Around the world flight in a small aircraft

[cbo111]

There is a gentleman who built a small experimental aircraft called a Vans RV-9. He departed Davis, CA heading east several weeks ago and is flying it around the world. He made it to Hawaii just prior to their bad hurricane weather. Now that the storm has passed, he is on the final leg from Hilo to Oakland, CA. This is about a 15-hour flight.....over water......in a small single engine plane! Those of you who fly small aircraft know this takes some gusto. He is scheduled to arrive in Calif after midnight tonight. Here is a link to follow his final progress. Click on the "Tracking" button to see real-time updates of where he is located. Also, look at the "Route" button to see his entire flight profile.
https://memoryflightrtw.weebly.com/route.html

 

[candrew]

I'm not a pilot and have no working knowledge of what it takes to fly an plane.

Having said that, circumnavigating the globe in such a small aircraft takes a set of stones, if you ask me!

It reminds me of having read Lindbergh's account of crossing the Atlantic almost a century ago.

 

[CalmSeasQuest]

Lots of miles in single engine aircraft - It's not the distance; it's the over-water legs.

 

[Dash man]

Having flown Air Force Search and Rescue and spending many hours looking for these people with little success, on the taxpayers dime, I wish people would not try these stunts. The ocean is not a friendly place to ditch and planes frequently go under before people can deploy their raft or exit the aircraft.

 

[REWahoo]

Almost half a century ago I ran across one of these large stone, mucho gusto pilots on Wake Island. He was island-hopping, ferrying a single engine Cessna from the US to southeast Asia, which involved flying distances far longer than the designed fuel range. I got a look at how the extra range was achieved - the back seats and the front passenger seat had been removed and replaced with fuel bladders. And sitting atop the fuel bladder in the front passenger seat was a large ash tray filled to overflowing with cigarette butts.

 

[Koolau]

<SNIP>

And sitting atop the fuel bladder in the front passenger seat was a large ash tray filled to overflowing with cigarette butts.

See! Those things really work!

But, seriously, I have about 125 hours in a small aircraft as PIC. During that time, I had one forced landing. I think that's unusual, but a round the world trip would seem pretty risky if that experience is typical. One of my instructors had several thousand hours in single engine AC. He also had one forced landing (a broken oil line.)

Most of the airmen I know who flew single engine AC would rather have one engine to go bad than doubling the risk with an extra engine - but YMMV.

 

[Cessna152]

There is a web site that maintains a registry of pilots who have flown around the world in light aircraft:
Earth Rounders

On a related note, most people have heard of Amelia Earhart, who died trying to be the first woman to pilot an aircraft around the world. Yet far fewer know the name of the woman who accomplished what Earhart failed at, and did it solo and did it in a common single engine Cessna (Earhart had navigator Fred Noonan on board the twin engine plane.)

She wrote a book about her flight:
https://www.amazon.com/Three-Eight-Charlie-Woman-Around-World-ebook/dp/B00JMBBDBS/ref=sr_1_2?ie=UTF8&qid=1535689673

 

[CaptTom]

Well, according to his current track, he did it.

 

[deserat]

Almost half a century ago I ran across one of these large stone, mucho gusto pilots on Wake Island. He was island-hopping, ferrying a single engine Cessna from the US to southeast Asia, which involved flying distances far longer than the designed fuel range. I got a look at how the extra range was achieved - the back seats and the front passenger seat had been removed and replaced with fuel bladders. And sitting atop the fuel bladder in the front passenger seat was a large ash tray filled to overflowing with cigarette butts.

Yeah - living life on the wild side!!! I remember when most smoked and we didn't have to use seat belts and lots of stuff we did that now would be considered very unsafe and insane....I guess you could think of it as another way we filtered out those who were lucky from the terminally intellectually challenged. Now we have a nanny-state and the intellectual distribution is much wider ;-)

 

[deserat]

I have a friend who did the across the Atlantic route - he told me that icing and lots of water were his concerns. He was very happy to get to the different stopping spots on his route.

I really enjoyed the Jimmy Stewart movie about Lindbergh - my friend's thoughts were similar to those mentioned while 'Stewart' was flying in that movie.

Break - and as for Jimmy Stewart himself - what an amazing man....excellent pilot and leader, let alone his wonderful acting skills. Truly a gentleman...he makes my heart go pitter-patter

 

[deserat]

There is a web site that maintains a registry of pilots who have flown around the world in light aircraft:
Earth Rounders

On a related note, most people have heard of Amelia Earhart, who died trying to be the first woman to pilot an aircraft around the world. Yet far fewer know the name of the woman who accomplished what Earhart failed at, and did it solo and did it in a common single engine Cessna (Earhart had navigator Fred Noonan on board the twin engine plane.)

She wrote a book about her flight:
https://www.amazon.com/Three-Eight-Charlie-Woman-Around-World-ebook/dp/B00JMBBDBS/ref=sr_1_2?ie=UTF8&qid=1535689673

Disclaimer - I am a female pilot and a member of the 99's. There were much better pilots than Amelia during that time - my fave is Louise Thaden. Amelia had deep pockets and notoriety, hence her name recognition which was used for affiliation. She did not do a very good job in terms of some of her flight planning and from the cursory research I've done, she could have picked some better people to work with on this endeavor. It is sad that she was lost, however, high risk activities sometimes end in catastrophic failure. One of the things about being a pilot is coming to grips with your abilities and knowing when not to do something.

 

[ncbill]

California -> Hawaii in a small plane is not a low-risk endeavor.

Remember just a few years ago a pilot ferrying one of those planes with the built-in parachute was fortunate to get out just before it sank.

And even more fortunate that a cruise ship was nearby to pick him up.

 

[Walt34]

It reminds me of having read Lindbergh's account of crossing the Atlantic almost a century ago.

It's a lot easier now. Lindbergh didn't have GPS navigation. All he had was a compass and dead reckoning. They call it that because if you don't reckon right, you're dead.

But as Dash man wrote, I have to wonder about the sanity of people who do stuff like that. It's not like they're doing something that hasn't been done before.

 

[cbo111]

Yes. He finally made it to Calif. Apparently had to go missed approach at the primary airfield due to poor weather, then landed at an alternate. Can you imagine flying that long overwater leg, then having to divert at the last minute. Yikes!

 

[Souschef]

But as Dash man wrote, I have to wonder about the sanity of people who do stuff like that. It's not like they're doing something that hasn't been done before.

He supposedly was doing it to raise awareness about Alzheimers