Southern Sun...round the world Searay just landed in Longreach...

[Guest Maj Millard]

The official end of his mammoth trip around the world...well done Michael. A long run today from Weipa today after experiencing a cooked regulator yesterday on leg from Horn Island to Longreach. New part was delivered this morning to Weipa by NQlds Skytrans airlines.

 

 

[Kiwi303]

Hand delivery by the flight crew too. And the part was pulled off another SeaRey owners plane and delivered to the airport at cairns to make the morning flight rather than wait for the 3pm one.

 

Some great guys out there.

 

 

[Guest Maj Millard]

Yes that's what made the whole thing exciting, would he make it today.......a big formal event organised tonight at the Qantas museum with RAA friends from Proserpine who flew out in their Sav yesterday morning in attendance.

 

They were going ahead with the formal end of flight anyway....but real magic when he landed around 6.30 pm after a long days flying. Don't think anyone would have minded he was a half hour late under the circumstances.....

 

 

[Guest Maj Millard]

The plan is to continue on tomorrow to the Rylstone Airpark near Mudgee for another welcoming BBQ hosted by owner Rob Lonergran who is also the Aussie Searay dealer.

 

This is a good all round aviation effort and story and a very successful effort all round.

 

 

[Guest asmol]

Hey Maj, its a shame he couldnt do it in an RA-Aus registered plane but instead had to get USA registration because of our rules from CASA, probably stifles the adventurers our there.

 

 

[coljones]

Yes that's what made the whole thing exciting, would he make it today.......a big formal event organised tonight at the Qantas museum with RAA friends from Proserpine who flew out in their Sav yesterday morning in attendance.They were going ahead with the formal end of flight anyway....but real magic when he landed around 6.30 pm after a long days flying. Don't think anyone would have minded he was a half hour late under the circumstances.....

A magnificent effort. His story has been inspirational.

If Qld had daylight saving he would have been an hour and a half late.

 

 

[Kiwi303]

Hey Maj, its a shame he couldnt do it in an RA-Aus registered plane but instead had to get USA registration because of our rules from CASA, probably stifles the adventurers our there.

He would have had to be GA VH anyway if Australian reg, RAA is not ICAO and a round-the-world trip through so many different jurisdictions would make being an ICAO primary national organisation registration pretty much mandatory rather than being a delegated sub-ICAO class organisation reg.

 

NZ on the other hand, all microlights are still ZK reg, so a RAANZ or SAANZ or SACNZ microlight is still on the ICAO affiliated national register.

 

 

[Guest Maj Millard]

Hey Maj, its a shame he couldnt do it in an RA-Aus registered plane but instead had to get USA registration because of our rules from CASA, probably stifles the adventurers our there.

Makes good sense to be N registered for a round the world trip. It is the most recognised rego worldwide in fact several other countries use the same system. You'll also see many N registered flying in Australia ( mostly business jets )....this is partly because their company parent company is US based, but also also allows them to maintain the aircraft under the U.S. FAA maintenance guidelines which are far simpler and cheaper than ours.

 

 

[coljones]

Makes good sense to be N registered for a round the world trip. It is the most recognised rego worldwide in fact several other countries use the same system. You'll also see many N registered flying in Australia ( mostly business jets )....this is partly because their company parent company is US based, but also also allows them to maintain the aircraft under the U.S. FAA maintenance guidelines which are far simpler and cheaper than ours.

And in any case his MTOW legally greater than 800Kg would have kept his plane off the RAA register without an administrative limit of 650kg. Keeping it on the N register allowed him to load up to the max with the necessary juice to do his long hauls.

Southern Sun arrived at Rylstone at about 1648 EDT to be welcome by a small but enthusiastic group. Despite being in the air for over 7 hours Mike was very generous in explaining the the assembly the in and outs out his plane and all the nooks and crannies that he used to store his fuel and the pumping mechanism to make it all work. I eagerly await the book and photos and technical schema.

 

The weather almost got him. About an hour after he arrived the heavens opened with torrential downpour and some hail. At stages visibility was down to no more than 50 metres.

 

I recommend that, anyone wanting a really good guest speaker, Mike would be most excellant.