I had planned to do this trip without the use of GPS but after reading at work the Min equipment list requirements for Oceanic flight and the Regs etc, I have relented and will use it to comply with the Required Navigation Performance requirements. ( there is also a sh*t load of water to cross and not a lot of navaids on the route I am following.A lot is also planned using expired Jeppesen charts I have gotten from work.
I am flying the Dreamfleet Baron for the entire trip as this is my favourite aircraft and my home cockpit is based on it. I do not have an oxygen setup so will be staying 10000ft or below. For loading purposes I am 1 POB and have allowed about 100 pounds baggage to cover the required liferaft and all the maps and charts and customs forms, bottled water, cut lunches along the way etc.
Most Kiwis when they do the big OE head for Europe and route via OZ or up to the USA. Just to be different I am going by the lesser travelled route and will Island hop across the Pacific to South America then across the Atlantic from Brazil to Africa via the Air base on Ascension Island in mid Atlantic.( a route used by many hundreds of flights during WW2.) From there its across central Africa to Nairobi Kenya ( where my wife comes from) and up to Aden in the gulf and Oman or Muscat to visit some Controller friends working up there, before crossing India and down to Phuket and along Indonesia and across Australia to home. Easy when you type it fast!
After much trial and error ( mostly error ) I have decided FS9 is it for this trip with FSX for a few local sight seeing stop overs etc. Also I WILL be using some of the time acceleration on the long legs as I can only get about an hour to an hour and a half on the computer at a time for family reasons! No 9.5 hour marathons allowed.
( says she who must be obeyed! 
)So ...
the chosen day arrived and after a big send off from family and friends, the flight plan was submitted, customs cleared,( the shots that nearly blew my arm up to twice its normal size had subsided) the aircraft fueled and preflighted.
No problems with the start and engine runup, its off on the taxi - today its 05R at NZAA so a good taxy to warm up the engines- shutdown , back inside ( last trip to the Loo and by the way love here are the car keys and where are my @#$% sunglasses?!!)
Finally at the hold and ... " behind the B744 on final line up and wait behind"
Its a Tiree1 departure to the north but once airborne and with control on 124.3 it was " N-DF identified cancel SID and cleared left direct SELKA climb 10thousand"
A few seconds later and the 3 737's at the hold were whistling past the tail and I watched as Air Pacific turned over the top of me and made me check the ASI to make sure I was still moving!
After a cruise climb to 10,000ft non standard it was time to set up the engines for best fuel consumption and after some fiddling I eventually got set up at about 9.7GPH per engine leaned out and a ground speed such that I will be just over 6 hours for this leg!
The weather leaving Auckland was pretty good but there was a front to the north across my track but should top out about 10,000ft - using activesky and real weather for this trip as well. Sure enough by the time I got just north of SELKA this is what I got ...
and so it remained till passing REPOL at S25 00.0 when it finally cleared up a bit.
After checking in with Nandi radio on HF I had a sore butt and a couple of Awkwardly filled plastic bags, it was a relief to finally sight land ahead ...
calling Fua' Amotu tower I was cleared to land
After the usual customs and meet and greet it was time to secure the aircraft for the night and head off to the hotel for a few cold "debriefs".
That night in the hotel bar I ran into some Kiwis up here on a charter and they had just had some work done and invited me up on the air test tomorrow. Too good a chance to miss so at the appointed time I fronted up and off we went.
we were up for about an hour which seemed a long time just to test a repaired magneto but who am I to complain!
this put me behind a bit timewise so I will head off on the next leg tomorrow.
Have you ever posted pics of your cockpit? If not, it'd be interesting to see it. On long over water trips GPS is essential, not necessarily for the navigation (how good is your dead reckoning?), but for the hourly position reports -- generally given by relay through a passing heavy, which is why you shouldn't stray too far from airways -- you need lat & long.
Oh, and don't forget the sunscreen and a hat: Light aircraft windows offer NO UV protection!
