[Trip Report]: Italy to Australia with the A2A Piper Cherokee

This is the place where we can all meet and speak about whatever is on the mind.
new reply
Jeeno
Airman
Posts: 28
Joined: 10 Sep 2016, 08:28
Location: Milan, IT

[Trip Report]: Italy to Australia with the A2A Piper Cherokee

Post by Jeeno »

Hello A2A pilots,

I'd like to share with you some pics of my latest adventure with the Accusim Piper Cherokee. I'm a proud owner of this beauty since 2015 and I've flown him for more than 550 hours: I've already took him from Italy to North Cape (Norway) for example and from Norway to California and back.

I decided it was time to cross the equator, so I decided to plan the most ambitious crosscountry adventure that came to my mind: Italy to Australia.

All flights were conducted on VATSIM network, so I tried to plan my flights with the highest degree of realism possible.

Here's a selection of the best moments (Potato computer here, still with FSX-SE, so bear with me :D)


Everything started on the 14th of January in a tipical winter day in Northern Italy. The aircraft is I-AMAU which is a real Piper based in Biella (LILE), approximately midway between Turin and Milan in northwestern Italy. The real livery of this aircraft has been modified with some badges remembering the previous achievements with this aircraft :D

Image

Takeoff time

Image

January means sun is going down quickly as I reach the "Appennini" mountains shortly after takeoff. You can also see the "Po Valley" flooded with dense fog.

Image

It's late afternoon when I arrive in Pescara (LIBP), central Italy. First leg is done!

Image

In the next leg, it's already time to leave Italy as from Pescara I land in Corfù International Airport. You can see the terminal on the background from the General Aviation parking area

Image

Sunny weather on departure from Kerkyra

Image

Image

The sun is setting on my way to the famous Samos Island and its tricky airport. Perfect light for a photo.

Image

The next leg goes from Samos to Paphos, Cyprus in the easternmost part of the Mediterranean Sea. Boarding time

Image

A picture of the small terminal, which in summer is extremely busy

Image

Leaving Samos

Image

Landing at Paphos was very bumpy as the weather was unusually bad with lot of rain and bad visibility. Only a picture on the ground

Image


From Paphos then on to Cairo International Airport. According to airport charts, AVGAS or 100LL is not available at Cairo International Airport, so I decided not to refuel and takeoff for a 20-minutes flight to HEOC (6th of October Airport) to refuel before proceeding further southbound.

On our way from HEOC to HEGN (Hurghada) we have the amazing opportunity to fly above the worldwide famous Egyptian Pyramids, specifically the Giza Pyramid complex. What an amazing sight!

Image

Here on final at Hurghada, a popular tourist destination on the shores of the red sea. The airport is surrounded by desert meaning night time is pretty dark

Image

From this point the landscape is pretty boring with desert, desert and more desert. Legs were Hurgada (Egypt) - Jeddah (Saudi Arabia) - Ryhad (Saudi Arabia) - Dammam (Saudi Arabia). Here are some random shots

Image

Image

Image

Continue ...

Jeeno
Airman
Posts: 28
Joined: 10 Sep 2016, 08:28
Location: Milan, IT

Re: [Trip Report]: Italy to Australia with the A2A Piper Cherokee

Post by Jeeno »

From Dammam a very short hop to Manama, the capital city of Bahrain. The airport is located on an island

Image

From Manama, I decided to make a direct flight to the UAE across the Persian Gulf. I landed at Sharjah International Airport. No pictures of the landing as I was super busy with the air traffic controllers on Vatsim, but on the departure I have some pretty good ones

Image

Heading eastbound, I have a stunning view at sunset of the Dubai skyscrapers

Image

Heading further eastbound to Muscat, Oman capital city, the sky gets darker and the weather a bit hazy on the desert

Image

The next picture is showing the climb from Muscat International Airport towards Karachi International Airport. The Oman coast is already behind me and it will quite a long flight over the sea!

Image

At Karachi the weather became very hazy (and this tendency even worsened in the following 4/5 legs) and super hot. So it was not worth to take many pictures. Here's an example on takeoff from Karachi to Ahmedabad, our first Indian city

Image

India is an enormous country so I had to make three legs: from Ahmedabad to Nagpur to Kolkata. Then from Kolkata to Chittagong, in Bangladesh. In the next picture another photo of the hazy weather in the outskirts of Kolkata

Image

From Chittagong, Bangladesh we took of to Yangoon, Myanmar. The departure was in the very early morning local time, so as I approached Yangoon International Airport, a glorious sunrise welcomed me

Image

From Yangoon the next leg took me to Bangkok, the capital city of Thailand. I parked the aircraft just next to the airliners terminal

Image

Departure time was in the middle of the afternoon local time and the air was boiling hot

Image

Countryside in Myanmar

Image

Some contrails well above me

Image

At sunset I finally approach Bangkok. Here on final at the Bangkok Don Mueang International airport: this was Bankgok main airport until the new Suvarnabhumi Airport was built in 2006. On the background the modern Bangkok city center can be seen

Image


continue ...

Jeeno
Airman
Posts: 28
Joined: 10 Sep 2016, 08:28
Location: Milan, IT

Re: [Trip Report]: Italy to Australia with the A2A Piper Cherokee

Post by Jeeno »

Onto the next leg, I head south towards Phuket. Here leaving Bangkok

Image

I'm finally approaching the equator. As a consequence the weather gets more stormy

Image

The sun is set in Phuket when I land

Image

On departure day a quick view to the pretty big airliners terminal

Image

From Phuket I leave Thailand for Malaysia. Some thunderstorms and rain showers as I approach Penang, my first Malaysian airport.

Image

The next legs were from Penang to Senai then to Palembang entering Indonesia. From Palembang I headed further south to Indonesia capital city, Jakarta. The next picture shows Jakarta during a night departure from Halim Perdanakusuma International Airport

Image

From Jakarta I cross Java Island in its full lenght from west to east before approaching the worldwide famous island of Bali. On the departure to Makassar, I can have a look at the absolutely beautiful terminal

Image

Image

As I said before, from Bali I headed north-east to Makassar on the Sulawesi island. From then to the most remote parts of Indonesia in the Maluku Islands and then on the Indonesian half of the New Guinea island.

Most of the island I mentioned are full of rainforest with some very sparse cities and airports

Image

On the following picture I-AMAU is sitting the at Mozes Kilangin Airport in Timika, Papua Indonesia. I think it's on the of most remote airports I've ever visited, completely surrounded by rainforest. This was the last airport before reaching Australia.

Image

And here we are on the last leg flown yesterday evening: from Timika, Indonesia to the Horn Island Airport (YHID) in the Torres Strait, Northeastern Australia. As I approach weather is not so clement but I still manage to see the northernmost extremity of Australia

Image

Minutes to go: on final at Horn Island airport

Image

And finally the parking, next to a Q400 by Qantas Link

Image



It's been an incredible adventure: more than 10000 miles flown, 31 legs in total, and more than 95h flown. Now I'm planning to fly in Australia for a while :D

Thanks for watching!

User avatar
Lewis - A2A
A2A Lieutenant Colonel
Posts: 33284
Joined: 06 Nov 2004, 23:22
Location: Norfolk UK
Contact:

Re: [Trip Report]: Italy to Australia with the A2A Piper Cherokee

Post by Lewis - A2A »

Smashing job! Thankyou for posting your adventures so far and great screenies. Love the repaint you are using hehe 8)

Enjoy your next Ozzie adventures, look forward to seeing those 8)

cheers,
Lewis
A2A Facebook for news live to your social media newsfeed
A2A Youtube because a video can say a thousand screenshots,..
A2A Simulations Twitter for news live to your social media newsfeed
A2A Simulations Community Discord for voice/text chat

User avatar
iefbr14
Airman First Class
Posts: 90
Joined: 16 Oct 2013, 14:44

Re: [Trip Report]: Italy to Australia with the A2A Piper Cherokee

Post by iefbr14 »

Wonderful pictures indeed. But the Cherokee is really a beauty, and I'm also loving the flight dynamic's of the model. Thnx for posting.

djbully
Airman
Posts: 40
Joined: 13 May 2018, 04:26
Location: Southampton UK

Re: [Trip Report]: Italy to Australia with the A2A Piper Cherokee

Post by djbully »

I thought that was the Comanche at first! But then realised your are taking the Cherokee!

That's a long way to go in a small thing like the Cherokee. Looks like you had a blast :)
EGHI

Image
Image
Image
Image

Jeeno
Airman
Posts: 28
Joined: 10 Sep 2016, 08:28
Location: Milan, IT

Re: [Trip Report]: Italy to Australia with the A2A Piper Cherokee

Post by Jeeno »

Lewis - A2A wrote: 23 May 2020, 13:46 Smashing job! Thankyou for posting your adventures so far and great screenies. Love the repaint you are using hehe 8)

Enjoy your next Ozzie adventures, look forward to seeing those 8)

cheers,
Lewis
Thank you Lewis. I'll post some pics of my trips down under :D
iefbr14 wrote: 25 May 2020, 14:48 Wonderful pictures indeed. But the Cherokee is really a beauty, and I'm also loving the flight dynamic's of the model. Thnx for posting.
Thank you very much!
djbully wrote: 26 May 2020, 04:05 I thought that was the Comanche at first! But then realised your are taking the Cherokee!

That's a long way to go in a small thing like the Cherokee. Looks like you had a blast :)
Indeed it was long! I planned my legs in order not to exceed 3 hours, but sometimes I was overflying very sparsely populated areas and a couple of flights were nearly five hours long :lol:

sniper31
Airman
Posts: 47
Joined: 09 Nov 2010, 21:53
Location: USA

Re: [Trip Report]: Italy to Australia with the A2A Piper Cherokee

Post by sniper31 »

Quite the journey indeed! I enjoyed the updates and the flight pics. The Cherokee is a fun little plane to fly around in for sure. :)

fabristunt
Airman
Posts: 30
Joined: 14 Nov 2016, 15:41

Re: [Trip Report]: Italy to Australia with the A2A Piper Cherokee

Post by fabristunt »

What an adventure!
Great pics, well done :D
C182 and Comanche

User avatar
Raven214
Airman
Posts: 26
Joined: 17 May 2020, 18:21

Re: [Trip Report]: Italy to Australia with the A2A Piper Cherokee

Post by Raven214 »

Nice write-up and cool pics! What an awesome adventure!
ImageImageImage

Jeeno
Airman
Posts: 28
Joined: 10 Sep 2016, 08:28
Location: Milan, IT

Re: [Trip Report]: Italy to Australia with the A2A Piper Cherokee

Post by Jeeno »

sniper31 wrote: 28 May 2020, 15:27 Quite the journey indeed! I enjoyed the updates and the flight pics. The Cherokee is a fun little plane to fly around in for sure. :)
Appreciated, thanks!
fabristunt wrote: 29 May 2020, 00:32 What an adventure!
Great pics, well done :D
Thank you! :D
Raven214 wrote: 29 May 2020, 08:40 Nice write-up and cool pics! What an awesome adventure!
Thank you very much!

new reply

Return to “Pilot's Lounge”

Who is online

Users browsing this forum: No registered users and 41 guests