Victory Lap Part 1

Wellington to Sao Paulo

Around the world in as few hops as I can in a 747-400. Part 1 is Wellington, New Zealand, to Sao Paulo, Brazil, a trip of 6295NM, in about 12 hours. Well within the range of a 747.

Radios: Wellington clearance, ground, tower, departure, New Zealand Center, Isla De Pascua Center, Punta Arenas Center, Comodoro Rivadavia Center, Ezeiza Center, Montevideo Center, Curitiba Center, Montivideo Center, Curitiba Center, Sao Paulo Approach, Guarulhos Tower, & ground.

Came in a little shallow, and overcorrected, floating a ways down the runway, Luckily, Guarulhos has a long runway, so I could roll out with no problem.


Warming up at Wellington

Pushing Back

Ready for Takeoff

Climbing Out

Turning to Course, back over the airport

Climbing over North Island

The Sun Sets Over New Zealand

Night Flight w/Moon

Multi-Screen En Route

Nearing Terminal Area

Touching Down

Guarulhos International Airport

Leg The Last

Well, this is it- the final leg on this trip 'round the marble. I got a new monitor (not just for this, but it is pretty cool to show off with.) The new monitor's a ViewSonic LCD 22" with a resolution of 1680 x 1050. Effing huge.

Anyway, this last leg has a distance of 1203NM, which I cruised at FL290, at 300KIAS. Radios went from Sydney clearance, to Sydney ground, tower & departure, then Melbourne Center, Brisbane Center, Auckland Center, New Zealand Center, Wellington Approach, Tower, & ground. Interestingly, Wellington uses the same frequency for tower & ground.

Coming in to Wellington, there was traffic taking off- one jet got cleared out when I was only 12 miles out, and took his time. I slowed to 140KTS, and he got off about 4 NM ahead of me, so I didn't have to go around. The next jet took off shortly after I landed. I came in a tad high, so I rolled out to the next to last taxiway on runway 16 before pulling off.

Well, that's pretty much it, except for the photos. I'm thinking about taking a victory lap in a 777, only 3 stops... we'll see.

On The Tarmac at Sydney

Warming Up

Over Sydney Harbour & The Opera House

Bit of a Hazy Day...

"So, what brings you this fine day to the EAC?"

Nearing the South Island

Banking to the ILS

Approaching at Sunset

Over the Marker

Welcome Back to Wellington

A Really Nice Evening

The Big Map

Wrapping up before the final leg, here's the Big Map O' The Trip:
(some of the city locations are, uh, inexact.)

Leg The Penultimate

Darwin to Sydney (All that's left is Sydney to Wellington)

This leg, a distance of 1704NM, is one of the few domestic flights on the itinerary. Darwin is in the far northwest of Australia, and Sydney's southeast. Along the way, there were miles and miles of outback. I flew at FL 310, 290KIAS, pushing back from the terminal at Darwin at 7:30am local. For the first hour or so, I had a strong tailwind, and made a groundspeed of 520NM/Hr, but after that had either crosswind or headwind, and made much slower time, usually around 460NM/Hr. Nearing, Sydney, the weather got, well, wierd. I don't know if it was a problem with the internet connection, but the clouds suddenly came in, very thick, and the barometer went all uppy-downy. On the other hand, it could just be the way it is coming over the Great Dividing Range and into the Sydney area.

Radios went form Darwin clearance, to Darwin Ground, tower & departure, to Brisbane center, switching frequencies a few times, then to Melbourne center, back to Brisbane, back again to Melbourse, to Sydney approach, tower & ground.

Warming up at Darwin

Climbing out Thru some Haze

Over The Outback- Miles & Miles of Miles & Miles

Descending into the Sydney Area

Now That's Dense Clouds

On Final, 34L

A Cockpit Closeup

Busy Terminal Area

The Sydney Airport

Leg the 29th

Jakarta to Darwin
So, after a 3 hour rest for lunch & fuel, I headed off to Darwin, Austrailia. 2 more stops, and that's lap 1 over with. Pushback was at 12 noon, and visibility was still only 4 miles.

Coming in to Darwin at 5PM local, 2 time zones over, there were 3 aircraft that entered the terminal area at the same time. Since there's only 1 runway in Darwin, that made for quite a line-up. I followed an MD-80 down, which barely made it off the runway before I landed, and I was followed by a Learjet. The Lear didn't slow down, and wound up getting told to go around. Some coulds around Darwin, but otherwise not much weather wise.

Flight was 1483NM, cruising at FL330, 280KIAS. Radios went from Jakarta clearance delivery to Jakarta ground, tower, departure, then center, to Bali center, Brisbane Center, Darwin Approach, tower & ground.

Pushing Back at Soekarno-Hatta

Climbing Thru the Haze

Over the Mountains of Indonesia

Between Could Layers Nearing Darwin

Following the MD-80

Taxiing Up to the Terminal

Parked in a Row at Darwin - Door Open for some Fresh Air

Aerial View of Darwin Airport

Jakarta

Nice morning flight to Jakarta, Indonesia. The destination airport was Soekarno-Hatte International. Push back was at 5am local time, landed at 9am, local. Cruised at FL330 at 280KIAS.

Radios went from Bangkok Clearance, to ground, to tower, to departure, to center. Next was Singapore Center, Kuala Lumpur Center, Singapore Center, Kuala Lumpur Center, Singapore Center, Jakarta Center, Jakarta Approach, Tower & ground.

Along the way, I had a cloise approach to another aircraft, another American Pacific flight, also bound for Jakarta, at the same altitude. I was going a little faster, and eventually passed by, coming as close as 0.9NM. I was about 20NM ahead of him coming into the terminal area, but for whatever reason, I got a vector way west, and the controller called him in tighter, and to lower altitudes. The result was that he landed first. It just seems kinda odd. Anyway, knowing that he was going to come in first, I slowed further out than normal so he could clear the runway & I would not have to go around. Good thing too- I heard the tower tell him to exit the runway 4 times before telling him to tune to ground.

Warming Up at Bangkok

Climbing Out

The Close Approach

On The ILS in a Cloud

Pulling up to the Terminal

Aerial Map of Jakarta Airport

Leg the 27th

If the world's your oyster, which part's the shell?

Nice flight from New Delhi to Bangkok International, apart from low level haze over the departure airport, but that topped out at about 11,000. Push back was at 8:15am, for a flight of 1575NM, cruising at FL330 at 275KIAS. The course was over India, Myanmar, and Thailand. I would be remiss if I didn't note that Myanmar used to be Burma. I think that they changed it after it's use as a Monty Python Joke ("BURMA!").

Radios went from Ground at Delhi for clearance delivery, to tower, then departure, Delhi Center, Varanasi Center, Calcutta (Kolkatta) Center, Dhaka Center, Calcutta Center, Yangon Center, Bangkok Center, Approach, Tower & Ground.

Mucky Skies over New Delhi Tarmac

Climbing Through the Haze

On Course, back over Indira Gandhi Int'l

Over the Myanmar Coast

Touching Down at Bangkok

Parked in the Far East