Classic British Flight Sim

I'm looking at the route too, using Little Navmap, with a view to flying it in the JF Arrow III. I think 683nm might be pushing it, so I'd have to drop in somewhere for a top up.

With MSFS you could treat yourself to virtual ferry tanks. You can top up in flight if you need.

Brian

Paul K wrote: ↑

21 Feb 2022, 23:00

I'm looking at the route too, using Little Navmap, with a view to flying it in the JF Arrow III. I think 683nm might be pushing it, so I'd have to drop in somewhere for a top up.

For some reason my brain jumped to the Avro Arrow when I read that and I thought d@mn he'd be there in about 12 hours in that!

spot wrote: ↑

22 Feb 2022, 07:46

With MSFS you could treat yourself to virtual ferry tanks. You can top up in flight if you need.

You mean...cheat ?? That's you black-balled out of the Aero Club matey!

The JF Arrow manual says the range is 697 nm with maximum payload, but there'll only be me and the simulated weight of a suitcase or rucksack. There's also a very comprehensive operating data manual, with a number of economy cruise settings which might help stretch things out.

I'll do the first leg from Mildenhall to Marseilles, which is about 570 miles VOR to VOR, and see what's left in the tank at the end. I love MSFS!

Tako_Kichi wrote: ↑

22 Feb 2022, 14:11

Paul K wrote: ↑

21 Feb 2022, 23:00

I'm looking at the route too, using Little Navmap, with a view to flying it in the JF Arrow III. I think 683nm might be pushing it, so I'd have to drop in somewhere for a top up.

For some reason my brain jumped to the Avro Arrow when I read that and I thought d@mn he'd be there in about 12 hours in that!

Now there's an add-on I'd like.

spot wrote: ↑

22 Feb 2022, 07:46

With MSFS you could treat yourself to virtual ferry tanks. You can top up in flight if you need.

Brian

You can do the same in FSX or P3D which is why when SOH hosted the online races we insisted that competitors used the 'Duenna' software to monitor each flight.

The software was developed for the Round the World Race and the name 'Duenna' means something like 'chaperone' in Spanish (basically an old aunt or grandma who would sit with a courting couple to make sure that no hanky-panky went on). It automatically monitored the entire flight from the time the aircraft passed a certain speed on the take off run (about 25 knots IIRC) until it came to a complete stop at the end of the leg. The Duenna could be customized by the race organizers to tweak it for each race and it could monitor speed on route, fuel state and re-fuels, max. altitude attained, max. speed attained and several other parameters. This kept the competitors 'honest' for the most part as they knew they were being monitored for the entire leg. After each leg the racer would have to post the fact that they had finished on the forum so that the times could be noted by the race committee and they also had to upload a report log generated by the Duenna so that it could be verified in case of dispute.

Paul K wrote: ↑

22 Feb 2022, 14:24

The JF Arrow manual says the range is 697 nm with maximum payload, but there'll only be me and the simulated weight of a suitcase or rucksack. There's also a very comprehensive operating data manual, with a number of economy cruise settings which might help stretch things out.

I'll do the first leg from Mildenhall to Marseilles, which is about 570 miles VOR to VOR, and see what's left in the tank at the end. I love MSFS!

The trick is preparation and testing. It really helps to not guess about fuel consumption but to do a few test flights to get accurate numbers. Remember that the owners' manual likely includes a 30/45 minute reserve in their range values, but trust not the gauges or the manual. Also test at various altitudes to determine best speed vs best consumption and if you need to stretch the range, slow down. 10-15Kts slower might be the difference of getting you to land.
Oh, and manual leaning does wonders!
Too bad Herve Sors' AFSD doesn't work with MSFS. It gives you all the real-time data you need and is what I use in FSX if I need precision.

I also don't know what winds-aloft data is available in MSFS but obviously that can make a significant difference to range capability.

Thanks to Larry and Keith for dredging up the ancient (well, 8 years) past. Those 10-hour legs in the Miles were a challenge

SrGalahad wrote: ↑

19 Mar 2022, 21:45

The trick is preparation and testing. It really helps to not guess about fuel consumption but to do a few test flights to get accurate numbers. Remember that the owners' manual likely includes a 30/45 minute reserve in their range values, but trust not the gauges or the manual. Also test at various altitudes to determine the best speed vs best consumption and if you need to stretch the range, slow down. 10-15Kts slower might be the difference of getting you to land. Oh, and manual leaning does wonders!

I've started flying the MacRobertson route (viewtopic.php?t=33342) with the first leg also serving to give me an idea of fuel consumption, as intended. Manual leaning running at peak, as per the Lycoming manual, got me to Marseilles with about 40% fuel left. In the thread comments, Adrian ( Adysmith) advises running lean of peak, and that's certainly what I'll need to do for the Athens - Aleppo leg. From the operating data, 6000ft and 2200 rpm seems to be a sweet spot for this non-turbo Arrow, while still low enough to appreciate the scenery. I'm happy that all the other legs are now do-able, but that one to Aleppo will be tight. I'm also going to be using real world weather from now on, so the winds will be a very important consideration.

Never mind the Blah Blah Blah Paul, lets see a bit of action screenshots!!

Regards
Nigel.

Nigel H-J wrote: ↑

20 Mar 2022, 16:46

Never mind the Blah Blah Blah Paul, lets see a bit of action screenshots!!

Regards
Nigel.

Second leg ( Marseilles to Rome ) posted.