Thread: Around the world in a CT in record time!

All right - let's see one of those other LSA's break this record!! Man these guys deserve a lot of credit...way to go boys!

NEW DELHI: After circumnavigating the globe for the past 78 days, IAF's RTW Expedition reached the Hindan Air base near Delhi at 1630 hrs IST, where it was welcomed by Chief of the Air Staff, Fali Major. The aircraft was airborne from Bhuj at 0900 hrs IST on Sunday.

On Saturday, the aircraft landed in Bhuj at 1915 hrs IST. The expedition had earlier taken off from Karachi in Pakistan.

The pilots, Wing Cdr Rahul Monga and Wing Cdr Anil Kumar, had taken off from Hindan on June 1. The duo have created a new world record in circumnavigating the world in a single engine microlite aircraft in 79 days. The current world record is 99 days.

The original plan was to complete the expedition in 64 days. However, extremely poor weather in a number of sectors put paid to all such plans.

Many other airplane categories have tried round the world flights, but it's now been done by a Light-Sport Aircraft. Flying a Flight Design CT, Indian Air Force Wing Commanders Rahul Monga and Anil Kumar will claim a new record by successfully flying around the world in 79 days. Part of a celebration of the Indian Air Force 75th Anniversary, the two pilots covered a total distance of 40,497 kilometers (25,310 miles) in 79 days flying over 19 countries (Myanmar, Thailand, Vietnam, China, Russia, USA, Canada, Greenland, Iceland, UK, Germany, Italy, Greece, Turkey, Iran, Pakistan, and India).*** During the expedition, Commander Monga became part of very small group of pilots by soloing across the Atlantic in a single engine aircraft. Kumar had to go via airline so the CT could fly longer. Despite missing this exciting segment Kumar expressed appreciation for the CT: "It's a fantastic machine, very reliable...it got us home and there were no problems. We had good support from the manufacturer." *** The duo and their CT weren't far away from AirVenture Oshkosh 2007 but weather had delayed them and they elected to pass the big event in order to stay on the record attempt.

I am interested to hear some technical details.

What type of fuel did they burn? What oil did they use? The oil change frequency? Any mechanical snags with the plane?
How did the engine perform? What power settings did they use?

Clearly a magnificent accomplishment and if anyone knows of these details, please post them.

Cheers,

Jos

Hi Jos,

As a serving RAF Officer who happens to own a CTSW and being a current member of the RAF Microlight Flying Association (RAFMFA), I was tasked by the Chief of the Air Staff to help out these two Indian AirForce officers on their round the world trip through the UK airspace.

The RAF were also told to put a Nimrod and AWACs on standby for the Indian's trip from Iceland to the UK and over the North Sea to Europe. I prepositioned my CTSW up at RAF Lossiemouth in Scotland to await their arrival. My co-pilot was a good friend, John Kumela. We flew from a small RAF airfield near Aylesbury (RAF Halton) to Lossiemouth in Scotland (430 miles)in just over three hours with a slight tailwind.

The real reason why only Wing Commander Monga flew the Atlantic Ocean leg was because he had a single person liferaft taking up position on the passenger seat! It was nothing to do with the fuel endurance. Wing Commander Monga's plane took off from the West coast of Iceland and landed on the East coast where he was weathered in by a huge low pressure to the SW of his intended route meaning he would have a headwind.

The next day, the low had moved to the NE and so he took off at about 0930 for the Scottish coast with a slight tailwind. He missed out the Faroe Islands completely (!) and came straight into Scotland via Wick and landed at RAF Lossiemouth at about 1500 local. This was distance of about 640 miles. There was a quick turnaround at Lossiemouth as we had to get airborne within the hour to beat some bad weather in the UK. Their 'plane was refuelled with AVGAS (my plane always runs on mogas out of preference), the liferaft was removed and the 'fresh' pilot took on the role of captain.

They then sat on our wingtip in loose formation while we did all the radio calls and obtained all the clearances for the flight back down to RAF Halton near Aylesbury. We reached there at about 2030 flying at around 100 - 110 knots IAS into a slight headwind. There, we laid on a BBQ and had the press doing some interviews.

After overnighting in the Officers' Mess, both 'planes took off the next morning for Clacton on the UK East coast. There, we waved goodbye to the Indians as they coasted out to cross over the North Sea into Europe. Their destination was Munster and Eggersdorf. By looking at their sat tracking system, we saw that they did indeed arrive in Eggersdorf that evening. So they had flown from Iceland to Eggersdorf in two days!! Not bad, eh!! I think that the guys at Eggersdorf worked through the night to give their CTSW a really thorough service. I believe it had done about 250 hours total at that stage.

I felt very privileged to have been involved in the Indian AirForce's record breaking trip and found the two pilots to be extremely pleasant fellows! Now if only someone would sponsor me, I'd like to see if I can beat the new record in my CTSW..........................!!!

Regards,

Paul
G-RILA

Thanks for the info.
I am impressed to see the level of support from the RAF and yourself to help this effort along.

I am sure there were many others around the globe.

I hope the two officers will find the time to report their trip and share it with our community.

Job well done!!!

Cheers,

Jos

Thanks Jos! It's amazing what wheels turn when a four star general says "make it so"!!!

You can get loads more detail, info and pictures if you log onto the Indian AirForce's website and click on the link about halfway down the page about their circumnavbigation of the world. For the UK leg, it says they went to Aberdeen and then to 'Houghton'!! That should read Lossiemouth (which is near Aberdeen) and Halton. Some things get lost in translation!!

http://indianairforce.nic.in/

Regrads,

Paul
G-RILA

They burned an average of 4.3 gallons per hour, and got 20.7 miles per gallon. Not too shabby.

Hello people,

For Jos:
The fuel in my round the world expedition was AVGAS 100LL, 93/95/96/97/98 octane (unleaded) petrol and even 95 octane alcohol (20%) mix.

The oil was SAE 10W40 always, though I should have changed the grades (I feel) in the arctics as well as in Turkey/Iran as it was really hot.

Mechanical snags:-

Oil pressure sensor failure (Replaced)
Fuel Pump Leak (Replaced)
Brake pads replaced
Brake disc replaced
Carburettor throttle spring failure (Replaced)

Power settings were a RPM of 4500 to 4900 throughout

For Paul

First of all a big big thanks for everything. You saved us one day. I wouldnt have flown in that weather as I didnt know which side was north, and if the ground was up after the harrowing leg from Iceland.

A small correction. I flew solo for primarily another reason, which was, that the weight had to be kept below 500kg, in order to qualify for the 300-500kg FAI class, for which we are competing. If anil had been there, the weight would have been much more. Furthermore, I was the captain of the next leg too.

The average fuel consumption in the trip was 18 liters per hour.

Regards to all,

Rahul

hi rahul,

did you make the "lands like a drunken dinosaur" quote? if so what did you mean by that?

some ctsw bashers on the web latched onto that quote and clam it was your negative review of the ctsw

congrats on a great job.

No, I never made any negative quote about the aircraft. In fact I was so superstitious during the flight, that I never talked about the aircraft, good or bad.

Thanks for the best wishes.