'Enery tha Eighth

[Captain Geoff]

Yes, the VIII is up and I just flew - er - tried it.
Comments:

I *think* you have to visit the BOTA signs - The first try I didn't and I sat on the runway waiting forwever. You'll see them.

Don't think you need to get gas - I did & probably could have made it without it.

Pretty straight forward from that point - I missed the penguin drop... I thought we could get low - well maybe you can, but I paniced and climbed when I should have stayed low. So where the drop landed, I dunno.

The ending? Can you say Parachute? No, that's Pair-a-chute.

This is how I landed:

:anvil:

[Darby]

I had my shake down flight just now..totally botched it. 10 mins penalty for not taxiing correctly...there are 6 taxi points...there a a few ways out of the hangar enclosure, I turned around and went out the back of the hangar then turned left as there is a taxi marker there although it did not ping for me.......there is a big group of them in a cluster blocking the taxiway so I went around them and cut across the grass to R5.

I used AP and NAV which seems to be the correct way to go but something is wrong here as at FIX 1 I did not get clearance to FIX 2 and again at FIX 2 nothing. Pushing 7 told me to go to Zimisishihahazulu something or other (fix1) so obviously I missed it completely. Decided to get to Goundam anyway and did get to check out the penguin drop along the way. Theres a yellow marker right in the middle of the runway at the drop, I beleive that is the target. I am not positively sure but I think BOTA ATC will not clear you for the drop. You have to get down, drop and then back up to 2000 before penalties apply for altitude discretion. This may be only because I missed FIX 1 but also I read something in the Africa Times about this.

Anyway I get to go shopping now :-( so will try again later.

PS The nav direction pointer although lined up for the fixes 1 & 2 does not point in the direction of the flightplan. Is this a fault with me or does everyone have the same??????????????????

[Captain Geoff]

The GPS flight plan is definetly off for fix one - stay ON the path or slightly right. I tried cutting the corner to the left and had to turn around and go back. ATC does tell you to continue on to fix #2.

You have a four minute window to drop below 1600 feet to make the penguin drop.

[Captain Geoff]

Second try - no crash - but got stuck irretrievably at Goundam.

I dropped the Penguins at 72 kts & 941 feet - no bonus for either. (75 feet agl?)
I actually landed/bounced and right after the drop I applied throttle.

Ok, so I'm thinking maybe one has to land? Distance from the drop point was not measured so I'm thinking T&G at the end of the runway & drop when you slow to 45? Maybe stop, drop, turn around & take off? I wonder if the spot is crashable. Would be like RRR to make them non-crashable. So the third alternative would be land, stop, drop, takeoff.

[Captain Geoff]

Ok, this time I went slower & lower 878ft & 64 kts at the Penguin drop. I'm thinking LAND and stop.

when you get in your aircraft - check your six. You'll see what I mean. :whoa:

Been practicing parachuting some more. Tough thing to get down - it flies like a poorly made glider. :cry:

[Darby]

I made my second flight. Just had enough time to check out some things and got as far as the penguin drop. Still missing taxi points 3 4 5 & 6 but got the flight plan worked out ok this time. At the penguin drop I went at 867, 78knots. I did'nt get any bonus for that so for my next try I will land and stop at the spot. I'll soon see if that object in the middle of the runway is crashable. If so there is probably enough time to go round it and take off again on the same heading. Have yet to see the second aircraft and I take it Geoff that we have to bail out over the final destination?

Perhaps I should lose a couple of kilos before then.

[Cherry Pneumatic]

If you're needing to drop some pounds, then you shouldn't have had those last two beers, Darb.

[Darby]

Your not kidding! You should have heard the splat when I hit the ground with the parachute. There's got to be a better way!!

I completed the flight although no code after crashing the parachute. I did however discover...you can land and go straight thru the target on the runway near the penguins. My problem was I did not press ctrl f4 so turned around and taxiied back, stopped right on the target and made the drop, then powered up and took off. Even while on the ground, as soon as I passed into the target I was given clearance to Goundam airport. My log said I was going the wrong way when pressed ctrl f4 so no points for the drop. Next time I will take my time to land and make sure I stop and make the drop facing runway heading '5'

I have yet to work out the 6 taxi points at departure. I am guessing those green lights in the taxi way tell a story. Also when you leave Goundam in the PBY and get up to altitude, do press 'B' for correct altimeter alteration. I copped a hefty 12 mins penalty before I woke up to the problem. Anyway I acheived a lot tonight and now know the sequence of events. Just have to straighten up and fly right.

Lets see how I go tomorrow.

[Captain Geoff]

Hey Darb-

When you get to the blocked section of runway - go to the right - not left (where the green lights are). Parallel the runway until you get to the end of the concrete apron, then make a 45 deg left turn and rejoin the runway - before the first curve. Don't turn too soon as there is an invisible wall behind the runway barricades.

That's were the two missing dingers are - as you make the first turn.

Thanks for the info on the Penguin drop - I'm going to start my run in a few minutes and I'll give it a try.

Remember to take a practice flight or two with the 'chute. Fly it like you would a dead engine plane... keep it at about 55 kts. You have spoilers to drop faster - though they don't do much for me... and you also have two notches of flaps. Deploy the flaps just before touchdown. The 'chute stops real quick - but you must land very gently.

I've been practicing doing this: you are placed at about 4100 feet. I head straight for the bulls eye - going 55 knots or so until I reach 3000 feet, turn 180 back to the bulls eye - and hopefully land. I'm not sure which is the best approach for the landing as I haven't practiced with the bota software running... first I just want to land near the marker. I want to find out if you get a code for being close or if you HAVE to land on the bullseye.

[Captain Geoff]

Ok, well that was fun.
I landed and stopped dead into the center object and dropped. 10 minute speed bonus. 0 altitude. Maybe there is no altitude bonus?

I had a much better parachute control this time. I went past the marker and turned 180 around at 3500 feet. Excellent line up time. Thought I had a perfect landing - but crashed... maybe I should have pulled up more - that .5 cockpit zoom is deceivng... next time I'm going with 1.0.

Apparently NO ONE has gotten a BOTA code yet - there is some wailing & gnashing of teeth because some have landed on the bullseye with no code/end of BOTA.

Do you think we are supposed to land on one of the rotating sign/buildings?

Hardly seems likely that the ending would be this ignominous. I'm gonna stir the port a bit over there....

[Darby]

I got all six taxi points. At the penguin drop I left my descent too late and actually bounced over the thing at 879 feet. Got 0 bonus for that but a 530 sec bonus for speed which was 6.96. I am guessing that any altitude above ground level but below something else will produce the altitude bonus. (maybe exactly thru those yellow dots above the marker).

I also landed left of the runway at Goundam..10 mins penalty there...grrrr... and my para drop was going well untill I got near the ground and added the flaps. seemed to stall it and I went nose down and splat.

I used the stomach in throat technique. Hit the spoilers to get down quickly while still close to the bullseye. Then tried to turn and glide back. Turning the thing is not so easy it seems to overreact. Will definitely need the practice on this one.


For my next try I intend to land at the penguin drop but aim for touchdown right at the marker as slow as I can and see what happens. One thing, if you dont get right over that marker I found you dont get clearance for Goundam.

See what tomorrow brings.

PS: What is it about this 'watch your six' business. Is it referring for the hole in the fence behind the twotter hangar, the palm tree for sale by RRR or the fact that you are going to get a missile right where it hurts and theres nothing you can do about it??????

[Darby]

After a quick peruse of the Bota forum and learning from Geoffs experience I detect that this stage is not ending well for those landing on or near the target/bullseye. Kern Pegg has posted 'Just get to the point, all is not what it seems grin grin grin'.......Hardly helpful but then this is BOTA.

I took it upon myself to go to Timbuktoo/Tombuctou via FS9 with bota scenery, my quest being to check out alternative landing sites/winners circle. According to the flightplan... meeting point is " Right on target" in the winners circle by the fireworks.

This does point to the big fuel tank to the right as you fly in (just before the missile hit) but then again I could be getting far too serious.

I just had time for a quick look so far but I did learn that those big fuel (?) tank structures with all the ads around them, in particular the one nearest the fireworks are suspect. The walls are indeed crashable but the roof is not. I was wondering if inside revealed another 'target'. I never quite found out as it takes a helicopter to negotiate such a quest and my skills here are limited. However I did manage to fire up the FS9 default Robinson and crash into the outside of the big tank but also was able to descend through the roof and get inside the thing only to crash into the inner wall...several times.

This could be a totally insignificant theory and theres not much time left in which to get a racecode but I intend to suss out the end stage if I can and then hopefully get 2 more attempts in before the deadline.

Will report back.

[Darby]

Found it!!

The 'real' target for landing is inside the big tank to the north of the assumed bullseye target. It is not crashable and once inside you will see it goes much further down (underground) to a target and below that a series of big spikes with blood on the ends (the point).

Well at least I now know what I'm aiming for....but...this..... BLOODY PARACHUTE!!!!!.....is not helping!!!

[Rick]

Thanks, Darby! I've tried twice and can't get quite enough distance out of this contraption...

[Rick]

Progress!! Dunno if I can post here, as the thread doesn't seem to be locked anymore?...gonna send off some emails to y'all if that's alright. Let me know about the forum posting, would you?

[Rick]

Read your post over at BOTA, Cap'n Geoff. Well spoken, sir...:applaud:

[Darby]

Yes, that was well put Geoff.

Good grief! Bota forum was a real wakey wakey this morning. I can understand the freelancers being furious. I know I felt quite dissapointed when we learned 'others' were taking all our hard earned tips from our own website and we had to lock it.

I can however see a lot of good coming from all this. It will more than likely promote a lot of communication and goodwill among the VA's in next years race. I predict that following a lot of input from the participating sim pilots, BORG will assemble a more fun and flying challenge with less frustration. Also the race will turn into an international annual VA convention because of the pre race planning and communication between the competitve airlines. Could be good opportunities for all the VA's.

But for now it remains to finish stage 8.

Is this forum not locked?? It dosen't really matter now. I think almost everyone has worked out the landing for this stage. I have just downloaded patch 8c and with the extension to the stage finish I just might get a code. Haven't been able to get within cooee of the target so far. I actually stalled my parachute. How bad is that!

:cry:

[Captain Geoff]

Yeah, it's really too late to worry about a locked forum.

Oh, I can land on the target allright. I must've tried 50 times today. Can't seem to get the FPM down though enough to not crash. I sure can't figure out the trick to landing this thing on the real target safely. Well, I guess it's called practice, practice, practice. If I don't get a technique down tonight, I'm going for the 10 minute penalty tomorrow. To heck with it. A real parachute is nothing like this one. Parachutes don't stall (unless you flip them so the trapped air exists). :sigh:

[Captain Geoff]

Well, I've now had upwards of four hours total practice on the parachute - and I've gotten to the real landing spot safely exactly once.

Tomorrow, I fly the final mission, and turn in my final score. If I make it - great, if not, well this ain't easy.

Which means that I can get back in my Hawker and start heading for home.. Yippee!

I see RRR is still giving me three hours for stage 6 - despite I had a 1:26:25 with an altitude of 2226. I just emailed him - not sure if he updated stage six or not. We'll see.

Wow! I must say I'm impressed with my stage 7 score - best I've ever done. Of course once you figured out the stage - the flight was easy/boring.

Oh well, I've got some real work to do before I sleep... so g'night everyone... Until tomorrow.

[Darby]

OOps...a really nice run marred by a crash just near the target. Gee I was dropping nicely at 11k and just as I applied some flap to slow right down the thing tipped forward out of control and rubbed my face in the dirt. I only have a couple more arrows left then this fight is over for me. Heres hoping for a better finish tomorrow.

[Darby]

AAAAAAAAAAAARRRRRRGGGGGGGHHHHHHH!!!!!!!!

A CODE, A CODE, I GOT A CODE!!!!!

:crazy:

But I also got my legs crushed. Anyway I have submitted my code..not a brilliant one and a ten minute penalty for getting injured kinda negates the 10 minute bonus I painstakingly got at the penguin drop.

My race time of 1.09.48 is all negative. Wonder if that has been fixed up yet?

I limp away smiling all the same.

[Captain Geoff]

Darby - submit your log to RRR in an email. He's still manually fixing the times. I sent a code yesterday - dumb me forgot about how to get the full bonus, so guess I'll have another go to get the full bonus... I got 6:10 bonus & was slowing to stop - I was at about 20 knots. I also made a dumb error and ended up doing a 360 while taxiing.... so the two probably cost me 5 minutes which is too much to let slide.

So I'm gonna fly once more this morning before the deadline & then it's over.

RRR says my flight time for stage six *is* corrct in the database - he just hasn't uploaded the data to the site.

Once more into the breech!

[Captain Geoff]

IT'S ALL OVER!

Final racecode sent - should be 1:10: something- 38?

Yeah, well, Darby, I crashed too. It was not worth the risk of my best/final time to try and safely land. There must have been some secret to the parachute. I managed well over one hundred attempt (in practice) and only made it once. Split second timing, I guess.

Geeze - now I gotta go and get a new headset - mine broke in the middle of BOTA & I've been using stereo headphones ever since. They're not as comfortable - and no microphone - so it's off to Radio Shack I go....

IT'S OVER!!! Yippee!!!! Celebrate... Celebrate

And now back to my regularly (un)scheduled life!

:partytime:

[Rick]

I'm tired of Africa...can we go home now?... :bolt:

[Darby]

Yes I'm all set for a pre sunrise departure. Plan A is to fly to Dakar on the coast then island hop out to Flores. From there a looong hop to somewhere in Canada I think (optional long range tanks are installed) and then cross country to San Jose.

A quick trip to Lake Berryessa (the shack needs a good dust and clean) and restock and then its back to Seattle.

I emailed my race code to RRR yesterday. Poor guy must be working his butt off to get the final placings up. Well I guess our ultra secret room equipped with its cone of silence has served its purpose. I'll be heading back to sit around the coffee pot....for a cuppa tea.

Thanks all for the tips, advice and encouragement. In the end I can say the race was fun despite the problems along the way. The Boss's 'big discovery' of the hole in the fence was truly novel and deserves a trophy. The politics that developed among the participants were were most certainly interesting even entertaining, some of it unbeleivable. :whoa: We'll see what develops next time.

[Captain Geoff]

I'm going the other way - via Egypt, Turkey, Iraq, India, and the Philippines - at least - that's the plan.

Gonna be a long line taking off - Too bad for all those heavy iron guys, eh?

Lake Baryessa... mmmmm sounds perrrrrfectly wonderful. Yeah, good place to have a party.

[Rick]

Lakeside it is, then? I believe I'll hitch a ride with Darby, if it's alright; the wet bar is stocked in that Dash 8, sir?... :beerchug:

[Darby]

You betcha the bar is stocked and the pre takeoff, pre cruise level, pre lunch and dinner, pre descent, pre landing and post landing martini's are garanteed DRY

I'm about to delete BOTA. how can I get my original splash screen back. I know its in FS9 UIRES, where do I move it to. Anyone know?

[Rick]

Deleted it myself some 15 minutes after I got my code for stage 8. I think you need to keep the splash in Uires, just make sure it's named (renamed) dlgsplash?...