50 is halfway to 100

Across the spectrum of life, events and happenings of every imaginable variety are characteristically remembered and often celebrated according to the quantum of years since past. A familiar example is a century (from the Latin centum), a period of 100 years. Life rarely grants most of us mortals the benevolence of a century but nevertheless it is a timeline of years we can comprehend. Even easier to get one’s head around is a span of 50 years, halfway to 100 which is the theme for this blog.

Today the Bazflyers took-off from Taupo (NZAP) in Piper Comanche ZK-BAZ for Kerikeri (NZKK) on their most epic aviation adventure yet. The Bazflyers are flying round the world. It is an adventure where ‘halfway to 100’ just happens to be a reoccurring theme. The circumnavigation involves 50 flights. It is 50 years since Bazflyer1 recorded his first solo flight in an airplane. The Bazflyers will fly their Comanche into the 50th EAA Oskosh, the biggest aviation gathering on earth. And significantly the Bazflyers have been together for 50 years. 

Symbolically 50 flights around the world flight will mark another halfway to 100 event…it is 50 years since New Zealander, Cliff Tait, took off from Hamilton Airport (NZHN) to fly round the world in “Miss Jacy”, his tiny Airtourer. Cliff’s flight was an amazing achievement for the time but unfortunately because he had to ship his airplane from Japan to North America he was unable to claim a complete circumnavigation.
  
Flying a small single engine airplane round the world has always been high on the list of aviation adventures. The very first  circumnavigation of the globe by an airplane was in 1924. Eight U.S. Army Air Service pilots and mechanics in four airplanes left Seattle, Washington. After 175 days, 74 stops and some 27,550 miles, only 2 of the 4 aircraft that set out eventually made it round the world. Since then there have been just 233 circumnavigation flights recorded by single engine airplanes and the Bazflyers aim to add their flight to that total. Earthrounders 

The first aerial circumnavigation of the world that involved crossing the equator twice, as the Bazflyers will do, has a special connection with New Zealand. The flight was undertaken in 1929 with the famous “Southern Cross” flown by Australian aviator Charles Kingsford Smith who was also the first to fly between New Zealand and Australia. 

Preparation for Round the World 2019 has occupied the Bazflyers for many months. Nothing has been left to chance. Personal fitness, aircraft condition, equipment, itinerary, flight planning and safety, all methodically identified and taken care of. There have been action lists, checklists, reviews and reviews. All thats left now is to do it. Flight one of fifty has been safely executed. Do join us on the journey at bazflyer.com   

Bazflyer1’s first solo flight.

Cliff Tait setting off round the world in ‘Miss Jacy’.

First flight round the world 1924

Kingsford Smith and the Southern Cross

Bazflyers and Comanche ZK-BAZ