World Tourists: Are you up for a challenge?

[EHM-2097 Andrei]

[EDIT]I still that's a good idea, but unfortunately it does not work technically. The system aknowledges only the first part, the remaining of the flight being considered "on ground". Eventually the PIREP cannot be submitted because of the too long time spent "on ground". I just tested this to see how it works... it does not :[ .  If anyone has any idea, however, I would be more than happy to reconsider

While doing the World Tour, I arrived at SAWH last week-end. Now, leg #56 is declared "optional" in the tour rules, but as long as it's there, awaiting to be flown, why just skip it?

The problem is that the typical solution to fly this leg is a straight line from Magellan Strait to Tasmania. Not very interesting, unless one considers the water 30000ft below as an exciting view.

I also noticed that while the next part of the tour is named "Oceania", in fact it covers mostly Australia and Indonesia. This is nice, bu why not visit the "true" Pacific islands?

So... here comes the challenge. Fly this leg as a multipart flight, on a longer route, island-hopping style. The route I propose is SAWH - SCIP - NTGJ - NTTB - NFTF - YSNF - YSRN.

Advantages:
1. Each leg is shorter than the one-shot flight, which leaves more freedom when choosing an aircraft. However, changing the aircraft between SAWH and YSRN IS NOT ALLOWED!

2. Some very original experiences and views, like landing on a runway built over the corral ring around an atoll.


Disadvantages (and there are a bunch of them ):

1. The way the Flight Logger works,  The whole leg must be flown without shutting down the engines (which would simply end the flight). So the whole leg is to be flown in one continuous operation: land - refuel - take-off etc.

2. This way, the leg is likely to take more than 24h. While a nap now and then is allowed, this remains a tough constraint.

3. A consequence of the leg length: one should carefully plan his departing time from SAWH because some stops will occur during night. Changing the FS time enroute IS NOT ALLOWED!

I hope there will be no problems caused by small transgressions from the general EHM rules (like the "nap" part) as this concerns an optional WT leg and it is for a just cause, that is to make it tougher

I regret only one thing: I would like to be the one that threw AND the first one to take this challenge, but in the last few weeks there has been some competition towards SAWH (those concerned will know I am talking about them ) so I may not be the first one to leave SAWH in the near future.

I promise anyway to try this one when the time comes. Meanwhile, I am following the ACARS web page to see whether anyone attempts the same

Good luck
Andrei

[EHM-1412 Alex]

Sounds like a good idea to me. The optional leg is too long for me to fly because of work and family. The way you've set up an alternative route in the pacific is quite nice to have a closer look at.

One thing I would change is NTTB. I would use NTAA because of the runway length needed for take off to your next destination. If you use the A318 or the 737-800 the runway length is a bit short for a safe take off at NTTB. Any class 6 or 7 plane  is out of the question because the final landing at YSRN is on a 4000ft runway. Any class 4 and below, except the challenger 850, don't have the range for the first leg to SCIP.

If you look at the pireps filed for leg #56 you can see that some  have flown this flight in two legs and have filed this flight twice.  Maybe an option, but this way you will file 6 pireps for one leg.

Maybe it's possible to add the flights as separate flights in the database of flightlogger like: W056-1 / W056-6 before continuing with W057.

At the moment i'm not that far from SAWH, maybe I will fly the separate legs. I'm looking forward to see in your world tour log what you've done with this flight.

Alex Combee
EHM-1412

[EHM-2097 Andrei]

Hi Alex,

Thanks for your reply and your interest BUT please note my EDIT: technically it won't work with automatic flight logging. It could work if you save the ACARS along with the PIREP and send these for validation.

However, as this is not quite right according to written rules, I would like someone from the Operations department to advise on this topic. Otherwise, there is a significant risk that your flight hours are not recorded. And there will be a lot of them.

Latest news: I did a test flight last evening, using time compression x 4, and I can confirm that the single straigh line flight SAWH-YSRN is possible with the A318 if:
- There is no headwind at all (10kts would certainly be too much)
- You fly an empty aircraft (no passengers and baggage)
- You do a straight-in approach at YSRN, no going around or such.

Now all I need is find 12 hrs time to do the officially recorded flight!

Andrei

[EHM-1883 Matt]

I'm sorry to say Andrei that even though I'm at the point, I'm just going to do the long leg mainly because it's easier for me to leave the computer running for the day while I go out shopping;D

However, I think you're idea is very good and I support it as another optional route to the long stretch.

If you could manage to get them made as optional legs, then we wouldn't have the Flogger problem.

[EHM-2097 Andrei]

I'm sorry myself Matt, but I gave up the complications and just flew it single-legged. Interesting experience though, due to the polar vicinity (I had not realized that the straight line from South America to Tasmania overflys Antarctica), the A318 whose range is barely superior to the actual distance and the planning required for the departure time to get at destination by day for the visual approach. (This part was not quite OK, I was some 30' too early :8 )

Thus I recommend flying this optional leg, even in its "default" simple form.

Andrei