As my 8th update begins to unfold in front of your eyes, I have been on this journey for over one month, have flown over 27,000 nm in just over 152 hours. On this trip, I have visited many old favorites and just as many brand new destinations. The one element I’ve realized from this trip is just how much fun it is to fly low and slow.
The first few legs of this update will have me departing Manado, Indonesia and flying north to and through the Philippines and up to Taiwan then across to mainland China. Once I arrive in China I plan to fly up the east coast to Shanghai then cross over to Japan. I plan to fly up and through Japan. I’m sure at this stage update 9 will take over. I haven’t decided how I’m going to cross from Asia over to North America. I haven’t had time to research the possibility of island hopping my way across the Aleutians or just continuing up through Asiatic Russia and cross directly into Alaska via the Bering Strait.
The day began much like the others. I only have a limited amount of time to fly and will only complete two legs to position myself in northern Philippines. I departed WAMM for RPVA in Tacloban City. A quick re-fuel and I was back in the air headed to RPUT in Tuguegarao in northern Philippines. This is where I’ll stop for the day and resume my journey in hopefully a few days.
Well I’m back in the cockpit of my Carenado Mooney for what I hope will be a long day of flying. My hope for this day is to make it from the northern Philippines across the Philippine Sea to Taiwan then across the East China Sea to mainland China. I’ll travel up the east coast of China to Shangai where it will position me to head back across the East China Sea to Japan.
The day began early with weather and atmosphere briefings. While I can expect some clouds with a few chances of rain along today’s journey, the dust from the volcano down in Indonesia should not be a factor. I departed RPUT just after sunrise headed for RCYU in Hualien, Taiwan. This would be a quick fuel stop then onto mainland China.
Final into RCYU
From RCYU, I headed west across Taiwan and across the East China Sea to mainland China. I traveled up the east coast of China to the outskirts of Shangai to ZSSS. ZSSS is the Shanghai Hongqiao International Airport and one of two major airports in Shanghai, China. I grabbed a late lunch and then resumed my flight back across the East China Sea to the southern tip of Japan and RJFA.
Holding short runway 18 ZSSS in Shanghai, China
The flight over to Japan was uneventful. I landed at RJFA located in Ashiya, Japan and will call it a day. From here I’ll fly up to the Tokyo area then on up to northern Japan. I’ll make the decision for the next few flight legs prior to departing northern Japan. I’m favoring the island hopping I’ve talked about before.
I had a brief amount of free time on Saturday and decided to fly on up to Tokyo. The weather was cloudy, but overall very good. I left late in the afternoon and would be flying after dark. The sunset was beautiful over southeastern Japan.
Sunset over the Sea of Japan.
I flew into RJTY, Yokota Air Base located in western Tokyo. I’ll spend the next few days in Tokyo and hopefully resume my travels next week.
Well I’m back in the saddle again…or er….back in the cockpit. I departed Tokyo before sunrise on what is planned to be a great day of flying. I’m headed north up through Japan to RJEB, located in Monbetsu, Japan. From RJEB I plan to turn slightly northwest and head to UHSS. UHSS is located on the Russian island of Sakhalinsk.
I’m going to close this update out and post it on the web. Update 9 will document my crossing from Asiatic Russia back into North America. I have options….plenty of options mapped out. Most of these options will just depend on weather conditions. Time will tell.
Thank you for reading.
Jerry