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AFA1991 "Ms. Pontiac"


AFA1991

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I will be jumping in on this event.  Haven't planned out my whole route yet so that is still to come.  However, I am flying to represent American Flight Airways, which will be celebrating its 21st birthday during the event.   

 

What better way to tour the world than to cross an instant classic, with some modern touches.  The plane is a Basler BT-67 named, "Ms. Pontiac" in honor of the airline's original hub city of Pontiac, MI.  She features a bare metal adaptation of the American Flight Airways livery along with the event branding as she was purchased specifically for this event before being placed into the special charter fleet. 

 

The plan is to collect a flag for every country she touches down in over the course of the tour.  I look forward to sharing her story.


Completed just in time for the event, I must now ferry her out to the starting line from Oshkosh.  Will be an eventful few days 

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On 30/09/2017 at 1:39 PM, AFA1991 said:

The plan is to collect a flag for every country she touches down in over the course of the tour. 

 

 

 

Good idea!  I hope you don't mind if I do the same  :-)

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Ms. Pontiac arrived Oct 2 in the wee hours of the morning at Luton airport ready to make the run around the globe.  The trip took me from Oshkosh to Goose Island in Canada, then to Egilsstadir Iceland before the final jump to my London starting point.

 

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Will post my routing for the event shortly 

Let the flag collection begin!

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Ok the route took a while to sort out.  Tried the best I could to replicate the bends found in the map on Wiki.  The ocean crossing is the part where it could get hairy, but I should be fine to not take the northern route unless weather says otherwise.  
EGGW-EBOS-LFLL-LIMJ-LIBG-LGKR-LGZA-LGST-HEPS-HSSP-HDCH-OYRN-OYSQ-VABB-VAID-VEGK-VECC-VEPB-WIBD-WSSS-WIOM-VVCR-VHHX-ZSHC-RJFC-RJBD-RJTT-PWAK-PMDY-PHOG-PHTO-KUKI-KSFO-KELY-KEGE-KRDK-KGYY-KGUS-KCBE-KFRG-KCQX-CYQY-LPPD-EIWF-EIDW-EGNH-EGGW

 

 

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I might deviate slightly but this is the initial plans.  Collecting my first flag tonight :)

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Ok so I'm a bit behind in updating this.   Had to get the video diaries uploaded.  Leg 1 EGGW-EBOS

 

Less than a day after arriving in London, we were off heading across the channel for the shores of Belgium and our first flag to be collected. A flight that lasted a little under an hour, with a beautiful sunset as a treat.

 

Highlights below
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=X2zMoAdHfdU&feature=youtu.be

 

 

Image may contain: sky, cloud and outdoor

 

Image may contain: airplane

 

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Leg 2 EBOS-LFLL

 

This had me departing about an hour after landing in Belgium and flying through the early night to the south of France.  A bit windy over France, but otherwise a perfect evening to fly.  Collected flag #2 upon landing.

 

Highlights below

https://youtu.be/Dmva_VANuyU

 

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Leg #3 LFLL-LIMJ

The next morning we departed France for Italy.  This flight had us flying through the mountains, picking our route to conserve altitude in our unpressurized cabin.  The mountains provided a beautiful foreground for the sunrise.  Flag number 3 collected at the end of this flight.

 

Highlights below

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_jXMyqzFeTg&feature=youtu.be

 

Image may contain: airplane and outdoor

 

Image may contain: airplane, sky and outdoor

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Leg # 4 LIMJ-LIBG

We flew in the late afternoon to run down the Italian peninsula.  It was a clear afternoon with a bit of chop, unfortunately in this chop the camera was smashed (recording software crashed and didn't notice it had until I was on the ground) so few pictures were saved from this leg.  A new camera has been purchased before we depart for leg 5

 

Highlights below

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6K7o37Dpn0A&feature=youtu.be

 

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Leg #5, 6, 7 LIBG-LGKR-LGZA-LGST

On Friday we hopped through Greece collecting another flag and exploring the local eateries.  Leg 5 and 6 took less than an hour in the clear weather allowing plenty of time to explore town before hopping to the next destination.  Our last stop at Sitia Public Airport within the sim does not have any facilities which I didn't realize until after my departure from there on Sunday;  so we parked in the dirt, which Ms. Pontiac is 100% ok with.

 

With how short the flights were the film crew barely had time to setup any shots, so they've lumped today's three flights into one collection linked below.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=tHwzBskapTQ&feature=youtu.be

 

 

Image may contain: airplane, cloud, sky, outdoor and nature

 

 

Image may contain: sky, cloud, airplane and outdoor

 

 

 

Image may contain: airplane and sky

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Leg #8 LGST-HEPS

Sunday had us making the last jump to checkpoint #1 in Suez.  We launched out over the Mediterranean and bounced through the clouds, the wind front met us with a blustery landing when we finally did make it to Port Said, but the landing was still acceptable, granted involving a double hop getting her planted in the gusty wind.  Another flag collected too, this time Egypt which will be added to the plane before departure this week

 

Highlights below

 

 

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Leg #9  HEPS-HSSP

The flight to Sudan went off without a hitch and we arrived without issue.  However, the initial plan for running down the pass, was to hop from military base to military base for security purposes while we were on the ground.  Upon arriving in Sudan, we were told they wanted us out immediately as the locals were not happy we were allowed to land, so we hot fueled the left side tanks leaving the right engine on in case we had to dump and run.   Thankfully we did not, but as soon as filling was complete, we were instructed to take off, so we departed heavy on the left side and continued to cross fill the tanks once in the air.  Due to the unfriendly welcome, it was advised by out contact in Djibouti, that it be best we change locations for our arrival to the local airport rather the military installation as the French were uneasy hosting us there.   So now in the air, our new destination is Ambouli International Airport.

 

We collected another flag, but have not had time to install it due to the hasty departure.  Will install it once back on the ground.

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  • 4 weeks later...

Oh boy lots to catch up on.   First of all I'm still here an very much in the tour.   While I was making my hop to VABB, got a call that my grandfather had passed away, so I didn't get the chance to write my log following the one above.  So I will be writing to catch back up to where I am now.  The travel I had to do for the funeral and family related things has put me behind schedule in this tour, if the requirement was to make the destinations by the dates, well I guess I'm "out" of the running, however I am still going to complete the tour.   I might be missing a few videos as I flew a few flights on my laptop to try and keep up with the demands of life and flying this trek, but I should be fully back in the seat now.

Cheers to all still in the tour, I will say as time progresses, its nice to start flying in some day light again

 

 

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Leg #10  HSSP-HDCH

 

The flag was installed from before and the flight was uneventful and smooth.  We enjoyed looking down at the passing ships below as we lumbered along down one of the busiest shipping lanes in the world.  Touchdown was smooth and a few nights are planned before transiting on to Yemen.

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Leg #11& 12  HDCH-OYRN-OYSQ

The next two legs, turned into night time flights, our initial arrival in to Yemen was only stayed long enough to touch the ground say we had been on the mainland of Yemen, grab some food and on we went again to Soroctra.  A very unique flight as normally flights don't transit between the two regions with the civil war going on.  During our planning for the trip, We had sent fuel in drums via ship to the airport to ensure we would be able to refill our tanks for the hop to India

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Leg #13  OYSQ-VABB

Leave it to leg 13 to be the leg I get that phone call that would set me off course in this tour.  Upon landing at Chhatrapati Shivaji International, I booked a flight to San Diego via United routing though KEWR for the funeral and family affairs.  After spending about a week muddled in family things, I made the return journey back to Bombay so I could jump back into Ms. Pontiac and complete the 80 day tour around the globe.

What I've decided to do is once landing on the coast of the United States, I will be flying down to San Diego to pick up my grandfather's ashes to take with me on the rest of the journey. Once the tour is complete I will continue on to Latvia, his home country to deliver him home (even if only symbolically in game)

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Leg #14 VABB-VAID

 

Short and sweet, this flight was conducted the night after returning from my travels for family reasons.  No issues and a smooth arrival made this flight a welcome return from reality 

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Leg #15 & 16  VAID-VEGK-VECC

 

Following my return, two more legs were completed making my final arrival inside of India and completing checkpoint 3 a full week late.  It wasn't long before preperations were made to continue on towards the Hong Kong checkpoint fast approaching.  At this point as well it was decided that the stop at VEPB was to be overflown with the longest leg to date coming up next.

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Leg #17  VECC-WIBD

 

The longest leg of the tour so far was a good test of the Basler's range capabilities before the big Pacific crossing coming up in a few weeks.  It was during this leg also the first signs of adverse weather were seen in the form of popup thunderstorms as we approached Indonesia.  We got some video of the storm along with some pictures.  However with the mad dash trying to catch up with the tour these pictures have yet to be developed.  The plan from our photography crew is to get them developed once we arrive in Singapore so we can post them out for y'all to enjoy.   We collected our Indonesian flag and applied it to our growing collection. 

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Leg #18 WIBD-WSSS

 

We didn't spend too long in Indonesia before heading to our next major stop point of Singapore.  We did enjoy the local dishes in the evening while we watched the rain come down.  Due to the adverse weather we chose not to fuel the plane as we had plenty of fuel to make a short hop.  On our way to Singapore, we enjoyed watching the thunder heads moving across the sky to our south as we made our approach.  Landing was a little less than smooth, but given the gusty winds, it was adequate.

Now for a few days rest, some pictures to develop and maybe cut some film together before we depart for Indonesia again 

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Thank you, my grandfather has quite the story to tell for sure, from escaping Latvia and moving eventually to America.  To them, the Germans were the good guys for a time, as it was Russia that was the enemy to them.  It really changes your perspective of the war we are taught to know that it was something the people generally didn't want, and that the "enemy" we've been told were heartless were the ones actually saving some of these displaced people.

 

Anyway flying is a really good therapy, always has been for me.  I'm currently over Japan, once again behind on my log updates, and still trying to catch up to the dates in the tour, but with the long hops coming up for the Pacific crossing, I hope to be in San Fran on time, if not a touch early so I can fly down to San Diego during this tour.

Again thank you, I will be updating the log over the next few days once I get on those longer legs where I don't have to pa as close of attention to flying :)

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  • 3 weeks later...

Leg #19  WSSS-WIOM

Flown back on the 9th I, the slightly longer than 1 hour flight went off well ending on a smooth touchdown and quick braking.  The weather had passed on from the days prior, and it was chosen a few days would be spent here to experience the local culture before heading on north towards Hong Kong.

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Leg #20 WIOM-VVCR

Leg 20 kicked off what would be a marathon of flying over the span of nearly 5 days to get back on track and caught back up with the time table.  Thankfully as well, the weather was cooperative and allowed for a smooth trip into Vietnam.  We did not stay long though as the next morning we were on our way towards Hong Kong before sunrise

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Leg #21  VVCR-VHHH

 

What a fun trip this was.  The air was smooth, and the skies were moderately clear.  Before making our arrival we paid a visit to famous Kai Tak airport approach.  Flying in over the building tops and over the new construction which has taken the airfield's place before heading on to the new international airport.

 

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