I don't believe that I would want to do it in an older, non-pressurized aircraft, such as a C 210 (an L model), with a piston engine burning 100LL. Particularly without a new engine, new avionics, and some mods to fix some of the legacy issues. I believe that the legalities, permitting, and logistics obstacles would drive me nuts.


https://www.youtube.com/playlist?list=P ... YMX5TWREr1

Matt Guthmiller previously did it in a Bonanza and he started the trip with them. His videos include a little more of the technical aspects of making the trip.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=W9Uf-ynoDUE

About 25 years ago (plus minus) there was a small group of fellow pilots did this sort of thing. At least one of them in a Bonanza had ferry tanks installed somewhere in the San Francisco bay area. Was successful in checking off an item in his bucket list going around the world from west to east.

At the end of the trip he had the panks removed also in the bay area. They messed up the plumbing and the guy headed north and ran out of gas a few miles south of CAl Oregon border. He tried to make it to I-5 but touched down about 100 yards short on the west side of the freeway near Hilt California. Plane totaled. I saw the plane parked in the pucker brush when on the way from Ashland Oregon after one of my first flying lessons. Pisser

Tim

BushTrimmer wrote:I don't believe that I would want to do it in an older, non-pressurized aircraft, such as a C 210 (an L model), with a piston engine burning 100LL. Particularly without a new engine, new avionics, and some mods to fix some of the legacy issues. I believe that the legalities, permitting, and logistics obstacles would drive me nuts.


https://www.youtube.com/playlist?list=P ... YMX5TWREr1

Matt Guthmiller previously did it in a Bonanza and he started the trip with them. His videos include a little more of the technical aspects of making the trip.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=W9Uf-ynoDUE

What do you fly? Perhaps do an introductory thread to introduce yourself and tell us what kind of flying you do, or what kind of airplane you have.

I'm planning to do this in my new 182. Using something fancy like a 210 or a Bonanza is just luxury!

Been done by a 180 back in the early sixties, by a housewife. Today with a fancy retractable, big deal. Pressurization? Just fly commercial then. When the video started I didn't imagine dreadlocks camper van could possibly be the pilot.....and sure enough wasn't ...lol


I also have my doubt's you actually fly, because no one with any experience would attempt a round the world flight on a brand new engine. There is nothing more hazardous than a brand new engine....

Mark Y. wrote:Been done by a 180 back in the early sixties, by a housewife. .....

Jerri Mock flew a 1953 C180, "The Spirit of Columbus", around the world in 1964. Wrote a book about it in the 70's, "Three Eight Charlie".
N1538C now hangs in the Nat'l Air & Space Museum.

Flying around the world, from the standpoint of the flying, is actually quite boring. You have to cross vast areas of nothing. Then there are vast areas of administrative hell. Few things you need to consider, Crossing the Atlantic, you can't get insurance unless you have done it before with somebody qualified. It is also super , super boring, get several books on tape. You need to have your aircraft and your survival equipment inspected and cleared by Canada before the crossing, assuming your starting in that direction. You then need to ensure your radios meet European spec channel spacing. Get used to taking a pile of paper with you into flight planning at every stop. It will usually take far longer than you can rationally expect at every stop. Things like O2 and piston oil will be unavailable, Avgas needs to be arranged beforehand in much of Africa and try not to be shocked at the price. You can wait 8 hours trying to get a low altitude slot to cross the channel to Europe from England. There is no longer any Avgas available in most of the Pacific, you will need to ship it ahead of time. Don't even think of flying across India and Pakistan, you can't carry enough paper and bribe money.

You have a place you want to fly, dismantle your aircraft and put it in a container. Re-assemble it and fly around Australia for example. My 206H Amphib I bought in India is arriving next week in a box, big party to un-box it and get it all in the hanger. I don't mid flying nearly anyplace, but I have been flying smallish aircraft internationally for decades now. It takes a bit of pre-planning, and some gear, but do it in a turbine aircraft, pistons have the big swaths of Avgas not available problem. I once bought a Caravan in Venezuela and flew it to Somalia in 4 days, no preplan on that one, just had to wing it. 72 hours of flying in 96. Still had issues in Canada about new equipment requirements they kind of made up on the spot. France was delightful and denied entry to one of us. We couldn't get clearance to cross the channel for a day and none of Europe has O2.

That flight was a pain, since I didn't have time to tank the aircraft and had to hop about with internals. When you tank it, you can hop over the areas populated by bureaucratic pinheads. That can be hard to do with smaller piston aircraft. They seem to crave a bit of oil, so 12 hours can bring your oil level down to damaging levels at altitude. You also will need an HF radio, they are big, expensive, heavy and über un-reliable. Flying around the world is a nice romantic dream, but it is mostly boring, a paperwork nightmare, expensive insurance and an avgas and oil bill that will choke a moose. Fuel in the 90's to do that Caravan flight, $15,500 one way. Fuel today, same route distance for a Caravan I just bought, $50,500. So win that lottery and have at it. Have Global do your clearances and start shipping fuel in barrels now.

Adrian Eichorn did it in a Bonanza a little over a year ago. He had sponsors, to help pay the bills:

https://www.aopa.org/news-and-media/all ... f-aviation

MTV

You can wait 8 hours trying to get a low altitude slot to cross the channel to Europe from England.

I'm from the UK and have flown across the Channel many many times in both directions. I've never had to wait for even a moment...

Contact Thierry Pouille at http://www.airjourney.com . He arranges around the world air travel all the time. Knows all the ins and outs, permissions, fuel issues, places to stay etc. If you don't want to go on one of his tours, he'll make all the arrangements for you.

Good luck.

gunny

I suppose some of us are luckier than others. I have had to wait nearly every time I fly from Glasgow to Ostend, no matter which direction. I tend to use those two places, first it is the best option to either arrive from Iceland or jump to it and Ostend has the cheapest Jet fuel in the area. I do have the issue if I am going via the high altitude system, but when I fly in the low system, due to the difficulty in obtaining O2 at most airports now in Europe, I am stuck down low. Luckily, I am not flying the Caravan amphibian I bought back. That trip would bore me to death. The ferry companies always have somebody that needs to build time and an turbine amphib should be just the ticket for time building.

I can see Eurocontrol being even bigger pinheads than they are now after Brexit. That should be fun to see how they re-jigger the fee system. I Just love getting a bill from Norway when flying down to the Azores from from Gander. Seems they have a tiny bit of airspace that you intersect and flying through it cost me $150 last time I did it.

You can expect bills to roll in for some time after your flight. The Norway bill usually rocks up about 12-18 months after the flight. In many countries, overflights cost money. If you land the fees usually are included into the landing fee. If you overfly, they will track you down and send you a bill.

I like flying in Africa, very pretty scenery. It is somewhat a puzzle to get actual clearances. Even if you pre-arrange them, there seems to be some confusion when you are on the ground. Additional fees seem to help. Be really careful with your fuel. I always found more water in my fuel, along with gunk than I was used to. I suppose there is a more casual approach to changing filters. I tended to let the aircraft sit a while before I sumped it, then I would rock it and sump it again. I have had a Caravan flame out over Kenya due to water in the fuel, luckily turbines will still run if you switch to constant ignition.

I've flown around the world in jets, but haven't done an around-the-world trip as such. Nor do I think I want to. I spent 8 hours with the APU running waiting for a green stamp in Libya...more than once. I quickly found out if you're operating a diplomatic flight, the way the disgruntled government employees in the weather office get over on their bosses is to drag their feet on that sort of thing. The diplomats are cool with it. Insh'Allah and all that. Not too many problems outside of North Africa and the Middle East, but I had an international trip planner and I wasn't paying the bill. And the security situation has changed quite a bit. As far as Africa goes Morocco is probably the only place I'd go in the North. In the South, probably only some guided safari lodges in Tanzania or Botswana. I've already had to ride to the hotel on the floor of the van under a blanket so my lily white ass didn't end up in an al shabab recruiting video, and that's when things were "better".

One thing that I do want to do is land on all 7 continents before I hang it up. I figure I'll probably end up dry leasing a Twotter in NZ and tanking it and take it over to Antartica to deliver Christmas presents or hookers or something. I've heard there's a year-round gravel runway now that the ice pack is shrinking.

If anyone is going to Antartica, let me know.

You can wait 8 hours trying to get a low altitude slot to cross the channel to Europe from England

Have been flying in Europe for several decades and yes occasionally you may get a slot delay of ten or fifteen minutes when filing IFR, but have never had a delay of more than 30 minutes, this includes hub airports (eg Frankfurt, Barcelona, Ciampino, etc)

One Cambridge UK professor has made a few long distance flights in his CE-210 (G-SEEK earthrounders.com) including Chile to NZ via Easter Island. It’s based at a beautiful grass strip. A couple of Argentinians flew a CE-140 to Oshkosh and a French guy flew a Super Cub from AK to Kenya. The northern VFR route only requires a GPS and no HF.

I think there has been a thread on this guy before, but Tom Claytor has been flying around the world nonstop since 1990 (an old post said that he had hit 70 countries).

His website is below although he doesn't post real often (last post in 2017). There is also a National Geographic Special done on him in the 90s that is worth watching if you haven't seen it.

Have always wished I could corner this guy for a few minutes. His life looks an awful lot like a Harrison Ford Movie. Got a degree in Physics, plays polo, flys a 180 around the globe, been arrested in foreign countries numerous times, climbed Everest and started a foundation to support world adventurers, which is just a partial list of his experiences. Pretty sure he could tell some interesting stories!

His website: http://claytor.com/

Article on him: http://www.timmissartok.com/bushpilotli ... ePolo.html