Safely in Torrance -237

The guys arrived safely in Torrance just after 2:00 UTC+2 on the 3rd of September. Matt and Mike flew out to Santa Maria to meet the guys in the air and welcome them to California.  James and Jean were in high spirits and they also found out they still had 4 hours of endurance left,

LAX intricate airspace -236

Just over 3 hours to go! Mike and James will catch up with the guys near Santa Maria and then fly over LAX to Torrance. LAX Airspace can be very confusing…for those of you who want to, here is a 8min video giving some insight into just how intricate the airspaces are around LAX. You

Getting closer to LA -235

Matt just managed to get an update from Oakland Oceanic and they said that ZUTAF was at 32º25N, 131º48W at 10.03 Pacific time (1 hour ago) and their estimate for the Galip intersection was 20:40Z. Gallip is 228.5 Nm from KSMX (Santa Maria). That means they are about 5 hours out right now. That means

Flashback 2009: Los Angeles to Hawaii -234

The guys are well on their way towards Santa Maria, just north from Los Angeles. We understand here they will be met by Mike and Matt (from our office at Torrance Airfield), and they will then fly the guys to Torrance where they will have a major welcoming party waiting for them. In the meantime

Weather update for the leg to mainland America -233

Morning All, I spoke to James last night, they will be flying at 7500ft all the way keeping just above the low cloud (overcast below almost all the way). No CBs are forecast or any SIGWX from the SIGMET Reports, with the forecast winds and 01:12Z take-off the flight should take 21h50m landing at 23:02Z

On the way to the Los Angeles! -232

The guys departed from Honolulu shortly after midnight (SA local time) and took off to Kahului on Maui to refuel. We overheard James say to ATC that they will be there for 45minutes before flying to the mainland. Good luck guys, and fly safely! Below is the mp3 clip of ZU-TAF talking to Kahului ATC

Another late night update on Wednesday night, 13 August 2011 -231

We need two kinds of permission to have ZU-TAF “released” from her grounding so that we can go on to California and beyond. The first is the “TSA” (Transportation Security Administration) waiver letter which relates to the protection of US security. Although we received this document some weeks ago, it expired just after our arrival.

Quick update from Jean -229

Howdy All. I have just spent half an hour on a very expensive computer line updating latest news and somehow it has dissappeared. I hope it somehow gets to the site. Basically we will still be here for another 18 plus hours, James is in the FAA offices smoothing things out and lucky me is

A day with the Feds -230

Okey dokey! So here goes. Somehow call it luck, fate or devine intervention.I have ended up in a backpackers lodge using reasonably priced internet. I have had comms with a bunch of good friends, and when I saw James in the hotel a few hours ago he said he would read his “Economist” for another

Mike reporting from LA -228

Yayyy … I am in LA anxiously waiting for J & J and the Bullet to arrive. The flight here was interesting – I went via Dubai (Emirates Airline) and if you do a quick check on Google Earth you will find the shortest path to LA is over the North Pole and that is