After finishing a world tour of the northern hemisphere the other day, I've already started to plan for a new tour focusing on the southern hemisphere. I'm looking into crossing the Atlantic from Guinea Republic to Brazil, and the Pacific from Chile to New Zealand. This is what I've got so far: 

Pacific crossing

1. SCSN-SCIR Santo Domingo, Chile - Robinson Crusoe, Chile | 366nm

=> Note: SCSN rwy length 800m SCIR rwy length 1007m

2. SCIR-SCIP Isla de Pascua | 1621nm => TBM

3. SCIP-NTGJ Totegegie, French Pacific Overseas Terr. | 1405nm => TBM

4. NTGJ-NTGY Tureia, French Pacific Overseas Terr. | 247nm

5. NTGY-NTKU Nukutepipi, French Pacific Overseas Terr. | 252nm

6. NTKU-NTGA Anaa, French Pacific Overseas Terr. | 245nm

7. NTGA-NTAA Tahiti, French Pacific Overseas Terr. | 236nm

8. NTAA-NCMK Mauke, Cook Is. | 466nm

9. NCMK-NCRG Rarotonga, Cook Is. | 152nm

10. NCRG-NIUE Niue Is. | 585nm

11. NIUE-NFTF Fua'amonto Intl, Nuku'alofa, Tonga | 322nm

12. NFTF-YSNF Norfolk Is. Australia | 1031nm

13. YSNF-NZKT Kaitaia, New Zealand | 453nm

Total length Chile-New Zealand: 7,381nm => 37 hours at 200kts

Atlantic crossing

1. GUCY-SBFN Conakry, Guinea Rep. - Fernando de Noronha, Brazil | 1386nm => TBM

2. SBFN-SBNT Natal, Brazil | 209nm

Total length Guinea-Brazil: 1,595nm => 8 hours at 200kts

Aircraft (I'm not going to stick to one for the whole tour)

• Daher TBM930                                range 1730nm ceiling 31000ft cruise 290kts G3000
• Cessna 414 Chancellor                   range 1328nm ceiling 30800ft cruise 203kts GTN750
• Cessna 310R                                  range 1283nm ceiling 20000nm cruise 171kts GTN750
• DA62 mod                                       range 1283nm ceiling 20000ft cruise 171kts G1000 GNXi
• Daher Kodiak 100                           range 1132nm ceiling 25000ft cruise 183kts G1000 GNXi
• DA40 NGX mod                              range 940nm ceiling 16400ft cruise 135kts G1000 GNXi
• Bonanza G36                                 range 920nm ceiling 18500ft cruise 176kts G1000 GNXi
• Analog Caravan                              range 789nm ceiling 25000ft cruise 185kts GTN750

---

As you can see, both crossings are challenging due to the range of the TBM. I'm afraid it might be marginal. What do you think? Is it doable? Or perhaps it's better to wait until the analog King Air releases. 

And sorry for the wall of text. 

It's doable on a sim, but not in the real world as you would obviously be missing rerouting destinations in case of any problem, at least on these three legs you highlighted. Furthermore (and still in real world), such oceanic crossings usually are safer on a twin, but a sim is a sim (Lindberg and many other pioneers only had one engine!), so go for it unless you want to do it by the book, in this case, no way! Otherwise, I have done a world tour on a Trinidad TB21 using the Northern routes where alternate destinations are more numerous.

Having said that, you also need favorable or weak winds enroute, at these latitudes - usually - they are not too strong, but careful weather planning is a must if you don't want to refuel in flight!... or swim to your next destination.

Edited September 13, 20223 yr by Bernard Ducret

Cpt_Piett.  Thank you for posting your plans for the southern hemisphere global flight.  I too, just finished my trip around the world in the northern hemisphere and have been thinking about doing the southern trip.  I don't like those long trips over water, (like watching paint dry), but I may try it.  I will fly using the Diamond D62 and the Bonanza G36 only because I am more familiar with the G1000Nxi and your flight plan.   My only cheat will be unlimited fuel.  I still have not learned how to figure out the fuel thing.

Back in the FSX days I tried the Ameila Earhardt flight.  Like her, I didn't make it either.  🙂 

Roy

Thanks @Bernard Ducret and @Roy Warren, excellent points. And as Bernard mentions it's a sim. Refueling mid-air is something I'd like to avoid, as is swimming 😉Other than that I'm willing to ditch the normal requirements for alternate fuel. Still, it's very marginal in the TBM, so I might just wait for the King Air to launch, as I believe that has even longer range. 

Of course these long stretches over water are going to be tedious, but at the same time I'd like to avoid the Alaska-Russia crossing another time, since I'm focusing on the southern hemisphere for this one. That means NZ, Australia, Indonesia, probably South India and the Middle East, Africa, South America - and the Pacific Islands. 

Also - suggestions for Southern Hemisphere destinations are more than welcome in this thread 🙂

Thanks for sharing! In 2020, just about a month after MSFS was released, I crossed the Atlantic in the steam gauge Cessna 172 from Germany via Norway, Färöer Islands, Iceland, Greenland, Nunavut/Canada, Toronto, US East coast, Florida... Till I arrived in Mexico.

So it was really interesting for me to see other possible routes, especially to cross the Pacific, but the southern Atlantic route from Guinea to Brazil with a stopover in Fernando de Noronha. Of course they aren't suitable for the C172, but I might try them in a different GA aircraft one day! 

Edit: It's quite common to use an additional fuel tank when crossing large stretches of ocean, so this could be a real-world justification to refueling in the air... If you do the math and take the fuel into account for your take-off weight, and adjust the weight accordingly when refueling mid-flight, I'm sure you can do this in a rather realistic manner.

Edited September 13, 20223 yr by pstrub

If the range is marginal, one of the things you'll have to keep in mind is real-world weather (assuming you're using it), and if the wind might be for or against you. I recommend Windy.com as I've found MSFS weather conditions match remarkably well. I'm on the homeward half of my RTW trip in JF's non-turbo Arrow, and there's been a procession of typhoons between the Philippines and Taiwan. I'm stuck on Luzon, waiting for a gap.

Southern Hemisphere destinations ? You could try SCGZ, a Chilean Coast Guard airfield, which is the southernmost runway in the sim. Good luck!

 

On the southern Pacific, there is not one dry stone on which you can rest one wet toe between SCIP and SCIR, so you better be ready for that one, but for the Southern Atlantic crossing I would go for SBFN to GVSF (Cabo Verde Islands), a tad less (1215 NM) than your proposed route (but still a challenging one).

After crossing Africa, for the Indian Ocean, you have many attractive options from the African East Coast to Madagascar (FMMI), La Reunion (FMEE), Mauritius (FIMP), Seychelles (FSPP), Diego Garcia FJDG (if you get your clearance to land there!!!), Male (VRMM), Colombo (VCBI), Port Blair (VOPB), Phuket (VTSP), Kuching (WBGG), Menado (WAMM), Jayapura (WAJJ), Port Moresby (AYPY), Honiara (AGGH), Noumea (NWWW), Norfolk (YSNF) and back home I believe (?).

This is a wonderful milk run around mostly South of the Equator and far away from the main stream touristic routing.

 

Edited September 13, 20223 yr by Bernard Ducret

1 hour ago, Bernard Ducret said:

It's doable on a sim, but not in the real world as you would obviously be missing rerouting destinations in case of any problem, at least on these three legs you highlighted.

Talking about life. It really depends on ops. For example, ferry flights are often conducted from California to Hawaii have no alternate airport in planning. There are also certified mod to increase range of airplane.

Here is an example of recent crossing

 

2 hours ago, pstrub said:

Edit: It's quite common to use an additional fuel tank when crossing large stretches of ocean, so this could be a real-world justification to refueling in the air... If you do the math and take the fuel into account for your take-off weight, and adjust the weight accordingly when refueling mid-flight, I'm sure you can do this in a rather realistic manner.

Thanks, I'll look into that!

Germany to Mexico in the 172 - that's quite the journey 🙂

2 hours ago, Paul K said:

If the range is marginal, one of the things you'll have to keep in mind is real-world weather (assuming you're using it), and if the wind might be for or against you. I recommend Windy.com as I've found MSFS weather conditions match remarkably well. I'm on the homeward half of my RTW trip in JF's non-turbo Arrow, and there's been a procession of typhoons between the Philippines and Taiwan. I'm stuck on Luzon, waiting for a gap.

Southern Hemisphere destinations ? You could try SCGZ, a Chilean Coast Guard airfield, which is the southernmost runway in the sim. Good luck!

Thanks Paul! Yeah, it would have to be "weather permitting". I always fly with RW, and windy.com is my go-to for checking weather and planning ahead. Among many other things, I really like the feature where you can drop a pin near an airport witthout an active METAR, and get things like wind direction.

I'll look into SCGZ - maybe I could even squeeze in a hop over to Antarctica, so I can tick off one more continent. Only 513nm over to SCRM. 

Good luck for the rest of your journey. Blue skies!

2 hours ago, Bernard Ducret said:

On the southern Pacific, there is not one dry stone on which you can rest one wet toe between SCIP and SCIR, so you better be ready for that one, but for the Southern Atlantic crossing I would go for SBFN to GVSF (Cabo Verde Islands), a tad less (1215 NM) than your proposed route (but still a challenging one).

True. That one is the limiting factor, and by far the longest stretch. I don't think I'll make it in the TBM. Even though it's a sim, I'd hate to ditch somewhere in the Pacific due to fuel shortage. 

I might amend the flight plan with Cabo Verde, good suggestion. 

2 hours ago, Bernard Ducret said:

After crossing Africa, for the Indian Ocean, you have many attractive options from the African East Coast to Madagascar (FMMI), La Reunion (FMEE), Mauritius (FIMP), Seychelles (FSPP), Diego Garcia FJDG (if you get your clearance to land there!!!), Male (VRMM), Colombo (VCBI), Port Blair (VOPB), Phuket (VTSP), Kuching (WBGG), Menado (WAMM), Jayapura (WAJJ), Port Moresby (AYPY), Honiara (AGGH), Noumea (NWWW), Norfolk (YSNF) and back home I believe(?).

Wow, lots of good stopovers there, thanks. I've not yet decided if I'll go the Indian Ocean route or some sort of overland route. 

1 hour ago, sd_flyer said:

Here is an example of recent crossing

Wow, 18 hours non stop in a 172! That was an interesting video. 

Edited September 13, 20223 yr by Cpt_Piett

There is a video on Youtube of a guy flying his DA62 from Africa to Brazil.  I think he flew from Cabo Verde actually.  I can't remember if he had a ferry tank installed or not.  You can actually simulate a ferry tank, by putting the fuel weight in the rear pax seats (on a 172 for example) and adding that amount of fuel in-sim when you get low.  You can research ferry tank sizes possibly, to get an exact size bladder you would have.  Which reminds me.  Speaking of bladders, you should sim it right, don't go to the restroom for 10 hours straight, or use a bottle.  heh.

The Maldives are scenic.  I haven't seen them in MSFS but it's amazing seeing those big atolls and vibrant blue water.  Suvadiva (aka Huvadhu) Atoll is really large, but I think the nearest airport is Gan.  And it's well south of Male Atoll, which has the large airport.

But what is this?  Why don't you just take The Executor?  It would make short work of the Easter Island legs.

Benard Ducret mentioned stopping at Scychelles (FSPP) .  A while back I watched an excellent YouTube about the landing approach to Scychelles, and it was excellent.  If the video is still up, after you see it you will want to stop there.

Roy

13 minutes ago, Mace said:

But what is this?  Why don't you just take The Executor?  It would make short work of the Easter Island legs.

Man, this last sentence cracked me up! Help, on the floor, can't get up 🤣

36 minutes ago, Roy Warren said:

Benard Ducret mentioned stopping at Scychelles (FSPP) .

The Seychelles are beautiful but a number of the airports in the Seychelles are not represented well in MSFS.  There may be a way to get around that using freeware right now, such as: https://flightsim.to/product/seychelles-intl-airport-fsia

5 hours ago, pstrub said:

It's quite common to use an additional fuel tank when crossing large stretches of ocean, so this could be a real-world justification to refueling in the air... If you do the math and take the fuel into account for your take-off weight, and adjust the weight accordingly when refueling mid-flight, I'm sure you can do this in a rather realistic manner.

What we need is a ferry tank addon, that can take the place of one or more passenger seats and allows us to replenish the regular tanks during flight.

Off course, if you fly with career addons these might detect these as cheating.

48 minutes ago, orchestra_nl said:

What we need is a ferry tank addon, that can take the place of one or more passenger seats and allows us to replenish the regular tanks during flight.

Let me think out loud.  I'm thinking we wouldn't necessarily need an addon unless a person would just want a nice interface. 

Let's say you have a C172 and want to fly California to Hawaii.   Say you need a 24 gal ferry tank -- I don't know what the exact weight of 1 gal of avgas or 100LL is but let's say 6 lbs for sake of easy math -- so insert 144 lbs in one of the back seats the sim's weight and balance screen.  There's the ferry tank.  

Then when you're out over the Pacific, and get low on fuel, you could go into the sim weight & bal screen and add 24 gal of fuel and then remove the equivalent weight from the back seat.  Yeah, that's a little tedious I guess.  But I think it would work.  There could be an addon.