The CIX VFR Club Departing Lydd in the evening
Club Events - Christmas Caper
This month it's the Club's annual "Christmas Caper".
Home > Event History 2016 > Christmas Caper
Briefing December 2016
Overview For the 2016 Christmas Caper we will be visiting Russia and Finland. For those who use FSX or one of its "clones" there is a special trip being planned by the wider sim community using the club inspired "multiplayer" facility "JoinFS", and in which the Club can participate. It is referred to in this document as the "JoinFS Tour".
Start Time and Place Each of the legs in this event may be flown on any day in December.

The JoinFS Tour has been organised and planned by Andy Roo (now a member of the Club), to encourage use of and publicize the existence of the new cross-FSX multiplayer application being developed by our Club member Peter Memmott. It is not an official part of the Club Caper, and takes place on 17th only. There is no requirement to take part in this tour if you don't want to, but the four airports of the JoinFS Tour are included in the Caper route, so must be visited, if not on 17th.
Route The Caper will start on the 1st December at Moscow's Sheremetyevo airport (UUEE) . It comprises 23 short legs, all but three of them being less than 1 hours duration, and some considerably shorter. In many cases two legs can therefore be flown in one session. After flying to St Petersburg, the route flies clockwise around Finland with an excursion inland to Rovaniemi before continuing north back into Russia at Murmansk. Flying south from Murmansk the route crosses back into Finland, then back again into Russia, ending at Moscow's Vnukovo (UUWW) airport.
  1. Leg 1 to UUEM
  2. Leg 2 to ULLI
  3. Leg 3 to EFLP
  4. Leg 4 to EFHK
  5. Leg 5 to EFHN
  6. Leg 6 to EFTU
  7. Leg 7 to EFPO
  8. Leg 8 to EFVA
  9. Leg 9 to EFKK
  10. Leg 10 to EFAH
  11. Leg 11 to EFRO, Those who wish to take part in the side JoinFS tour need to arrive here before 20:15 on the 17th!
  12. Leg 12 to EFOU
  13. Leg 13 to EFKE
  14. Leg 14 to EFKT
  15. Leg 15 to EFPA
  16. Leg 16 to EFIV
  17. Leg 17 to ULMM
  18. Leg 18 to EFKS
  19. Leg 19 to EFKI
  20. Leg 20 to EFJO
  21. Leg 21 to ULPB
  22. Leg 22 to UUDL
  23. Leg 23 to UUWW
Non-Club "JoinFS Tour"

This is an exciting opportunity to mix it with members of the wider FS community in similar way to our trip to visit Santa at Rovaniemi in 2014. Also in a similar way, it will probably pay to start the JoinFS Tour early in the evening to avoid the crowds, as simmers flying in big tin will have priority for landing and departure at the four airports in the tour. Using JoinFS, members will be able to see all the other aircraft taking part very easily. After connecting to JoinFS, and before take off, simply substitute any incorrect models from the "View|Aircraft " menu.

The following web page contains details of the JoinFS Tour and the Teamspeak server which will be used for communications and ATC on the evening of 17th. Please read the JoinFS Tour web page carefully. The JoinFS Tour itself is from EFRO to EFOU, but afterwards, our Caper route takes us to EFKE and EFKT which will have ATC cover on 17th as an extension of the JoinFS event. (See the ATC section below for details.) If you haven't used JoinFS before, do follow the advice on the JoinFS Tour web page to make test connections to the test servers before the event.

On the 17th, EFRO, EFOU, EFKE and EFKT Tower and Approach positions will be manned on the JoinFS event TeamSpeak server, Note: NOT on VATSIM. Members are encouraged to take advantage of these services, and for legs 12, 13 and 14, if flown on 17th, DO NOT connect to VATSIM. PIREPs may be submitted for these legs as "Authorised Offline".
Flight Planning and Logging

The Plan files for this Event can be downloaded from HERE.

Because this is quite a long trip overall, we have agreed that some airports may be simply overflown, so that the route is followed, but time is saved in not having to land "properly". Of course, if members want to, they can land at every one of the 23, or do a Touch & Go. Members must make a full stop landing and file a new flight plan at each of the following airports: -
ULLI
EFHK
EFVA
EFRO
EFOU
EFKE
EFKT
ULMM
EFKS
EFJO
ULPB
UUDL

There will be two event stars awarded for the Caper, with one quarter (0.25) star being awarded at 7 of the 12 en route airports listed above, but of course we won't tell you which ones!
Remember that Touch & Goes are not landings, so shoud not be recorded as a destination in your PIREPs. The Club Logger ignores them for this reason.

If you want to start before December 1st, of course you may, but those flights will not count towards the star awards.
Weather... or Not Before starting we will check the weather. If it is unsuitable for our trip as planned, then we will fix it. Something we can do in the simulator - wouldn't it be nice if we could do it in real life! For the general handling we need a cloud base that is at least 3000ft AGL.
FSInn has a "CAVOK" button. Click this and you get calm clear weather.
Those using SB or XSB will need to turn off the on-line weather updates, and select calm in the FS weather options.
What Aircraft can I fly Any aircraft can be flown in this event as long as it is within the EASA GA category. For the JoinFS Tour, an aircraft capable of around 200 knots is recommended in order to stay with the crowd.
ATC At the time of publishing this event plan, ATC has not been confirmed for the airports on the Caper route, except on 17th, when EFRO, EFOU, EFKE and EFKT will be manned on the JoinFS event TeamSpeak server, as mentioned above.
Radio Discipline Take care not to let our Teamspeak chat cut across ATC. Stop any conversation immediately the R/T comes alive, then continue if "he wasn't talking to us". This is difficult because when transmitting on Teamspeak you can't hear the R/T. So be brief on Teamspeak, and be aware that ATC might be trying to get through. If anyone hears an R/T message which seems to be being ignored, just say "ATC is calling G-CIXN" if you have identified the callsign, or "ATC is calling us" which is a cue for everyone to be quiet on Teamspeak until ATC call again (which they will). Remember too that if asked to "Stand By" by ATC, you do not reply - not even "Roger", but simply wait until you are called again.
Remember also that there are several different ATC frequencies in use, and you may not be able to hear when communications are taking place. Make sure you have set and know how to use a Teamspeak mute switch.
Acknowledgements Event planning: Peter Dodds
Briefing: Max Symons and Peter Dodds
Edited by Tony Driver.
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