Now that we’ve seen/read about the Reno Races coming up, it got me thinking on what other aviation related challenges, and especially historical challenges, that we could recreate in the future.
Most aviation challenges I know are solo type challenges which is why the multiplayer aspect of the Reno Races is good.
What else would you like to see in the future?
Here’s some of my ideas:
Landing challenges are always good fun. I’d like to see some out of the box ones:
Land on this steep hill (like my old Rockfall challenge)
Land on top of a building (or helipad like the Burj Al Arab in Dubai/Bitexco Tower in HCMC Vietnam)
Land on a moving train?
Land on an adjustable slope (see saw?) and remain stopped for >5 seconds
River/sandbar landing challenges
Aircraft Carrier Landing challenges
Historical Challenges:
Spirit of St Louis Atlantic Crossing
First Flights
Races/Time Trials:
Red Bull Air Race Style races
Multiplayer Steam Train vs Tiger Moth (or similar vintage aircraft) races
Multiplayer races between two defined airports or points set by the group
Mach Loop time trials
Custom Race designs that can be uploaded
Aerobatics/Airshow challenges:
Perform this manoeuvre perfectly: Points for accuracy and G load
Airshows: You are to perform a set of manoeuvres for an airshow. :Points for accuracy and G load
Short Field Landing competitions:
Actual STOL style competition
Navigation Trials:
True navigation, no GPS, some using navigation aids but mostly hold a heading and time. Then perhaps multi choice answers (what did you see at point 1, 2, 3 etc).
Balloon navigation/races
Aero Club style challenges:
Streamer Cutting
Flour Bombing onto a target
Perfect Circuit
Fastest Circuit
Some of these requiring standardised equipment could also be served from the server and stored encrypted to ensure standards were maintained, and to make those aircraft available for the challenge, even if the user didn’t own that aircraft.
Basically it is a matter of flying a planned route as exactly as possible, crossing each waypoint exactly on the planned time (we are talking second level precision here, not minutes!), following each leg precisely (within 0.5 nm). To make it more accessible since most flightsimmers are not familiar with flight planning using only pen and paper and mechanical calculators maybe the sim could provide the navlog based on the chosen aircraft (most users would use something like Little Navmap anyway).
Some of the infrastructure is already in the sim in the form of the bush flight functionality. Secret checkpoints, the scoring/penalty system, and photo challenges would need to be added.
Also the functionality to lock out (“seal”) GPS and autopilots. Maybe that could be made optional with a stiff penalty rather than completely forbidden to make it more accessible.
Berlin Airlift - multiplayer group effort with propliners of all sorts to get enough supplies into the locked-in city for almost a year, save the population from starving, and maintain the ground for the free world.
There are plenty of challenges in such a reenactment, fly as often as you can through a 20mi wide corridor in mostly adverse fall, winter and spring weather with nothing but NDBs as navaids, occasionally jammed by the Soviet Army, depart and arrive maintaining a tight time slot, increasingly short turnarounds and heavy traffic on top of the navigational and meteorological challenges. Earn bonus points for dropping candy in the approach path even in nasty fog and be prepared to experience the hardships of aviation for a good cause in the first simulation that would make that eerily realistic…and entertaining.
Since the operation took almost a year, this could be played as a yearly repeating realtime multiplayer mission. The game engine would dispatch slots, payload and try to “recruit” (message) pilots to fly shifts in order to maintain the needed amount of supplies and reward pilots with all sorts of badges and points for tonnage, timeliness or taking the risk of bad visibility, icing, collisions and navigation errors during their missions.
This article has plenty of inspiration for game elements:
Now this style of thing would be great! emergency evacuations around the world have required multiple aircraft and often in less than ideal conditions!
Other ideas such as a resource haul could be set up. Get these things in or out of a few locations as quickly or economically as possible.
Seeing as this sim is now an MMO, perhaps some MMO style challenges/quests/etc could be built with it (like a couple of the rescue challenges we’ve seen already):
Mr Ash Obo requires a pre purchase test flight series on a new aircraft he wishes to purchase and has asked you to test x amount of things.
Sonny from x wilderness port has tasked you to pick them up from the side of the river, but the aircraft has no active GPS. go grab them before the weather turns bad
Mr Do Llar needs to get to his business meeting, get him there as soon as possible.
You’ve been invited to perform aerobatics as a warm up for the Reno Races. Go impress them on a bunch of predefined courses
As a survey pilot, your job today is to map an entire farm area. Make sure you do it as accurately as possible.
The next day you’re tasked with a pipeline inspection to make sure there’s no leaks
Trekkers have become lost in the Himalayas, and need to be found before it gets dark due to freezing temperatures and an encroaching storm. All we know is that they were in x area and haven’t been seen for 6 hours.
Same as above but someone has broken down in the desert. Go find them and follow any potential signs they’ve left.
You’ve been tasked to photograph xxx to be displayed at the international awards. Take your best photo of this area/landmark/city/aircraft etc. Like the screenshot competitions here but more ‘built in’.
Flying Doctor style missions would also work really well as a career mode thing
