Around the World II

Kicking things off, heading south for the longitudinal RTW trip. First leg takes us to Murray, KY landing at Oakley airport for a clear weather ILS landing. (Gotta knock the dust off my IFR skills; it's been a bit.)

Taking off from KY and heading to Patterson, LA. Going to enjoy some good blues music and cajun food over the weekend.

Popping in for lunch in Houston and then taking my feet off US soil for the forseeable future.

Aloha, no wait, that's Hawaii... Hola, from Mexico!

80° at 6:00am makes for a toasty departure from northern Mexico. The G58 will be reaching 15,000 to get over some tall peaks of the Sierra Madres.

Departing Mexico, and heading on a long leg to Nicaragua.

420 nautical miles and lots of elevation for this leg. *Smirks* Landing in San Francisco, but not THAT San Francisco. Landing will be a grass runway in eastern Panama and a beach rental for the weekend.

An easy leg over some water leaving Central America and entering South America. Overnight stay in Columbia.

Crossing the equator today, and to do that will require climbing to 16,500. Sizeable milestones for this trip.

A challenging landing leg ahead with the altitude changing from sea level to landing at over 13,000 ft elevation. It will put the G58 to the test getting off the ground that high up. Fun fact: La Paz is the highest capital city in the world.

Takeoff at high altitude definitely was a struggle. The engine was leaned from the start. Up and away to another high-elevation airport in Uyuni. Moving further from the equator paired with the high elevation is making for some colder flights, good prep for the journey across Antarctica.

Andes flying hits different. Constant high elevations make the plane (and the lungs) work extra hard. A short leg continuing southward, leaving Bolivia and entering Argentina.

This was the first time I've experienced severe winds in MSFS enough to spin the props, even with the engine off. That's a nice touch.

From Argentina, bouncing a bit West into Chile. Continuing south at a cruise altitude of 17,000, we'll start tapering off the high-altitude legs of the Andes.

Still some peaks on this leg, but 10,000 feet will easily get us over these unlike the previous trips through the Andes.

Ushuaia is the world's southernmost city. This is the last big stop before starting the high-anxiety legs of this journey across Antarctica. I've double checked with Union and McMurdo stations to ensure my fuel deliveries have arrived before departing, and fitted the G58 with fuel bladders.

Despite forecast showing sustained 50mph winds at ground level in some regions of Antarctica, the weather was favorable on my route today, so departed from Ushuaia after a couple hours on the ground and headed for Union Station. Union Glacier Camp has a naturally occurring blue ice runway. This is a major jump off point for South Pole explorers to depart from. I'll be refueling, camping overnight and then headed to Union Station.

Timezones mean nothing here. I just know I have to leave at around 8:00pm UTC to follow with the sun to arrive at McMurdo at around 1:00am, which is within the small 5-hour window of sunlight they get daily.

Sluggish departure today from the weight of full tanks and fuel bladders. It's going to be an exhausting flight today; the better part of 2,000 nautical miles and nearly 10 hours in this plane seat. I'll have to do some stretches in the back seat during an autopilot session.

Nice to be flying and seeing something other than pure white everywhere. Easy short hop today heading to the north end of New Zealand.

Another quick leg to the northern tip of New Zealand. Not much to see with nearly an entire over-ocean flight. I'll spend this time fine-tuning the customs details for tomorrow's flight to Austrailia's Norfolk Island.

Highest peak on this leg is 253 feet, LOL! Quite the difference from the Andes of South America. Mostly an ocean hop from NZ to Norfolk Island. The challenge today will be the strong winds, and head winds at that.

After a quick touchdown and leg stretch in Norfolk Island, it's up-up-and-away north to New Caledonia. Winds on this leg look much more managable, and better temps as well.

With only another 5,000nm to go to match the distance flown in my first G58 round-the-world trip, I'm realizing that this longitudinal trip is a much longer one. The first (horizontal) trip was mostly above the Tropic of Cancer which really reduced the actual distance needed to go around the globe.

Great evening for flying with a clear weather report. It's starting to really warm up as I approach the equator. Destination this evening is Sola, the capital village of Torba Province in Vanuatu. Despite being a capital village, it contains only a couple general stores and not much else. Eats were provided by a guesthouse during my overnight stay.

The departure from Sola was butt-clenching. Short runway and tall trees at the end. Off to the Solomon Islands today, I think sushi is on the menu tonight.

Late afternoon flight from Solomon Islands to Hoskins, on the island of New Britian.

After a long weekend on the ground, it's back into the air en route to Papua New Guinea. Approaching ever closer to the equator from the south.

Another trip across Papua New Guinea. Staying a mere 60 miles from the equator in Sorong. Forecast is hot and rainy.

Continuing my journey north and crossing the equator today. Mostly ocean flying today with a weather forecast that's typical for this region - scattered rain all hours, all days. The nice thing is aside from that, wind and all other factors look good to retain VFR rules.

Aside from the rain (of course), weather was good for a late afternoon flight, this time stretching from the south side of the Phillipines to the north into Laoag.

Heading to Taiwan via another hop over the Pacific. This is a short leg so we'll have time to explore a few hours and head back into the air to Shanghai.

Not one but two busy international airports in a single day. Shanghai doesn't disappoint - lots of traffic! Will be spending the next few nights in China before heading to Korea.

Great forecast for flying today. Departing VFR for Seoul and the highest peak on this leg is 8ft ASL. Granted it's mostly an over-water flight, that still is comically low.

Departed China this morning for Korea, only to continue north and back into China. It's a reminder how geographically large China is. Landing at Jiamusi will be a nice break from the recent stint of larger international airports.

This flight requires a detour around North Korean airspace. Heading east out into the Sea of Japan before redirecting north to avoid getting hit by a missle.

The quick stop for fuel at Jiamusi was a stark reminder how different southern China is from the north. I'm happy to be back in the air after a quick leg stretch. There was dog meat on many of the menus around here.

Unsure what to expect in the remote Amur region of Russia into a town of Zeya. Most of the city here works for hydroelectric dam and gold mining with not much else, so the hope wasn't high that it would be much different from the culture of northern China.

The trip was a bit unexpected as there were no working runway lights at the intended destination of UHHG. It was like staring into the abyss from the sky where the runway should be, so I had to divert 85nm southwest to UHBE, but the city of Zeya wasn't as bad as expected! As an added bonus, Google services weren't blocked here!

With only eight flights to go to reach home the finish line is in sight, just have to get past the arctic crossing and it's smooth sailing after that.

Crossing into the Arctic Circle arriving in Tiksi, Russia, population 5,000. Originally this runway was built so long-range Soviet bombers could reach US soil.

Crossing over the north pole today (Hey Santa!). Full fuel tanks with 66 extra gallons in the fuel bladder. Not nearly as long as the Antarctic trips, but will need to have a bit extra than what the G58 can carry by itself.

The destination, Alert, is the northernmost continuously inhabited place in the world.

After arrival in Alert, I was happy to see the fuel I ordered had arrived. Fun fact - All residents of Alert are temporary, typically serving three- to six-month tours of duty here. It's been an interesting stop. The compass now points south instead of north, and we're off to Resolute, Canada, population 180.

Nearly 1300 miles since landing in Alert and I'm still in Nunavut. This Canadian territory is vast to say the least.

Crossing the Hudson Bay today. The gusty winds remind you to give takeoffs and landings full attention. Landing in Pickle Lake, Ontario is starting to give that midwest up-north vibe. I can feel home is close now.

Last stop before arriving back home. The island is always a fun visit.

Last flight back home and it's a short one. Similar to the last RTW trip, the last leg back home is bittersweet. It's good to be home, but leaves you wanting to plan another.