As for the JeffCatNL issue, there were a dozen other DA40NGs in the area, flying at the same time, yet Jeff ended up way way way faster, burning less fuel. From my extensive testing in preparation for the race, there is absolutely no way you can get a DA40NG down to that fuel flow levels in the sim at those speeds at that altitude. The video I provide below notes that there is identical weather. Even the same weather patterns exist on the NEXRAD, which indicates that Live weather was honestly turned on.
One thing to note is that you cannot compare the fuel flow of a plane at 1000 ft to one at 20,000. Unless theres some seriously broken weather for only one person, (and I mean impossibly broken), then theres no chance of getting the fuel flow that low. Fortunately, we have his stream, and whole SimAir logs. And boy, can we say smoking gun!
For those who want to hunt around, he sparingly shows his panel, but this is the whole run. Twitch
For a clipped version from 8:14, talking about NexRad on Discord:
Compare that with my plane, in the SAME exact area, and look at my screen. Check the GPH, IAS and TAS, doing full tilt.
SimAir says, at the time, for JeffCat:
2021-07-03T06:13:58.118Z
throttle_percentage: 93.75
rpm_1: 3886.1369094882657
fuel_flow_gph_1: 5.213998392172638
altitude: 800.6646326601619
velocity: 151.7808713909758
vertical_speed: 2.609758526086802
Headwind in the video is 1/2 kts.
IAS/TAS is 152/153
My info on SimAir:
eventTime: 2021-07-03T06:13:56.855Z
throttle_percentage: 100
rpm_1: 3888.465277495525
fuel_flow_gph_1: 8.844193343832279
altitude: 699.8677370411085
velocity: 138.66256870311096
vertical_speed: -3.3315360546111994
Headwind is 0 (No Data just means No Wind)
IAS/TAS: 136/138
I’ve tried to keep the times as close as possible. I ask for other streamers to please also clip your streams and data from the same time.
It also makes me very much doubt his numbers in the Indio-Pacific race as well. There, he was the only one to take the direct route in a 172, so we had nobody to compare it against. My initial testing said the 172 couldn’t do it, but I also didn’t do extensive LoP testing in the sim. I just assumed there was a way that you could lean out the plane, and keep the speed due solely to the tailwind out there. This race, we have people to compare against, and his numbers don’t make any sense if everything is legit.
This is supposed to be a fun race for a great charity. A bunch of us noticed the issue early on (in the first hour; these logs are 14 minutes into the start of the race), and decided it was best to just let it be until the end of the race. Let the charity be the star of the day. Don’t let one person’s need to win mar the whole event. I hate even having to make a post like this.
And because I don’t want to leave anyone with the impression this event was scarred, or some kind of hyper competitive event, I want to say we all had a ton of fun in this race, and really enjoyed it. I’m happy in my placement, but displeased that it comes at the expense of Swoop and other’s having CTDs mere minutes away from the goal; I would rather win fair and square, and Swoop especially beat me. The final race between me and Haddock was nail biting. My stream was waiting with baited breath to see if he could overtake me with his major altitude advantage. The final times were close, and I have mad respect for such a fierce, but friendly, competition. Many people that encountered tight races could be found in each other’s Twitch chats, encouraging each other, and giving helpful tips. I’m very happy with the overall race community, and very much look forward to the next race.