The Mighty Howard

We spent a little time at Nada, refueling, having lunch and just generally killing a little time before taking off again this time to Pago Pago. Went through another thunderstorm on the way there, but it was less of a bother than the earlier one.

When we got to Pago Pago, I had to do the right traffic thing and almost circle the island to get lined up with Runway 23. Everyone got a view of the island as the weather sure was nice for sightseeing.

Once we got to the ramp, I noticed Pan American was there in force with a Stratocruiser and a Sikorsky "Baby Clipper". Hopefully Juan Trippe won't make too big a fuss about Western Express being so far out of the country.....
 
As we were loading the Howard for departure from Pago Pago, Mr Smith mentioned that we should make haste as Miss Jones was desirous of going sunbathing at our next layover in Tahiti. I told him that we were going to have to kind of zig zag our way there in order to refuel at Rarotonga, but we'd do our best.

We made pretty good time to Rarotonga and didn't bother to even shut the engines down and just hot fueled, then took back off again. (in such a hurry that I didn't even get a pic) Pushing the Howard, we again made good time to Tahiti, but alas for Miss Jones, it was foggy there when we arrived. Maybe she'll have better luck at our next layover.....
 
Now that's a pretty L-1049 in that last shot Willy. Is that one in Tom's AI package ??

Stefan

ps. love the story line.
 
Sorry, but it's Mike Stones with a VA's paintscheme. I probably should replace it with something Air France.
 
We left Tahiti and headed to Totegegie (NTGJ) for the jump off point to Easter Island. As this was a refuel stop, that's about all we did there. The weather was nice though. Soon enough we were back in the air again heading east....
 
This was one long leg. 1403 nm and took 1408 gallons of avgas to make it. That figures out to about 1 mpg. I landed with 7% fuel left after using the bag of tricks to extend the fuel. I will say however that the Howard flies better than I thought it would at FL250. I was sure glad to see Easter Island. But the next leg is even longer and I'm going to have to dig deeper into that bag to make it.

Mr Smith and Miss Jones have went out to look at the stone heads on the island while me and Gus take care of some needed maintenence. I'm hoping to get started at dawn.
 
Well... I'm in no hurry to do that again.

Left Easter Island at daylight heading east to Robinson Crusoe Island some 1600nm away. Went back up to FL250 and dropped the pitch and MAP way down. It worked and got me there, but I had 1% fuel left when I killed the engines. That's just cutting things too close. Even Gus was looking at the fuel gauges rather longingly the last hour or so. O' course in front of Mr Smith, I acted like it was normal everyday flying.

We landed before noon and it's a bright sunny day, so I guess Miss Jones will get her sunbathing in after all. I've got to go find a fuel truck or two...
 
I had to do a 90* turn to line up with the runway but other than that, I went straight in. Didn't bother to let the tower know I was coming just in case they had other ideas.
 
Left Robinson Crusoe Island and headed to Santiago, Chile. Sure was good to see South America when it came up in the distance. All that water and no fishin' pole can get next to you. We'll head north from here.
 
Left Santiago and headed north to La Paz via Calama. Nice flight over the mountains, but things got pretty bouncy when we went around a thunderstorm.

Mr Smith is checking on his mining interests here and wants to talk with us again about going further with us. Right now, I'm thinking heading back to the states in about as direct a manner as I can get. I've gotten word about an aircraft manufacturer looking for a temp test pilot and it sounds like it should be simple enough job. Besides, it's always fun to the fly the latest and greatest. But first I've got get there.

Pics got scrambled up again
 
Mr Smith and Miss Jones have decided to accompany us a bit further now that his business with his mining partners is complete. He says Havana is nice this time of year. And as it's kind of on our way, it works for us too.

We left La Paz heading north into Peru east of the Andes. On the way out, we passed Lake Titicaca on our left. We ended up landing at Puerto Montadado (SPTU) in the jungle. Our next few stops will probably be in the jungle as we head north.
 
Damn, Willy...this is inspiring..methinks I'll have to follow in yer footsteps and have myself a round-the-world cruise also...Thanks for the inspiration, my friend.
 
This is my third or fourth one and I really didn't set out to go around the world on this one, just cross the Atlantic, but one thing has led to another. But now that I've made it this far, I'm just as well to keep on going.

One bit of advice. When you do, pick an aircraft you like and be prepared to not want to fly it for a good long while afterward. Also one with a good cruise speed. I did my first one in one of Dave Copely's P-38s and the last one in Milton's Beech 18. I never did get that much back into the XP-38 and am just now getting to where I want to fly the Beech again. I picked the Howard this time as I'd never flown it much to begin with and was interested in it.
 
LOL YOu sound like me Willy. Once we release a project I almost never fly that aircraft again. After 9-11 months of going over every inch of it modeling, mapping, texture tests, FM tests, lights, effects, etc., I have had my fill of it. It is strange because we only build the aircraft we love, but when done, the love has gone. :-/
 
We left Montadado for Cruiziero Du Sol in western Brazil. Actually, it don't get much more western in Brazil. Started out as a nice flight over the rain forest and soon turned into a storm marathon. Made it down okay (although Gus and Miss Jones was looking a little green for a while there) and we'll see if the weather is better tomorrow to continue on.
 
Hee Hee..yeh, I hear ya Willy..whatever plane I use, I will more than likely be sick of it once the flight's over. However, I'm looking forward to doing it...mid
 
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