We have heard from Norman, who returned to Japan last week, about his preparations to resume the world's first circumnavigation by an Autogyro. He describes in his own words the hurdles he has to overcome, created naturally or by bureaucrats, to return to the air for his pioneering flight.
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At the end of May another arctic spring
time approaches and with it we have, once again, a seasonal chance to fly
across the Bering Sea from Russia to Alaska, my only available routing to get
across the Pacific Ocean. For the second year running I am now poised to
recommence and (hopefully) complete my circumnavigation attempt, to return home
from the other side of the world. I have recently again travelled out to Shonai
Airport, Yamagata Prefecture, N.W Japan where G-YROX (aka “Roxy”) has been
waiting patiently “en route” for my return and from where we shall soon depart
for the remotest, vast wilderness of the Russian Far East. This section of the
flight is by far the most technically challenging given that the settlements to
be visited are very isolated and without roads in the northern latitudes (no
roads equals no vehicles and thus no need for fuel stations…), so working the
logistics for food, accommodation and fuel are of prime importance at the
moment. There are “airstrips” (of sorts…) in just enough of these settlements
to allow a transit to be possible and thankfully in our favour at least a Gyro
can perform very short take offs and landings using some fairly unprepared
surfaces.
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| No alternate landing field from Japan to Vladivostok |
The Russian Authorities are currently
making final checks with the en route airfields to make certain that they are
currently open, secure and available (after the long winter of isolation) and
ready to receive our flight. Once we have the final go ahead from Russia then
we have to wait for the Japanese Authorities to have their turn at playing with
the “red tape” machine, to process my exit clearance to allow me to fly out of
Japanese airspace. (This can be a fairly lengthy exercise, lasting several
weeks, drawing on our previous experiences of flight applications…).
Finally, once the bureaucratic “made by man”
permissions are all in order, I can then give some (considerable) thought to
the physical “made by mother nature” permissions; primarily those of Climate
and Weather patterns en route for the lengthy open water crossing of the Sea of
Japan. As we have seen, the climate has already dictated a wait in Japan for 9
months since the last summer season, but the weather and crucially the wind
(both strength and direction) will of course have the final say “on the day”. Our
maximum operational range on longer flights is usually around 450 Nautical
Miles. As the “crow flies”, the straight line distance airport to airport from RJSY (Shonai) to UHWW (Vladivostok) is “only” 442 NM however, with (man-made) en
route airways corridor protocol and entry procedures for Vladivostok air
traffic control the actual flight from Shonai will actually work out to be
around 460 NM…
It therefore follows that although I have a
considerable margin of fuel reserves (my absolute range with full tanks would
be something more like 525 NM) this only translates to around an hour of extra
endurance in the air. To encounter a strong headwind on a flight of this
overall distance could easily add an hour onto the journey time and this,
remember, is a flight across the sea with no alternate airfields en route. It
is therefore vital that the predicted winds on the day are either a nice
tailwind to give me a helping hand or, worst case, a cross wind which has
minimal effect on journey time, for or against. Thankfully predicting the wind
(at least in the short view of a day or two in advance) is a well practised science
and one which gives reasonably accurate results.
Therefore, in dealing with the wind, as
with the lengthy bureaucratic process, I may simply have to sit and wait for
the correct conditions to occur….
Cheers
Norman
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| Looking decidedly chilly, Norman prepares to do some engine runs at Shonai Airport, Japan this week. |
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It is great to hear from Norman and we at the Gyrox Team are gearing up ready to bring you all the latest news as it happens from wherever Norman is during the final stages of his record setting flight.
The Gyrox Team
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