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Round the World in a RV-9A

intothinair

Well Known Member
Hello VAF:

I have been very busy preparing N944JK for her round the world (RTW) journey, and I am finally ready.

Tomorrow, I will depart Concord, CA heading east on a flight around the world in my Vans RV-9A. The route covers: US, Canada, Greenland, United Kingdom, Italy, Greece, Jordan, Bahrain, UAE, Pakistan, India, Sri Lanka, Malaysia, Indonesia, Australia, Vanuatu, American Samoa, Kiribati, Hawaii and Concord. The first leg will be non-stop 1500 nm from Concord, CA to Oshkosh, WI.

The plane was completed in 2015 and it took 9 years to build. It has flown 280 hours since then and has visited 17 states and Oshkosh in 2016.

I wish to thank the following RTW pilots: Jon Johanson (RV-4), Manuel Queiroz (RV-6) , Hank Cheng (RV-8) and William Randolph (RV-8) for providing inspiration, guidance, and answering my many questions about preparation and the logistics of flying around the world. Many RV pilots at Concord (KCCR) also helped me along the path: Ed Neffinger, Bill Black, and Ernst Freitag. Thank you!

My web site and blog are located at:

https://memoryflightrtw.weebly.com

If any VAF members are around, I would be delighted to meet you when I pass through KOSH or KMPV.

I will try my best to update you as I go.

At this stage, the plan is as follows (U.S.):

June 1-2: KOSH (Oshkosh, WI)
June 3: KMPV (Montpelier, VT)
June 5: KBGR (Bangor, ME)

I hope meet some of you en-route!

John Koehler
 
Great Adventure,

if you ever pass by in Switzerland I would be happy to welcome you.

Cheers Yves
 
Best of Luck to you and "May"...may she bring you home from a wonderful adventure! Looking forward to updates on your progress.
 
Green.

I am turning green. It is good to hear another one of the RV guys is getting a chance to be a Rounder. I hope you get a chance to let us know how it was and how you got it done. Best of wishes and any help we can offer, Yours as always, R.E.A. III # 80888
 
Oh man, I'm so jealous....

I built my airplane along the same timeframe (2008-2016) with the same intended purpose, missed you at Osh 2016 apparently, and I'm sitting here this morning plotting routes for my own RTW trip. Not sure when I'll be able to take off and fly it, with a 4-year old at home that wouldn't understand me being gone that long, it will likely have to wait a few more years.

Good luck, and I'll definitely want to talk with you when you make it back!
 
Good luck to you John. It looks like your journey is well planned and financially supported. Watch the weather and try to have as much fun on the way as possible. Make a circle around Australia for me. Just one. We will be watching.
 
It looks like you've proven the aircraft and pilot's endurance. That was a good 'hop' from SF Bay to Oshkosh.

I'd recommend the Inuk Hostel to stay in Nuuk if you need somewhere. Great host an location and very reasonable price for the Arctic.
Find somewhere to park that isn't caught by the blast of turboprops looping round and ask for the BIG concrete tie-down blocks.

That's a great adventure. Good luck, I'll be watching your progress.
 
all the =VAF= world will be watching. good luck. good decision making for sure.
IMG_1644.jpg
 
Oshkosh

"May" arrived safely at Oshkosh after nearly 12 hours aloft. A wicked thunderstorm over the mid-west required a 45 minute diversion to the south. Still, I landed with 20 gallons of fuel remaining. The RV-9A is one efficient airplane.

For anyone local to Oshkosh, the plane is parked on the ramp at "The Hilton Garden Inn" at KOSH until the morning of June 3.

Thank you for your support, good wishes, and tips. I will try to keep posting updates to VAF as my journey continues around the world.

John
 
Hello VAF:

I have been very busy preparing N944JK for her round the world (RTW) journey, and I am finally ready.

Tomorrow, I will depart Concord, CA heading east on a flight around the world in my Vans RV-9A. The route covers: US, Canada, Greenland, United Kingdom, Italy, Greece, Jordan, Bahrain, UAE, Pakistan, India, Sri Lanka, Malaysia, Indonesia, Australia, Vanuatu, American Samoa, Kiribati, Hawaii and Concord. The first leg will be non-stop 1500 nm from Concord, CA to Oshkosh, WI.

The plane was completed in 2015 and it took 9 years to build. It has flown 280 hours since then and has visited 17 states and Oshkosh in 2016.

I wish to thank the following RTW pilots: Jon Johanson (RV-4), Manuel Queiroz (RV-6) , Hank Cheng (RV-8) and William Randolph (RV-8) for providing inspiration, guidance, and answering my many questions about preparation and the logistics of flying around the world. Many RV pilots at Concord (KCCR) also helped me along the path: Ed Neffinger, Bill Black, and Ernst Freitag. Thank you!

My web site and blog are located at:

https://memoryflightrtw.weebly.com

If any VAF members are around, I would be delighted to meet you when I pass through KOSH or KMPV.

I will try my best to update you as I go.

At this stage, the plan is as follows (U.S.):

June 1-2: KOSH (Oshkosh, WI)
June 3: KMPV (Montpelier, VT)
June 5: KBGR (Bangor, ME)

I hope meet some of you en-route!

John Koehler


Looks like I will miss you at MPV by a couple of weeks--we have family up there we visit throughout the year.

Have a great trip and safe flying!
 
Any update? I see by your tracking that you had a flight today.Best of luck buddy. Have a great trip.
 
BGR

John

When do you get into Bangor on the 5th? If you are staying the night let me know and we can grab dinner. I can round up a few of the other RV characters in the area.

Sent you my mobile via email and pm
 
Weather delays

My path to Montpelier/Barre was blocked due to thunderstorms over New York and Pennsylvania. I will make another attempt today.
 
I can help you a lot in your Australia and Vanuatu legs.

probably also in a few other ways if you wish to contact me. I did help Ryan campbell in a small way with his youngest solo attempt and record.
 
Just curious

Wish you well on this adventure!

Questions: what type of fuel tank modifications have you made to accommodate the very long legs you?ll be flying? What is the impact on planned maximum gross weight? What will be your longest leg?

Fly safe.
 
North Atlantic crossing

I am waiting for an appropriate weather window to open later this week for the crossing to Greenland. Icing conditions are still of great concern, so I will play it safe and be patient. Updates are posted on my blog along with new photos.

John
 
Awesomeness

What an epic trip!

I'm curious about the mods req'd to get 30 hrs worth of fuel on board. Outboard tanks? Bladder in the cockpit? Both?
 
The memory flight website is down for some reason, but you can still track John on the Garmin tracking ap here:
https://share.garmin.com/memoryflightrtw

I heard from him this morning after he arrived in Wick, Scotland, as he was enjoying an Irish whiskey and celebrating his crossing of the pond.
 
I heard from him this morning after he arrived in Wick, Scotland, as he was enjoying an Irish whiskey and celebrating his crossing of the pond.

Irish whiskey! Sacrilege! It should be a wee dram of Old Poulteney! Wick's finest.

But that aside, very well done on reaching the first big milestone.

I look forward to reading about the onward progress.
 
Irish whiskey! Sacrilege! It should be a wee dram of Old Poulteney! Wick's finest.

Oops! my mistake. He actually said "Wick whiskey", I should have said "Scottish" not Irish, perhaps you are right, it could be Old Poulteney...

Just need to set the record straight. No sacrilege here. ;-)
 
Oops! my mistake. He actually said "Wick whiskey", I should have said "Scottish" not Irish, perhaps you are right, it could be Old Poulteney...

Just need to set the record straight. No sacrilege here. ;-)

In which case it's whisky, not whiskey ;)

But well deserved either way.
 
PAGE, AZ

Skimmed through the site, and the photo for sponsor page sure looks like my home airport of Page Arizona. Sounds like a great experience. WOW.
 
John in Italy

I had the opportunity to meet John in LIPB (Bolzano) where I was with my RV-8 for helping him for custom documents.

Then we flew together to my home base (LIDT) where he spent a couple of days to change oil, filter and fixing some little issues in our team hangar.

It was a great experience to know a man who does the world flight in an RV.

Today he took off @ 09:45 local time and now he has arrived in Crete (Greek)

Follow his trip (https://memoryflightrtw.weebly.com/tracking.html), he's a good person and I hope you have the fortune to meet him during his adventure.

Here are some photos and a little simple video I took during the escort flight from LIPB to LIDT.

jk_1.jpg


jk_2.jpg


jk_3.jpg


jk_4.jpg


jk_5.jpg


jk_6.jpg


https://vimeo.com/277175637
 
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I hated that. terrible scenery. I need to watch it again to be sure. :)
 
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Trento visit

Luca,

Thank you again for hosting me and the great trip write-up. You represent the best of the EAA and VAF.

John
 
RTW trip - New Blog Entries

VAF,

I am stuck in Karachi, Pakistan waiting for a weather window to open to Sri Lanka. The monsoon season just started, so I have to be careful with the routing over India.

New posts have been added to to my web site/blog:

- England and IWM Duxford
- Icing over the Alps
- Electrical Disaster and Recovery

www.memoryflightrtw.weebly.com

I hope everyone had a great 4th of July back in the USA.


John
 
great write up on your blog. I'm glad the battery issue was found and corrected. good help over there. our family tracks your progress.
 
An amazing trip for sure. I've been checking your progress every couple days and I'm jealous I'm not flying along with you!

Looks like that last flight was an attempt to cross India? Was there weather?
 
Looks like that last flight was an attempt to cross India? Was there weather?

From a facebook post by his support agents:

His intentions today were to fly from Karachi in his homebuilt Vans RV-9A all the way to Sri Lankabut we have just heard he is diverting to Ahmedabad in India because of bad weather ahead.
 
John is in Sri Lanka now, getting some beach time before his next leg to Kuala Lumpur. He seems to be in good spirits and eager to carry on.
 
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