5 Flights to Make Before You Die

"Jay Honeck" wrote in message
oups.com...
We've flown coast to coast, Canada to Mexico, for the last 12 years,
and we have seen a lot of beautiful sights. There are way more than
five flights to make before you die -- but these are my Top 5. Can
you add yours?


1. The Great Ocean Road and 12 Apostles National Park.

2. Outback Australia. - Broken Hill - Bridsville - Alice Springs - Ayers
Rock - Oodnadatta - Coober Pedy - Leigh Creek - Wilpena Pound.

3. South- West Tasmania

4. Sydney Harbour

5. Queenstown to Milford Sound.

Terry

1. The Great Ocean Road and 12 Apostles National Park.
2. Outback Australia. - Broken Hill - Bridsville - Alice Springs - Ayers
Rock - Oodnadatta - Coober Pedy - Leigh Creek - Wilpena Pound.
3. South- West Tasmania
4. Sydney Harbour
5. Queenstown to Milford Sound.

Flying "Down Under" sounds awesome! I know a couple of American
pilots who were able to take the "outback tours" before the Aussie
gummint shut them down, and they said they were absolutely fantastic.

Any word on whether those tours will be allowed again? I can't
remember the circumstances of their discontinuation, but it was
something to do with security, right?
--
Jay Honeck
Iowa City, IA
Pathfinder N56993
www.AlexisParkInn.com
"Your Aviation Destination"

"Jay Honeck" wrote in message
oups.com...
1. The Great Ocean Road and 12 Apostles National Park.
2. Outback Australia. - Broken Hill - Bridsville - Alice Springs -
Ayers
Rock - Oodnadatta - Coober Pedy - Leigh Creek - Wilpena Pound.
3. South- West Tasmania
4. Sydney Harbour
5. Queenstown to Milford Sound.

Flying "Down Under" sounds awesome! I know a couple of American
pilots who were able to take the "outback tours" before the Aussie
gummint shut them down, and they said they were absolutely fantastic.

Any word on whether those tours will be allowed again? I can't
remember the circumstances of their discontinuation, but it was
something to do with security, right?
--
Jay,
They certainly havent been shut down, but since 9/11 the gummint did do a
few things that supposedly increased security ( or more correctly made the
ignorant masses think they had done something to increase security). I am
not sure exactly what the new requirements are regarding foreign pilots
coming in to do these tours but I am more than happy to assist anyone who is
seriously interested ( if you promise me you are not a terrorist and are not
going to crash your Cesssna 150 into the Sydney Harbour Bridge - you might
scratch it!)
I do recall there are 2 different sets of hoops you have to jump through
depending on how long you wanted to fly here.I dont recall them being too
onerous for a short stay. The biggest problem we had over here was that
they brought in all these new rules before they had all the bureacrats to
enforce them. Like they required student pilots to have a security check
before they flew solo. We then had all these student pilots ready for solo
and having to wait months for the checks.
There is a company called Stawell Air Services ( run by Graham Boatman) who
have been operating these tours for many years.You will find a descripton of
their tours on the web. They are typically about 12 days long, with maybe 2
to 4 flying hours per day , and accomodation , meals and tours all looked
after. I have heard some fantastic reports on them and I am hoping to go on
one myself in the next couple of years.
terry

1. Ocean to ocean. (i.e. San Diego to Boston)

2. Kitty Hawk and First Flight airport

3. Lake Tahoe

4. Anywhere south of San Felipe on the Sea of Cortez

5. Alaska up the Alcan



Jim

RST Engineering wrote:

5. Alaska up the Alcan

I can't decide which would be more fun, flying the Alcan or riding it on
a motorcycle. I'd like to do both!

Matt

"Matt Whiting" wrote

I can't decide which would be more fun, flying the Alcan or riding it on a
motorcycle. I'd like to do both!

Find someone who you would trust flying your airplane, and that would want
to do the trip on a bike, or who would feel comfortable with you flying
their plane.

You ride one way, then switch places for the trip back.

Of course you would have to trust each other's riding skills, too. That
might be the harder part!
--
Jim in NC

Find someone who you would trust flying your airplane, and that would want
to do the trip on a bike, or who would feel comfortable with you flying
their plane.

That reminds me of a hypothetical Block Island trip a friend and I have
planned. He sails but doesn't fly, I fly but don't sail. We each get
to Block Island our usual way, and trade keys. Then we race back.

Jose
--
Get high on gasoline: fly an airplane.
for Email, make the obvious change in the address.

Morgans wrote:
"Matt Whiting" wrote

I can't decide which would be more fun, flying the Alcan or riding it on a
motorcycle. I'd like to do both!

Find someone who you would trust flying your airplane, and that would want
to do the trip on a bike, or who would feel comfortable with you flying
their plane.

You ride one way, then switch places for the trip back.

Of course you would have to trust each other's riding skills, too. That
might be the harder part!

That would be an interesting way to do it, although then I'd miss two
legs of a great trip! :-)

Matt

Matt Whiting wrote:
RST Engineering wrote:

5. Alaska up the Alcan

Trivia note: My understanding is that "Alcan" was the military designation.
It is now called the Alaska Highway.

I can't decide which would be more fun, flying the Alcan or riding it on
a motorcycle. I'd like to do both!

If one flies, I assume following the road would probably be the best bet in
terms of providing an emergency landing strip, given the terrain. Overhead
lines are not a problem for much of the way!

As to riding a motorcycle - be careful what time of the year you drive it -
I'm told that at the height of the summer travel season you'd probably
spend a lot of time passing RVs (when you aren't stuck behind them).

However, the peak RV time is probably July. My wife and I did a 46 day road
trip to Alaska from the beginning of August of 2005 to mid September and we
did not encounter the alleged bumper-to-bumper RV trains to Alaska. ;-) (A
spike in gas prices may have kept some RVers from considering the trip that
summer - so maybe plan to go when gas prices are high!)

We did see a moderate number of RVs heading back to the states - so if you
travel late summer you have a better chance of seeing empty road ahead of
you. If you travel by air or road too late in the summer (or too early in
the spring) you may find places shut down for the winter.

The recommended periodical for road trips to buy is "The Milepost". (Web
site: http://www.themilepost.com/ )

If anyone's interest, here's a web site of the trip my wife and I did in
2005:

http://trips.lugojweb.com/trips2005/alaska/index.html

(You can view the photos by clicking on Previous and Next links when they
appear on the right hand side.)

"Jim Logajan" wrote in message
.. .
Matt Whiting wrote:
RST Engineering wrote:

5. Alaska up the Alcan

... If one flies, I assume following the road would probably be the best
bet in
terms of providing an emergency landing strip, given the terrain. Overhead
lines are not a problem for much of the way!

The advice from the locals was stick to the highway so you can be found if
you go down.


As to riding a motorcycle - be careful what time of the year you drive
it -
I'm told that at the height of the summer travel season you'd probably
spend a lot of time passing RVs (when you aren't stuck behind them).

My brother and I got snowed on during late August somewhere along the way.
We weren't real prepared for that (camping in a tent under the wing).

Lots of airports along the way so you don't need exceptional range - we did
it in a Cessna 120.

Be prepared to wait out the weather...

--
Geoff
The Sea Hawk at Wow Way d0t Com
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