London to Sydney by Cherokee (Oct 2013)

[Aussie Andy]

G'day one and all... just to let anyone interested know, myself and my co-pilot Sam are going to fly my 1966 Cherokee 180 G-ATYS from London to Sydney later this year.

This is partly about a personal challenge - I'm an Australian ex-pat living in London for 24yrs and have always dreamt of flying home under my own steam! But it's also about charity - we have the ludicrous aim of trying to raise £1/NM (it's 10,500 NM from EGTB to YSBK..!).

If you find this of interest and want to follow our plans, preparations or have questions or want to offer advice(!) then please checkout our various web presences, all of which are listed at www.g-atys.co.uk (http://www.g-atys.co.uk).

Cheers!

Andy

[treadigraph]

Are you going to fly her back again Andy, or is it an "export"?

All the very best with the trip, I'd love to have the opportunity to do a trip like that!

Cheers

Treadders

[Aussie Andy]

Neither mate - I intend to keep Yankee Sierra and return her to the UK, but doubt I can take the necessary couple of months off work next year to enjoy flying back again... and so rather than sell her out there (and never recoup the money I've invested in her!) I am thinking about sea-freighting her back in a container..!

Thanks - its a once in a lifetime opportunity I reckon and I am fortunate to have a window of opportunity for this...!

[thing]

Good luck mate. It's something I've dreamed about for some time but to Bris. I'm in Oz at the moment and every time I come here I start to work out possible routings...unfortunately time and finances would rule it out but maybe when I retire...:)

Hope everything goes well and I'm glad you can't see the green hue of my gills!

[Aussie Andy]

Cheers fella - trust me I've been dreaming it for years :-)

Follow along Everyday Hero UK: The Cherokee Challenge Flight to Australia 2013 (http://www.everydayhero.co.uk/event/cherokeechallenge2013)

[spokes]

good luck Andy, i did it myself solo in a flexwing microlight in 2011
Solo Flight Global (http://www.soloflightglobal.com)

[Aussie Andy]

David, yours was an epic achievement mate! I've heard tell of your trip and have seen the website. Route is very similar.

Big advantage of the flexwing vs the Cherokee I think is that despite being slower, I believe it uses MoGas, and for us only being able tomplan to stop where we can find Avgas is a huge limitation!

I'd love to hear what weather you struck - we're going at different ends of the year, but I'll be you struck some convective weather?

PM me and let's exchange email details...

Andy

[GBOZR]

I wish you the best with you trip gents! I must say I am very jealous of your trip! What an experience you will have and what a great way to build hours!

More importantly be safe and enjoy it!

GBOZR

[Aussie Andy]

Cheers mate! It'll ony be about 70hrs each, but they'll be great hrs..!

[skua]

Andy

Wishing you very good luck. I have no doubt that most of the difficulty will be on land rather than in the air.....

Skua

[Morris542]

Do you need a passenger?

[Aussie Andy]

Skua: I am sure you're right about that!

Morris: I have a copilot already and as the rear seats are being removed to have a ferry tank system installed in their place, I have to tell you there's no room for passengers (and I'd rather have the fuel :rolleyes: )

Andy

[Morris542]

Morris: I have a copilot already and as the rear seats are being removed to have a ferry tank system installed in their place, I have to tell you there's no room for passengers (and I'd rather have the fuel)

I assumed that would be the case! Out of interest what's the form with getting a ferry tank installed? Is it a standard fit or custom made to your particular aircraft? ££?

[Aussie Andy]

Having ferry tanks fitted is a very expensive pain in the arse. Nothing standard about them, and the biggest (most expensive) hassle is the EASA cert process. I can let you know the cost when we're through it - but its a LOT.