Flying Round The World

[Jon H]

On 31st May 2006 I started a round the world flight. This was based on Tony Cooper's step by step guide entitled FS2004 Round The World In A Prop, available here. It takes you on a 24 leg journey round the globe, starting and finishing in Moorabbin (YMMB) in Melbourne, Victoria, Australia. Each leg is about 1000nm and lasts around five hours.

You end up flying north from Australia to cross the Bering Strait, then east through the USA and Canada. The Atlantic crossing to Gibralta is via the Azores, after which you follow the southern shore of the Mediterranean to Egypt.
Next comes the Red Sea and the Middle East, followed by Pakistan and India. Flying south east through Thailand brings you to Malaysia and Indonesia. The final few legs take you through Australia and back to where you started.

Tony uses Robert Christopher's Lancair Legacy for the flight, so I followed suit, only with my own colour scheme.

I landed back in Moorabbin and completed the journey

[stuart1044]

Congratulations, that sure is some hardcore flying

[haroldkip]

Wow! That is some hardcore flying! It makes my Tour of the American West Coast seem like a walk in the park.

Congratulations on completing the tour! Those shots you took underway look really nice too!

[Splat762]

Very cool, I wish I had time to do something like that....I must have a dozen or so "long leg" flights saved that are in progress but I never have time to finish them.  :D

[gottoflynow]

I just have to come up with a new long term project now.

Around the world in a Piper J-3 Cub... 8-)

Must have been fun, I'll have to try that some time...mabye this summer

-GTFN

[Bird-Nerd]

I can only do across continents  :P good job

[beaky]

Another madman... welcome to the club!

[pepper_airborne]

Cool!

Im doing my own little tour round the world, started out at KMSO down to KAST and up to anchorage, now im crossing through alaska to jump too russia.

[Ravang]

I just have to come up with a new long term project now.

Around the world in a Piper J-3 Cub... 8-)

Must have been fun, I'll have to try that some time...mabye this summer

-GTFN

You'll be done just in time to see FS2050  :P

[ashaman]

I'm thinking of doing something like that myself, after all it's a year since I finished my old world tour. I have already the plane picked out, the AFG Pilatus PC12. Before beginning I only must know the plane better and add to the cfg file the reserves that allow it to fly for the 2260 nm it's credited for (this time I'll make a Honolulu - St francisco, instead of having to pass through the Alaskan snowy lands). After having optimized the plane I'll have to choose at least the first 6 legs.

I'm still in the studying and planning stage.

[Helms]

I tryed to do that around the world thing, but it got boring after the second leg. But you made it, so congratulations! [smiley=beer.gif]

[Fozzer]

The longest flight I have ever had the patience to do after 8 years of Sim Flying, is from San Francisco (KSFO) to Los Angeles (KLAX) following the Pacific Coast... ...!

Other than that, it's daily hops from one grass airstrip to another in a baby Cessna, covering about 20-30 miles...
More than enough, in between trips to the toilet, cooking, eating, hoovering, polishing, grass cutting, etc... ...!

The thought of flying across the Atlantic, or Pacific Ocean, doesn't fill me with overwhelming enthusiasm, I'm afraid!... ...!
LOL...!

Paul...Very low, and very slow...(mostly stopped!)... 8-)...!

[Jon H]

It was good fun, but it could get boring on the long over sea legs. I'd usually just stick the auto-pilot on and try to get on with something else. After all, the best bits of any flight are at the beginning and the end (assuming it's a happy one).

I think the trick to getting through the whole thing is not to try too much at once. I spread each five hour leg out over three or four days, and when it was over I gave the whole thing a rest for a week or so. This way when you come back to it it's fresh and not a chore.

Thanks for the comments everyone.
Maybe I'll go around the other way next time. But then again maybe not...

[BFMF]

Wow! That is some hardcore flying!

Only if it's done real time, with RW weather, sitting at the computer....

I've done several RTW flights. I've done several 10+ hour flights, all real time, sitting at the computer. The longest I did was somewhere around 16 hours from the US to Midway. Now THAT was a long, boring flight, but I stuck it out.

To help with the boredom, read books, listen to music, browse internet, watch tv/movies, ect, but you have to be sitting at the computer....

[Jon H]

The only "cheating" I did was to save the flight after a couple of hours, shut down the computer and come back to it the next day. Admittedly it's not exactly realistic, but I just couldn't hack 5 hours of solid flying at a time.

And I agree that real world weather is the only way to go.