Yes. No flying into/over clouds or storms. VFR only for the entire flight. If you have to divert to avoid bad weather or descend to stay under the cloud ceiling, that’s part of the challenge.
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I see what your doing here. You want to only allow the very experienced pilots finish this trip in one piece. 
Not necessarily. Flying VFR is typically for less experienced pilots.
Also, this challenge isn’t meant to be easy. If everyone could simply fly the great circle route from JFK to LAX on an IFR flight plan without having to consider weather conditions and skillfully diverting around storms, we would see barely any variation in completion times.
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I agree , who flies light aircraft using ILS anyway !
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How are we going to ensure everyone has live weather…and that they know the trick to ensure it’s working every time, without fail?
I don’t know if there’s any way we can validate that other than trusting all participants to abide by the honour system and not be a filthy cheater.
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Indeed. In an attempt to limit the clear skies 5kts/225 thing happening to people…put it about that if you load in with ‘clear skies’ as the weather preset all the time and then load live weather in game from the top menu…it always seems to work. Always.
And, gotta say mate, I’m not convinced.
If you’re insistent then fine, I’ll taxi from LAX to the Portofino Inn after I land cos this the Cannonball Run and I’m ■■■■ well going to Redondo Beach. 
I love your spirit, but i think your trust in humanity is slightly too big here 
Edit: And as mentioned, weather often fails in the sim
2 questions that haven’t been directly answered yet:
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Is enabling the AI control legal?
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Are aircraft failures required to be on?
Auto Pilot is allowed, as for the aircraft failures I believe the screenshot settings appears to be legit.
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No. You have to either hand-fly yourself or enable the autopilot. No AI flying is allowed.
Crashes, overstress damage, icing, etc., (i.e. things within the pilot’s direct control) must be enabled, but random system/instrument/engine failures can be turned off. In an ideal world I’d want those to be on as well, but because they’re randomized, some people may experience a systems failure and others will not. I’m open to changing my mind on this depending how other people feel, though.
Edit: for clarification, when I refer to the random failures, I mean things like oil leaks, fuel pump failure, fire, etc. Those can be turned off. See the screenshot @nOksX posted above for what failures must be enabled in the “Assistance” menu.
Oh he meant use of AI to control the aircraft. LoL 
!
That’s like asking the cops what’s more legal committing murder with a chain saw or a base ball bat
Too bad we still have the Live Weather bug, more often than not I get the clear skies weather.
@SeedyL3205 One issue with Simair.io. I sometimes have a short connection drop, like 10 seconds, and Simair fails to pick up the flight after that. And not often, but often enough to have an impact on a flight this long.
5b. All planes must be flown stock from Asobo/Microsoft. No custom liveries or flight model enhancements are permitted.
How are you planning to check this?
I’m not.
I created the rules in the spirit of fair competition and expect all participants to follow them, but if some jerk is bound and determined to cheat their way to victory, they will find a way to do so. The best I can do is to mandate the use of simair.io to record everyone’s flight telemetry data so as a community we can collectively examine the winner’s logs for any discrepancies that might indicate he or she did not complete the race entirely on the up-and-up.
And I’ll repeat something I wrote earlier: I’m organizing this event for fun and to raise money for Shinji’s GoFundMe. This isn’t the Tour de France or the Olympic Games.
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In-cloud icing should be enough of a deterrent to flying IFR. Besides, how would VFR flight be verified? And at what point are you calling it VFR? Full could clearances or just clear of clouds? What happens if JFK is snowing and 800 foot ceilings when the race starts?
I think keeping the rules simple is the best way to go. Easier to relay to competitors and easier to police. We’re already saying you don’t need to fly within the rules of pattern entry procedures, so if people want to stare at a grey screen all day, let em.
Not to mention VFR-on-top should be a totally legitimate strategy to avoid weather. I’d much rather fly over a front than try to squeak under one.
A few questions/ suggestions from a non-IRL pilot & new simmer.
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With damage on, are we able to repair the aircraft upon successful landing? In other words, if I land but don’t crash, am I able to repair the aircraft upon landing / during refuel? Or do I need to respawn and fly the leg again? Is this even a thing in MSFS? (I’ve been flying with damage off so far).
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If I understand correctly, the intent is to disable MSFS direction-finding helpers, but to NOT disable stuff like GPS & waypoints on the GPS itself. Is that correct?
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I kind of like the idea of doing it full VFR. It adds a layer of preparedness & resourcefulness! AND, it’s a great opportunity for folks that haven’t done this before to learn about VFR flying. There’s so much material out there (a lot of free stuff!) that folks can use to learn VFR (like this free one: http://www.oocities.org/w_pontel/docs/Quick_ref_card_0.pdf OR this paid one: https://www.etsy.com/your/shops/SimulatedDiscovery/tools/listings/894820572).
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If we are to do it VFR-only, would using MeteoBlue make sense for weather info? I think that’s what MSFS uses, and it would help everyone be on the same plane. What is the weather bug that’s been mentioned before?
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To clarify on refueling, are we saying that it’s OK to land and just sit on the runway for 10 minutes & just refuel instantly? Are there courtesy expectations on takeoffs/landings? Is it even worth policing that?
I am super excited to participate in this. I hope I can make it the whole way through, although I’m doing it more for “bragging rights” than to win. Thank you for organizing this!
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How do you enable randomised failures in this sim that may or may not happen?