Here’s my result from SimAir.io :
eventTime: 2021-07-03T22:43:09.919Z
type: PARKED
1 Like
Verbose version : so I was in the DA40NG, 4-stop strategy. Here’s how it went.
Leg 1 - LFPG to LFCO (Herrere)
I went south high-alt instead of south-west low-alt like most people and it was a mistake. Strong headwinds, thunderclouds, the lot. I lost so much time dodging or going through clouds (just below the icing limit) that I realised when reaching the Pyrénées that crossing them would be a fuel gamble, so I landed on the french side.
Terrible leg. Slow, and 20% less distance than I had planned to. Down below #20 in the rankings and I was not sure at this point that a 4-stop strategy would be possible anymore.
Leg 2 - LFCO to GMMW (El Aroui)
I kept on flying on an east route, as my goal was to later fly inland in Africa and not follow the coast so I crossed the Mediterranean at Almeria instead of Gibraltar. I had planned to land at GEML (Melilla) but I had a bit of fuel left so I reached out to GMMW (El Aroui).
Here I had a simair.io problem (or more likely, a “my internet” problem, there were storms here in the south of France), it did not record the last 1/4 of the leg. 
Apart from that, good leg.
Leg 3 - GMMW to GMTB [GMMO] (Tata)
Because of the logging issue above, I closed MSFS & simair to fix things. So the 10mins stop turned into at least 15.
Good leg, the highlight being the awesome Atlas mountains scenery. Things looked much better now than they did after leg 1, so I decided to stay on a 4-stop plan after all.
A minor simair.io bug here : it identified the airport as GMMO but zoom in on the simair.io map ( https://simair.io/logbook/Haddock/flight/31545 ) and you can see clearly it was Tata Airport a.k.a. GMTB.
Leg 4 - GMTB [GMMO] to GQPZ (Tazadit)
simair.io again says Tata Airport is GMMO … He’s still wrong as it can easily be seen on the map.
So much sand … Good leg, the inland gamble started to pay, a bit of tailwind.
Leg 5 - GQPZ to GOOY (Dakar)
Great leg, the longest one. Desert scenery at night turned quickly into a whole lot of blackness.
The east road/high altitude gamble finally paid, I was able to overtake 2 DA40NG pilots that had chosen the low road. I used altitude to modulate my fuel flow to make sure I’d reach Dakar, but I had 20+ kts tailwind for more than half of the leg, so there never was a fuel risk.
I think a couple pilots had CTDs (I feel your pain guys), so I climbed the rankings ladder more than I hoped for (and more than I deserved after my mess of a first leg).
I started the leg 35nm behind you and got back within 20nm at Dakar but you never really were at risk. 
Yes ! And let us all thank SeedyL & FactualGull for organizing this super-fun event that managed to raise over 5500$ for charity (not sure of the final number).
4 Likes
I’m done. The 7 hours of sleep in between were good. 
https://simair.io/logbook/oldfirehead/flight/31752
eventTime: 2021-07-04T09:04:55.656Z
type: PARKED
Video on Twitch
2 Likes
OK, my Sim Air shows actually two or three graphs…wth?
Anyway:
https://simair.io/logbook/Zero36
eventTime: 2021-07-03T23:58:50.311Z
type: PARKED
Maybe someone can tell me via DM how to save the whole streaming clip to my profile. Tried to find something on Twitch but was too tired I guess…
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I was on SeedyLs discord when JeffCatNL and another dutch guy (sorry, I didn’t pay attention who it was) discussed remaining fuel at one point during the first stage to Spain. JeffCatNL responded he had 70% fuel left. The other guy responded that it was impossible to have that much fuel left. I am not saying someboedy cheated, but an explanation for that statement would be nice. He was going full throttle for a couple of hours at that point, in comparison the other guy had about 40-50% left.
Exactly, me and several others picked up on his fuel burn rate very early on in the first leg, put it this way, he did Paris to Madrid (basically) in 1 stop, I ask anyone to replicate that in a DA40-NG, go one, someone one please prove me wrong, that trip is impossible in 1 jump.
To put it into context I did Faro to Lanzarote in 1 jump, that’s 561nm, I did that at 67% throttle at 1500-2000 ft staying in a 20+ kt tailwind 70% of the way, my cruising speed was around 130kts ground speed burning fuel at around 5.1ish (I would have to check logs)
That info alone proves that there is no way Jeffcatnl’s France trip alone was right, not to mention that Blueyonder was in the same plane following the same route and was at 100% throttle the entire time and made 2 extra stops for fuel and finished 2hrs behind him. It’s just not possible.
But, after a brief chat with Jeffcatnl in whisper on twitch last night, he is under the impression that simair has logged him wrong and it is all possible. So with that in mind, I propose a challenge, can anyone do Paris to Madrid in 1 go in a DA40-NG, not bothered about matching his time or speed etc, just can it be done and if you can, share your simair logs please as I reckon it can only be done at 40% throttle.
PS, is there anyway Admin can start a new thread about this Jeffcat issue to keep this thread for race reports etc rather than a public hanging???
2 Likes
The DA40 can’t do 153kt TAS at sea level and level flight, The maximum speed is TAS140kt with full throttle in level flight. Fuel usage at sea level will be about 9 Gallons per hour:
On the stream he was doing 153kt TAS with throttle handle at 70%. At 70% throttle i get 123kt TAS:
True airspeed will be the same for every plane with the same type and the same altitude regardless of wind.
So basically he was 30 knots too fast for the power setting.
His cockpit gauges were telling the same thing as Simair so he is either lying or … Yeah well he is basically lying isn’t he? He based his flight plan on a magical aircraft.
3 Likes
Great concrats to all who spent for this good cause and SeedyL and FactualGull for your organisation. Was fun being little part of this event.
Today I’ve made my jump from Granada (LEGR) to Casablanca (GMMN) just to make a step on African soil. Ranked 51. sounds not so good, but I am proud of flying all the way down to Casablanca manually without AP and by the rules maintaining VFR which means to stay clear of the clouds.
So here are my 5 legs and some screenshots, enjoy and see you in the next event:
1. Leg: Paris (LFPG) - Montpellier (LFMT)
Unlike the rest of the field I’ve decided to circumnavigate the huge bad weather over france coming from the west and decided to escape to the south through the Rhone-valley, maintaining the sunny side on my left wign and the bad whater on my right. After 3h flight and 410 Miles with an average speed of 115 mph.
2. Leg: Montpellier (LFMT) - Aerodromo Sailent (ES-0063)
Across the Golf of Lyon, leaving the heavy clouded Pyrenees on my right I’ve crossed the french-spain border and landed in Sailent, a small local airport north of Barcelona with a concrete runway less than 400 Meters long.
3. Leg: Sailent (ES-0063) - Castello (LECH)
I’ve had to plan my 3. leg around my family business in the afternoon so I’ve made a small hop to Castello, pushing myself a little bit closer to Dakar.
4. Leg Castello (LECH) - Granada (LEGR)
After family business I’ve jumped on the plane and used the rest of the day. The sun already was low and I knew, this will become a challanging Night VFR over the low populated spain hinterland. But I was rewarded with a superb spain sunset and all shades of dark blue.
5. Leg Granada (LEGR) - Casablanca (GMMN)
Okay the race is almost over, nearly all aircrafts reached Dakar but for my self I wanted to cross Gibraltar leaving my foot on African soil. Passing Gibraltar, I reached Africa via Tangier and used the tailwind over the Atlantic to get to Casablanca.
My Flight Log:
Unfortunately my life stream was not clickable on gorace.net
12 Likes
eventTime: 2021-07-04T03:44:23.365Z
type: PARKED
2 Likes
now that you mention it, i saw that too. i even climbed to 7500 just to see what i was missing. i was too busy to give it much thought after that.
1 Like
Simair stopped tracking as i was descending for a touch and go at Casablanca. Didnt notice right away, so restarted everything at next fuel stop. I was airborne 5 min, then had the first of 3 CTD’s. “I could’ve been a contender”. Not really, but i had fun anyway.
3 Likes
eventTime: 2021-07-04T04:28:07.026Z
type: ROLLING (Forgot to set parking brake apparently lol)
3 Likes
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Just compare these numbers from the first leg, he was flying with the DA40 mod, no doubt about that… when i was at 45% fel he still had 70% fuel… I also have BlueYonders stats, there almost the same as mine as you would expect.
Yep, that was me. I was at 45% fuel, he was at 70% fuel. He used the mod, no doubt about that…
3 Likes