Let’s check in with the folks discussed in Where in the world are the current round-the-world pilots?
Karl-Heinz Zahorsky has made it to the middle of the Pacific Ocean in his Malibu. This description of a 9.5-hour over-water flight talks about how the HF radio never worked at all. Regulatory authorities worldwide insist on these heavy trouble-prone radios for all extended over-water flights and yet almost nobody ever seems to be successful with one. Fortunately, everyone these days carries a lightweight Iridium phone, which does work.
How about Shaesta Waiz, trying to encourage women to study STEM by doing something that requires zero STEM knowledge? Her site still says “At this time, flight tracking is unavailable due to the region Shaesta is flying.” A search of the news shows that she made it to Fiji on August 24.
[How little STEM knowledge is required to be a career pilot? I remember my airline training on the CRJ’s jet engines. I thought “finally I will learn all about the turbine stages, the aerodynamics within the engine, compressor stalls, etc.” The first slide was a picture of the thrust levers and the instructor explained that you push them forward for more power, pull them back for less.]