Currently I am flying flying across the Gulf of Martaban, from Rangoon to a small strip elsewhere in Burma. I am going to avoid the minor detour of Bangkok, though it would be neat to visit. Instead I will look forward to visiting Changi Airport at Singapore!

 

Taking off from Chittagong I was hit by the worst storm ever! 30 knot winds, thunder, lightning, gusts that moved the plane vertically 100 feet at a time. I couldn't use the runway but had to turn into the wind, roll off the apron and onto the grass, push the throttle forward and lifted off like a helicopter. The next hour was very hairy, the plane slammed up and down, lightning burst around me, torrential tropical rain, crazy 30 knot winds, and I had to fly at 200-300 feet because visibility was dire, just thick sunrise-orange overcast. Hardest (and most fun) flying so far!

 

A shot a bit later, after the sun had risen: 

 

 

Flying over jungle-clad mountains as I fly southwards down the Malay Penninsula. I can smell the Kangeroos from here!

You can almost hear the wires whistling in the wind, too!

 

With Accusim ... I certainly can....  

and now with ASN's new service pack the Moth flies like a true biplane, flying through the troubled tropical storms of Malaya with kicks and shimmies, bucking and rolling with the turbulence. Up to now it has flown a bit like a truck, point it in the right direction snd it flies dead straight and level. Not any more, now the flying feels more real.

I like to aim for the big airports, easy to spot from a distance. However, I got a shock when I looked behind me when on finals to Kuala Lumpur ... no radio you see!

 

 

You can just see the passing airbus through the wire bracing. 

 

 

Ooooh... momentary disruption in the Space Time Continuum? Perhaps Paul's playing an unknown role, from some lost episode of The Twilight Zone or The Outer Limits?

 

Bet seeing you there threw the Airbus crew into a tizzy...

 

It will be on CNN, passenger on a Kuala Lumpur flight claims to have seen Amy Johnson's biplane approaching the airport. No-one believes them!

Shiver - a nasty flight .... Good weather on the way to Palambang, but dry rivers on my map seem to be actual rivers in FSX, so I was a bit lost and low on fuel. Very low. When I spot a town I think is Palambang I head for it, but a thick fog descends so that I cannot navigate at all, I can just see trees passing underneath me a few hundred feet down.... I could pass a mile by the airfield and miss it, and my fuel is on 8%. Then I see a brief flash of black square, the tell tale sign of an FSX airport light! Turning in the fog toward that direction, I soon spot a white light, but fuel is dropping down to 6%.

 

As the light glows through the impenetrable fog, it suddenly clears to show blue skies, the town, fields and the airport dead ahead. I landed with 5% fuel remaining, which is around 11 minutes flying time.

 

That was very, very close! I'm not going to try a 3 hour 45 min flight again, I need some reserve, so 3 hours 30 mins will be my maximum. The weather since Burma has been awful, fog, rainstorms, thunderstorms or all three. Is this the monsoon I wonder? It hits the region in June usually.

 

Jakarta is a milestone. It's my last big airport before Australia, and the capital of the final country before Australia. An early morning start: sunrise over Java:

 

 

Now over Bali ... getting close, now.

 

I've just passed over some fantastic scenery in eastern Java, a chain of volcanoes, clad in steaming rainforest. The highest line the rim of the vast 20 km Ijen caldera, which you can see in image 2. I'm using default mesh and the awesome FTX Global for this. Inspiring landscape indeed!

 

 

The Ijen caldera:

 

 

Congratulations, Paul!

 

You're almost there; have a great time, and enjoy the scenery!

 

Oh dear, so concerned about trying to get into spot view as I taxied fown the runway at Mataran after crossing Bali, that I hit a Cherokee backtracking ready for takeoff. I didn't see it coming onto the runway because of the terrible visibility due to flying a taildragger. Damn! However ... I'm not going to call off the flight, I was taxiing, the Cherokee was taxing, so at the most I estimate some prop and engine damage or damage to a wing. I'll delay takeoff for a couple of days to simulate some rapid repairs. Amy had a crash (into an irrigation ditch I think) in Burma that caused her a similar delay.

 

Getting complacent!

I'm over the Timor Sea,  and Australia is finally in sight! Terrified of ditching, and the sharks that she was told fill the waters, Amy carried an inflatable. She threw it overboard once she passed over the beach...

 

The last flight, to Timor was traumatic. It was mostly over ocean too, but I faced a 20 knot headwind. The flight lasted far longer than I had planned and it got dark. I'd never flown the Gipsy Moth in the dark and VFR was going to be hard without city lights. Luckily Timor's airport had a beacon and lights and I was able to put her down, running on fumes. As I taxied onto the apron I was extremely startled to see a meteor in the sky above the control tower. It was breaking up in the upper atmosphere because it looked like three almost in a line. I jumped out of my skin! 

Touchdown in Darwin, Australia - at last!

 

Sat back and had a beer

 

Took off from Biggin Hill on 5 May, touched down at Darwin on 24 May (sim time). 

Total distance 8,468 miles.

Total flight length 112:53 hours (add a bit extra for landings, getting lost, etc).

 

On a practical level, I began the flight 31st August and flew a leg on most days (for 2-4 hours) until I touched down on Saturday evening 25th October. By my reckoning, that's 42 separate flights. 

On a practical level, I began the flight 31st August and flew a leg on most days (for 2-4 hours) until I touched down on Saturday evening 25th October. By my reckoning, that's 42 separate flights.