Startup Situation

1. The wings are extended for horizontal flight (Flaps are up).
2. Ground effect is enabled (Gear is down).

[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,

1. Take off from Black Rock Desert, Nevada, USA
2. 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.
3. Head roughly South (heading approximately 180 degrees).
4. Acquire the VOR at Mustang to head towards Reno.
5. Land at Reno/Tahoe International. Try an ILS approach perhaps.
6. Take off and head SW (heading approximately 225 degrees).
7. Acquire the VOR at Oakland (OAK) and head towards it.
8. 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.
9. Set the weather to clear again, take off, and take a spin over San Francisco.
10. Fly over Alcatraz and under the Golden Gate Bridge.
11. Fly to the South along the Pacific coastline past Santa Cruz and across the bay to Monterey.
12. Acquire the VOR at Big Sur and fly down the coastline to approximately latitude N36 degrees.
13. 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.
14. Tune in to the VOR at Las Vegas and head there.
15. It should be getting late now, so set up for night flying.
16. Fly down the strip from the Stratosphere tower in the North to the Luxor Hotel pyramid.
17. Land at Las Vegas and take a well earned overnight break - possibly at the Hard Rock Las Vegas Hotel
18. 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.
19. Take off from Las Vegas, and see the Strip from the air in daylight.
20. 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!
21. Continue to head in a NE direction, towards Reno at first. Another long trip, so set the autopilot for this leg.
22. Land back at Black Rock Laboratory, Black Rock Desert.

* 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.

Height & Speed Records

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.

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