Around the World in 80 Days

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This year, on 8th October, the Indian Air Force commemorated its 75th birthday. As part of its  Platinum Jubilee celebrations, the IAF organised various activities. An innovative and adventurous part of the celebrations was a Round the World Microlight Expedition, with the aim to set a new record in the Federation Aeronautique Internationale (FAI is the governing body for aerosports) in the weight class of Max Take Off Weight 300 to 500 kg.  

This remarkable feat had been accomplished only twice before. Needless to say, this requires tremendous planning, flying skills and physical and mental endurance of the pilots. Before this IAF expedition, the record was held by Briton Colin Bodil, who accomplished the feat in 99 days.

A two-seat Flight Design CTSW ultralight was bought specially for this expedition after considerable research, primarily because it had the longest range.  This was not a stock aircraft. The manufacturer reconfigured this particular aircraft for the purpose of the expedition by making it lighter and equipping it with a fixed pitch propeller and advanced avionics.

The preparation for the expedition took almost three years. Such a long preparatory phase was on account of the lack of requisite information, as well as precedence.  The mission involved many complexities, i.e., flying over two dozen countries, unknown terrain, various procedures and entry requirements, as well as the need to follow specific FAI guidelines.  It involved detailed and meticulous  planning.

The crew comprised Wing Commander Rahul Monga, a helicopter pilot (leader of the expedition) and Wing Commander Anil Kumar, a fighter pilot. Both the pilots did not have any international flying experience and yet they accomplished their adventure mission in record time. They operated in isolation without ground support. Repair and maintainence of the aircraft was also their responsibility.

The aircraft was flagged off by the Chief of Air Staff, Air Chief Marshal FH Major from Hindan Air Force Station near New Delhi in the morning of 1st June 2007.  The envisaged schedule of the expedition at this point, though optimistic, was 64 days.

The Expedition

The team landed in  Myanmar on the second day. On the third day bad weather forced the crew to turn back to Yangon. In general, every day two legs were to be flown, each covering a distance of 500 to 600 kilometres. Later, longer distances were flown.  The next stops were in Thailand and Vietnam before landing at Haikou in China on the sixth day.  South China during this time was under floods with thousands being evacuated. Before the team landed at Guangzhou heavy rains had imposed a delay of four days. At Guangzhou the first unserviceability was experienced, with the oil pressure sensor packing up. This was purchased from Hong Kong and replaced by the crew. Again the weather played havoc, forcing an unplanned stay of another four days, before they could continue to Fuzhou where another day was lost. Later delays also occured in Dalian and Shenyang due to the  weather factor. A unique problem in China was that  the aviation authorities did not allow the crew to take another route to circumvent the bad weather patch.  The only exception was eventually made when heavy crosswinds (35 knots!) prevented them from landing at Changchun, after which they officially declared a low fuel emergency in order to land at a nearby Shenyang. This was the longest duration leg, in which a non-stop flying time of 6 hours and 40 minutes was achieved, a most difficult proposition in a cramped microlight. That they could rise up to meet all the physical, mental and professional challenges is a testimony to the high standards of training in the IAF.

The last stop in China was at Jiamusi from where the crew split, with Kumar flying on commercial airlines to Alaska, and Monga flying solo to Khabarovsk, where he was  received by a Russian navigator. The Russian ATC only communicates in Russian and it is mandatory to have an interpreter on board while flying above Russian soil. The Russian Federation Air Force also provided an escort helicopter carrying aviation gasoline, as there were no planned refueling facilities en-route, which was along the far eastern coast of Russia, one of the most desolate and remote regions in the world. In Russia, the weather again turned hostile forcing longer stays (Nikolaevsk na Amure – 3 days and Magadan – 4 days) than planned;   but the hospitality in Russia was great. Wg Cdr Monga, when in northern Russia, had to stay with local families and fishermen, as there were no hotels.

Wing Commander Monga became the first Indian to cross the Bering Strait on the morning of 6th July and reached Nome in Alaska, where he teamed up again with Kumar.

From Nome, the crew flew via Whitehorse to Merrill Field, Anchorage. Here again indifferent weather conditions imposed delays forcing the crew to stay at Anchorage for five days before they could continue towards Canada and mainland USA.  The remainder of the expedition through the USA went relatively smoothly, although a completely different route from the planned one was taken to evade bad weather. The crew flew close to the Mexican border and then proceeded northwards towards New York state. They left USA on 25th July, and landed at Toronto in Canada. Till the team reached Iqualuit in the far north, it was continuously dogged by prohibitive bad weather conditions. They had to fly extremely low to aviod overcast. At Iqualuit the crew split for the second time.  Kumar flew again by commrical airlines to UK for procuring  survival equipment and to arrange for  modification of the aircraft for extra fuel, for the solo Transatlantic crossing by Monga.

The first leg across the North Atlantic was to Nuuk in Greenland on 1st August, which Monga flew alone. The next day a cross-country flight to Kulusuk on the other side of the island was undertaken.  This was a great adventure, as the aircraft had to fly up to the height of 13500 ft to keep clear of the icy mountains and conditions. Monga flew almost 45 minutes in zero visibility, with the canopy completely iced, failed pressure instruments, sputtering engine, and the aircraft on the verge of stall.

Nevertheless on the same day, the expedition continued towards Reykjavik, Iceland.  Stiff head winds meant more flying time. Monga landed in the night at Reykjavik. The next day he left Reykjavik for Vagar, Faeroes Islands, but was forced by bad weather to divert to Hornafjordur in the remote south west of Iceland.  By this time the expedition was already 16 days behind schedule.

On 5th August, Monga left Hornafjordur for Scotland  entailing the longest distance flight of almost 900 kilometres.  In spite of being solo, he escorted a Robinson helicopter being flown by two amateur pilots and navigated and gave RT calls as a formation.

Incidentally, Wg Cdr Rahul Monga has become the first Indian to “Fly the Pond” as crossing the Atlantic is colloquially known. This is a unique honour and is a testament to the training imparted by the IAF to its pilots.

At RAF Lossiemouth, Kumar re-joined the expedition and then flew down to RAF Halton near London, where they stayed for the night, thus skipping Norwich, contarary to original plans. 

Next day they headed for Germany, where after a stop at Munster-Onsabruck, they arrived at Eggersdorf near Berlin late in the afternoon. Eggersdorf is home to a Flight Design (the aircraft manufacturer) maintenance facility. Technicians from the company were waiting there in order to service the aircraft overnight, so that the journey could be continue the next day.  The servicing however took more time than expected. Also bad weather in southern Germany further delayed the expedition. The next stop, at Friedrichshafen, was made on Sunday, 12th August.

To make up for some of the lost time, the next leg to Rome on the 13th August was undertaken non-stop, skipping Samedan in Switzerland.  On the 14th the aircraft departed for Greece, but due to an engine problem, the aircraft carried out an emergency landing at the Italian Air Force Base at Latina, just south of Rome. It then proceeded to Kerkyra at Corfu, Greece in the evening, landing there in the night.

The remainder of the journey through Greece, Turkey and Iran was uneventful, notwithstanding hot temperatures and high humidity. A lot of lost time was made up during these legs. Time was further saved owing to permission from the Pakistan government to fly over Pakistan territory, thus obviating flying south to Muscat and crossing the Indian Ocean to India – which would have taken another 1000 kilometers flight, over seas. The expedition reached Karachi on 18th  August, and the same day the first stop on Indian soil was made at Bhuj.  On the 19th, the expedition landed back at Hindan Air Force Station in the evening.  A new world record had been created.

The accomplishment  of the crew, specially Wing Commander Rahul Monga was extraordinary as he flew the solo legs over the North Atlantic and the Bering Strait, a feat  achieved by only a handful in the world.