MNS West 05/19/2008 - "Absentee Flight"

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dpluigi
Posts: 243
Joined: Wed Mar 12, 2008 3:19 pm
Location: Lyon, France

MNS West 05/19/2008 - "Absentee Flight"

Post by dpluigi » Mon May 26, 2008 9:30 pm

Hello,

I hope all is well for you all and are enjoying as many great flights as I am with Condor. I am currently waiting for MNS Europe server to start for today's race. I also hope you'll forgive my bad pun in the subject line. With the Presidential campaign in full swung here in the US, the comparison between "Absentee Ballots" and flying/participating offline in a "Absentee Flight" was funny.

I usually fly on MNS Europe but last week I was out of town for a job interview all day in Reno. I live in Las Vegas Nevada, (US West Coast, Pacific Standard Time). I contacted the MNS administrators (for West, East and Europe) and got the FPL files. I also asked if I could fly offline and possibly be scored. Frank Weston replied and said to submit my IGC and FTR files online and that he'll see if I can be scored. In retrospect I am not sure if that would be fair to others and I did not hear back from him. Also I emailed my files directly to Frank Weston and realized only yesterday that he asked me to submit them online which last night. I also noticed that being registered to MNS Europe did not register for all MNS contest and I just registered for East and West last night.

Anyhow I flew the MNS_West task of 05/19/2008 on the following morning on 05/20 and had a lot of fun. It was tricky I was not sure that the low ridge would be a better option than using mostly thermal lift. Until yesterday evening when I looked at last week scores and IGC file of the winner, I did't know what strategy the competitors used, which is a drawback from flying alone off line.

Also, there seem to be two ridge options (i) far off course South of track or (ii) converging slowly to the smaller regular ridges North of the Track. I opted for the latter, and measured the heading to connect to the ridge in the last part of the flight. I did not fetch the first small ridges section (starting at the 1/3 of the tack) on my way to the main ones flying high above to feel them.

When I reached the ridges on the second half of the track, I did not feel that it was as efficient as I hoped for.
For the first time I was wishing that Condor had a speed average along with Velocity Made Good (VMG) since the real time scoring was not on (it does display current speed average isn't it?). It would have allowed me to better evaluate of following a ridge with a weak lift would compare from linking Thermals. I am wondering if it is on the wish list for the next version.

As I mentioned I forwarded my FTR and IGC files for the MNS West to Frank Weston a week ago and only noticed yesterday that I would have won my first contest by seconds for the MNS West race of last Monday. So I am now wondering how fair it is for all of you who flew it online - if Frank Weston scores me and the current leader would find himself dropped few points?

What is the consensus in this situation with the MNS community and Condor community in general?

Today I compared the IGC files and the approach was very different, he flew more directly for the Northen ridge line whereas I converged more progressively connecting using Thermals which made my speed average much better for the first half. Then the difference melted and my lead was marginal. It was just in the last few KMs for the finished that I crossed the line with a small lead of few seconds. It is a nice feeling and I only wish this flight would have be done with the company of the MNS West pilots.

I really enjoyed this task set by JH. There were several options. I am surprised and very pleased to see almost a week later that I was in the pace with respect to the other regular and more experienced pilots. Although it would have been nice to be scored, it might not be fair. It is up to Frank and all of you on MNS West to be the judge(s). For me it is already very encouraging results and it is what matters.

I also flew MNS Europe offline on 05/21/08 and crashed caught up by high ground between TP1 and TP2 when I flew to far east of the track and mislead by the fact I passed very high, which I assumed would allow to push without gaining more height to get to some ridge soaring down the track. I submitted my files to Marek and Frank too, even though it was for a crash.

At any rate, I hope to be able to fly online in two weeks with all MNS West regular pilots. :d
I also look forward to hearing from other pilots MNS West and the US West Coast and Las Vegas and Reno in particular as I would to fly for real at the first opportunity in either of these locations (Jean, NV or Minden, NV) depending of my job situation.

Donat
CN 269
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