WB6RQN Flight Over Pacific Continues After Engine Problem

Brian Lloyd WB6RQN / Aeronautical Mobile continues the Project Amelia Earhart 80th Anniversary Flight round-the-world this week. He will be active 21-30 July on ham radio HF frequencies while in flight over the Pacific Ocean, stopping at several islands. As a tribute to the Earhart flight, Brian will drop flower leis as he overflies Howland Island. He is the first solo aviator to re-trace the original Earhart-Noonan equatorial flight of 1937. The route has taken him through the Caribbean, South America, Africa, Middle East, South Asia, Southeast Asia, Australia, and Oceania. The circumnavigation flight destination is Texas, USA.



Yesterday, Brian Lloyd said "I have even higher respect for Amelia Earhart now that I have flown 20,000 miles in her shoes. I am talking about flying the plane and dealing with the issues that come up as part of the flight. She was sole pilot in her plane as I am with mine. Speeds are comparable and I have had to deal with the same weather she did."



Brian comments further, "My engine quit out over the Pacific, North of Great Barrier Island, New Zealand. I thought I was going swimming but then it looked like I might have to do a forced landing at Great Barrier. I got it running again well enough to make it back to the airport at Hamilton, New Zealand."



The problem turned out to be a contaminated fuel and a clogged fuel filter, which led to vapor-lock. Brian Lloyd's airplane, Spirit, has since undergone considerable maintenance while in New Zealand. During that time, repairs were made to his engine, fuel system, and HF radio. Spirit is a single-engine Mooney M20K 231 propeller-driven aircraft, modified for extended range and equipped with modern avionics gear.



The HF radio system includes a Micom 3 transceiver, autotuner, and a belly wire antenna. While airborne, Brian's strong HF radio signal and sensitive receiver have enabled him to talk with ham radio operators all over the world. He utilizes the built-in ALE (Automatic Link Establishment) of the Micom 3 radio to initiate and respond to ham radio voice SSB calls.



How to contact
Ham radio contacts with WB6RQN / Aeronautical Mobile are invited on the following frequencies (kHz)

• 14346.0 USB Voice and ALE,
• 18117.5 USB Voice and ALE,
• 21432.5 USB Voice and ALE,
• 7296.0 USB Voice and ALE,
• 7185.5 USB Voice and ALE,
• 5731.5 USB Voice and ALE.

For direct ALE contact, dial up an "Individual Call" to WB6RQN. Brian usually responds immediately by SSB voice, unless he is busy with flight piloting priorities. Operators in North America may have more favorable HF propagation to the Pacific area of the flight during in the afternoon and night hours. Those without ALE capability may want to try tail-ending an SSB voice QSO, or coordinate a call with one of the ALE operators in the HFLINK.NET chat room.



Schedule
Estimated Flight Schedule : Date : Days : Airport_ID
Hamilton, New Zealand 21-July
Pago Pago, American Samoa : 22-July : 1 : NSTU
Howland Island overflight : 23-Jul : 0
Lihue, HI, USA : 23-Jul : 2 : PHLI
Honolulu, HI, USA : 25-Jul : 0 : PHNL
Hilo, HI, USA : 25-Jul : 2 : PHTO
Oakland, CA, USA : 27-Jul : 1 : KOAK
Atchison, KS, USA : 28-Jul : 1 : KK59
Kestrel Airpark, TX, USA : 29-Jul : : 1T7
*Note: Dates are approximate and subject to change without notice.

More Information
Project Amelia Earhart

 

Cool, Brian!
Continue flying high!

 

Hi, I am on freq of 14,346 and is listening here in NZ, Pieter ZL1PDT

 

Update
Estimated Flight Schedule : Date : Days : Airport_ID
Hamilton, New Zealand : Estimated Departure 9 AM 23-July local time (22-July 2100UTC)
Pago Pago, American Samoa : 23-July : 1 : NSTU
Howland Island overflight : 24-Jul : 0
Lihue, HI, USA : 24-Jul : 2 : PHLI
Honolulu, HI, USA : 26-Jul : 0 : PHNL
Hilo, HI, USA : 26-Jul : 2 : PHTO
Oakland, CA, USA : 28-Jul : 1 : KOAK
Atchison, KS, USA : 29-Jul : 1 : KK59
Kestrel Airpark, TX, USA : 30-Jul : : 1T7
*Note: Dates are approximate and subject to change without notice.

Click here for WB6RQN real-time flight tracking.

Click here for Project Amelia Earhart on Facebook

Click here to spot WB6RQN on DX Summit.

 

It will be interesting to see who can work Brian while he is overflying the Howland Island area.

Back in 1937 there were reports of Amelia Earhart being heard on harmonics during her flight and immediately after the flight disappeared near Howland Island.

Some of the reports were on 18 MHz, as far away as Florida.
Copying a harmonic signal was common back in the earlier days of radio.
The tube transmitter in Earhart's plane didn't really have harmonic suppression.

When I first started operating in the mid-1960s, during the peak of Solar Cycle #20, I remember copying many harmonic signals on the 15 meter and 10 meter band from hams working 40 meters or 20 meters.



During Earhart's flight in 1937, solar cycle #17 was peaking, and HF propagation on the higher frequency bands was so much better than it is today.

 

Video of Brian talking about his recent engine trouble while in flight over the Pacific.

click for video.
Video location: Hamilton, New Zealand.
Video date: 15 July 2017



Flight path of Spirit on 15 July 2017 when fuel flow problem caused Brian Lloyd to turn back to Hamilton New Zealand

 

LOL... I won't even try (being a CW only operator) but, I'll sure be watching DXsummit / GPS tracking & listening to SSB.

p.s. Bonnie,... I think Brian owes you a big ole "Texas Steak Dinner" !!

Steve / W5BIB

 

Listen: Amateur Radio Newsline report 2073 interview with Brian Lloyd 21July2017

http://projectameliaearhart.org/wp/...ort_2073_Brian_Lloyd_Interview_21July2017.mp3

 

Link didn't work for me for some reason...

 

Try this:
http://projectameliaearhart.org/a_r_newsline_report_2073_brian_lloyd_interview_21july2017/

 

BINGO !! tks

 

Direct link to the MP3 works fine for me. My process is "right-click", and save to local storage.

To Bonnie/KQ6XA, a hearty THANK YOU for all of your effort documenting, publicizing, and enabling Brian's historic journey!

I look forward to more updates as ProjectAmeliaEarhart draws closer to a successful completion.

Cheers,
David / N2PQW

 

Thanks, David.
I hope that everyone who wants to, gets a chance to work WB6RQN during these last 10 days of his historic flight, while he is over the Pacific and western USA.
He has a fairly good signal on the air, so it is usually easy to copy him if there is any decent HF propagation at all.
Brian has been able to copy low power stations, and even mobile stations fairly well, due to the excellent reception signal-to-noise up there at 20,000 feet in the sky.
The trick to catching him on the air, is to watch his flight tracker and the DX summit spots, then be ready to call immediately when he activates... usually first on 14346.0 USB.

 

It is Saturday afternoon here in USA.
I just texted with Brian in New Zealand.
He is about to go prep the plane for departure.
If all goes well, he should be on his way to Pago Pago