BAZflyer: Closing a Loop

The man in the flight control centre said, “ZKBAZ change to Fukuoka Control 119.3...have a nice flight”. With that the Bazflyers amazing Russian experience ended and it was onwards into Japan airspace and Kagoshima.

The decision to fly eastwards from Europe across Russia to the Pacific Ocean, rather than the more traditional route via the Middle East, India and South East Asia, had unequivocally exceeded Bazflyer expectations. Thank you Evgeny and your MAK General Aviation Services team. Your unique brand of logistic support and helpful network of friendly people at every stop along the way, all neatly dovetailed to make this journey a spectacular and memorable experience.

Landing at Kagoshima Airport ended a long 8-hour day in the Baz Office. It also closed a northern hemisphere loop round the world. However, for the Bazflyers their RTW 2019 mission is not over until Comanche ZK-BAZ touches down at home base Taupo, New Zealand. It’s an interesting statistic that returning home from Kagoshima will require about another 45 hours in the Baz Office. Perhaps indicative of how big planet earth is, or maybe a perspective on the relative remoteness of New Zealand, the Bazflyers have just spent 45 hours in ZK-BAZ flying from the UK across Russia and onto Kagoshima, Japan.

Today while accommodated in the New Japan Aviation hangar, ZK-BAZ received some routine attention from the Bazflyers. It was time for an engine oil change...and some general house keeping, or should that be office cleaning. Tomorrow the trusty Comanche with the Bazflyers will continue southwards leaving Japan for the Philippines, destination Clark Field near Manila. Any temptation to linger longer being torpedoed by a significant typhoon building in the Western Pacific and forecast to intensify in the coming days while tracking towards Southern Japan. And with that the Bazflyers are out of here.....

Postscript.....well actually it’s...NOT OUT OF HERE

The Bazflyers may have been perhaps slightly smug and self congratulatory about flying round the world without so much as what could be termed a hiccup in their schedule. That was until last night!

With everything thought to be in order for an early morning takeoff to the Philippines, a late night check by the Bazflyers revealed the critical Philippines flight approval had not been issued. Moreover, it subsequently transpired the application had not even been lodged. Approvals require 48 hour prior notice, not including weekends, and with discovery of this omission occurring late on Friday night the earliest departure for the Bazflyers out of Kagoshima was instantly rescheduled a minimum five days into the future. However, on a positive note the previously mentioned Typhoon Mitag brewing south of Japan effectively erased the prospect of any earlier departure making this delay a Bazflyer opportunity to prefer weather over administrative error.

Having spent nearly a week in Kagoshima five months earlier, this traditional Japanese locality instantly resumed a comforting familiarity. Disappointments for the Bazflyers characteristically deliver surprising new experiences and these have already begun....

The lovely ladies at Mam’s Kitchen in Kirishima-Shi not only served a delicious hamburger, they delivered a rousing rendition of “Happy Birthday” for Bazflyer1 and presented him with a gift of their handmade cookies