This is a pic of his cockpit:
Is this guy flying a sim? Might be better for him. Ridiculous.
I think it is to get a lot of selfie footage for the sponsors, for youtube videos, etc.
I don’t dare ask about the details of the ground support team. All these flights are really support-heavy but obviously the people doing them don’t want to talk about that. Any experienced pilot could fly around the world without a “support team” but it would need a huge amount of planning to do it in a little avgas machine.
I personally know a guy who flew an MD500 heli around the world. He knew all the tricks, had a totally reliable machine, burnt Jet-A1, but still had a 24/7 support guy back home, in contact 24/7 via a hard-wired Iridium satphone, who was doing all the forward logistics (fuel, hotels, etc).
Peter wrote:
All these flights are really support-heavy
Agree. The real kudos should go to the ground support staff.
Peter wrote:
This is a pic of his cockpit:
I think he needs another iPad.
I don’t think many pilots pay attention to these record attempts anymore, so the motivation must be the sense of accomplishment, that sponsors haven’t yet figured out that the publicity value is nearly zero, or some combination of the two.
I don’t think so. There is another guy who did that “youngest boy” thing about maybe 10 years ago, and he still goes from place to place telling his story about that trip. But he’s doing it in his own Bonanza.
So at least in the US there seems to be a market for this.
UdoR wrote:
There is another guy who did that “youngest boy” thing about maybe 10 years ago, and he still goes from place to place telling his story about that trip. But he’s doing it in his own Bonanza.So at least in the US there seems to be a market for this.
2014, Matt Guthmiller. I was there when he landed on his last leg. He was a smart kid and it was interesting to be there, but his arrival wasn’t exactly a major event, more like a hangar party. I was there because a friend of mine had got him up to speed with flying the Bonanza, which was initially leased from my friends then-main-employer. Why miss a party? 
Another EuroGA participant showed him around a bit in Italy IIRC. I don’t recall Matt having much real time ground support, but I’m sure a lot of preparation was done.
It was a ‘thing’ in 2014 but seven years later it seems less so. Maybe it’s just me.
Peter wrote:
I don’t dare ask about the details of the ground support team. All these flights are really support-heavy but obviously the people doing them don’t want to talk about that. Any experienced pilot could fly around the world without a “support team” but it would need a huge amount of planning to do it in a little avgas machine.
Well yes and no, apparently there was a “hiccup” last week, not sure if it was reported here:
And apparently the trip now includes a few legs from Ireland to North Africa and back (more N-S than W-E) to “make up the miles”.
Not quite sure if its really “in the spirit of it” or not?
2.5 years? How much money is behind this project??
