I know I’m not the first person to try this but it looked like all the other post where pretty old. I’ve always wanted to circumnavigate the globe on Infinite Flight - especially in the Cessna 172. I’ve tried a few times with a few different aircraft and could never make it stick. I’m currently the farthest I’ve ever been, starting from my local airport KPDK. Hoping by making this thread and posting updates I’ll keep myself accountable to finally getting the journey done.
I haven’t pre-planned the route simply because I wanted the flexibility to fit flights in when my schedule allows! Flights will largely depend on how much time I have and what the weather has in store for me (I distinctly remember thinking “I shouldn’t be flying this plane in this weather…” on my last crossing from Iceland).
So I’m currently tied down in France at Valence Chabeuil Airport. Trying to decide if I head southeast down the coast of Italy and further east or detour by diving south and flying around the coast of Africa (I think flying around Madagascar would be cool) but this would add a bunch of time to my trip.
Let me know what you think, and I hope to see some of ya’ll in the skies!
One last thing, a quick little spreadsheet I threw together that I will attempt to keep updated as we go along.
Took off this morning from LFLU airpot, there where 17 knot winds on the ground gusting to 22 knots. I lined up into the wind and had a smooth take-off and a bumpy climb out to 4000 feet where the winds died down to 2 knots.
The airport was a pre-World War II French Air Force (Armée de l’Air) airfield. After the Battle of France, it was seized by Nazi Germany in November 1942. It was later used by the Luftwaffe, and after the Allied Invasion of southern France in August 1944, by the United States Army Air Forces Twelfth Air Force.
Used by the French Air Force base after the war, it was closed and today the airport is used for general aviation, with no commercial airline service.
I headed south for the coast of France - the weather looked nice in Mallorca so we set our flight plan and enjoyed the coastal views of southern France. 3 and some change hours later we began descent into Palma de Mallorca. Had a smooth landing with a 6 knot head wind on runway 24L. @Alfie_Grierson joined me and another (no username) pilot just a few minutes later.
Gonna grab a bite (in RL - and I imagine in the SIM too) and take a peak at weather conditions for the next leg. Likely headed southwest down the coast of Africa.
Second leg of the day; took off out of an empty LEPA after a long taxi heading west along the southern coast of Spain. LEPA airport was originally created by the Spanish government as a mail stop for the island and has grown to become Spain’s third busiest airport. A good chunk of this leg was over water, and at night the views can be pretty boring…
That is until you fly over a gorgeous island Formentera (The island’s name is said to derive from the Latin word frumentarium, meaning “granary”. The island was occupied in prehistoric times, going back to 2,000–1,600 BC.)
4 hours later I touched down in Malaga, Spain at Malaga-Costa del Sol Airport (LEMG: Spain’s fourth busiest airport) for some dinner and a refuel.
Heading for the Strait of Gibralter and on to Africa baring favorable weather and a good place with instrument approaches to land! @Vader_Georgian was my only user spot on this trip, they where 30 thousand over head on their way to EGLL. Cheers!
Last one for today - super tired so no cool story but I was leaving Malaga Spain sticking to the coast some more heading for the Strait of Gibraltar… wanted to hit Africa tonight as my vacation is rapidly coming to an end. It was a quick 2 hour flight to Rabat–Salé Airport in Morocco - 0 knot wind on final into GMME. Your quick tid-bit about Rabat–Salé Airport courtesy of Wikipedia: During World War II, the airport was used as a military airfield by both the Royal Air Force and the United States Army Air Forces. The 319th Bombardment Group briefly flew B-26 Marauders from the airfield between 25 April and 1 June 1943. After the Americans moved out their combat units in mid-1943, the airport was used as a stopover and landing field for Air Transport Command aircraft on the Casablanca-Algiers transport route. When the war ended, control of the airfield was returned to civil authorities.
During the early years of the Cold War, the United States Air Force’s Strategic Air Command (SAC) used the airport as headquarters for its 5th and 316th Air Divisions. Various SAC aircraft, primarily B-47 Stratojets and KC-97 Stratofreighters used the airport until the United States Air Force withdrew from Morocco in 1957.
Pretty cool! Here are a few snaps from the trip, more to come tomorrow!
Well folks, I made a rookie error that could have ended much worse I suppose. This morning during flight planning half asleep before my morning stimulants… I checked the weather for my destination airport: Agadir–Al Massira Airport in Morocco. It was clear with 5-7 knot winds - so I blasted out Rabat-Salé airport and headed down the coast. Now admittedly I was playing another video game with the wife and not paying much attention when my alarm went off to prepare for descent, check weather and runway conditions and prepare for radio calls. That’s when I noticed something rather odd… 17-25 knot gusting crosswinds on the 1 runway at GMAD. I hadn’t checked the future forecast facepalm.
Well this won’t do - maximum demonstrated crosswind landing in a 172 is 20 knots (or any pilot will tell you it’s whatever you feel comfortable landing in…). Well this was a bit much for me as the rocking was already severe on the downwind approach. So I pulled up the weather radar and o’ boy - a huge area was being affected by high winds and dust. My options were to turn back north or plow another 453 nm south to the Canary Islands where winds would be favorable when I arrived. Well I’m a sucker for island views and I had plenty of fuel on board - so I settled in for the long haul.
The next 4 hours where pretty uneventful, spotted a few folks but they where all super far away. Nabbed 2 pics tho, first was sunset over the Canary Island’s and the second is touching down while someone waited for take off at Tenerife South Airport. (Tenerife South was created after the main airport to the north hosted the deadliest accident in aviation history due to its poor visibility and aptitude to be afflicted by inclement weather.)
No thrills on today’s last leg - busting out of Tenerife South headed back to main land Africa. This area sorta feels like a no mans land for aviation - very few airports available and even fewer that offer services. GQPA Atar International is a tiny little airport that doesn’t have a lot of public info available. The United States used it in WWII (shocker…). Last day of vacay tomorrow so we’ll see what’s in store for us. Thanks for putting up with me ya’ll!
Not much to report today, made decent progress. Flew over a lot of desert and some coast and then some more desert. Updated the spreadsheet. Will try to get another leg in tomorrow - will be after 8 PM Eastern time and I’ll be taking off out of Roberts International in Liberia headed east. Night all, safe flying!
