One of the greatest challenges a young pilot faces is increasing his flying time, and building mine was a necessary next step. To qualify for a commercial licence I had to have a minimum of 200 flying hours under different conditions and categories: in cloud, solo, dual or cross-country.
I didn’t have my own plane, of course, so I had to find other ways of clocking up my hours. Through a connection with the Frogs Hollow Aero Club while I was still in final year at high school, I had met a man named Andrew who had bought a four-seat aircraft and was looking for someone to fly him around as he worked through his flight training. I got the job. My instructor Alan and I were flown to a nearby airport to pick up Andrew’s aircraft. I was aiming to do a little flying around the local area to become comfortable with the new plane, then my brother Adam and I would pick up Andrew the following weekend and fly north to the Sunshine Coast.
It was a late-model Cessna 182, a high-wing four-seat aircraft. At that stage it was by far the newest and highest-powered machine I had flown, and a lot of fun. I sat and planned a flight from Merimbula north to the Sunshine Coast, a good seven hours’ flying. Still being a low-time pilot I had my brother Adam come along for the ride, thinking two heads are always better than one. We set off early one morning for what was a long but fun and rewarding day. We met Andrew and all became much more comfortable in the aircraft with a few more hours behind us.
That was the first of many flights in that aircraft and the beginning of a friendship with Andrew and his family. And as that friendship grew, I started to think out loud to Andrew, to tell him about my hopes and fears for my grand plan. I had nowhere near enough experience to fly around the world; even if I did have enough knowledge of actual flying, that was probably not all I would need to learn; I had no aeroplane and no lost city of gold that would enable me to buy or hire one. There were so many things I didn’t know or didn’t have, and I was worried about most of them. But each time I brought up an issue, Andrew raised me a solution. A successful businessman and a new pilot, he had seen and experienced a lot, and had overcome many difficulties. From him I began to learn one of the most important lessons of my impending adventure: regardless of the requirements, challenges and seemingly impossible mountains to climb, all I truly needed was the courage and commitment to pursue my dream. And when we were up against the biggest challenge of all – finding an aircraft – Andrew was there. He offered more than his support; he offered his own Cessna.
From the beginning we had had a list of options in finding an aircraft, and taking away someone’s private aircraft was right at the bottom of the list, a last resort. But now knowing that we had a plane available if all else failed was fantastic. It gave us peace of mind and a way to keep calm as we looked into the question.
Bit by bit we were running through and discarding possibilities, and at the same time we were ticking off the days before departure. There were so few left. In fact, we had reached a point when we had to know what aircraft I was taking. We needed a set registration to send on to each location, we needed figures and data to plan the flight. And we needed the aircraft itself so I could do training flights and to organise the internal fuel tanking and associated lengthy approvals. Not to mention that if you intend to fly around the world by yourself, it looks quite good if you actually have an aircraft.
After phone calls and meetings with Andrew, we decided to accept his more than generous offer and to take the Cessna. I arranged to pick up the aircraft and fly it to the Australian International Airshow at Avalon, where we had a booth to promote the flight and and to look for further sponsorship and supplies. After the show the aircraft would return to Andrew in southern Queensland, where Andrew would continue flying, then five weeks before departure I would pick it up again. Having already spent a lot of time flying the Cessna, only the tanking, fit out of equipment and testing of the plane would have to be completed before my departure. Yes, these were all huge jobs but most of the preparation work could be done without the aircraft itself.
As the word spread, along with photos of the Cessna, many people wondered about the aircraft choice. Would it be able to complete the trip? I didn’t know, and as I hadn’t spent years evaluating different aircraft in trying situations, my way of finding out was to talk to those who had. I spent hours on the phone and had many meetings with a wide range of people.
Two, Jim Hazelton and Ray Clamback, stood out. Both were ferry pilots, professionals whose job it was to fly aircraft from A to B, either from the factory to their new home, or from their former location to a new one. A and B were almost always a very long way from each other.
My circumnavigation was in effect a long list of consecutive ferry flights, all joined to create a constant flight path that stretched around the world. Jim and Ray had flown aircraft to all corners of the globe and had crossed the Pacific Ocean hundreds of times. Ray had nerve-racking stories about ditching aircraft into the Pacific. As he gave tips I listened carefully and took many, many notes; after spending hours with both men I had an immense amount of new knowledge.
Originally we had looked for an aircraft with a high cruising airspeed in order to reduce the time taken for long hops. Jim assured me that Andrew’s Cessna 182 would be one of the best aircraft for what I wanted to do. If I took Andrew’s aircraft it would be in a completely private deal and in no way affiliated with the Cessna aircraft company in the USA. Andrew’s aircraft could be loaded with extra fuel and still easily stay in balance – an essential for safe flight – and it could fly the longest leg from Hawaii to California with relative ease. The Cessna’s cruising airspeed was not particularly fast, but its ability to shine in other areas was a simple yet acceptable trade-off.
With Jim’s advice in mind we began working on preparing the 182. We took photos of it, as well as measurements and notes. Although the plane stayed up north with its owner, we were able to plan the ferry tanking and begin the paperwork trail, the registration could now be passed to destinations abroad and flight routing could be finalised using the 182’s cruise speed and fuel burns. We felt we were getting there at last.
As the Avalon air show neared we started to prepare for the event amongst all the other jobs. With our own booth for the five-day show between the end of February and the beginning of March, we planned to promote the flight both to the commercial sector of aviation and the general public. We had banners, stickers, small globes with the flight route marked, a giant globe, a donated headset to auction and all the forms and information on each level of sponsorship. I packed my bag, got a ticket to Brisbane, and went off to pick up the Cessna.
The five days at Avalon were fantastic; between talking to hundreds of people every day and managing quick runs outside to see the F22 Raptor fly, there was little time for rest. I took a handful of proposals and walked the aisles of each exhibition hall and within days I had most of the safety equipment sponsored. The interest in the flight, and people’s generosity, was simply fantastic.
One important person I had to see was Matt Hall. Matt is one of Australia’s leading pilots, with a phenomenal background in the Royal Australian Air Force including flying combat in Iraq. He went on to become Australia’s only competitor in the Red Bull Air Race series, a high-intensity, heart-stopping race revered around the world that makes pilots fly through pylons and go upside down while remaining very close to the ground. Matt is also a skilled and experienced air show performer. I had first met him at the Temora airport in central New South Wales during an aerobatics competition. I was a shy, quiet fourteen-year-old, too scared to go and say hello. Someone who knew him took me over and introduced me. I stuttered for a second while he added to the growing number of signatures inside the cover of my logbook.
Matt had just released a book in time for the 2013 Avalon show and I wanted him to sign my copy. As I waited in line, a guy in a Matt Hall Racing shirt introduced himself as Dave. He turned out to be Dave Lyall, Matt’s operations and media manager. I explained about the around-the-world flight. Now that we had the plane I knew I needed to focus on getting word about the flight out there, which meant learning more about media. I asked Dave a couple of questions and he asked whether I had a media manager. I explained that we had had some local help for a short while but I was now back to doing things myself. Immediately Dave seemed interested, we exchanged details and decided to chat once I was home. And then Dave took me over to say hello to Matt, which was even better.
Avalon wrapped up on a Sunday. We pulled down what had been our home for the last five days and packed it back into the ute before heading to bed. It had been a great show. The sponsorship drive had gone quite well with a number of new 500 Club members, a wide range of equipment sponsored including nearly all the safety equipment, and a pocketful of business cards representing people and companies who were all interested in having their logo on the aircraft. I had met some fantastic air show performers, one of whom, an American named Bob Carlton who flies a jet-powered sailplane, had shown a keen interest in the flight and promised to meet me at AirVenture in Oshkosh, Wisconsin, during the world’s biggest air show. Bob and his wife Laurie were wonderful people. That was all great, and I had the feeling that meeting Dave would also turn into something quite exciting.
Early Monday morning I returned to what was now a deserted showground. A few workers were pulling down marquees while planes were moving slowly out to the runway and taking off. I went in search for help to move the 182; we pulled it to the apron where engine startup was allowed. I jumped in and taxied to a queue of aircraft, waiting patiently as a number of F-18 Hornet fighter jets took to the sky. It was a blue-sky day, perfect for a flight back to Brisbane.
As soon as I arrived back in Merimbula I made contact with Dave Lyall. With more time to chat I found out about him and his company, Sports Communication Australia, while at the same time giving him a much more detailed overview of Teen World Flight. I told him what we were aiming to do, what stage we had reached, what challenges lay ahead, how we hoped to use media and much more.
Soon afterwards I travelled to Sydney to meet with Dave. We discussed how he and his company could help. I soon learned just how complex the media would be; it was too easy to underestimate the level of work required to achieve a successful result. For a start, we would have to contend with constantly differing time zones. That by itself was a major headache, and there were so many other things to consider.
After a few meetings and a lot of emails, plus supplying an overall plan of action, Dave and Sports Communication Australia joined the team. They were offering help in a large number of areas: sponsorship, media, social media and more. From this point on Dave became a huge part of Teen World Flight. Getting him and his team on board was one of the best decisions I made.