Last Call

Well it’s all over. It was an amazing trip, and surprising in so many ways. I have many new friends from Australia and around the world, and I have a new place which feels like home. The flying was spectacular, but there is much more I would like to do. I feel I have only scratched the surface, and I am already looking forward to my next trip.

A retrospective is not complete without some statistics. To get to Australia and back I flew over 15,000 miles in a Boeing 767, spending over 30 hours in a luxuriously roomy and comfortable seat (not!) While in Australia I traveled nearly 4500 miles in my van, yet I only saw a small corner of southeastern Australia including some of Victoria, New South Wales, and Queensland. My trip lasted for 83 days including travel. During that time I made 29 flights from 10 different launches at 7 different sites for a total of 41hours and 43 minutes in the air. I flew 824miles of cross country, averaging 20 miles per hour overall. I made goal 3 times during the competitions, and those three flights totaled 287 miles. Two of those flights were out and return, and over the three tasks I averaged just over 28 miles per hour, successfully meeting my goal of flying faster.

Certainly one of the best parts of the trip was the people I spent time with. I have many new friends, and enjoyed the company of some old ones. I was consistently impressed with the skill and character of the pilots that I met, and I feel privileged to be a member of this elite group of individuals. I look forward to flying with them again in the near future.

As promised, now that the trip is over, this blog is officially closed.