Melbourne - London By Sea Ray Amphibian.

[Sunfish]

The intrepid Michael Smith of Sun Theatre fame has embarked on a recreation of the Qantas flying boat route from Sydney to London by Sea Ray amphibian.

He is doing this with no fanfare and no sponsorship although his vessel for the trip has been entered on the yacht club register. I think his aircraft is now at Selatar and he is staying at the RSYC.

The aircraft has an "N" registration as apparently it was simply too administratively difficult to make the trip in a VH experimental or RAA registered aircraft.

The aircraft has a Rotax 914, a constant speed prop, Dynon sky view with autopilot and, of course an 80 Litre auxiliary fuel tank.

You can follow Michaels blog here:

Travel Blog: Southern Sun: Melbourne to London (http://www.travelpod.com/travel-blog/southernsun/1/tpod.html)

[spinex]

Adventure with a capital "A" and heartening to see a bloke pay his own way.

Perhaps I'm getting cycnical in my old age, but I'm a little over all manner of junkets being dressed up as charity events with the expectation that Joe Public will shell out to fund the fun.

[gerry111]

Clinton,

I remember that your SeaRey cruised at 85 Kts with wheels up or down. I wonder if this one with a Rotax 914 and constant speed prop is really that much faster?


An autopilot on a SeaRey? This would have to be the first!


A brilliant adventure for Michael Smith and I wish him a very safe and enjoyable trip. And great hospitality from the Yacht Clubs. Enjoy!

[Searey]

Fly safe brother .... I've been waiting 10 years to share some airspace with another Searey !! Fair winds.

[Desert Flower]

Just don't land on any salt lakes! ;)

DF.

[aroa]

Top flight, blog and pics. :ok:
Stirs up the old adventure genes thats for sure.:ok:

First salt lake landing was a muddy mistake. :{

The second unpiloted heavy crash landing was a cock-up by someone who needs to learn the correct way to sling any object that produces lift.:eek::mad:

[UTW]

Great to watch Michael's progress! There's obviously been a lot of hard work put into the preparation for this adventure..... Good luck for the rest of the journey!

[Sunfish]

What next? Michael made it to London and then after a few weeks decided to try for America. He flew via Ireland, Faroes, Iceland, Greenland and Canada to New York. All episodes are on the website.

But wait, there is more! Will Michael try to cross the Pacific via Sea Rey? I'm going to a private talk he is giving tomorrow and we may discover if the adventure is over...…or not.

[Aussie Bob]

This is an interesting and highly readable blog. Thanks for putting it up Sunny, I am about half way through it and read a bit most days.

[Stanwell]

Yeah, thanks for the update, Sunny.

[aroa]

thus far...but hopefully as yet unfinished. Alaska, Russia, Japan etc...we shall see.?
And again get hooked on the fabulous pictures and story.

I am amazed at his weather luck. No turn backs or diversions, thus far.


Onya Micheal !! :ok:

[Sunfish]

From last nights talk. at this stage, it doesn't necessarily look promising. Unless the Russians give him permission for overflight, or the U.S. Defence Department allows him to land on Midway and also find him some mogas on Midway, Michael is stumped…

But I have to say he is an extremely resourceful bloke and if anyone can pull the proverbial rabbit out of the hat its Michael Smith. I wonder if there might be an aircraft carrier doing a suitable transit in the Pacific that might provide a stopover?

His very official looking flying suit, bedecked with Four bar epaulets, national flags and badges certainly helped him in a lot of situations!

[Jerr]

Michael will be introducing a documentary Return of the Catalina at the Sun Theatre today at 12 noon.

Hoping he will talk about his adventure as well!

And my idea of a big trip was to see Junior JERR in the outback.

Safe flying JERR

[Sunfish]

I think I had better rename this thread. It isn't Melbourne - London by Sea Rey anymore, its Melbourne - Melbourne!

Way back in September when Michael gave his talk about the flight to London, he let on that he was examining the possibility of a true circumnavigation.

There follows in his blog (link below) his account of his flight to America where he pondered a Pacific flight - which he determined was out of the question. That left either a Russian route or possibly a stop in an American air base in the Aleutians - or both.

He is now in Adak in the Aleutians. I'm not sure of his route from there.

Southernsun's Travel Blog: Cold Bay, United States - October 7, 2015 (http://www.travelpod.com/travel-blog-entries/southernsun/1/1444249222/tpod.html)

[mcoates]

Its just an amazing adventure. troubles ahead in Russia that i hope can be overcome but certainly must be awarded Australian Aviator of the year for his efforts !

[limelight]

I think Michael lost patience with the Russians,he has just flown DIRECT from Attu Island in the Aleutians to Northern Japan. A 16.5 hour flight. I am led to believe he was somewhat worn out on arrival.....

[sdielectrical]

Looks like he is arriving back in Australia Tomorrow 11/11/15 and landing at Longreach. On Friday he is flying from Longreach to Rylstone Airpark NSW where there is a BBQ around 2pm. All welcome. before his final flight to Melbourne.

[OZBUSDRIVER]

Listened to Michael on Macca on Sunday morning. Very laid back and quite interesting to listen to. Hope he decides to give a talk on his exploits. Would be worth the trip.

[aroa]

Mike has completed the global circuit at Longreach, but still has a couple of hops to home. Earthrounder TRU ! What a journey!!. Top blog and pix.
Fantastico. Brilliant. Bravo.:ok::ok::ok:

[Sunfish]

Will be arriving at RYCV Saturday afternoon. Unfortunately I won't be there. There is talk of a book.

[Valdiviano]

Brilliant, well written blog, look forward to a book.
Congratulations Michael

[Aussie Bob]

There is talk of a bookThere is also a movie, I saw it last night and it is well worth seeing. A remarkable achievement without sponsorship, charity raising or fanfare. A circumnavigation of the globe at 80 knots in a floating ultralight.

[Bull at a Gate]

Extract from his forthcoming book in today's Sydney Morning Herald.

Seaplane pilot Michael Smith: the moment an Aussie driving habit nearly killed me (http://www.smh.com.au/good-weekend/michael-smith-how-my-seaplane-quest-from-sydney-to-southhampton-nearly-ended-in-disaster-20171006-gyvwam.html)

[Frontal Lobotomy]

Just saw the movie on Virgin inflight. A great story.

[Aussie Bob]

Nice to see he just did it as opposed to running a massive media campaign.

Totally agree. Some guy decides to jump in a small flying boat and fly to England at 80 knots - no biggie. The fact that when in England it was too hard to freight the thing home and he just decided to continue on to the US, Canada, the arctic circle, Japan and then back to Australia make this flight just about equal to anything that has been achieved since Orville and Wilbur took to the skies. Sure, it has all been done before in bigger faster things but in a Searey at 80 is pretty special

[compressor stall]

I too saw it yesterday on Virgin in flight. Very impressive flight with little fanfare.

[Kiwithrottlejockey]

On Radio New Zealand National's Nine to Noon this morning, Kathryn Ryan interviewed Michael Smith who flew around the world in a small, two-seat amphibian flying-boat, following the old Imperial Airways and Pan American Airways flying-boat routes. Michael has written a book, “Voyage of the Southern Sun” and also produced a documentary film of the same name on BluRay and DVD.

• Michael Smith: around the world in a flying boat (http://www.radionz.co.nz/national/programmes/ninetonoon/audio/2018619844/michael-smith-around-the-world-in-a-flying-boat)

I understand the book and documentary are being released this week.

You can order both from the website Voyage of the Southern Sun (http://www.southernsun.voyage/) (AU$49 for the book; AU$70 for the book and DVD; AU$75 for the book and BluRay).