Henshaw Challenge: Success! (Now includes photographs)
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Henshaw Challenge: Success! (Now includes photographs)
Charles 'Chalkie' Stobbart will attempt to break Alex Henshaw's Cape Records later this month in this, the 70th anniversary year.
If all goes according to plan he will arrive at Southend in the early hours of Saturday 9th May.
Chalkie, a South African Airways Training Captain, is an experienced long-distance light aircraft pilot. He has been awarded the prestigious 'Major Achievement Award for Outstanding Service to Sport Aviation' awarded by the EAA(USA) and is a past President of the EAA in South Africa.
The aircraft - an Osprey GP4 (home-built)
If Chalkie beats Alex Henshaw's time from Cape Town, he will break the first of the Cape Records which have stood for 70 years.
He has to beat the time on the return journey and the round-trip time to break all three Cape Records.
I attach an extract from an email from him which includes details of his route and ETA.
Flight details, all times Zulu.
I do hope the flight stays on schedule and you should be able to monitor progress on www.henshaw-challenge.com as I have fitted a GPS tracker which sends position reports by satellite email. This will be updated regularly on the website.
Alex Henshaw Junior and Judith will be at Southend to welcome me, and hopefully Taff Smith will take XF for a 'test flight' and visit Southend too; it really would be great to have the challenger and record holder parked together.
So barring unforseen problems, I will see you at Southend on Saturday 9th May.
Herewith the planned schedule...
Cape Town depart 20:00 7th May - Brazzaville arrive 06:15
Brazzaville depart 07:15 8th May - Kano arrive 13:10
Kano depart 14:10 8th May - Algiers arrive 22:45
Algiers depart 23:45 8th May - Southend arrive 05:00 Saturday 9th May.
All assume one hour turn-around, perhaps arrive Southend a bit earlier if tech-stops are quicker.
Depart EGMC after 14 hour rest, actual departure time depends on actual arrival time.
Southend depart 19:00 9th May - Algiers arrive 00:15 10th May.
Algiers depart 01:15 10th May - Kano 09:50
Kano depart 10:50 10th May - Brazzaville 16:50 refuel and sleep 40 minutes.
Brazzaville depart 18:20 10th May - Cape Town 04:30 Monday 11th May.
3 Days, 8 Hours, 30 Minutes.
I plan to be at Southend, and thought others might also like to be present to support a fellow aviator and witness what may be the making of a piece of aviation history.
FL
If all goes according to plan he will arrive at Southend in the early hours of Saturday 9th May.
Chalkie, a South African Airways Training Captain, is an experienced long-distance light aircraft pilot. He has been awarded the prestigious 'Major Achievement Award for Outstanding Service to Sport Aviation' awarded by the EAA(USA) and is a past President of the EAA in South Africa.
The aircraft - an Osprey GP4 (home-built)
If Chalkie beats Alex Henshaw's time from Cape Town, he will break the first of the Cape Records which have stood for 70 years.
He has to beat the time on the return journey and the round-trip time to break all three Cape Records.
I attach an extract from an email from him which includes details of his route and ETA.
Flight details, all times Zulu.
I do hope the flight stays on schedule and you should be able to monitor progress on www.henshaw-challenge.com as I have fitted a GPS tracker which sends position reports by satellite email. This will be updated regularly on the website.
Alex Henshaw Junior and Judith will be at Southend to welcome me, and hopefully Taff Smith will take XF for a 'test flight' and visit Southend too; it really would be great to have the challenger and record holder parked together.
So barring unforseen problems, I will see you at Southend on Saturday 9th May.
Herewith the planned schedule...
Cape Town depart 20:00 7th May - Brazzaville arrive 06:15
Brazzaville depart 07:15 8th May - Kano arrive 13:10
Kano depart 14:10 8th May - Algiers arrive 22:45
Algiers depart 23:45 8th May - Southend arrive 05:00 Saturday 9th May.
All assume one hour turn-around, perhaps arrive Southend a bit earlier if tech-stops are quicker.
Depart EGMC after 14 hour rest, actual departure time depends on actual arrival time.
Southend depart 19:00 9th May - Algiers arrive 00:15 10th May.
Algiers depart 01:15 10th May - Kano 09:50
Kano depart 10:50 10th May - Brazzaville 16:50 refuel and sleep 40 minutes.
Brazzaville depart 18:20 10th May - Cape Town 04:30 Monday 11th May.
3 Days, 8 Hours, 30 Minutes.
I plan to be at Southend, and thought others might also like to be present to support a fellow aviator and witness what may be the making of a piece of aviation history.
FL
Last edited by Flying Lawyer; 2nd May 2009 at 18:35.
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Sounds like a fantastic flight. This might seem a rather uninformed question but what is the current standing record time and what craft is the new record attempt being made in ?
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echobeach
I was editing to attach the pic when you posted.
More information about the Osprey GP4 and a comparison with Henshaw's Mew Gull here:
Chalkie Sobbart's Henshaw Challenge
I was editing to attach the pic when you posted.
More information about the Osprey GP4 and a comparison with Henshaw's Mew Gull here:
Chalkie Sobbart's Henshaw Challenge
good effort. But I seem to recall that Henshaw used Gravesend, so why does Chalkie not use my home base Rochester instead? It is nearer to Gravesend and a lot cheaper. I guess it may be because he wants the comfort of an instrument procedure. On the other hand he would not be allowed officially to fly IFR in the UK in homebuilt would he?
good luck to him.
good luck to him.
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Fascinating, was looking at the Mew Gull in the hangar at Breighton recently and was wondering how he managed to navigate then land the thing at the sort of strips mentioned in the book - no forward vision and not much to the sides either! Time and again he is unsure of his position having dead-reckoned his position over hundreds of miles with no fixes, then manages to spot a strip at night or in fog in the middle of nowhere.
Glad to see someone attempting the record but with modern avionics it will be so much easier. Still a challenge but takes nothing away from Alex Henshaw's feat.
Glad to see someone attempting the record but with modern avionics it will be so much easier. Still a challenge but takes nothing away from Alex Henshaw's feat.
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On the other hand he would not be allowed officially to fly IFR in the UK in homebuilt would he?
I wonder what the legalities of sleeping while on autopilot are?
Good luck to him
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Whilst this is no mean feat, one can't help but agree with topoverhaul. The real challenge in the original record would be navigation and flying the aircraft. I can't help but think that most people could do this with the right equipment.
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So today's the day - anyone know if it's going ahead, presumably the attempt needs a reasonable weather forecast?
Thinking about that, where would you even go for forecasts along that route?
Thinking about that, where would you even go for forecasts along that route?
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Henshaw Challenge airborne
Chalkie Stobbard, got airborne from Cape Town last night in an effort to break the single engine (200hp or less) record from Cape Town to London & return that has stood since February 1939 -
Follow his progress here.
To date, the fact that no successful attempt at the record has been made, attests to the magnitude of the feat, which was accomplished by the late Alex Henshaw all those years ago, in February of 1939.
His route and schedule:
Cape Town to Brazzaville (Congo) to Kano (Nigeria) to Algiers (Algeria) to Southend (London, UK)
Cape Town depart 20:00 7th May - Brazzaville arrive 06:15
Brazzaville depart 07:15 8th May - Kano arrive 13:10
Kano depart 14:10 8th May - Algiers arrive 22:45
Algiers depart 23:45 8th May - Southend arrive 05:00 Saturday 9th May.
Southend depart 19:00 9th May - Algiers arrive 00:15 10th May.
Algiers depart 01:15 10th May - Kano 09:50
Kano depart 10:50 10th May - Brazzaville 16:50 refuel and sleep 40 minutes.
Brazzaville depart 18:20 10th May - Cape Town 04:30 Monday 11th May.
3 Days, 8 Hours, 30 Minutes
Now in my book this is news - can we please keep it as news (and not Where is He Now?) until he sets the record?
Follow his progress here.
To date, the fact that no successful attempt at the record has been made, attests to the magnitude of the feat, which was accomplished by the late Alex Henshaw all those years ago, in February of 1939.
His route and schedule:
Cape Town to Brazzaville (Congo) to Kano (Nigeria) to Algiers (Algeria) to Southend (London, UK)
Cape Town depart 20:00 7th May - Brazzaville arrive 06:15
Brazzaville depart 07:15 8th May - Kano arrive 13:10
Kano depart 14:10 8th May - Algiers arrive 22:45
Algiers depart 23:45 8th May - Southend arrive 05:00 Saturday 9th May.
Southend depart 19:00 9th May - Algiers arrive 00:15 10th May.
Algiers depart 01:15 10th May - Kano 09:50
Kano depart 10:50 10th May - Brazzaville 16:50 refuel and sleep 40 minutes.
Brazzaville depart 18:20 10th May - Cape Town 04:30 Monday 11th May.
3 Days, 8 Hours, 30 Minutes
Now in my book this is news - can we please keep it as news (and not Where is He Now?) until he sets the record?
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Looks like he took of from SA three hours later than planned. First leg 15 minutes faster than planned, but the fuel stop in Brazzaville took two hours instead of one.
All based on the Google maps data of course.
All based on the Google maps data of course.
there has been no indicated movement, on the live tracking website, for over 2 hours now. I hope there isn't a serious problem. it may be as simple as forgetting to switch the tracker hardware back on after refuelling.
Track Aircraft
Fingers crossed!
Track Aircraft
Fingers crossed!
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One has to wonder what the Flight Safety Executives of the various CAAs en route think of this kind of semi-comatose flying in deepest sleep-deprivation...
Presumably to qualify in a moral sense he has no electronic nav-aids or autopilot either? That would be like "breaking" Burt Munro's record at Daytona on a turbocharged Honda. You might have bought the record, but you wouldn't have broken it. Not really.
All the same, good luck to him. He'll be needing it!
Presumably to qualify in a moral sense he has no electronic nav-aids or autopilot either? That would be like "breaking" Burt Munro's record at Daytona on a turbocharged Honda. You might have bought the record, but you wouldn't have broken it. Not really.
All the same, good luck to him. He'll be needing it!
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Take-off last night was delayed due fog.
I hope it doesn't have any repercussions for him later but, for those of us intending to be at Southend for his arrival, it does mean not having to get up in time to be there by 05:00Z!
You can monitor his progress 'live' from his GPS data here -
Follow Chalkie Live!
FL
I hope it doesn't have any repercussions for him later but, for those of us intending to be at Southend for his arrival, it does mean not having to get up in time to be there by 05:00Z!
You can monitor his progress 'live' from his GPS data here -
Follow Chalkie Live!
FL