42 avionics news • december 2018

E veryone has his or her own “Impossibly Big Dream.” It can be anything from earning an advanced college degree to penning a great

American novel. But for many pilots, the Impossibly Big Dream is flying long distances in their favorite airplane. Unfortunately, for the vast majority, our lives will pass with our Impossibly Big Dream unfulfilled.

For Robert DeLaurentis, flying through life unfulfilled was not an option. In fact, he was so convinced that he, nor anyone else, should ever settle for living an unfulfilled life that he wrote a book about how to avoid it in both our business and personal lives.

“I wrote Flying Through Life, and it was about incorporating different concepts in business and life – you can say some of them are spiritual in nature – because I wanted to show the world that these concepts truly worked, and they could go after their own Impossibly Big Dream,” DeLaurentis said. “Because I am a pilot, a lot of it is related to flying.”

Being the type of person who puts into practice what he teaches, DeLaurentis decided there was no better time to fulfill the second of his personal Impossibly Big Dreams and set out to fly his Piper Malibu Mirage around the world solo. For the record, his first impossibly big dream was earning his pilot’s license at

the age of 45.“I wanted to fly since I was a

small boy,” he said. “I just didn’t have the resources to do it until later in my life. But once I had the gift of flight, I started figuring out ways to put it to good use and hopefully motivate other people to do the same thing.”

After months of planning by his dedicated team, DeLaurentis’ solo

adventure in the Spirit of San Diego had passed the midpoint of its global trip and everything was going along smoothly. But like many things in life, just when you think all’s well with the cosmos…

“I was cruising at 14,000 feet over the Strait of Malacca, (which runs parallel between Singapore and Malaysia), and suddenly oil is spraying on the

S T O R Y B Y D A L E S M I T H

f ea t u re

POLE-TO-POLE GLOBAL FLIGHT

A N A I R P L A N E I S T H E U LT I M AT E D E M O N S T R AT I O N O F T H E O N E N E S S O F O U R WO R L D.

Robert DeLaurentis’

For most pilots, a successful solo flight around the world in a single-engine Piper Malibu Mirage would be enough to fulfill their ‘Impossibly Big Dream,’ but for Robert DeLaurentis, it was just the beginning.

avionics news • december 2018 43

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windshield, engine and exhaust system, and I have over 100 gallons of Avgas behind me in the passenger cabin,” he said. “Below me is deep water and dense jungles. My only option is to try and dead stick the airplane 19.6 nautical miles to the nearest airport, Kuala Lumpur International Airport 2 – which is the area’s regional airport.

“In the first moments of recognizing the problem, my mind comes up with four possible outcomes. One is the destruction of the airplane and my death. Two is the destruction of the plane and my injury. Three is the destruction of the airplane, and I walk away. And four is the plane survives, and I survive to fly again.

“It becomes a cosmic negotiation. In any negotiation, we like to ask for it all, but we know we’re going to end up somewhere in the middle. In this instance, somewhere in the middle was not a good outcome at all.”

DeLaurentis realized he had just a few minutes to make decisions that would determine the rest of his life. So he did what he had been trained to do by all of his flight instructors during his previous five years and concentrated on flying the airplane. Obviously, the outcome was the best it could have possibly been. Greeted by the flashing lights of crash trucks,

DeLaurentis landed safely at Kuala Lumpur 2. While awaiting repairs to The Spirit of San Diego,

DeLaurentis admits he was close to abandoning the rest of his trip. But like any good rider thrown from his stead, he climbed back in the saddle. After conquering any lingering doubts, he successfully crossed the Pacific and completed the 27,000-nautical mile, three-month odyssey.

For most of us, that would have been plenty enough to scratch flying around the world off our bucket list. But not for DeLaurentis. This was just the prelude to planning his next Impossibly Big Dream.

After chronicling his trip in his second book, Zen Pilot: Flight of Passion and the Journey Within, he felt the time was right to continue his efforts to grow and promote peaceful coexistence around the world.

Circumnavigating the globe, the hard wayDeLaurentis’ next Impossibly Big Dream is actually

another flight around the world.But this time he’s tackling the globe “the hard way.”

He’s flying south to north.

POLE-TO-POLE GLOBAL FLIGHT

Robert DeLaurentis earned his pilot’s license at the age of 45.

44 avionics news • december 2018

“The poles are the only places on the planet where peace exists today,” he said. “All the member countries of the Antarctic Treaty cooperate together because it’s in their best interest. Our flight will join the south and north poles, and in doing that, we are hoping to join everyone in between in our message of global peace. It’s some really good stuff.

“As pilots, we have a responsibility beyond flying. We become ambassadors every time we go anywhere in the world. Everyone has had the dream of flying sometime in their lives, so seeing someone out there in the world flying a small airplane is a great way to share the message, which is One Planet, One People, One Plane – the Oneness of Humanity.”

For the pole-to-pole flight, DeLaurentis and his team have christened their Turbine Commander 900 the Citizen of the World.

“I am hoping to show all the people in the 20-plus countries along our route that we are all citizens of the world,” he said. “The airplane is a fantastic billboard for our message. Airplanes don’t know boundaries. They just fly. An airplane is the ultimate demonstration of the oneness of our world.”

As DeLaurentis explained his routing, after leaving from San Diego’s Lindbergh Field in early December, he will fly south along the western coast of South America, over Antarctica, then north along the eastern side of South America, then across central and northern Africa, through Europe, over the north pole, then across Alaska and finally landing back in San Diego. All totaled, that’s more than 26,000 nautical miles and 20-plus countries visited. You can check out the trip routing at PoleToPoleFlight.com.

Before you run off to check, the Fédération Aéronautique Internationale governing body recognizes a pole-to-pole flight as a true circumnavigation of the globe. In fact, in DeLaurentis’ case, he will not only set speed and distance records, it will be the first time this flight has been attempted in this class (C-1F) of aircraft, which is a Turbine Commander 900.

“Once you’ve flown around the equator, the next big thing is to fly around the world at the poles,” DeLaurentis said. “It’s many times more difficult because of the vast distances and extremes. There are legs where we will need a range of at least 5,000 nautical miles, and I will encounter some of the worst weather on the planet flying over Antarctica.

“We started monitoring the temperatures over Antarctica a year ago, and the time I’ll be flying over the continent, they’re running at about minus 67 degrees Celsius at 35,000 feet. Jet-A jells at minus 47 degrees, so we have to keep the fuel warm.”

In fact, DeLaurentis said that the flight over Antarctica is going to be the greatest challenge of the entire trip.

“Even as fast as the Citizen of the World is, that leg will still take 18 to 20 hours to cross the continent; I’ll be fighting fatigue and temperatures,” he said. “I asked the last guy who did the south pole crossing – in an experimental, piston single – about how he stayed awake during the long flight? His answer was simple: He was too scared during the entire time to sleep.”

A rugged trip requires a truly rugged airplane

When it came time to select the ideal airplane for the pole-to-pole adventure, DeLaurentis and his team’s list of must-haves was

long and precise. After careful evaluation, the only logical choice was the Gulfstream Turbine Commander 900. If you’ve ever flown any of the Twin or Turbine Commanders, you’ll know why.

But to provide as much safety and reliability as possible, they had to take steps to make a great airplane even better. Nobody on the team wanted anything close to a repeat of the Strait of Malacca incident on this trip.

“First, we worked with Copperstate Turbine Engine Co. to upgrade the Honeywell TPE331-10 engines,” DeLaurentis explained. “The engines are perfect for this type of long-distance trip because they are geared, and that translates into much better fuel burn. CTEC rebuilt these engines, and instead of the rated 1,000 horsepower, we are getting right at 1,150 horsepower per side. They are monsters.”

Transferring all that raw horsepower into thrust

POLE-TO-POLE GLOBAL FLIGHTContinued from page 43

THE MAX-VIZ IS A MUST-HAVE FOR THIS FLIGHT. ENHANCED VISION WILL BE ESPECIALLY BENEFICIAL WHEN WE’RE FLYING OVER THE NORTH POLE IN LATE WINTER. THAT’S THE TIME OF YEAR WHEN THE SUN NEVER RISES, SO THE INFRARED VISION SYSTEM WILL PROVIDE A GREAT MARGIN OF SAFETY.

avionics news • december 2018 45

is a pair of new-generation, five-blade composite, Scimitar, nickel-tipped, MT-propellers.

“The new propellers are lighter than the originals, and their composite construction eliminates a lot of the vibration, which is great for the long flights – lower vibration means less fatigue,” he said. “Along with reducing the takeoff distance, they help the airplane climb like a bat out of hell.”

DeLaurentis also said that along with new long-range fuel cells, upgraded Concorde batteries and AMSAFE seatbelt airbags, the Citizen of the World is getting its environmental system replaced with a new system from Peter Shiff.

“The new system is 100 pounds lighter, and because it doesn’t use as much engine bleed air, it actually adds about 60 available horsepower,” he said. “It also pulls all the ambient air from the outside of the airplane, so the air in the cabin is fresher and less contaminated than the original bleed-air system was. The new system also has a greater temperature range to help keep me warmer at altitude. Fatigue from cold temperatures is always a danger on long flights.”

The Citizen of the World will be flying with world-class avionics

DeLaurentis said that because of the cost of an all-glass upgrade, the team is keeping the original Meggitt Magic PFD/MFD digital displays and original Magic 2100 autopilot.

“Genesys/S-TEC is rebuilding the original 2100 autopilot, which will be a great help on the long legs at high altitudes,” DeLaurentis said. “We’re also adding a new Shadin Avionics F/ADC-2000 fuel/air data computer. Knowing your exact fuel situation is extremely important when you’re 35,000 feet over the middle of the Antarctic.”

While they are keeping the legacy Magic displays, the team is replacing the Garmin GTN GPS/nav/comms with an Avidyne stack, including new-generation touchscreen IFD550 with video inputs, an IFD440 with Bluetooth, an AMX240 audio panel and an AXP340 Mode S, ADS-B transponder.

“There are a lot of reasons why we changed to Avidyne avionics for this flight,” he said. “The Avidyne IFD radios are easy to use, and the IFD550 comes with synthetic vision. Other Avidyne features I like include the ability to do my flight planning in my hotel room and then use the Wi-Fi/Bluetooth connections to download it into the IFD550 and 440.

I won’t have to worry about making an entry error.”DeLaurentis also said that another feature in

Avidyne’s favor was that the IFD550’s video input capability works directly with the Astronics Max-Viz 1400 Enhanced Vision System being installed.

“The Max-Viz is a must-have for this flight,” he said. “Enhanced vision will be especially beneficial when we’re flying over the north pole in late winter. That’s the time of year when the sun never rises, so the infrared vision system will provide a great margin of safety.”

In the unlikely event that he does encounter some communications anomaly over the poles, he’s equipping the Turbine Commander with both an Iridium satellite phone and an old-school HF radio.

Giving NASA’s next-generation spacecraft a lift

Along with the humanitarian goals of the trip, DeLaurentis is lending a helping hand to a team of scientists working on developing NASA’s next-generation Starlight spacecraft.

“The premise behind the new Wafer Scale spacecraft is that they are very small and light, so in theory, NASA will be able to launch them using a new ground-based electromagnetic propulsion system instead of giant rockets,” he said. “What we’re doing is carrying an experiment in the cabin for the scientific group who is doing development work for NASA. Prototypes of the tiny ‘spacecraft’ will be powered up during the flight to test various systems.”

Everything is go for departureIn early September, DeLaurentis and his team were

making final preparations for his mid-December departure, including the final installation of the Commander’s Avidyne avionics.

“This is not one privileged white male with an idea to fly around the world just going out and doing this,” he said. “We have clear goals in mind, and to that end we have our foundation supporting me and my entire team. We have a whole team of experts in all facets of the mission supporting me.

“We are not taking any part of the trip or our responsibility lightly. As I learned from my previous circumnavigation, you can’t take anything or any moment of the trip for granted.”

You can follow the Citizen of the World’s pole-to-pole mission at http://flyingthrulife.com/pole-to-pole/sponsor-updates/. q