Bell 430 Around The World Flight Thursday August 29th, 1996 - DAY 13

Day 13
Expanded View

Flight Plan:

Departure City Distance(NM) Destination City Nautical Miles
To Go
Nautical Miles
Traveled
Providonyia (Russia) 398 Markovo (Russia) 6125 14423
Markovo (Russia) 431 Gizhiga (Russia) 5694 14854
Gizhiga (Russia) 309 Magadan (Russia) 5385 15163
TOTAL N.M. TODAY 1138

* Subject to change


Russia
RUSSIA

Mission Progress To Date:

The Bell 430 finally left Providenyia this morning. The weather was quite severe, so the crew made a change in flight plan to avoid the worst of it. Communications from this remote area of the world have been challenging, and for some time we didn't hear anything from the crew. A message finally came through, and we were glad to hear that they made it safely to Magadan, where they stopped to rest for the night. So far the crew has flown 15,396 nautical miles (close to 3/4 of the way!) with 5,152 nautical miles to go.

Messages From The Crew:

From the Bell 430 N430Q
Around-the-World '96 Speed Record Flight
In-Flight Report - August 29, 1996 - Day 13

This morning, the weather was still bad, so we showed the Russian officials a detailed flight plan based on flying the coastline VFR. They reviewed all of the equipment we had on board -- Radar, Radar Altimeter, GPS moving map, GPS non-moving map, HF radio for reports, etc, etc, etc. Then they called their supervisor in Anadyr, and even though the weather was horrible in Anadyr, they agreed to let us fly past Anadyr (not landing) and proceed to the next airport, Markovo, which had better weather reported. Finally, at about 11:30 local, we launched.
The weather was very bad. The barometric pressure was as low as I have ever seen at 29.03 inches. Lows in the Northern Hemisphere have counterclockwise rotation. So this system pulled considerable warm pacific moisture into our path. After almost four hours, we landed Markovo, and got behind the low. It was a grueling four hours. The weather is rainy, but we are OK. As usual, John has done a great job of flying. We have a Russian translator, Mr. Guennadt flying with us. ETA at Gizhiga in about 30 minutes. After that we will proceed to Magadan for an overnight stop. It has been a hard day, but we are rolling along.
As with most of life, there are many things which we can't control. In flying, weather is one which we must accept, since we can't change it. Good equipment, good training, help. More Later. Thanks. Glad you are there. Regards, Ron Bower and John Williams, Aboard N430Q over Siberia.

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