MS Flight Sim - Challenge & Records
Startup Situation
The startup situation is at Black Rock Desert, Nevada, USA on
15-Oct-97. This is set to N41* 00.00' W119* 00.44', alt. 4054ft.
(3855ft. prior to FS2000) heading 270 degrees.
- The wings are extended for horizontal flight (Flaps are up).
- Ground effect is enabled (Gear is down).
NAV1 is set to the VOR to 117.90 for Mustang (FMG) North East of Reno.
The ATIS at set to a frequency of 135.80 for Reno/Tahoe International,
Nevada, USA (N39*29.92, W119*46.37, alt. 4412 ft.) - note ATIS has
limited range and direct line of sight transmission and so is blocked
by hills.
Supercar Challenge - GPS Routing for FS2000
The following GPS routing can be downloaded as file
"Supercar-Challenge.PLN"
(provided with the Supercar distribution from release 2.1
onwards) and loaded into the Flight Planner to use with the GPS panel.
[flightplan]
title=Supercar-Challenge
description=NV05, NV05
type=VFR
routetype=0
cruising_altitude=15000
departure_id=NV05, N41* 7.70', W119* 8.19', +004149.99
departure_position=18
destination_id=NV05, N41* 7.70', W119* 8.19', +004149.99
departure_name=Black Rock Desert
destination_name=Black Rock Desert
alternate_name=
waypoint.0=NV05, A, N41* 7.70', W119* 8.19', +004149.99,
waypoint.1=K2FMG, V+LOCWAY, N39* 31.88', W119* 39.36', +000000.00,
waypoint.2=KRNO, A, N39* 30.80', W119* 46.15', +004410.99,
waypoint.3=K2OAK, V+LOCWAY, N37* 43.56', W122* 13.41', +000000.00,
waypoint.4=KSFO, A, N37* 36.82', W122* 21.46', +000011.00,
waypoint.5=K2SAU, V+LOCWAY, N37* 51.32', W122* 31.37', +000000.00,
waypoint.6=KHAF, A, N37* 31.11', W122* 30.39', +000067.00,
waypoint.7=KMRY, A, N36* 35.46', W121* 51.37', +000254.00,
waypoint.8=K2BSR, V+LOCWAY, N36* 10.88', W121* 38.53', +000000.00,
waypoint.9=KLAS, A, N36* 4.54', W115* 10.19', +002179.00,
waypoint.10=K2GCN, V+LOCWAY, N35* 57.62', W112* 8.76', +000000.00,
waypoint.11=KGCN, A, N35* 56.60', W112* 9.39', +006604.99,
waypoint.12=KLAS, A, N36* 4.54', W115* 10.19', +002179.00,
waypoint.13=MCY, N, N36* 37.65', W116* 1.65', +000000.00,
waypoint.14=NV05, N41* 7.70', W119* 8.19', +004149.99,
Supercar Challenge
It is 15-Oct-97. As a challenge try the following:
- Take off from Black Rock Desert, Nevada, USA
- Watch out for Thrust
SSC achieving the first supersonic world land speed record at the
Black Rock Desert on 15-Oct-97. If you fancy taking Thrust SSC for
a spin yourself - see here.
- Head roughly South (heading approximately 180 degrees).
- Acquire the VOR at Mustang to head towards Reno.
- Land at Reno/Tahoe International. Try an ILS approach perhaps.
- Take off and head SW (heading approximately 225 degrees).
- Acquire the VOR at Oakland (OAK) and head towards it.
- Land at San Francisco International - possibly on runway 28R.
Good instrument landing and runway lighting aids are available on this
runway, so perhaps try a low visibility approach. Set up for 5 miles
visibility.
- Set the weather to clear again, take off, and take a spin over
San Francisco.
- Fly over Alcatraz and under the Golden Gate Bridge.
- Fly to the South along the Pacific coastline past Santa Cruz and across the
bay to Monterey.
- Acquire the VOR at Big Sur and fly down the coastline to approximately
latitude N36 degrees.
- Head East (heading 90 degrees) towards Las Vegas. This is a long trip, so
you may want to speed up the simulation rate when you have the course set.
- Tune in to the VOR at Las Vegas and head there.
- It should be getting late now, so set up for night flying.
- Fly down the strip from the Stratosphere tower in the North
to the Luxor Hotel pyramid.
- Land at Las Vegas and take a well earned overnight break - possibly at the
Hard Rock Las Vegas Hotel
- Side Trip - if you have extra time, try this side trip...
- Take off from Las Vegas and head SE.
- Fly over the Hoover Dam.
- Travel East along Lake Mead.
- Acquire the VOR at Grand Canyon and head there.
- Land at Grand Canyon National Park Airport, Arizona.
- Fly the Grand Canyon... Take off from Runway 03, turn to a heading
of 10 degrees and head for the gap in the mountains. This is the
mouth of the Grand Canyon. Fly in at approximately 10,000 ft.
altitude until you get your bearings. Then try a (now illegal to normal
traffic) flight below the height of the rim.
- Return to the Las Vegas area, for another overnight stay and refuelling.
- Take off from Las Vegas, and see the Strip from the air in daylight.
- Heading approximately NW, acquire and fly over
the NDB station at
Mercury, Nevada. You are not far from the fabled Area 51 around
Groom Lake here. See the additional
Supercar Area 51
Challenge.
Some of the folks on the ground may report Supercar as an UFO!
- Continue to head in a NE direction, towards Reno at first.
Another long trip, so set the autopilot for this leg.
- Land back at Black Rock Laboratory, Black Rock Desert.
Airports and NavAids Information
Some useful airport and navigational aid information follows. This is
from Microsoft Flight Simulator references and is not to be used for
real flight purposes of course.
Airports |
State | City | Airport Name | Ident. | Lat. |
Long. | Height | ILS Freq. + Runway | ATIS Freq. |
NV | Black Rock Desert | Black Rock Laboratory | |
N41*00.00' | W119*00.44' | 4054ft.* |
| |
NV | Reno | Reno/Tahoe International | RNO |
N39*29.77' | W119*46.07' | 4412ft. |
16R-110.90 | 135.80 |
CA | San Francisco | San Francisco International | SFO |
N37*37.12' | W122*22.53' | 11ft. |
19L-108.90 28L-109.55 28R-111.70 | 118.85 |
NV | Las Vegas | McCarran International | LAS |
N36*05.50' | W115*09.63' | 2175ft. |
25L-111.75 25R-110.30 | 125.60 |
AZ | Grand Canyon | Grand Canyon National Park | GCN |
N35*57.08' | W112*08.49' | 6606ft. |
03-108.90 | 124.30 |
* Black Rock Laboratory is at a Flight Simulator level of 3855ft. in
versions of Flight Simulator prior to the inclusion of genuine
elevation data in FS2000.
VOR/NDB |
State | Location Name | Ident. | Type | Freq. |
Lat. | Long. | Height | Magnetic Variation |
NV | Mustang | FMG | VORTAC | 117.90 |
N39*31.87' | W119*39.36' | 5940ft. | E16* |
CA | Oakland | OAK | VOR-DME | 116.80 |
N37*43.50' | W122*13.41' | 10ft. | E17* |
CA | San Francisco | SFO | VORTAC | 115.80 |
N37*37.17' | W122*22.43' | 9ft. | E17* |
CA | Big Sur | BSR | VORTAC | 114.00 |
N36*10.87' | W121*38.52' | 4083ft. | E16* |
NV | Las Vegas | LAS | VORTAC | 116.90 |
N36*04.78' | W115*09.58' | 2138ft. | E15* |
AZ | Grand Canyon | GCN | VOR-DME | 113.10 |
N35*57.62' | W112*08.76' | 6668t. | E15* |
NV | Mercury | MCY | NDB | 326.00 |
N36*37.64' | W116*01.65' |
- | - |
Height & Speed Records
How high and how fast can you get Supercar to go? In all cases you
must recover to a safe speed and altitide without crashing the
vehicle! Watch out for supersonic shock waves at high speeds, and
craft damage or pilot blackout at high stress levels when pulling out
of a dive.
You must use the standard flight dynamics in one of the Supercar
releases. If you use modified flight dynamics, pelase say what you
modified ort provide the .air file explicitly. Records using any
modifications to the flight dynamics will be listed below as "special
records".
Current Height Records:
-
Alt. 1,015,416ft. (approx. 192 miles above sea level)
Pilot: Shane Pickering
Date: 15-Jun-2000
Location: New Zealand
Comments: Using Flight Simulator 2000, with version 3.0 standard
flight dynamics.
Pilot reports "Trick is
to manually trim and hold her at about 8-15 degrees climb and let speed
build up to maximum".
-
Alt. 354,025ft.
Pilot: Mike Mercury
Date: 14-Jun-2000
Location: Over the Atlantic
Comments: Using Flight Simulator 2000, with version 3.0 standard
flight dynamics. Full realism.
-
Alt. 112,329ft. +
Pilot: Steve Zodiac
(a.k.a. Ian Pearse)
Date: 9-Feb-2000
Location: Black Rock Desert, NV, USA
Comments: Using Flight Simulator 98, full realism, with version 2.1b
flight dynamics. Pilot reports - "Took a while to get up there, with
incredible instability at about 98,000. I thought I'd lost it when a
tumble set in after giving too much control input, but I managed to
save it , then a smooth climb to the top. Descent was quick, with full
control regained at 25,000-odd and 380 kts IAS. Incredible turbulence
decelerating through Mach 1. I was very cautious about using retros to
slow the descent, using gentle pitch up instead to bleed the speed
off."
-
Alt. 96,087ft.
Pilot: Mike Mercury
Date: 11-Jan-2000
Location: Black Rock Desert, NV, USA
Comments: Using Flight Simulator 98, full realism, with experimental
version 2.1b flight dynamics.
-
Alt. 94,201ft.
Pilot: Mike Mercury
Date: 20-Nov-99
Location: Black Rock Desert, NV, USA
Comments: Using Flight Simulator 2000, full realism, with unmodified
version 1.1x flight dynamics.
-
Alt. 92,099ft.
Pilot: Mark Lewis (Australia)
Date: 29-Jun-98
Location: Over Meig's Field, Chicago, IL, USA
Comments: Using Flight Simulator 98 with unmodified version 1.1x
flight dynamics.
-
Alt. 78,190ft.
Pilot: Mike Mercury
Date: 27-May-98
Location: Over the Nevada Desert, USA
Comments: Using Flight Simulator 98 with unmodified version 1.1x
flight dynamics. Alt. 75,310ft. before stalling - climb was at a speed
of Mach 0.55. By dipping the nose, building up speed and
"porpoising", a ballistic height of 78,190ft. was reached.
Current Speed Records:
-
Speed: Mach 3.19 (2,513 kts) 3,015 mph
Alt. 331,719ft.
Pilot: Shane Pickering
Date: 28-May-2000
Comments: Using Flight Simulator 2000 and Supercar version 3.0
standard flight dynamics. Pilot reports: "Speed record was done in a
full power dive from high altitude".
-
Speed: Mach 2.93
Alt. 55,500ft. sustained level flight
Pilot: Mike Mercury
Date: 11-Mar-99
Comments: Shockwaves gave severe turbulence from Mach 2.40.
Using Flight Simulator 98 with unmodified version 1.1x flight dynamics.
-
Speed: Mach 2.40
Alt. dive from 75,000ft.
Pilot: Mike Mercury
Date: 27-May-98
Comments: Shockwaves gave severe turbulence from Mach 2.20.
Using Flight Simulator 98 with unmodified version 1.1x flight dynamics.
Special Records:
-
Alt. 1,332,819ft.
Pilot: Shane Pickering
Date: 28-May-2000
Location: New Zealand
Comments: Using Flight Simulator 2000, with version 3.0 and
modified flight dynamics based on SR-71 Blackbird flight model.
Pilot reports "Speed confirmed as Mach 3.19 (2,633 kts - 3,159 mph approx.).
Altitude confirmed as over 246 miles ASL - 1,332,819ft".
-
Speed: Mach 3.19
Alt. 331,719ft. climbing
Pilot: Shane Pickering
Date: 28-May-2000
Comments: Using Flight Simulator 2000 and Supercar version 3.0
with modified flight dynamics based on SR-71 Blackbird.
Page maintained by Austin Tate
(a.tate@ed.ac.uk).
Updated: Mon Apr 16 14:12:28 2012
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