MSFS Cannonball Run Challenge (KJFK to KLAX in a GA plane for charity) [Prize from Microsoft]

will there be any rules about flying actual traffic patterns when landing? or should we just try and land at the highest speed possible without doing any sort of standard pattern?

I thought about that, but I don’t see any way to enforce everyone to fly proper circuits and obey all the appropriate air regulations, so I suppose the free-for-all do whatever you want approach would work best. I’m open to suggestions on this if the community has any ideas, though.

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Aw it’s on the 26th? I’m probably going to be traveling for Christmas so I’ll be away from my PC :frowning:

Sorry about that. No matter what date we choose, there will always be some people who want to participate but can’t do it on that particular day. My rationale for picking December 26 is that it’s a Saturday and many people will be off work the following week, leaving plenty of time to recover from the lost sleep from this event.

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This is awesome

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Sounds fun. This will come down to choosing the right altitude and stretching your fuel stops. Oh, and running the engine a heck of a lot leaner than you would ever think of doing in real life. As for the route, the bummer is most likely having a headwind the whole way.

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Great event, thanks for supporting Shinij’s non-profit! Will see what we can do to help!

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Wellll, the real cannonball runs dont take the road rules that seriously either. So i guess its in the spirit of the challenge :slight_smile:

And this looks very fun! Will participate if nothing important comes up! :smiley:

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Cool idea, I like it! I don’t know if i will have time for the event in late December but i will try to participate in it. Still, there is more than a month to start so i will probably forget about it :smiley: Is there a possibility to ping/dm few days before the event starts?

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Is there a possibility to ping/dm few days before the event starts?

I don’t have them ready yet, but I’m going to create a sign-up form and a new Discord channel for everyone who wants to participate in this event.

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might i recommend that this freeware be used?
the downtown los angels pack on flightsim . to? (i cant post links)

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I see no reason to restrict third-party scenery addons. Participants should feel free to use any mods they like as long as they don’t change the flying time competition vs. someone playing without mods (e.g. a freeware or payware aircraft addon).

i have a few add-ons that slightly changes flight dynamics for a few planes to supposedly make them fly more realistically. i might need to remove those prior to the event

i have a few add-ons that slightly changes flight dynamics for a few planes to supposedly make them fly more realistically. i might need to remove those prior to the event

Yes, please do. We want to ensure everyone is on an even playing field, so I’d like to restrict all pilots to the default planes only with no mods that change the stock flight dynamics.

Love this. Will likely participate.

How will the refueling rules be monitored? Must we stop at a fuel box, or can we refuel anywhere on a field?

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We can track everyone’s fuel state using simair.io to confirm that nobody illicitly added more fuel while mid-air. I don’t know if it’s possible to monitor if someone actually taxied to the fuel box after landing to refuel, but in the spirit of fair competition, let’s all just make an agreement to play honestly. This event is for fun and to help raise money for Shinji Maeda’s round-the-world flight; there’s no need to cheat.

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Gotcha, but there’s going to be try-hards (like myself) who want to win this without cheating. This makes the refuel the most important aspect of the race. Big difference if we have to plan for airports we know MSFS enabled the fuel boxes vs having to call the fuel truck, vs stopping on a taxiway and pulling up the fuel menu.

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A good point, and I’m not sure of a fair way to enforce this. What if we had a rule where we allowed coming to a full stop on the runway and refueling by simply clicking the MSFS fuel menu, but you have to stay on the ground for exactly 10 minutes before taking off again? Does that seem fair? This would also encourage people to stay healthy by getting up, stretching, using the bathroom, etc. on every fuel stop since it’s always a fixed duration 10 minute pitstop anyway.

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Sounds fair to me. Or at least 10 minutes from an initial stop to beginning a takeoff roll, to allow for people to use different runways for TO/LDG

EDIT:

ADDITIONALLY, enforce that all takeoffs and landings must be on a runway. No landing/taking off on a taxiway or a field somewhere

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so you cant “land” (or have an emergency landing) into a field for refuel. i like it

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Brainstorming this a bit further, what if we did allow emergency landings but at a greater time penalty? That way somebody’s run isn’t completely ruined if they have to make a forced approach for whatever reason. Maybe something like this:

  1. Standard landing on a runway = mandatory 10 minute pitstop before next takeoff
  2. Emergency landing on a highway/field/etc. = mandatory 30 minute pitstop before next takeoff

So you’ll still want to plan your flight for proper landings at actual airports, but if something unfortunate happens, you can still continue your run but with a penalty of 3x the standard refuel duration. Sound good?

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