Stages

Stage 1

First Leg: Orlando International, FL (KMCO) to San Diego Brown Field, CA (KSDM) 1852 nautical miles, probably 20 to 30 knot headwinds, estimated 16 hour flight

The exact departure date will be picked after looking at forecast weather over the Pacific Ocean two to three days out. When the pressure systems are such that the northeasterly winds will be their strongest during that forecast time period, CarolAnn and Carol will set off from central Florida. The leg from Florida to California will probably have the strongest headwinds of the entire trip.

The direct route is 1852 nautical miles; however airways will need to be taken over the mountains. If easterly winds are more favorable at the start of the leg, the pilots might deviate to the south, across the Gulf, to take advantage of these winds, then cross TX from Houston to El Paso. At that point, they'll pick up airways across the Rocky Mountains, then descend to San Diego.

CarolAnn's brother, Richard Garratt, and fellow earthrounder, Jay Showers, will be meeting them at San Diego. They'll have refreshments ready for loading (and take care of the first leg's trash). They'll have briefed the FBO as to their arrival time and will have the fuel pumps open and available for them to taxi right up.

The flight plan for their next leg will have been filed by ground crew during the last hour of their flight. This will give them an accurate arrival time and the latest winds for the next leg. Leg 3, to Guam, will also have been filed by ground crew during this first leg flight because this international leg to Guam must be entered 24 hours before departure. The logistics will get quite complicated during this trip as each country has it’s specific requirements for notification prior to departure. However, ground crews will have been briefed and they all have their jobs to do while CarolAnn and Carol are flying. They'll be checking in with each other by satellite phone to confirm arrangements and modify plans as necessary.

Stage 2

Second Leg: San Diego Brown Field, CA (KSDM) to Lihue, Hawaii (PHLI) 2334 nautical miles, probably 15 to 25 knot tailwinds, estimated 15 hour flight Trade winds provide a northeastly wind at lower altitudes across the north Pacific Ocean. Our flight will take place between 6,000 and 10,000 feet above sea level, literally. After departure from San Diego, Brown Field and after passing through the military airspace, we'll head southwest to the FICKY intersection and follow airway R578 to the FONZA intersection 225 nautical miles out.

Then we'll depart the airway and divert further west to airway R576 and follow that further southwest. When we are flying on airways, Air Traffic Control knows our position more accurately. When we are flying direct, between airways, we'll be giving them latitude and longitude positions, but they have less information about our exact position. After leaving R576, 583 miles east of Hawaii, we'll head directly to CLUTS intersection north of the Hawaiian Islands and continue southwest to Lihue on the western-most island with an airport. We need to stop as far west in Hawaii as possible to reduce the distance to Guam, our next leg.

With tailwinds, we expect our true airspeed of 156 knots to be increased to a groundspeed of 166 knots for the second half of the leg. Initial winds will normally be varied just off the California coast. Thus, our total flight leg time is estimated to be 15 hours. We have looked at several scenarios for the first two legs. One of the primary considerations is flying over the Rocky Mountains during daylight. If that would be early morning, it would put our arrival in Lihue at approximately 2:30am the following morning. If we choose to fly the Rockies late afternoon, that would give us an early morning, daylight, arrival in Hawaii which would be preferable. The final decision has not yet been made and timing of arrivals in later legs may well be the deciding factor. Stay tuned!!

Stage 3

Third Leg: Lihue, Hawaii (PHLI) to Guam International (PGUM) 3223 nautical miles, probably 20 to 30 knot tailwinds, estimated 18 hour flight This will be the second longest leg of the trip. After gassing up and departing Lihue, we’ll head to the first intersection of GLORY, 264 nautical miles west southwest. After that, we continue a little south of west at a heading of 250 degrees for another 2700 nautical miles or approximately 15 and a half hours. The final intersection is DEWSS, 257 nautical miles from Guam International.

If by any chance the forecasts are incorrect and we don’t get the tailwinds we expect, we will not be able to make Guam and will deviate south to the Marshall Islands. There we will add the extra fuel we need and continue to Guam.

After watching the winds over the Pacific Ocean last December, this doesn’t seem likely, but we must cover every contingency.

Stage 4

Fourth Leg: Guam International (PGUM) to Chiang Mai, Thailand (VTCC) 2654 nautical miles, probably 10 to 20 knot tailwinds, estimated 17 hour flight

The more northern airways would take us over Hainan Island which is part of China. I’m not sure about clearances over China; we’re looking into this now. On a more southern route, we’d cross the Philippine Islands, then Vietnam, Cambodia, the southwestern corner of Laos and into Thailand. We’ll be working on obtaining the overflight permits with a company that specializes in that area.

In doing the planning, everything looks good except for the overflight of Laos. All their airways have a minimum enroute altitude of 20,000 to 26,000 feet. That’s above the service ceiling of the Mooney we’ll be flying. We may have to stay further south in Cambodia before heading into Thailand to avoid Laos and their airspace. The other option would be to plan to land at a more eastern airport in Thailand; thus needing to descend over Laos and not requiring the high altitudes. If that’s the option we choose, we’ll land at Udon Thani instead of Chiang Mai.

Stage 5

Fifth Leg: Chiang Mai, Thailand (VTCC) to Muscat, Oman (OOMS) 2287 nautical miles, neutral winds, estimated 15 hour flight

Departing Thailand we will cross over Myanmar (Burma) the site of the May 2008 cyclone disaster, then northern India before crossing the Arabian Sea and landing in Muscat, Oman.

Originally the plan was to land at Salalah, Oman, further south at a smaller airport and city. Usually smaller airports are easier on paperwork, customs and immigration. Unfortunately, Salalah doesn’t have an avgas. We could have it shipped in, but finally decided on the option of Muscat. Two friends will be flying through that area and stopping at Muscat in the next month. They’ll give me first-hand reports on the ease or difficulty of handling and refueling.

Stage 6

Sixth Leg: Muscat, Oman (OOMS) to Tunisia (DTMB) 2587 nautical miles, tail winds switching to headwinds, estimated 17 hour flight

The legs across Africa have been changed three times and are still in flux. Originally we'd planned to stop in Khartoum, Sudan and Bamako, Mali. Bamako is a very good stop with avgas, Sudan is less sure.

The second change was to stop in Djibouti instead of Sudan; but then we can't make the leg to Mali and would have to stop in Niger. Although they have avgas, this could be a potentially difficult stop with bureaucracy.

The winds are better if we stay further south. As we look at northern stops or even stopping in the Mediterranean, we will most likely hit headwinds.

Our current plan is to head north and stop in Tunisia, then back south to Cape Verde. The legs are shorter, but headwinds could cause a problem with this leg. These legs are still under evaluation.

Stage 7

Seventh Leg: Tunisia (DTMB) to Sal, Cape Verde (GVAC) 2126 nautical miles, neutral winds, estimated 14 hour flight

This is a slightly shorter leg to islands off the west coast of Africa. We’ll cross the countries of Algeria, Western Sahara, and Mauritania along the way.

The Cape Verde islands are a regular “jumping off” point for sailors and pilots headed west. It’s the western most point of Africa with facilities and fuel. After a quick stop, we’ll be on our way, on the final leg home.

Stage 8

Eighth Leg: Sal, Cape Verde (GVAC) to Orlando, Florida (KORL) 3278 nautical miles, 20to 30knot tailwinds, estimated 19 hour flight

We should be feeling good on this leg, final leg, adrenalin pumping, almost home!

There won’t be much to see crossing the ocean at night for a daytime arrival in Orlando, Florida. Most of the time at this latitude, there are strong easterly winds. As long as this occurs, this will be a non-stop leg. If, however, a low pressure system dips south, it could diminish the tailwinds or even produce headwinds. Then, a stop in the Caribbean or Bahamas will be required.

US customs requires notification prior to entry. We will have filed this information along with our flight plan prior to departing Cape Verde. However, we’ll be in touch with our ground crew during this flight to make sure that the information has been received.

During the final planning months, we’ll also have contacted New York Oceanic and Orlando Approach to discuss our re-entry into the US and Orlando airspace. We’d like to have this coordinated ahead of time so as to avoid last minute deviations.

We’re looking forward to our return to Orlando!