Forget about Tracey, Lachlan has departed on a genuine solo trip around the world.

[Checklist Charlie]

ABC News report here:
Sunshine Coast teenager Lachlan Smart begins bid to become youngest pilot to circle globe - ABC News (Australian Broadcasting Corporation) (http://www.abc.net.au/news/2016-07-04/lachlan-smart-bid-youngest-person-fly-around-globe/7566290)

His website is here:
Wings Around the World | One Teenager ? One Engine ? Endless Opportunities (http://www.wingsaroundtheworld.com.au/)

Good Luck Lachlan.

CC

[megle2]

With that callsign the the first sector to Norfolk Island should be a piece of cake, Norfolk Airlines King Air 200 VH IBC did it hundreds of times
Hopefully tailwinds all the way around for him

[Pontius]

Well, the very best of luck to him and I hope for 100% success but how about some originality? It looks to me like he's just copied and pasted Ryan, even down to the aircraft, flight suit, ASIC position and sunnies :-)

http://i895.photobucket.com/albums/ac157/Redeyemarvel/Ryan%20Campbell_zpskpac5f7h.jpg

[Squawk7700]

Don't forget the four gold bars too :-)

Ok so the elephant in the room... How did this young chap fund this expedition, did he do a roadshow like Ryan? I recall meeting Ryan at Avalon airshow when he was "crowd funding."

I caught Lachlan on channel 7 on the weekend; he spoke with the maturity level more like a 28 yr old which was reassuring. I wish him well.

[spinex]

I don't know that you can necessarily pay him out for the gold bars - they are pretty much a necessity in most of the third world or at least so the conventional wisdom goes. I can't speak for all places, but I will admit to tap dancing my way out of a nameless African country with nothing more than a set of borrowed gold bars and an expired PPL, so there may be something in that.

[Sunfish]

4 gold bars and a flight suit with suitable military looking insignia was the advice a friend received and he afterwards confirmed its utility in third world countries.

[wishiwasupthere]

Gold bars and some US dollars usually does the trick.

Call me a downer, but these around the world flights in extremely reliable modern aircraft, with the advent of GPS, SATCOM, 24/7 flight tracking, are all a bit ho hum really.

[TBM-Legend]

Call me a downer, but these around the world flights in extremely reliable modern aircraft, with the advent of GPS, SATCOM, 24/7 flight tracking, are all a bit ho hum really.

Just love the Australian bit of negativity!

Lachi deserves our best wishes for a safe flight. It still is risky business...Most of his 18 year old contemporaries are roaming the shopping malls!

I wonder what "wishiwasupthere" has ever done in aviation apart from PPRUNE..

[Squawk7700]

We had a similar discussion when Ryan did his trip.

If you add context to what wishiwasupthere said and say in comparison to a Tigermoth or one of these epic flights in an open cockpit from the UK to Australia, then hell yes, he has it easy in an SR22.

Would I be safe in assuming that prior to the Cirrus that plenty of pilots did these trips in a 172 or Warrior perhaps? I can't recall hearing of a single around the world trip in a 172 without having to Google it.

[neville_nobody]

Well to be honest these kind of stunts don't actually achieve anything nor move the human race forward. In reality any pilot who is wealthy today could easily fly around the world. There aren't to many barriers anymore. In fact the biggest hurdle will be paying the bill!!

So if the kid has the coin to do it, good luck to him but I wouldn't be holding it up there as one of the great navigational achievements of last 2000 years.

[Ultralights]

4 gold bars and a flight suit with suitable military looking insignia was the advice a friend received and he afterwards confirmed its utility in third world countries.

Yes, the gold bars and suit, do have a significant psychological effect on people, even here in OZ in your local flight schools, and more so in cultures with a rigid caste system or culture.

[TBM-Legend]

Travelling through many weird countries one has to look like a pilot not a tourist.

Australia is a world leader in knocking people and projects that why we are in the political ditch right now...

[fl610]

To quote Jim Lovell (Apollo XIII) "There is nothing routine about flying to the moon"

[Dick Smith]

I think a pretty capable young man and a risky undertaking.

No way at his age would I have been able to attempt such an endeavour .

[outnabout]

Good on him, at least for having a go.


My former flying instructor said (on the day of my PPL test):
Right now, you have two bags - one bag full of luck, and the other is a bag empty of experience. Try and make sure you fill the bag of experience before you empty the bag of luck.

[Cloud Basher]

Wow, so there is nothing special about an 18 year old, flying solo around the world in a piston single aircraft? Yeah he may have a fully coupled and redundant GPS systems hooked to an autopilot capable of doing most of the flying, so navigation is not an issue. He still has to manage fuel, weather, airspace, aircraft systems and that single engine over a shed load of water. Not to mention staying awake and flying and managing these systems for 15+ hours. Yep, we could all probably do it (sic), but I don't see very many doing it at all. And for an 18 year old, who admits he certainly hasn't filled his experience bag very much at all, this would certainly be one of life's most significant challenges. Put your sorry and grumpy arse in his shoes for a minute... still think this is not significant. If you don't, better off sticking to the seat next to the dunny on Jetstar flights.

Further who gives a rats where he got his funding from, why would this be an elephant in the room? He may have sold papers, he may be on the golden train from successful parents, he may have won the $40M Powerball, how the hell this affects what he is doing I have no idea? But, I see he has been out and about and even as close as two weeks ago was still pitching and chasing dollars to try and find a major or multiple major funders.

Me thinks people have been in aviation too long if you don't think there is anything in this flight. Perhaps go and play chess in your local park, with the the old blokes complaining about "how they did it tougher".

Fair dinkum... Some of you blokes could sh!t diamonds and you would still whinge.

Good luck Lachie, I am sure you will be successful and become the youngest person to fly solo around the world, this will be an awesome achievement.

Cheers
CB

[Squawk7700]

CB. The funding aspect adds to the level of complexity. Ryan did it albeit a bit older as he needed to raise the funds to the point where the time was right, is my understanding (happy to be corrected on that).

Adding fund raising to the expedition effort increases stress exponentially. If Mum or Dad pay for it all, it makes it so much easier. Not many 18 year olds I know can afford to buy a $600,000? aircraft and travel the world by doing paper rounds, sweeping hangars or otherwise. Dare I say that raising the required level of funding would be more difficult than the trip itself in the modern world that we live in.

It's human nature to judge and we all judge efforts like this individually on their merit.

[TBM-Legend]

Who said he raised $600K to buy the aircraft. It may be a loaner...

In this age of entitlement and few values, I say well done to this young man. I'm sure he has a supportive family and lots of friends. I also noted he had secured many sponsors...

Climbing Mt Everest today can be as equally dangerous as in Edmund Hillary's day...in-spite of the update gear. Look at the folks that haven't come home from there lately.

[Cloud Basher]

Squawk,
He is hiring the aircraft. Cost of the trip is about $400,000, this is all on his website or maybe media releases I have seen. I do get your point. In fact I agree with you the easy part would be the flight around the world. To back this up, most of the stories/books and articles I have read about people who have flown solo around the world all stated that they were glad to leave because it meant no more chasing the almighty dollar, attending funds raising dinners, chasing sponsors, smoozing donors etc etc.

The flip side is, does the fact Dick Smith could self fund his solo Chopper navigation of the world take away from the feat itself?

But back to my point, it certainly may make the pre-trip "stuff" easier, but I don't think it affects the actual physical feat in the least.

Cheers
CB

[Flyingmac]

Well. With between one and three days between legs, with a week spent in the UK, he shouldn't suffer too much from fatigue.


Especially if he has a good sleeping bag and tent.:bored:

[gerry111]

Cloud Basher wrote:

"The flip side is, does the fact Dick Smith could self fund his solo Chopper navigation of the world take away from the feat itself?"

I'm often a critic of Dick on PPRuNe. But I will always respect him for paying his own way on that adventure.

[Checklist Charlie]

An update on Lachlan's trip.

Exhausted Aussie teen Lachlan Smart lands after marathon leg of world flight | Wings Around the World (http://www.wingsaroundtheworld.com.au/exhausted-aussie-teen-lachlan-smart-lands-after-marathon-leg-of-world-flight/)

CC

[Volumex]

Any idea when he is due to land at Niagara? I was hoping to be able to say g'day when he lands there.

[Atlas Shrugged]

I'm often a critic of Dick on PPRuNe. But I will always respect him for paying his own way on that adventure.

I've ALWAYS respected him for having the balls to do it!

[holdingagain]

Looks like he is going ok so far, just heard him on local radio station
Heads up towards New York tomorrow

[Capt Fathom]

I've ALWAYS respected him for having the balls to do it!

Depends on whether your brain is bigger than your balls!