Good to hear from you again my friend. We have flown so amny GAAR's together it is just not the same without you. I extend my thanks to all your countrymen helping me get down to OZ and putting up with this out of the way Canadian waitng for parts to repair his steed for the upcoming rally. I look forward to putting in respectable times this year and maybe even coming close to your excellent times. Perhaps even coming closer in one or two me thinks.

[Ed Burke]

Welcome back Captain. I hope you have an enjoyable stay in our dusty patch. The kettle contents will need a little cooling.

Ed

[Andrew Godden]

And just when we were concerned we weren't going to hear from you CAPT Zlogg. Good to have you along again for yet another year of the GAAR.

Cheers
Andrew

[uhug]

Welcome back Capt. Zlogg! I admire your work as COO (Swiss Cheese hole designers & drillers) - ßkoro uwidimsja
Cheers from Switzerland, Urs

[pterodactyl (George)]

Back in the air thanks to the quick delivery of my parts, and the quick calibration of the flight controls by the Captain's fine countrymen. Left the hospitality of UHPP four hours ago for the continued flight south. Now it's get out of the snow and into the sun.

[Allen Peterson]

Wow, it's great to see Capt. Zlogg and the guys signing in.
And thanks to Andrew for doing it once again.
Before the last 2 GAARs I went to the book store looking for a decent map of Australia. The map display was a 2 sided affair, with the US state maps on one side and other countries on the other side. Maps were arranged alphabetically top to bottom, left to right. Looking at the top row, upper left I saw all of the 'A' countries - except Australia. Bummer.
Last week I was in the store again and still no Australia. Disapointed once again my gaze dropped down to the bottom row as I was leaving. And there it was, bottom row second from the right. (Sigh) I should have known, "The land down under...".
A great 1:3,500,000 map of Australia with a head shot of a happy ostrich smiling at me.

[Capt Zlogg]

Dear Enemies of the Workers Paradise,

there seems to be an unhealthy jealousy about our status and whereabouts. Let us be clear that we are no bootleggers or other typical kapitalistny illegal organization but officially appointed by the Kommintern and czar Peter himself.

Your envy of our society and technical achievements is only too obvious and only through recommendation by a high placed official and/or some bribing of well known public figures you can obtain citizensship (including free passes for our much sought after holiday camps).

Meantime you will be pleasantly surprised to learn about the further refinements of the kettle and its products. Onkel Theo had a magnificent brainwave after a wonderfull 33 hour vodka brag in the Kremlin with some party luminaries. After initial test we are now able to serve cooling fluid at minus 137 degr. C, even at ambient temperatures of 55 degr C plus.

131,834 kettles situated around Ayers rock will have considerable influence (temp drops of 40 degr C realistic) on the present temperatures reigning in down under OZ.

To fight the current forrest fires we have a division of fire fighting aeroplanes (AN-2 Anushka spezial) under the command of Tereza Sprinklerova on offer. Details can be obtained from Proppy 30 minutes after landing.

Fresh supplies of kettle products will be available at the starting point of the GAAR 2013.


vitame vas
Capt Zlogg
vp KGB Air Droppers (C,E & O)
exclusive lover of Anna Karenina

[Simon]

I know in the past the GAAR has been advertised in the news feed at Flightsim.com. Has this happened this year, as I don't recall seeing it come up there. Might be a good way to boost the number of pilots.