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Around the World in Style By Ian Radcliffe It was time for another big adventure. I've been around the world a couple of times, the first time non-stop in the Global Voyager, the second in the A2A Cherokee 180. Although both met the FAI requirements for a "circumnavigation" neither came close to traveling the true circumferential distance. This time I determined to go around at the Equator (or as close as possible) in an airplane that could handle the long overwater flights. Clearly, only one bird was appropriate for the task, so I picked up an A2A Lockheed Constellation as refurbished by Grubich Aerospace, invited thirty close friends along for the ride, and set out from Quito, Ecuador at dawn. First Leg - Quito to Natal Like most of my adventures this one was largely (entirely?) spontaneous and unplanned. I didn't bother to run any numbers - how much can thirty people weigh? - so the load, plus full tanks, plus the 8,000 foot airport altitude made the take off a little anxiety-inducing. She trundled down almost the whole 13,000 feet of runway before taking flight, and even then we were barely doing 110 as we crossed the far end. But after gear up, a couple of shallow turns to avoid buildings/trees, and raising the flaps after gaining a few hundred feet we were into a gentle climb to the north to get high enough to clear the mountains before turning east. Then it was on to Natal. We cruised at 24,000 feet, at 29 inches and 2,200 RPM, a basic cruise setting for this plane. The South American continent at this latitude is pretty flat: hour after hour of almost unbroken green. Some time during cruise the entire flight crew fell asleep for several hours; when we woke up we were within range of the beacon; just 160 nm short of our destination and, miraculously, only 20 miles off track. We landed soon after dusk, at 8:15 pm local. With light headwinds all the way we covered the 2,615 nautical miles in 10 hours 14 minutes, and had 24% fuel remaining at shutdown. I got my first look at the Amazon Basin, but otherwise it was an uneventful trip. Second Leg - Natal to Sao Tome The first long overwater leg. I'm still learning about long-range flying in this plane, but using the last flight as a guide, it looks as though the bird will go around 3,300 miles with ease. Sao Tome, an island off the west coast of Africa in the Gulf of Guinea was only 2,500 miles away. This hop would go for almost 10 hours with no beacons, out of sight of land, but it's hard to miss Africa, right? We cruised with the same settings as before, dodged a few thunderstorms along the way, and picked up Sao Tome VOR from 188 miles out. For several hours, the undercast had precluded use of the drift sight, and we turned out to be 40 nm off course after 2,370 nm of flight - due mainly to a two-degree "gut instinct" course change I made that I didn't need to make. 9 hours 29 minutes. 2,545 miles. 268 knots. Third Leg - Sao Tome to the Seychelles Terrific trip across Africa. I decided to try for the Seychelles, 3,000 miles away, beyond the other side of the continent. We took off from Sao Tome at dawn and headed east and soon Africa emerged from the mist. I took the opportunity to test something I was told a long time ago. Range is range - regardless of the altitude at which you fly (more or less). The trade off is the speed at which you travel: we fly at high altitudes in part because we can cover the same distance faster. Since the first 1200 miles of Africa eastbound from Sao Tome is flat, I flew at 3,000 feet the whole way, to see what sort of range performance I could get - and to give everyone a better view. I kept the airspeed way down, around 155 knots. Six-and-a-half hours into the flight we had travelled 1,110 nm; remaining range - 2,493 nm. Beyond the Congo River the terrain begins to rise, so we climbed gently and leveled at 18,000 for what seemed the best winds. We landed at Seychelles International after 14 hours and 17 minutes of flight; 2,946 miles at an average groundspeed of 206 knots. Fourth Leg - Seychelles to Singapore Uneventful flight from the Seychelles to Singapore. We cruised at 10,000 feet for the best winds (headwinds again) and went 2,925 nm in 12 hours 26 minutes. Average speed 235 knots. At 11,027 nautical miles, we're now just over half-way round. Fifth Leg - Singpore to Nadzab Left Singapore before dawn. I thought about going for distance and trying for the Solomons, but decided to do some sightseeing instead, flying down the Indonesian island chain at a couple of thousand feet. We climbed to 8,000 for the later part of the trip over the mountainous eastern end of the main island, and slipped down between the hills to land at Nadzab after dark. Covered 2,614 miles in 12 hours 19 minutes. Another slow average speed of 212 knots. Sixth Leg - Nadzab to Funafuti On to Funafuti, a thin sweep of land around a large lagoon in the middle of the South Pacific. Fortunately, Funafuti is equipped with both an NDB and DME, so it was easy enough to find - once the stations came into range. Essentially, on these long-distance, no-GPS flights, I'm assuming I can control the drift well enough that I'll pass close enough to my destination to receive whatever homing signal(s) they transmit. (Is there a fixed range for a given beacon type; I've never checked.) So far I've done OK, but mostly with a sizeable landmass to run into in case I miss. Funafuti is all by itself in the middle of the ocean; the closest land, another island, is over 200 miles to the south. It was another easy flight into steady headwinds over broken cloud. We arrived at dusk, which was fortunate as the field is unlighted. 1,937 nm. 9 hours. 215 knots. Seventh Leg - Funafuti to Nuka Hiva A bit of excitement shortly after takeoff. Our next destination, Nuka Hiva, was 2,410 miles away, and 500 miles from the nearest dry spot, so I left well before dawn to ensure arriving in good light. Five minutes into the flight, climbing through three thousand, I was informed we had a sick passenger. There really was only one option: turn around and land. I was a little apprehensive at the thought of landing on that unlit runway at night, but at least I'd seen it in daylight so it wasn't completely new. The cloudbase wasn't really that low, and the visibility was better than marginal, so staying under the cloud and turning to a reciprocal course wasn't too hard. It was DARK out there but I managed to spot the island and the strip sliding by to port. I went downwind a bit and then turned into a curving approach. As the runway came back into view and I was considering gear and flaps and stuff, I was informed the passenger had recovered. We did a sort of missed approach buzz-job and climbed away into the cloud. 2,409 miles in 9 hours 47 minutes. Average speed 246 knots. Eighth Leg - Nuka Hiva to the Galapagos Close to the end of a near-perfect circumnavigation. Some trepidation over this one because from Nuka Hiva to the Galapagos is a shade over 3,000 nm - 3,064 to be exact - and there is nowhere else to land once past the point of no return. We picked up a little icing early on but it was actually a very nice flight at 18,000 feet into light headwinds - until the pressurization failed. The cabin quickly went to 18 thou, so I quickly descended to 12,000 - where we found a 24-knot headwind. We were 2,200 miles into the trip, with 800 to go. I fiddled a lot with the throttles and propeller pitch control. I remembered reading about the WWII Army Air Force operating at low RPM at times to extend their range and finally settled on 23" and 1,800 RPM. The winds were no better at lower altitudes, so we stayed at 12,000 and plodded on, fingers crossed. We picked up the first beacon a long way out and I elected to bypass the closest field and continued on another 80 miles to the main airport with its longer runway. We landed with 141 gallons of fuel remaining, enough for 95 miles, or about 25 minutes flying time. 3,064 miles in 13 hours 20 minutes, for an average speed of 230 knots. Final Leg - The Galapagos to Quito It's less than 700 miles to Quito so I got to take off AND land in daylight. We cruised at 10,000 with gentle winds. Climbed a little over the foothills of the Andes, and then swooped into Quito/Mariscal Sucre (after Antonio Jose de Sucre y Alcala, fourth president of Peru and second president of Bolivia). Landed gracefully, rolled to the ramp, shut her down. 3 hours 5 minutes. 670 miles. 217 knots. Conclusion Trip stats: Total distance: 21,725 nautical miles. Total flight time: 93 hours 57 minutes. Average speed: 231 knots. The A2A Connie is a total delight to fly. I may have gone round the wrong way. The prevailing winds, while generally light, were all out of the east. I don't know if this is typical for the equatorial region; perhaps a seasonal thing. Reminder: A2A aircraft will throw things at you that you won't get with stock FSX planes. If you're flying A2A planes it's a good idea to regularly review and practice your emergency procedures.

"8 Days Around the World" 18 flights in 8 days By Bill Smith Historical flightsim adventure, finally adapted as a movie! See the trailer for the movie here: Background Back in 2001 I submitted to flightsim.com a rather long and breathlessly excited editorial piece which chronicled a "round the world" trip that was flown non-stop for 120 hours in FS98. Re-reading the article recently I was drawn back into the five-day period of relentless hit-and-miss global navigation and very little sleep as I jumped rapidly from one aircraft type to the next. What I lacked in knowledge and preparation back then was more than made up for with a boundless enthusiasm to discover exactly how much flight simulation was too much. My overriding memory of this five day period is how I survived in a kind of semi-hallucinogenic twilight existence right up until my FS time ran out when real world responsibilities came crashing back in on me. I have to admit, as exhausting as it was, it was fun while it lasted. Now of course I like to think that I have matured considerably since 2001, but the truth is that the astronomical advances in flight simulator technology over recent years have drawn me even deeper into the increasingly realistic world of simulated global flying. We all take for granted nowadays the integration of real weather systems and very precise trans-continental navigation over highly detailed terrain in our much improved flight sim programs. There is so much more complexity that we need to come to grips with but the resultant illusion of flight is more complete. So I wondered if it would be possible to somehow capture the essence of that marathon voyage using modern day hardware and software and present the story as a motion picture full of exciting flying sequences. A Few Ground Rules I thought that it was essential to fly the entire route incorporating the correct real world weather over eight sequential days. I would try as far as possible to fly to the same destinations as I had eleven years ago. Using present day air schedules of course it's no surprise to find the airlines' aircraft have changed. (No more shrieking 727s or scary DC-10s.) I definitely wanted to incorporate the mad parachuting sequence over Key West and to re-visit the half naked beach babes in Rio De Janeiro. (Perhaps I haven't matured as much as I thought I had). I figured that as my RTW attempt had ended prematurely in Hong Kong, I should start this voyage re-creation where I had left off, with a plan to arrive back at the start point one week later. The Movie Thanks to the huge assortment of FS add-ons that are available today, the flying sequences look sharp and the trip went far better than I ever anticipated. Also, thanks to a savage regime of editing, the pace of the finished movie is fast; perhaps even relentlessly so. This time around, in recreating this epic voyage I managed to reaffirm my natural place in the world; one step removed from reality. This is something that only other similarly addicted flightsim fanatics can relate to. Enjoy the movie at Youtube: 8 Days Around The World Part 1 8 Days Around The World Part 2 Bill Smith leesmith@ca.com.au

Around The World In ... How Long Does That Take? By Ron Blehm (21 March 2011) In 1873 author Jules Verne published his famous book, "Around the World in 80 days." This novel followed the adventures of Londoner Phineas Fogg and his French valet Mr. Passepartout as they took on a £20,000 challenge to travel around the globe in just 80 days. The novel was written at a time when trans-Asian and trans-American rail lines were just being completed and the possibility of world travel actually because plausible. Many adventures and missteps were had along the way (as in any good novel) but the story got me to thinking, "How long would it take, in today's terms, to do the same trip?" Sure, two or three legs on an A340 or 777 would be pretty quick and flightsim even offers spacecraft that could make the flight in about 80 minutes but I mean really, how long would this take in the real-world (if everything ran on time)? Could I make it all the way around in, say, 80 hours? Several years ago simmer Peter Stark wrote an article about flying the sim around the world in about 600 days and perhaps his piece was a bit of an inspiration to take this on. Well, I fired up FSX and went to www.flightlookup.com and started entering information. (Please note that flight information and equipment change often, sometimes without notice. What I have written here was the information provided on the day I undertook this project.) In the Jules Verne novel the travelers went from London to Suez but there are no direct flights that I could find to Port Said. So instead I searched for London to Cairo and found Egypt Air flight 778 is a non-stop, departing London at 14:00 and scheduled to arrive to Cairo at 20:45. Equipment is listed as a 773. I loaded in a flight plan, downloaded real weather and pushed back from the gate at 14:02 on Monday January 24th. Once clear I started the engines and requested taxi to the active. During my 15-minute taxi and hold I calculated that to win the prize (Maybe I could win a free years' membership to www.flightsim.com?) I needed to be shut down at a Heathrow gate before 22:00 Thursday night January 27th. I departed from runway 27L (above, left) and climbed through 4,500 feet before turning to intercept the route (above, right). As I received clearances I climbed on up to a final cruise of 33,000 feet. Sunset came over Italy somewhere (short days in January in the north) and the last half of the flight was in darkness. The schedule showed that my arrival was to be 20:45 and I landed at 20:42 (below, left). After what felt like a long taxi my actual shut-down at the gate was ... 20:45. Amazing! Next I looked for non-stop flights from Cairo to Mumbai and found Egypt Air flight 968 which leaves at 23:00 and flies a 738. (Seems like a long flight for the 737 family but we'll see) This left me a layover of just over 2 hours. I switched planes, loaded the flight plan, fired up the sim and ... waited for ATC to stop talking to everyone else. It was 23:05 before I started taxi and 23:12 when I started the takeoff roll. (I was number 3 holding for takeoff - above, right). Our cruise level was FL350 and our route took us over Dubai and along the south coast of Iran. Scheduled arrival was to be 07:55 but I showed actual shut-down at 06:11 (below,left). Either that was one heck of a tailwind or Microsoft missed a time zone somewhere! Whatever the case, I only had 1,914 pounds of fuel left in the tank so it was time to land. The next real-world flight is Indigo Air flight 321 from Mumbai to Kolkata which is scheduled to depart at 09:25 and flies an A320 (above, center). Scheduled arrival is to be 12:10 and I was able to shut down at the gate at 12:48 (above, right). I guess that makes up for arriving early into Mumbai! From Kolkata Jules Verne's novel took our intrepid travelers to Hong Kong but I was unable to find any non-stop flights. In the novel there was an interruption as they crossed India, a funeral party was crashed and well ... you'll have to read the book. So, in order to make up for that one-day delay in the story I chose a connection via Delhi. Indigo Air 206 departs at 16:40 so I had about 4 hours to get into town and find some non-airline food! After a "quick" trip into town I was pressed to get back to the airport and ready for departure on time. It was still very hazy as the sun set and I returned to Delhi in darkness (photos above). I did a coupled approach to landing and shut down at the gate at 19:05 Tuesday night - about 4 minutes late. The next leg is flown by Cathay flight 694 which leaves Delhi at 22:15 and flies an A340 to Hong Kong with scheduled arrival at 05:25 Wednesday AM. I loaded the flight plan and pushed back on-time. Cruise was at 37,000 feet (above, left). We landing on runway 25L in Hong Kong and shut down a little bit early at 05:02 (above, right). Our next leg, according to the Jules Verne novel is up to Yokohama. Well, for real schedule and flightsim purposes we'll pick a flight to Narita instead. Delta 638 leaves Hong Kong at 08:00 Wednesday AM and flies a 747-400 (photos above). Scheduled arrival was to be at 12:55, we arrived uneventfully and shut down at 13:44 (below, left). Now hang on; An hour early into Mumbai and an hour late into Tokyo? What's the deal here? Anyway, the next leg is an overnighter to San Francisco, departing Tokyo at 17:00 and scheduled to arrive at 09:03. United uses a 747-400 for flight 838 but so that we could see something different I chose to fly a Pan Am 747-200 (above, right). We left in the light rain Wednesday night and arrived 45 minutes late ... Wednesday AM (below, left). At this point, barring any mechanical failures, I was quite sure that I could complete the task in under 80 hours and win the prize! Our next scheduled flight is United flight 10 leaving SFO at 10:37 AM. This left me just under an hour to get over to the other gate and get the 757 all prepped and ready to go. We pushed back at 10:39 and taxied to the active (above, center). Our route across the US of A took us over Salt Lake and Chicago among other waypoints (above, right). Scheduled arrival to JFK was to be 19:15 but flightsim showed me shut down at 19:53. Now, I was doing Mach 0.81 across the nation with a slight tailwind from the northwest - how on earth was I supposed to be 30 minutes faster? This lead to my next problem. I had planned on taking British Airways flight 176 but that was to leave JFK at 19:55 and obviously I wouldn't be able to make that kind of a turn-around. I had missed my connecting flight!! Since I had already downloaded and installed a British Airways 772 I was debating ... just leave "late" or call it "missed" and look for another flight. American flight 132 uses a 777 and leaves at 21:30 and is set to arrive at 09:35 Thursday AM, about 12 hours early for my 80-hour window. Sorry to the AA fans out there but this was my plan - leave at 21:30 but fly the BA livery. Well, it was a dark and quiet night across the pond, dawn arrived over Ireland and made a straight-in approach to Heathrow's runway 9R shutting down early at 09:02 (photos above). So there you have, Jules Verne fans, using modern equipment and real-world time schedules you CAN fly all the way around the globe in 80 hours. Ron Blehm pretendpilot@yahoo.com