WB6RQN Flight Over Pacific Continues After Engine Problem

WB6RQN / Aeronautical Mobile update:
Departed today from Hamilton, New Zealand at 9:35 AM local time (2135UTC)
Estimated arrival today in Pago Pago, American Samoa at 10:35PM Local Time there.

 

Brian is active on 17 and 15 meters today.
Working a lot of stations on 21432.5 kHz USB and 18117.5 kHz USB voice.

http://www.dxsummit.fi/#/?dx_calls=WB6RQN

 

Just worked Brian WB6RQN on 20m and 15m @01.13z alls going fine for Brian this time from NZ
VK4ZL Bob

 

Had a great QSO with Brian on 14.346 MHz at 04:20Z 7-23-17.

His signal was peaking a true S6 here in Tampa Bay FL area on just a dipole at 30ft.

I think he was near Tonga at that time. He had a good stream of callers, worked a VK after me, then a K4.

73 de John - WØPV

 

Brian made it to American Somoa at around 07.55utc and had lots of callers from VK & ZL keeping busy along the way and started picking up calls from USA from just south A35 Tonga good luck Brian
de Bob - VK4ZL

 

I had a nice QSO with WB6RQN/Aeronautical Mobile yesterday evening from my QTH in Silicon Valley, California, at about 9PM Pacific Time.
It started with an ALE call and we linked on 14346.0 kHz.
We talked for about 30 minutes on SSB voice, with moderately weak signals, and some QSB.
Brian was over the Pacific Ocean between Tonga and Samoa, and it was around sunset at his position.

My equipment setup for the QSO was:
Transceiver: Icom IC-F8101
Power: 125 Watts
Antenna: groundplane vertical, with the top at 36ft and feedpoint at 20ft.



I would imagine that most west coast USA stations could be working Brian around 7:30 to 9:30 PM, Pacific Time, during this phase of the flight.
The propagation to that area of the world is actually OK, even though we aren't hearing many Oceania stations around that time. Brian can copy extremely weak stations. I've heard him working 10W SSB QRP operators.

Brian has landed at American Samoa, and will be there until sunrise tomorrow, when he departs for the Howland Island overflight and onward to Kawaii.

 

Bonnie,

You are correct about WB6RQN/Aero Mobile having good ears. I was pleasantly surprised he heard me so well. Even very modest stations should not hesitate to try to contact him.

Last night here in FL the band was nearly dead except for his signal. For my QSO, no RF amplifier required, only barefoot power, 125w into a wire dipole at 30ft AGL. No ALE needed either.

I saw the spot on the DX Cluster, tuned there, and heard him working a steady stream of callers but no "pileup". Occasionally when no one followed the last contact he would call CQ.

Do you know if Brian is keeping a log of his amateur radio QSO's while airborne? Or is he too busy with flying.

If so, is any log first done on paper, or does he go direct into a PC, etc? Any plans to put the info online, ie, QRZ Logbook, ClubLog? I see now his Zed page indicates eQSL.

73, John, WØPV

 

Hi John,

Brian keeps a paper log of radio contacts (ATC and Ham, etc) on his clipboard while he is flying.
Later on, when he is on the ground, he derives a separate ham radio QSO list from his paper log.
When that list accumulates, and he has enough free time at a destination, he uploads the QSOs to eQSL.
The last time he updated eQSL was while he was in New Zealand for 2 weeks.

At this point, there are no multi-night stops scheduled.
So, I wouldn't expect him to upload QSOs again to eQSL until a week or two after he arrives home at his final destination in Texas.

By the way, a sewn velcro patch is available for the flight, for those who donate to the project.


Project Amelia Earhart Flight Patch


At this point, I've been able to make audio recordings of about 50 of Brian's QSOs on this round the world flight.
I use various web SDR receivers in different locations, to try to get the best quality.

.

 

WB6RQN/Aeronautical Mobile flight route over Howland Island tomorrow


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Man ! that's a long flight. From Pago Pago to Lihue, Hawaii is 2,583 miles. If he could average 160 mph, the direct route would take just over 16 hours ! That's not figuring-in the extra distance/time that the over-flight of Howland Island will add...

Steve / W5BIB

 

There is a new press release today about Brian's flight over Howland.

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE

Earhart Eighty Year Commemorative Flight Over Howland Island

Pilot Brian Lloyd Traces Historic Round The World Earhart Route

Howland Island, Pacific Ocean. July 24, 2017 - Pilot Brian Lloyd is flying over Howland Island today on his round-the-world effort to retrace the famous Amelia Earhart route from 1937. It has been eighty years since Earhart and her navigator Fred Noonan tried unsuccessfully to land on this tiny atoll in the middle of the Pacific Ocean. In a tribute to the bygone flyers, Lloyd drops two large flowers out of his window. He is piloting a small single-engine Mooney propeller driven aircraft, named Spirit.

Brian Lloyd said, "My respect for Amelia Earhart has risen a thousand percent 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."

Since starting out on June 1st, the flight has traversed dozens of countries while circumnavigating the globe at the equator. Brian Lloyd is the first solo aviator to attempt the Earhart route, stopping at the same airstrips where the original flight landed, some of which are now huge international airports. Spirit has endured fierce winds, blasting sandstorms, and severe tropical weather along the equator. It has not been an easy flight, due to the long flight hours and complex logistics. On July 14th, Spirit's engine failed at 21,000 feet over the ocean, forcing it to land for repairs.

Brian Lloyd said, "My engine quit out over the Pacific, north of Great Barrier Island. At first, I thought I was going swimming, but within a few minutes thought I might have to do a forced landing on the island. I was able to restart the engine, and I got it running well enough to make it back to Hamilton, New Zealand."

Today's flight continues onward over the ocean to complete the route Earhart and Noonan would have made, if only they had found their landing strip on Howland Island in July 1937 as planned. Brian Lloyd will stop in Hawaii and Oakland, California, then land at the Amelia Earhart Museum in Atchison, Kansas. From there, he will fly to his home airfield in Texas, to fulfill this epic journey around the world.

Brian Lloyd said, "I am driven by the spirit of historic flights. It is important to remember the aviation pioneers like Amelia Earhart, and their contributions to aviation. Their bold actions made today's air travel possible for all of us."

Brian Lloyd's aircraft, a Mooney M20K 231 with tail number N916BL, is outfitted with expanded fuel capacity and modern satellite avionics gear, giving it a 3000 mile range. But, like the Earhart's famous Lockheed Electra plane, there is a High Frequency (HF) radio in Spirit. Brian Lloyd uses the HF radio to communicate with hundreds of ham radio operators all over the world while he is in flight, using the callsign "WB6RQN Aeronautical Mobile".

About

About: Brian Lloyd, 63, is a pilot, flight instructor, engineer, educator, and radio operator. He lives near San Antonio, Texas, USA. The commemorative flights like Project Amelia Earhart, are co-sponsored by The Classic Aircraft Aviation Museum, a non-profit in Texas, and many other individuals who contribute to support the flights through donations.

Project Amelia Earhart website: http://projectameliaearhart.org

Press Kit: http://projectameliaearhart.org/press

 

Wow. Flying gas can. I used to know a couple of guys who would ferry from Hawaii to the main land. The plane is basically just loaded to gross with gas cans.

I wouldn't have the stones to attempt such a thing. I put down at the slightest hint of convective.

 

WB6RQN / Aeronautical Mobile over Howland Island ~2200 UTC
Active on 14346.0 USB voice now.

 

Real time tracking here on flightaware.com: http://flightaware.com/live/flight/N916BL

And here: http://projectameliaearhart.org/tracker/map.php

 

You and I, both! But Brian is one of the few. His level of experience, expertise, and hubris affords him this unique opportunity.

I have flown with Mr. Lloyd, some years ago, and we experienced a problem in-flight. He (and his co-pilot) were very business-like, almost a machine.
"Remember all the training - follow the checklist - establish your capabilities and margins - just deal with it."
I seem to recall the phrase, "We didn't panic, because that wasn't on the checklist".

He will finish this, not because of an arrogant attitude of immortality, but because he simply knows he's ready to.

As I type this, he's passed Howland Island about 30 min ago. SPIRIT strikes me as an apt name for his craft.

Cheers,
David / N2PQW