Red Green's Stratolifter Shenanigans

RedGreen

RedGreen

Charter Member
Do not fear going forward slowly, fear only to stand still. - Chinese Proverb

You could argue that I've entered a mule into the Kentucky Derby. The C-135A certainly won't be the fastest plane in the air for this race, and those four J-57s will ensure I don't win any fuel mileage awards. What this plane does have, is excellent range and a ton of character. Whether that's going to be enough to be competitive at all is hard to say.

Anyway, it's time to get going. Departing for WIIH in a matter of minutes.
 
Successfully landed at WIIH in Jakarta. Flight was uneventful for the most part. The scenery in the South Pacific is much nicer during the daylight hours to be sure. Was a tad faster than what I really wanted to be on my approach, but deploying the landing gear remedied the issue handily. Thankfully, the haze the weatherman was predicting was nowhere to be found, visibility was perfect. Pulled off a nice landing to top off the flight.

+30 Minute Bonus (Indonesia Landing)
First Night Landing Completed
34,491 Pounds of fuel used. (Does this race have a "Friend of OPEC" Award?)

http://fs-duenna.com/flights/ShowFlight.php?detail=flight&value=rNso2kN8ytf4vC4gaEjrqRfVR5M
 
pish, posh...only 34K+ pounds of fuel?
I better than doubled that.
I'm hoping the boys will save a bunch,
the more for us to guzzle.

I'm all for the "Friends of OPEC Award"
this is the 50s!
back in the States,
gas is 10 cents a gallon
 
This next leg will be a very personal one. My father spent a year of his life in the Army at this location in '68 and '69.

I will be departing WIIH shortly. Destination: VVTS, otherwise known as Saigon, South Vietnam.
 
From Saigon, on to another city that I have personal connection to. During his tour of duty in Vietnam, my father had two R&R's. He spent one of them in Bangkok, Thailand. The other one was spent in Hong Kong. It was on the trip to Hong Kong that my father was able to experience firsthand the Runway 13 approach to Kai Tak.

While normally I wouldn't pass up an opportunity to take on Runway 13, I will likely opt for the simpler approach to Runway 31. This flight will also commence at dawn rather than dusk.

Onward!
 
Up next, we depart Hong Kong for Taipei, The Republic of China (RCTP). This will easily be the shortest trip on my route, so it's a good opportunity to get that final nighttime landing out of the way. I'll certainly enjoy seeing the lights of Hong Kong at night as I depart.
 
We'll now be departing for the third checkpoint of the race, Yokota Air Base (RJTY) in Japan. It'll be nice to be making my landings in the daylight from now on!
 
Time to set a new personal record for longest flight of all time (in distance.) My previous high was a 2500 nm jaunt from New York City to Juneau in a DC-7C that took just under nine hours. This run likely won't take as long, but the flight from RJTY to PAED clocks in at over 3000 miles.

I've done (North American) Transcontinental flights and Trans-Atlantic flights before. Time to add a Trans-Pacific flight to my resume!
 
I finished the last quarter of a book I was reading, Oh Ranger! True Stories from our National Parks, and also read issues of Car and Driver and Electronic Gaming Monthly during the flight. Whenever I do these long distance flights I always have that moment about two-thirds of the way in where I ask, "Why do I do this to myself?" However, the thrill of touching down and finishing the flight is always worth it.

I plan to wrap this thing up this weekend.
 
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