Round the US Race . . .

[Travis]

Hey, I've been thinking of setting up a race around the US.

[Scottler]

Depending on the date, count me in.

[Travis]

I was thinking, instead of doing it online (it would take a LONG time) we could do it on our own, but proof would be required of all legs and times.  A person would have to take a screenshot of the GPS with their journey marked.

People would have to be honest about it, but I don't think that would be a problem, as the people who normally show up here are in it for the adverture, not competitiveness.

I (or whomever chooses to fly) could make a timetable and destinations for legs and give it out to those who wish to participate.

I know something like this has been done before, and I was wondering if anyone had any information on whatever has been done.

[Scottler]

My only question would be how to show the times....I think instead of GPS, the closing screen that shows your flight analysis might be a better way to show the route.

Perhaps a smaller race resembling those of the early days of aviation might be a bit easier to regulate.  (Or even like the ones they still have...)

[Travis]

That is a good idea!

[Scottler]

I'm not 100% sure about the logistics of them myself.  I just know that they were amazingly popular back in the day.

Perhaps one of our resident aviation history buffs would know more about the details...

[Travis]

Oh, almost forgot!  Single-engine props only!  Don't want to be flying at Mach 3 and get done in ten minutes . . .

[Scottler]

Preferably with no user-tweaking.  lol

[Craig.]

its a cool idea, but sadly i am already on my way on a trip round the US, although i havent continued it in a while, me and my pucara took off from greenwood/leflore in MS, headed north to tupelo, and then east, then up the east coast, and now i am after a westward flight in detroit, where my parking fee is prob sky high as it has been there almost a month
when i get time i am gonna continue west down west coast then east again back to tupelo.

[Smoke2much]

I think most races in the 20's and 30's (Schneider etc) were around pylons and the planes flew against each other.  The early spitfire was a good racing plane.

I think that the only way to do this would be to state five cities in the US or Europe, (or anywhere really) and require the participant to visit them in the order of his/her choice.  

The plane would have to be unmodified and either one of the stock aircraft or a download from here.  

The idea behind 5 waypoints is that choice of route would be important, ie fly around a mountain range or over it.  Some of the legs would ideally be longer than the 'planes range and would require pit stops.

Strategy, imho, would be more important in an off line race than raw speed.

Will

[Travis]

Okay, lets start with the US.  We would all need to start in one city (preferably somewhere central) and head from there.  I was thinking all of the major cities, such as NY, Las Vegas, LA and Chicago.  We can go to others, but those are very far apart, and as such require much planning and passing over obstacles.

Any other cities?

[Scottler]

Seattle, Miami, Portland (Maine)....

How would we keep track of time?

Personally, I think a defined course would work best.  Just me though. lol

[Travis]

Works great for me!  I think we should skirt the border from NY to CA.  That way we cover a whole lot of area, and several different types of terrain.  We could go counter-clockwise and go through Maine and then over to Michigan and onwards, finally ending up in Reno or Vegas.  How does that sound?

As for keeping time, the flight analysis idea sounds pretty good.  We could fly one leg a day and then add up the times as we go.  The person with the lowest time at the end of the flight wins!

[Craig.]

detroit, minneapolis, are two big airports worth a visit

[Travis]

Okay, here's the list, in no particular order, so far:

New York (Skyports or Evers?)
Reno/Tahoe Intl or McCarran Intl (Vegas)
Detroit City
Minneapolis-St. Paul Intl
LAX

What else?  We need something in the lower part of the East Coast, as well as some in the Mideast part of the US.

I was thinking about the aircraft to be used, and instead of single-engine defaults (such as the 182RG) we could use unmodified single engine prop aircraft circa WWII.  They would be sufficiently fast for the journey, but would also limit us to the types of navigation aides we could use.  Whatdaya think?