[OFFICIAL] Microsoft Flight Simulator Cannonball Run 2021 [Charity]

Community Content Hangar Community Events
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2021-12-26T13:00:00Z

Update (December 21):

I feel stupid for not thinking about this earlier, but for any racers currently participating in the Pre-Release beta test, please roll back to the Live Build (1.21.13.0) prior to December 26 for the Cannonball Run. It’s important that all racers are playing on the same version since (among other things) Live Weather is one of the changes in the Pre-Release build.

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Hello everyone,

The fourth and final event of the 2021 MSFS Endurance Race Series is coming up in less than three weeks. By popular demand, this is a re-run of the first event that started this madness, the Cannonball Run. Following the route of the famous unsanctioned road race, we’ll be flying from New York City (KJFK) to Los Angeles (KLAX) using single-engine piston aircraft.

As with all the events in the Endurance Race Series, the MSFS community will be raising money for a charity relevant to the location of the event. Since the Cannonball Run takes place in the United States, the charity for this event is The American Foundation for Suicide Prevention. Our fundraising goal is USD $10,000.

The event begins on Sunday, December 26 at exactly 8am local time in New York (1300Z). The clock immediately starts running, and your race is over when you land at LAX. You don’t need to exit the runway or shutdown your engine, just come to a full stop with parking brakes on. There is no pre-defined flight plan. All pilots are responsible for plotting their own course coast-to-coast across the continental USA.

There are no prizes. Pilots compete only for fame, glory, and bragging rights.

Please see below for the start time in various world cities. Note that the event could begin on Monday, December 27 depending on your time zone.

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I have also created a countdown timer to the exact event start time here.

2021-12-26T13:00:00Z

Cannonball Run Event Description

New York (KJFK) to Los Angeles (KLAX), USA
December 26, 2021 @ 8am New York time
2,150 nautical miles
Estimated flying time: ~18-19 hours at an average ground speed of 120 knots
Charity to support: American Foundation for Suicide Prevention

If you are interested in competing in this event, please read the next post carefully for information on how to register and the race rules.

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Cannonball Run Rules

Note for previous racers: Rule 5d is new for this event.

  1. Full realism settings in MSFS must be enabled. In the Options Menu, “Piloting” must be set to “Hard” with the exception of “Take-off Auto Rudder” which can be on or off depending on your preference. “Aircraft Systems” and “Failure & Damage” must be set to “Hard”. All “Navigation Aids” must be turned off with the exception of “Taxi Ribbon” which can be on or off depending on your preference.
    1a. The procedure for refueling is as follows: land at any airport and come to a complete stop. You can then re-fill your fuel tanks using the in-game menu along the top of the screen. You must wait a minimum of 10 minutes before taking off again for the next leg of your flight. During this 10 minute wait, you are permitted to taxi and reposition your plane, but you must remain on the ground and not exceed 50 knots.
  2. Live Weather and Live Time must be turned on for the entire duration of the flight.
  3. Everyone will take off from KJFK simultaneously at exactly 8:00am Eastern Standard Time (1300Z) on December 26. We will be playing on the home server of the departure airport (East USA).
    3a. Your race ends as soon as you come to a full stop landing with the parking brake on at KLAX. Your time is measured as the total number of hours and minutes elapsed since 1300Z on December 26, not the amount of time you personally spent flying. For example, if you flew for 10 hours, took an 8 hour break, then flew for another 10 hours, your completion time would be 28 hours, not 20.
    3b. You have a total of 96 hours from the race start time to complete the event.
  4. Pilots are free to plot their own individual flight plans from KJFK to KLAX. Waypoints and cruising altitudes are at each pilot’s discretion.
  5. Pilots can choose any of the default aircraft included in the Standard, Premium, or Premium Deluxe versions of MSFS (no custom add-on aircraft allowed), but you may only fly single piston engine GA planes. No airliners, jets, turboprops, or multi-engine aircraft are allowed.
    5a. Additionally, the Beechcraft Bonanza is banned due to having substantially better performance than all the other GA planes.
    5b. All planes must be flown stock from Asobo/Microsoft. No 3rd party mods, including liveries and flight model enhancements, are permitted.
    5c. You are not permitted to switch aircraft types partway through the run. You must fly the same plane for the entire duration of the race.
    5d. The new planes added in the recent Game of the Year Edition upgrade may not be used for this race as they were not available for pilots to choose during the first three events of the 2021 Endurance Race Series.
  6. Enabling the autopilot is allowed and, in fact, is encouraged. Please take bathroom breaks and periodically get up to stretch.
  7. Successfully landing at any airport creates a “save point”. If you crash (either virtually in the sim or your computer crashes), you may “respawn” and continue the race from your last “save point”. Your elapsed time does not reset, however.
    7a. You can create a “save point” by performing a quick touch-and-go landing at any airport. You may not refuel during a touch-and-go, however. Refueling is only permitted if you wait on the ground for 10 minutes per Rule 1a.
  8. All pilots on PC must track their flight using https://simair.io/ . This is to validate everyone’s time, flight path, and refueling. Xbox pilots can ignore this rule.
  9. The deadline for registering for this event is 2359Z on Wednesday, December 22.

2021 MSFS Endurance Race Series Rules

  1. Each race in the series will have an individual winner.
  2. The Grand Champion of the 2021 MSFS Endurance Race Series will be the pilot with the fastest total time across all four events combined.
  3. You must fly a unique aircraft type in each event to qualify for the Grand Champion. You may not fly the same plane in more than one race.
    3a. Additionally, you may only fly one (1) of the following three planes across all four races: Cirrus SR22, Extra 330LT, Pitts Special S2S. For example, if you flew the Cirrus in the Australia event, you may not fly ANY of the Cirrus, Extra, or Pitts in any of the subsequent three races.

To confirm which aircraft you used in previous races, check the Registration and Results Spreadsheet

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REGISTRATION

Please register for this event by completing the form linked below. The registration deadline is Wednesday, December 22 at 2359Z.

LIVESTREAM

This event will be livestreamed on the Official Microsoft Flight Simulator Twitch Channel by Community Manager @SeedyL3205, his wife @FactualGull1036, and special guests who will join them at various points throughout their race.

CHARITY

We will be supporting the American Foundation for Suicide Prevention with a fundraising goal of USD $10,000. If you are able, please consider making a donation to this cause at the fundraising event page linked below. If you are livestreaming your race, please promote this link to your viewers during your run.

https://tiltify.com/@msfsofficial/microsoft-flight-simulator-cannonball-run-2021

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Rule 3 seems incorrect. KLAX to KLAX is a pretty short race.

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Thanks, fixed.

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No SR22 for this race? Did it get missed from the list, or am I just not seeing it on there? I’m trying to decide between it and the C172 for this race.

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Thanks. I copied last year’s registration form (when the SR22 and Extra 330LT weren’t allowed) but forgot to add those planes back to this year’s registration. Updated now.

Edit: if anyone previously registered and would like to use one of those planes that I incorrectly left off the registration form, please register again. I’ll use the new registration.

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Thanks. Isn’t the Bonanza banned for this series? Rule 5a

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ya, the bonanza isnt allowed. it would be the fastest plane by far

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I’m assuming this means that you can’t use the WT G1000 NXi or the PMS50 GNS530 Mod for the GPS as well.

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The registration form says XBox contestants only need
to state they are using XBox. Perhaps rule 8 should make this clear or many XBox users may not even click on the registration form

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OK, maybe it’s just me but i tried to have a first sector to check with the stock planes

  • First try CTD after 38 minutes (just like that) (DA40)
  • Second try in save mode CTD after 12 minutes (i was messing with the flightplan in the G1000 (DA40)
  • Third try I stopped due to icing after 1 hour 38 minutes (DA40)
  • Fourth try 14 minutes till CTD in SR22
    How can you reasonably do endurance like this?
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Yes, correct, my mistake. I’ve removed the Bonanza from the registration form.

@cptwink I see you’re the only one who picked a Bonanza so far. Please tell me your alternate aircraft and I’ll update your registration.

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I’ve previously completed four prior endurance races, each of 15-22 hours duration (Cannonball Run 2020, Perth to Sydney, Paris-Dakar, St. John’s to Victoria) and only had two CTDs in that entire time, one of which occurred after I had finished the event and was taxiing to the gate. Are you using the latest Nvidia driver (497.09) by chance? There’s a known issue where that driver is causing CTDs in MSFS. I suggest rolling back to a previous driver version if this applies to you.

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Hey Seedy,
Well it will be the good’ol C172 then :slight_smile:

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Thanks for that, but I’m still on an older version (472.12). Not sure what happened, didn’t have CTDs before. Maybe it is the latest sim update, not sure.

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Brief clarification:

No performance mods requirement is perfectly understandable.

What about navigation system mods, e.g., NXi from marketplace, WT nav mods in community folder, GTN750 pop up for map reference, charts, radar, METARs etc? Do these need to be removed/deinstalled from content manager?

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Is there a standard passenger/pilot weight we should use?

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@SeedyL3205 In 2020 I saw there was a twich stream by Howard Elvis that explained cross country flight planning.
This video has expired. Can it be put up again, or are there worthy alternatives? Thanks!