Flying Adventurer or Flying Fool?

[High Wing Drifter]

Just read in this morning's Metro (a freebie montage of news stories for London Transport travellers) that this famous (I think - can't remeber name) adventurer is going to fly from the Artic circle to Chile via New York including a stint over the Amazonian rain forest. Sounds like a wizard prang until I read the bit about him having only 75hrs experience TT! Surely he is going to die!

Good luck to him. He is going to need it (so are the SAR guys tasked with finding him)!

[S-Works]

I seem to recall a couple of guys with no TT, building and flying an aeroplane around Kittyhawk. I also recall a few other low hours aviators flying the channel and the atlantic.

Wheres your spirit of adventure! It is every human beings god given right to be stupid, attempt to kill themselves, whatever.

As long as they don't kill others at the same time then when should aplaud the spirit of adventure not critisize it!!!

:D :cool:

[Genghis the Engineer]

I seem to recall a couple of guys with no TT, building and flying an aeroplane around Kittyhawk

Actually they had quite a lot, it was just the first time they'd got the engine to work - they'd been building and flying gliders for years.

G

[S-Works]

smartarse!!!............. :p

[Squadgy]

If your in the Granada area watch Granada Reports now - we've got the news team in now about to do an interview with DHA.

[Whirlybird]

When Amy Johnson flew to Australia she only had about 100 hours TT.

Your thread title says it all...and I don't know the answer to that question.

[niknak]

.

I think the last post sums it up.

When Amy Johnson was flying, there were few or possibly no rescue services afforded to finding anyone who may possibly be in distress.

Today, we have an almost universal system of SAR made up of highly trained and genuinely dedicated people who regularly risk there lives looking for people who have had the misfortune to find themselves in peril, or alternatively idiots like this who flagrantly disregard common sense and will ineviatabley be a drain on the rescue services.

Of course it's a fine dividing line, an emergency is an emergency, but it annoys the crap out of me that those who set out on some half arsed mission to oblivion should put others at risk through their own ignorance, and not care a jot, when others who make genuine efforts to plan for every probable occurance are tarred with the same brush.

[bar shaker]

There are plenty of people who have LOTS of hours and still manage to make a hole in a field when it all goes wrong.

I flew to IoW with a chap, for whom it was his first XC after getting the hallowed paperwork from Gatwick. On the way back, he had an engine failure. He calmly assumed best glide, thought about possible causes and realised he had knocked the ignition switch when messing about with his map. He re-started and continued, totally un-fussed.

I would love to think I could remain so calm.

Hours mean nothing, currency is everything.

[Miserlou]

A round the world flight is only a series of shorter cross country flights. Many people may never fly so intensively again as they did when training for the licence.

Good luck, I say. Wish I could come.

[IO540]

I often wonder what the REAL challenge is on these trips which make the media.

Clearly there is no effort flying along on autopilot. Or even without an autopilot, if one doesn't mind getting knackered. I've done 1300 nm in one day without any trouble. Navigation is also completely trivial, with GPS, and in remote regions there won't be VOR/DMEs so there's no need to debate GPS failure. Satellite phones make it possible to keep in touch. So the difficulty has to be in the non-flying bits.

I reckon the hard bits must be

weather
weather
weather
sponsorship / media relations
getting overflight permits
aircraft paperwork/insurance to satisfy everybody
aircraft mods done and approved (e.g. long range tanks)
getting the survival gear together, some worn and some carried
making sure there is fuel at the stops
carrying spare GPS and spare batteries
making sure there is some prospect of rescue (in most of the 3rd world, there isn't a rapid-response SAR service) in case of an engine failure
planning a route so that an engine failure is probably survivable (or just take a big risk)
weather
weather
weather

:O

What have I missed out?

[Fly Stimulator]

What have I missed out?

Putting up with the high-pitched whining noise from unimaginative carpers

[High Wing Drifter]

Putting up with the high-pitched whining noise from unimaginative carpers
Keep it nice :)

making sure there is some prospect of rescue (in most of the 3rd world, there isn't a rapid-response SAR service) in case of an engine failure
All ICAO states are bound to provide 24hr and effective SAR response. They are also bound to honour the five freedoms of flight: one of which is overflight and the other is to land for technical reasons. Trouble is I am not sure if all of those coutries are ICAO or not.

[Genghis the Engineer]

I think you'd struggle to fly that route without overflying somewhere which is (a) extremely inhospitable, and (b) Isn't ICAO, or if it is (c) frankly it would be totally unrealistic to provide continuous SAR coverage anyway. Being brutal about this, you'd struggle to justify somebody else providing your SAR cover if you are 1000+ miles from the nearest human habitation.

Having said that, the gentleman in question has some track record of this sort of thing, I believe that about 15 years ago he undertook one of the toughest sea-kayak routes in the world, in a very small team, after only a few months training.

My guess is that if he does get "mislaid" in the middle of nowhere, he'll emerge largely unassisted a few months later and write a bestselling book about it - that's the nature of the beast.

G

[High Wing Drifter]

Found it! http://www.icao.int/cgi/goto_m.pl?/cgi/statesDB4.pl?en

With my very basic ATPL level of knowledge of climatology I would say weather wise he has picked a safe route. His flight will be mainly south of the ITCZ (as it is approaching its northen most point) where weather is generally more predictable because of the large amount of water in that part of the world. Apart from the ITCZ he will be in mainly high pressure regions and in slack wind or in areas of with very good facilities.

[Justiciar]

Are we not talking about David Hempleman Adams? He has something of a record of successful firsts. I read his account of crossing the andes by baloon when he was fairly low hours. He then went on to reach the North geographic pole by baloon and then crossed the atlantic. |He used one of the best climatologists and forecasters to help him. Not a man to cut corners or to plunge in unprepared.

[My names Turkish]

DAvid Hempleman Adams is NOT undertaking this flight alone. He is taking along Lorne White my PPL flight instructor. He has a US ATPL and 1600hrs+ and has completed fairly extensive cross country flights around the US, Mexico and Canada.

Canadian Spotlight (http://www.canadianspotlight.com)

Smile (http://www.smile.co.uk)

Edited to say: High Wing Drifter, Your statement about DHA having 75hrs Total Time is wrong, its actually 45 hrs:p