I am thinking it would be fun to schedule a multi-player fun fly tomorrow
(New Year's Day).
Very generally, here is what I have in mind: First off, fun. Anyone of all
levels of ability is welcome to join. However the competition will assume a
basic understanding of avaition and a basic ability to operate (start, taxi,
take off, fly, land, park) the specified aircraft. All the participants
would show up at some particular place with the specified aircraft in order
to be allowed to compete. It might be quite easy to cheat on some of the
events, so participants would be held to the honor system of no autopilot,
no hopped up aircraft config, no time acceleration, no pausing etc.
Participants would need to enable "real weather" so that everyone is dealing
with the same conditions. The actual competition tasks would not be
announced until after all event starts ... this way no one has a chance to
practice, and some of the tasks might be designed so that if someone tries
to get clever with their aircraft config it might work to their
disadvantage. I would be the CD (contest director) and would annouce the
next competition task and competition order via the MP chat system. I would
also be responsible for scoring and tallying up the points. Each
participant will have a turn to do their best to complete the assigned task
while the rest of the crowd gets to watch, laugh, and cheer you on. If
someone is struggling or taking too long to complete a task, I would have
the right to cut them off and let the next person go. This is all for fun,
so if someone blows one of the tasks, just reset and get back in line for
the next one. Wear a thick skin since your flying performance will be
enjoyed by others. :-) I'm hoping to keep the entire competition to under
an hour (or less if I'm the only one that shows up.) If too many people
show up, I might have to cut if off at the first 6-10 so that we aren't all
sitting around for too much of the time. I'm envisioning maybe 3 tasks that
we would each take turns doing. An example task might be: within 60
seconds, fly a very abreviated pattern and do a touch and go each time
around the pattern. The person with the most times around in 60 seconds
doing a successful touch and go each time wins that event.
So with all that in mind, here's specifically what I propose:
I being the contest director (CD) determine all the specifics:
Title: FlightGear First New Year's Day Fun Fly (annual?)
Date: January 1, 2008
Time: 14:00 GMT (10AM US Central time zone)
Place: KHAF (Half Moon Bay) Runway 12. Congregate around the end of runway
12, but leave the runway clear for participants. Participants must remain
in the queueing area around rwy 12 when not competing.
Weather: Enable real weather (which is forecasted to be moderate at KHAF
tomorrow morning)
Aircraft: stock unmodified dhc2W (the wheel version of the DeHaviland
Beaver)
Who: Anyone who can operate the dhc2W through basic aviation tasks. People
can also show up as spectators only, this is for fun and we are all trying
it for the first time.
Then what: we will determine the participants, the participant order, and
assign the "fun fly" tasks at the start of the contest. The point is that
we level the playing field by not letting anyone practice specific events in
advance ... and that also increases the potental for humor I hope.
Rules: no autopilot assist, no aircraft mods, enable real weather, no time
acceleration, no pausing, this is for fun so these things will be enforced
with the honor system (and we'll have a couple f16's circling in case we
think anyone may be cheating.) :-)
Scoring: each task will be scored somehow depending on the task ... that
fastest, or the most, or the most accurate, etc. wins. I reserve the right
to award or subtract style points at my discretion. For instance: if there
was a spot landing task, and a participant managed to inadvertently invert
themselves several times on final approach and still land on the pavement
safely, that might be worth extra points. Of if someone nailed a spot
landing (as an example event) and then went the length of the runway on one
wheel cross controlled into a cross wind just to show off, that might be
worth extra points.
Prizes: none are offered, but we'll see how I'm feeling tomorrow. If there
are especially note worthy performances, that might need to be honored in
some way.
Protests: if someone hops onto the system with the b29, just moments before
you enter a critical maneuver and it screws you up ... too bad. If your kid
unplugs your computer in mid-flight ... too bad. If you crash, get in the
back of the line for the next event. :-) If you take the contest part of
the contest more seriously than the fun part, then too bad. :-)
As contest director, I do not plan on competing myself unless we need more
participants.
So see you there ... tomorrow (Jan 1, 2008) at 1400 GMT (10am USA Central)
To all the New Zealanders out there, happy 2008 already!
Curt.
--
Curtis Olson: http://baron.flightgear.org/~curt/
Unique text: 2f585eeea02e2c79d7b1d8c4963bae2d
-------------------------------------------------------------------------
This SF.net email is sponsored by: Microsoft
Defy all challenges. Microsoft(R) Visual Studio 2005.
http://clk.atdmt.com/MRT/go/vse0120000070mrt/direct/01/
_______________________________________________
Flightgear-devel mailing list
Flightgear-devel@lists.sourceforge.net
https://lists.sourceforge.net/lists/listinfo/flightgear-devel
