Team AVSIM RTW Race 2007 Recruiting

[Bry Rosier]

Hi NZ simmers , My name is Bryan Rosier and we are currently recruiting for this years Round the World race. This annual race has been run for the last 4 or 5 years and we are proud defending Champions. The pilot roster consists mainly of US and European simmers but we are looking for a more Global team this year . The race in its most basic form flys non-stop through every continent with an average pilot leg of 2hrs from Airport to Airport . The race is carried out using propeller aircraft , any number of engines for a piston aircraft , max of 2 engines for Turboprop and must be a production model aircraft of no less than 10 manufactured models . The race is due to commence 17th Feb . Full details can be found at the following links :

http://users.adelphia.net/~mattsmith19/RTW/

http://forums.avsim.net/dcboard.php?az= ... &forum=227

It was my first year last year and was a truly amazing experience . Please feel free to take a look and it would be great if we could enrol pilots from New Zealand and Australia to have a truly Global Team

Many Thanks Bry

[Codge]

We already have pilots from NZ and Oz flying for Flightsim.com thankyou.

[Alex]

Oooh, competition. Best of luck to both teams.

Alex

[AlisterC]

I've had a look through a few forum threads, but it all seems pretty overwhelming at the moment. Not a lot of info available yet either, which is fine and well for those who've done it before
Thanks for posting the links though Bryan, we're not all signed up for Flightsim as Codge implies
I'll keep an eye on things but might just spectate this year. It looks like lots of fun!

[Codge]

I did not imply that we were all signed up for anything Albatross, I stated that NZ and OZ were represented already, which they are. We already have pilots flying for flightsim.com is what I said in response to having a truly global team.
What is implied by Bry who has joined the forum to make one post, is that NZFF members are unaware of the RTW. If he'd actually browsed the forum first he would have seen that I had started a thread on it. To which he of course is most welcome to say that Avsim is also looking for pilots. I'm sure we at NZFF are all Avsim fans,me included. This is not about which website you like best. It is forum members from the 3 sites that race each other. It really has nothing to do with the sites themselves, their names are used because of the forums. We could put a team together from NZFF if we wanted and that idea was mentioned by Trolly. It's a great idea too but we lack the experience and could we put a solid 16 at least pilots together and do all that's required to be competitive? In one month? Probably best for us to join an already established team and learn as much as possible and maybe think about our own team next year.I personally like the idea so I say do join teams other than mine if you are interested,(not you Trolly) with a view to next year and the possibiliy of NZFF having it's own team. It could be great for Windowlight and Red Baron Entertainment too. I admit I'd never heard of Sim Outhouse till last years race and now I frequent that website quite a bit. There are heaps of simmers out there in the world that won't know about the NZ sim scene. If we were going to do this it would be best for NZFF members to all fly for different teams this year to get maximum knowledge about how each team works. You'd be suprised just how professional and organized these guys are, especially those who've been doing it since the beginning in 2003. Last year was the first year that the 'Wingman' idea was introduced. This will remain as it was very sucessful. One of the reasons it was so sucessful was that it allowed new pilots to prove their skills as a Wingman before being responsible for a leg. If a pilot crashes the leg must be reflown which will usually cost your team about 2 hours in lost time. But with the Wingman rule another pilot who flies the leg seconds behind the 1st pilot can take over the baton and have a chance to get the baton down safley. The penalty for using a Wingman is half an hour, which is great as it saves having to refly the leg. If the Wingman crashes too then the leg will have to be reflown with a new pilot and new Wingman.
So this helps with the 'double edged sword' of wanting new faces but not knowing or trusting them to fly a successful leg.
If I wasn't with Flightsim I would join SimOuthouse who fly in only military aircraft.
Although they are the underdogs, they flew a very good race and flew well in mainly P38 and P51 aircraft. And those P51 are fast but a handful and easy to crash on landing and SOH had few crashes.
I think what let them down is they didn't have teamspeak and the baton would sit at an airport for ages till someone else logged on to their forum, noticed it was free and then picked it up! If they have dealt with this and intend on having quick smooth baton changes they are going to be a worry to the rest of us!
Avsim took the trophy last year from Flightsim and now Flightsim want it back! Flightsim did actually fly a faster race but Avsim got more bonus airports and beat us by 6 hours in the final tally.
I want to finish this post with the fact that this is a FUN event,that's why we do it. That goes for all the teams and we all have friends on all sides. I am glad that Bry made his post here about the race. Because he thoroughly enjoyed it last year and like me is back for more. He has seconded everything I've said about it so that you all know it's not just me raving about it. You don't have to take just my word for it that it is well worth taking 4 or 5 days solid out of your life for! Quite a few that can, take their holidays from their well paying jobs to participate.
It is true that everyone is totally exhausted at the end and once a year is enough!
Even watching is fun,like I watched Steve Fossett with his Global Flyer on his website, tracking his position.
So Avsim want new pilots,great I would say Sim Outhouse may well want pilots too so I urge all forum members to take part. Either by spectating or by joining a team, any team and you can join half way through if you want, but you may not get a leg doing it that way, but if guys are tired and short of pilots at a particular time then I'd say you'll be welcomed with open arms!
There will be those types who must win at all costs and who'll get themselves all wound up if things aren't going well, nature of the beast in any comp, Not on our team, it was the comradery and team effort that I liked the best. There's no prizes
but the 'virtual' Tornado Trophy, named after 'Tornado Wilkes' from the UK who started it all in 2003, and BTW is flying for Flightsim as is John Mueller, creator of the 'Duenna" which is the flight validation software, and Reggie Fields who makes Afcads with runway lights for unlightened airfields if we need them, and those afcads are available to all teams to download. So really, I'm quite happy with our sides talents and if you are a good pilot with good crosswind experience at night in bad weather at strange airfields we'd love to have you on our team! And those that can fly the P38 and land it too! I learned heaps about all sorts of stuff from talking with these guys on teamspeak for 5 days last year and really look foward to doing it all again on the 17th Feb which for us in Godzone is a 4am Sunday morning start! Now that should sort the men from the boys!

[Bry Rosier]

A very nice post Codge I know I only joined the forum to put the word out that we are recruiting, however the NZFF forums have been on my list of fav`s for a long time now . It is a great source of info for Godzone NZ gear and having spent time in NZ its great to fly in a more realistic area. Like yourself I am not competitive . I was a total novice last year and Avsim took me on board . It could have been any of the teams but Avsim it was . It is a fantastic event , well worth doing and I was just trying to generate a bit of interest. Bry

[ronindanbo]

You guys should use our SAAB 2000 it was one of the fastest turboprops ever nearly reaching the speed of a 737, would be a great advantage and you could fly in NZFF colours Bit of a handfull to land though