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Post by Dave Homewood on Dec 5, 2018 12:28:37 GMT 12
Thanks Ron and Peter, great photos!!
I was watching the tracker earlier but now i cannot get it to load.
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Post by planecrazy on Dec 5, 2018 13:57:08 GMT 12
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Post by Dave Homewood on Dec 5, 2018 14:11:11 GMT 12
Yep that is what I was using, and it';s back working now.
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Post by Dave Homewood on Dec 5, 2018 15:27:34 GMT 12
It looks like they are about to cross the Northland coast?
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ron
Squadron Leader
Posts: 110
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Post by ron on Dec 5, 2018 16:12:54 GMT 12
Just like the good old days. Here we all are huddled around the "wireless" monitoring their progress.
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Post by Dave Homewood on Dec 5, 2018 16:35:42 GMT 12
I agree with that Ron, it's terrific to be able to follow live progress.
It seems they are going all the way to Ardmore.
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Post by Dave Homewood on Dec 5, 2018 17:06:22 GMT 12
Looks like G-GBNZ has landed at Mangere.
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Post by planecrazy on Dec 5, 2018 17:23:59 GMT 12
That's great, well done Chris and Abby, must be an awesome feeling accomplishing such a goal!
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Post by ErrolC on Dec 6, 2018 21:32:17 GMT 12
@nzairforce: Welcome to #BaseAuckland WGCDR Chris Pote! The lightest aircraft to attempt the UK to NZ hemi-global route, Aeropro Eurofox ER left England in October. The flight is one of the events to celebrate #RAF100, @royalairforce's centenary. t.co/ghCbFBTlBM
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Post by Dave Homewood on Dec 6, 2018 23:20:54 GMT 12
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Post by pjw4118 on Dec 7, 2018 11:36:12 GMT 12
Great to see and well done to all. Yesterdays weather at Whenuapai wasnt that great and would have made for some interesting flying. Sadly the Herald etc dont seem to have done anything. After all it was quite an epic journey . Looking forward to a catch up on Saturday.
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Post by jonathanpote on Dec 10, 2018 9:10:56 GMT 12
Hi All
Sorry for the silence: Keeping up with Chris and Abby is a 24 hour job, even without doing all the flying, flight prep, and lecturing. For much of the route, with nine hours plus flying a day, it has been 20 hours on, 4 off for them. Without the flying time, getting to the aircraft from overnight stay, prepping G-GBNZ, flying, bedding the aircraft down at night, flight planning and permissions for the next day, travel to accommodation and a hasty bite to eat has been 10 hours+. Personally, I'm exhausted!
To update, today (Monday) G-GBNZ is arriving at Ohakea about now (1000), for RAF/RNZAF liaison, Marae visit, remain overnight.
On Tuesday, off to the South Island, hoping to visit Omarama amongst other places of interest. Hopefully Bridge Pa to see ZK-ADT on the return, local Whenuapai flying on Thursday, presentation at Whenuapai on Friday. All plans variable (they were meant to leave WP last night, not 0800 today.....)
Flying from 50+N to 45S is more than half-circumnavigation, 20,500 miles flown so far is almost the same as a circumnavigation distance, and the antipodial point of RAF College, Cranwell, Spiritual home of the RAF, is some 400 nm off Dunedin. I did suggest to Chris that he should fly to that point, and photograph the GPS overhead. His reply was that was an un-necessary risk, just to take a photo and prove he 'had done it'. This from a pilot who now has two Oceanic crossings to his credit in the smallest aircraft ever to do any, several trans-Atlantic and UK Far East transits in a Tornado, several 'interesting' moments in combat over Iraq and Afghanistan, and five 'maydays' (but always brought the aircraft home, one only fit for the scrap heap as the repairs exceeded the value)
There is lots more to say, and this thread will remain live into 2019, but now I must go. More soon
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Post by jonathanpote on Dec 10, 2018 11:30:25 GMT 12
I meant to add above: Necessary aviation risks, however extreme, have to be taken (reduced as far as practical) but never should unnecessary risks be taken. I considered my wrist slapped.
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Post by jonathanpote on Dec 12, 2018 18:36:18 GMT 12
Tonight (Wednesday) G-GBNZ is tucked up in the hangar at Bridge Pa, chatting to ZK-ADT, the Gipsy Moth (ex G-AAJO) that flew UK - Sydney in 1929, then crossed the Tasman by sea. No doubt they have stories to tell each other. Tomorrow, G-GBNZ should be back at Whenuapai around midday, doing a little local flying before moving on to Parakai for shipping back to the UK. Chris flies back the next day, Abby is staying a little longer to savour this lovely Country. Today was the last possible day in the original plan to fly across the Tasman. In fact today there is extreme weather from Cape York to Tasmania, and the aircraft would have been in danger even tied down. It seems they grabbed the only two days when a crossing was possible (none too pleasant, even so).
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Post by Dave Homewood on Dec 12, 2018 20:00:36 GMT 12
They did amazingly well. Such a huge achievement.
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Post by planewriting on Dec 12, 2018 21:11:40 GMT 12
Actually Jonathan is not quite right about ZK-ADT. It was built in 1929 and flew to Australia in 1934, leaving from Heston on 18 September 1934 which was just before the England to Melbourne Air Race.
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Post by jonathanpote on Dec 14, 2018 11:04:16 GMT 12
Thanks, Plane Writing
I thought I knew a bit about aviation history, but the last few months have been a vertical learning curve for me! Peter Layne, David Duxbury and I are compiling a document of significant Europe - Australasia and trans-Tasman flights, still a work-in-progress. Watch this space.
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Post by jonathanpote on Dec 17, 2018 14:05:55 GMT 12
G-GBNZ: An apology Jonathan Pote <jonathanpote47@gmail.com> Hi Everyone The G-GBNZ RAF 100 Expedition is over - successfully completed. There were times when it nearly foundered, due to bureaucracy or weather, but they made it to New Zealand and a wonderful welcome that continued as long as they stayed - and indeed after. Along the route, innumerable people assisted them and eased their passage. Personal thanks are heading their way. Many friends were made. In emailing over one hundred people with updates and future plans as things constantly changed, I know I have taxed a lot of people's patience, left out people who really should have been included, and emailed a few who had no idea what I was talking about. My aim was to prevent anybody saying "I wish I had known that earlier", but I know I failed a few. Sorry. Since they have been here, I have learnt something: Previously I had thought that Chris flew a Tornado. Now I know he IS a Tornado; never stopping (en route is was a 20 hour day, half flying, half 'the rest' - bureaucracy, planning, weather forecasts, etc etc). Whilst he was here, I found it exhausting. "Where are we late for next?" was a frequent question, but overall he, Rachel, Gats, Emma and Abby have done over thirty presentations to young people about their venture and the importance of STEM (Science, Technology, Engineering and Mathematics) when they make decisions at a young age about options to follow. They also publicised the plight of the Rohingya refugees. A photo taken from the Eurofox on a chance overflight of a massive refugee camp hit the World News feed two days after being posted on their Facebook page. When I have completed stress therapy (early in the New Year) I intend to email most of you individually. To the many of you I said "I'll send that document/article or whatever on to you": I am not surprised, nor should you be, that I have forgotten most if not all of my offers. Please remind me and I shall try to honour my promises. The expedition is over, but there is still much material to come. I shall try to garner as much as I can from the various sources and put it all on the 'Wings over New Zealand' thread below. Likewise, Chris and Abby's presentation at RNZAF Whenuapai was filmed, and this should appear on the WONZ forum, along with a telephone interview of Chris by Dave Homewood. The closing chapter will be in New Zealand Aviation News at the end of January/early February. Thanks for all your support. And please do not forget the charities they support, the link to which will close soon. Cheers Jonathan www.facebook.com/RAF100GBNZ/ gb-nz.com/blog-2/ rnzaf.proboards.com/thread/27171/raf100-eurofox-flight-britain-zealand
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