Message by Martin, the Challenge Coordinator:
……now for that ETA. Southend.
Steve is meeting headwinds over Algeria and his speed is down to around 160 knots. At his planned speed of 168 knots he will arrive Southend at 1525Z.
Gill Courage of Aerodynamics is watching the weather (a beautiful day over France and England with winds light and variable) but at his current rate of progress she has him arriving at Southend nearer 1600Z. It is likely that he will pick up speed once over the Med and then France.
What is nail-biting is that Chalkie Stobbart’s time for the northbound leg, Cape Town – London was 36 hours and 35 minutes. For Steve to beat this time, and take the hat-trick, he must fly the leg in less than 10 hours 55 minutes. At 168 knots he will have an elapsed time of 10 hours and 54 minutes!!! At his current speed he will be 30 minutes slower than Chalkie.
SO, will he pick up enough speed over the Med and France to recover 31 minutes and beat Chalkie?
He already has the London – Cape Town leg in the bag and at the slower speed will still take the round trip record – but not Chalkie’s northbound record. (For those of you who, by this stage, will understandably be confused by my arithmetic, the fact that Steve has spent less time on the ground than Chalkie accounts for the fact that he can still take the round trip record without taking Chalkie’s northbound leg).
All I can say is watch that sat tracker and will the winds to be in Steve’s favour…………….
What a day for Steve. What a day for British light aviation.
Martin
He needs to be wheels on by 1555Z to get the northbound as well - it's going to be real tight. Sam.
Last edited by Sam Rutherford; 3rd Sep 2010 at 10:37.
Reason: putting reason in bold (sorry, but pretty chuffed here).