The most stupid thing to do during an EHM event

[EHM-1703 Philip]

Hello Pilots.

As you now know, the next ProPilot event has been announced and the official event pages will be available soon.  

As always Pre-Booking of planes is essential during our ProPilot events so if you are interested in taking part in the event, please book a plane by sending an Email to our Fleet Development Captain, Robert. His email address is:

robert@fly-euroharmony.com

IMPORTANT Planes may only be booked by emailing Robert and requesting that a plane is locked for you in Stockholm. DO NOT POST REQUESTS FOR PLANES IN THE FORUMS as your request could easily get missed.

More details about the event will be forthcoming but to help you decide whether you want to take part here are some points about the event:

1) The event will consist of 9 legs of varying lengths, but the majority will be around 1 - 3 hours in duration with the exception of two long haul legs which we anticipate being abut 4-5 Hours in duration.

2) The event will take place over 5 weeks and flights will be scheduled as follows:
First week – 2 Legs
Second Week – 2 Legs
Third Week - 1 Legs (Long Haul)
Fourth Week – 1 Legs (Long Haul)
Fifth Week – 3 Legs

3) Planes will be locked to the pilot and only one plane will be issued for the duration of the event. Please take care of our old museum aircraft!

4) Legs must be flown in order and can only be flown for up to one week after the leg initially becomes active.

As mentioned, more details and the event page will be available soon but I would urge all interested pilots to register for a plane with Robert as the event starts in 10 days! If you have any questions, please do not hesitate to post a comment here.

[EHM-1883 Matt]

I'm sorry guys, I cannot make this one. I will be in Croatia during the first two legs:[

Have fun everyone else!

[EHM-1465 Dominic]

To help you prepare for this Event I suggest you have a look at the following videos by a German simpilot called Johann who has posted a very helpful tutorial series on the Delco Carousel INS at Youtube...

Although the manuals that come with the INS are very good, some of you may find the videos more helpful at demonstrating how to get it all working! And although Johann has his INS fitted in a Lockheed L1011, the tutorial is completely valid for its use on our DC-8

It takes a little while to get used to but the INS is very easy to use after the first couple of practice runs

Part 1 of the tutorial here

Part 2 here

Part 3 here

Part 4 here.

Have fun!

[EHM-1001 Robert]

Hey man, that is fantastic ! What a pleasurable way to learn

Just 2 addition:

1. For an INS you need a perfectly filled flightplan with all the waypoint coordinates and leg distances... we will provide it for the Event. The best is still to have enroute charts too ! Also uncheck GPS and RNAV equipments while flying online, and so the ATC guys will take care of you more

2. To do a DME update, you need to search your maps and find a VOR radio station which is in range, and its position is known to you ! If you decide to update INS1 (left), then tune the radio freq on NAV1 radio. Of course if you decide to update INS2 (right), then tune your NAV2 radio. Update happens until you keep the frequency. If you tune your radio to a new frequency, or the station got out of range, the update process is over. If you selected a station too close, maybe the system will not have enough time to settle down to precision index 1. And do not be afraid, because each INS relies on the same gyroscopes: if you update 1, the other will follow its precision too with a little time delay.

[EHM-1651 Christian]

And you can now register for the usual first leg fly-in. For more info and registration for the fly-in see: Here

Remember this registration is only for the fly-in. To register an aircraft for the event send an e-mail to:
robert@fly-euroharmony.com

[EHM-0471 Peter]

Christian.

Please, register me for the initial Fly-inn. I hope I'll have a time to join the company. I adore this DC 8, but the old boy is full of flying surprises and tricks. See you all!

Peter

[EHM-1001 Robert]

The event page is LIVE ! You can start planning the flights


By this small chart you can imagine how much freetime will you have along the Event, and you can desire what days can you fly each legs.

So far we have 7 plane registrations for the Event. There will be enough spares for this one, for those too who might fancy to join after the launch day Registration will be held until the end of 1st week.

And another news: The FSX version of the DC-8 was put up too to the Fleet page. It was tested under FSX SP1.

[EHM-1821 Javier]

I've got exams coming up at late april/early may, but i'll still join!!

[EHM-1703 Philip]

That's good to hear Javier, as you can see from the event page, the legs are not huge, this is not like the F1 event of last year and some of the short legs are, well, short! LOL

I don't think this will be a taxing event from the time aspect but more from the flying aspect. The DC8 really does not fly anything like a 737 or A320 and the INS needs some working out! It should be  great event with everyone getting the chance to finish it whilst learning some new skills on an old bird!

[EHM-2097 Andrei]

I did "my" practice flight yesterday (planned EHAM-LROP but after I was happy with the results I got with the INS, I shortened it and landed at LKPR).

The INS navigation really makes it all very different from anything I knew. The accuracy degradation makes a huge difference from the FS-GPS that is by definition 100% accurate for ever.

INS commands are not very intuitive, especially the DME update part, but by checking ALL documents from the developers site I eventually learned how to do it.

The autopilot is a little weird too, especially as I did this first flight before reading the tutorial in the EHM event page (shame on me ), but common sense and experimentation helped sort it out quickly.

One last thing that surprised me was that this bird seems very difficult to get down. Even when leveling after descent, with the throttles close to idle, the speed was very slow to decrease.

But now that I am aware of these particularities of the aircraft, I can hardly wait for the next Sunday!

Andrei

[EHM-1001 Robert]

Well, I think we might speaking too much about INS, INS ...

If somebody would afraid this airplane and the Event would mean too much difficulty for him, I can say do not be afraid ! The airplane is equipped with the standard GPS too. If you would like to use that and the inbuilt Flightplanner, you can still join the Event ! It is your choice and only a matter of realism level how would you like to fly!

The DC-8 is a Boeing 767 size aircraft, and flies like a real heavy airplane, but apart from some differences in the systems, the airplane is easy to handle.

To fly with INS is not a mandatory at all. You can fly as you wish. But anyway, INS is really easy, and a handy tool on long flights and ocean crossing A half FMS/FMC computer...

[EHM-1749 Hector]

Hi, Robert
I have sent two emails to get registered in the event but have not received the confirmation yet. My only problem is that I will be in Bogota on business from April 7 to 12 so my only chance to fly legs 3 and 4 is April 6. Other than that everything look good.
A word for the DC8. Eventhough this is the 30 Series it has similar flying characteristics of the 60 Series I am used to with main difference in the double rotation for the last.
Plan the descent with no more than 1500 fpm and remember that the use of spoilers to break speed is not allowed.
Be very cautious on approaches. Remember that she doesn't have reverse trust neither auto brakes. Another important thing is that if you find yourself too high in the short final, DO NOT push the plane down for she will fly like a piano and you will have no time to recover. If this situation arises, it is wiser to perform a go around.
A final hint for the INS alignment: The alignment of the INS is movement dependant. Even if there are strong winds at the airport it can slow the process. So, it is much better and faster to select calm weather in FS and after the alignment is completed then get connected.

[EHM-1001 Robert]

So far we have 12 registrations. Confirmation mails were sent out

[EHM-0502 Desmond]

Trial flight - difficult to fly, have to plan landing carefully. INS works well, but takes a lot of time to get used to!

[EHM-1651 Christian]

Hi everyone, just a reminder:
The event starts this sunday 30th of March, and you can join in reardless of which class you are or you have just signed up with us here at Euroharmony.

We will also have a fly-in on Sunday the 30th of March, and in good Euroharmony tradition we fly the first leg online as many as possible.

Please come and join us in the event.

Happy landings;)

[EHM-1749 Hector]

Is this event a PP one? Will the DC8 be added to the FLogger database?
Hector

[EHM-1703 Philip]

Hi Hector,

Yes it is a PP event and the DC8 will be available in the PP database soon when the tail numbers are locked.

[EHM-1657 Jay]

Phew, just made it in I think, sent an email two minutes ago

[EHM-1001 Robert]

Airplanes inserted

Registration is held until 01.April Wednesday, and this is not a joke ! Also this is the (only) day, when we will insert spare planes for those who were might unlucky and crashed already on the 1st two legs.

Good luck lads !

Edit: We have 16 participants, almost all ATPs ! This is going to be a professional Event Anyway, do not forget to try her on a test flight with some touch-n-go's at the end before attempting to fly her on ProPilot

[EHM-1944 Jaap]

Hi Robert,
Where have your inserted planes gone.
Nothing yet in my PP fleetlist.
Or am I doing something wrong.
Cheers,
Jaap

[EHM-1703 Philip]

Jaap, the planes are there but you will have to change the list to 99 lines of planes as there are so many planes parked at ESSA the default search only shows 30.

You can not lock the flight yet as the event does not start until tomorrow.

[EHM-1944 Jaap]

Ok Philip,I did find my beauty
I wish all my fellow pilots in the event lots of fun and happy landings.

[EHM-1703 Philip]

The event is open.... Make sure you get plenty of Screen Shots and most of all ENJOY the event.

Don't forget, a fly in is taking place tonight for the first leg if you would like to join, it will begin from ESSA at 1800z. (Don't forget, European Summertime begins today but Zulu time remains the same)

Good luck and see you in Santiago de Chile!

[EHM-1703 Philip]

Well done to Jaap who was the first to fly the DC8 on this event, did you have any trouble? I am just in preflight myself now!

[EHM-1944 Jaap]

No problems at all.Got used to this plane after many traingsflights.
Landing  this bird is quite special, but fun to do.