Around the World in 80 Flights

Recently, I decided the time was ripe for a foray into global circumnavigation. Having checked my air miles and realising that, even if I flew really quickly, 57 miles would be insufficient ,I had to settle for a virtual trip and this has now been planned. Flying a 1937 Lockheed Electra 10E, the intention is to start from Farnborough and, hopefully, end up back there 80 flights later.


Details are as follows:

• The entire journey covers a staggering 43,000 miles across the planet
• Over 60 countries are either visited or flown over during the course of the journey
• The entire trip will take approximately 400 hours to complete
• The journey includes crossing both the Pacific and Atlantic Oceans
• The northernmost point of the route is Sondre Stromfjord in Greenland, whilst the southernmost point is Darwin in Australia

Naturally, I may well not do it over the next few weeks but it seems like a pretty cool thing to say I have flown around the world in real time. I shall accordingly keep a journal of the trip and post the occasional blog detailing my adventures and also a few salient (or totally irrelevant) facts about the areas over which I have flown. I am mindful of some of my predecessors like Earhart, St Exupery & Glenn Miller, all of whom disappeared during flights, and am therefore appreciative of any glowing tributes before I disappear so that I can read them!

At the moment, I am hurriedly studying the vagaries of Air Traffic Control, flight planning and how to pee out of the window of a twin engined aircraft at speed. I have radios and people keep telling me where to go (nothing new there then) but up until now I have, to be honest, been more of the school of "aim for where you're going and hope for the best". The first leg is a short trip of 243.8 nautical miles to Paris Orly and below is the flight plan - 9 changes of heading and Bonjour Paree! I'm currently struggling with vectors, frequencies and even what call sign to have - Bravo Echo Romeo Tango six nine?
It's really quite weird planning it all as it's now taking on some strange reality and it'll be interesting to see if it actually feels like I'm crossing the Equator, gazing down at the landing strip at Mogadishu or flying over the Earth's smallest nation (Nauru - 8 square miles!). No doubt we shall see.