Welcome everyone to my latest round the world adventure on MSFS 2020!
UPDATE:
With great thanks to @Krom0025, I’ve updated my route to include Sana’a, the capital of Yemen, which I had somehow managed to omit from my list of countries and capitals. Adding in Yemen adds 217 Nm to the length of my trip, which is now predicted to be 95,085 Nm and now covers 228 countries and not 227!
@Krom0025 also asked about Western Saharah and why this isn’t included. As far as I can tell, at least for now, Western Saharah is a disputed country and is effectively part of Morocco. Hence I have not included it as a separate country/capital combination. There are a few similar “countries” like this around the world that are disputed or come and go from time to time. It’s surprisingly hard to get a definitive list of countries - I should probably have used something from the UN.
The Keen eyed amongst you will have also noticed that I’m now flying the Boeing 737-800 and not the DC-6 and had a brief dalliance withe Fenix A320 inbetween. My plan now, just to spice things up a bit, is to select aircraft on a random basis, but flying 5 flights in a row with each plane I pick - so that I can actually start to leanr all these diferent aircraft I seemed to have shelled out for. I’m also keeping it to airliners and/or jets - staying away from GA. So my “pick list” consists of:
Aerosoft CRJ-550ER
Aerosoft CRJ-700ER
Microsoft ATR 72
Aerosoft CRJ-1000
Big Radials Grumman JRF Goose
Honda Jet HA420
Cessna CJ4 Citation
Cessna Citation Longitude
Antonov AN-225
Antonov AN-2 GNS 530/430
Black Square King Air 350 Analog
DHC-2 Beaver
Aviat Husky A-1C Standard
DHC-6-300 Wheels Cargo 3-Blade
Beechcraft V35B Bonanza
Beechcraft Model 17
Beechcraft D18S Twin Beech
Maddog MD-82
PMDG Boeing 737-600
Boeing 747-8 Intercontinental (Salty)
Boeing 787-10 Dreamliner
PMDG Boeing 737-800
Daher Kodiak 100
JustFlight PA28 Turbo Arrow IV
Pilatus PC-6/B2-H4 Turbo Porter G950
DHC-4 Caribou
PMDG Boeing 737-900ER
Fenix Airbus A320
iniBuilds Airbus A310-300
Asobo Douglas DC-3
Britten Norman MKIII Trislander
JustFlight PA28 Warrior II
Asobo Grumman G-21A Goose
Cirrus Vision Jet G2
JustFlight 146-200
JustFlight 146-300
Milviz Cessna 310R
Flysimware Cessna 414 ChancellorI’m skipping the stock Boeing 747 and 787 for now until Asobo gives them more love, and also not going to include Concorde here either… I think a bit too much of a beast for these purposes.
Going to start this process from Leg 33 with the JustFlight 146. Should be fun!
Introduction
In this thread, I will chronical my adventures as I attempt to fly to every capital city in the world in as efficient a way as possible. In this post you’ll find details of how I’m going about it, the route I’m taking and how I’ve worked that out. In the posts that follow, I’ll be recording my adventures - mostly so I can capture it all, but also so that you can follow along and see the sights as I find them.
Any and all comments are, of course welcome, and I hope you enjoy the journey.
Background
Not long ago, I completed my first round the world trip in MSFS - a journey I started just a couple of days after MSFS was launched in August 2020. This was a long, winding and somewhat random wander around the world, sightseeing as I went. I started out from my home town of Edinburgh and pretty much headed wherever I fancied. I did this in the TBM 930 (maybe a lucky choice as it seems to be one of the better default aircraft). I should say that I started out a total noobie at flight simming, and by the time I finished, nearly a year later, I’ve learned a LOT about flight simming and the TBM - a plane I now know very well indeed.
If you want to read more about that journey, I captured it all here (all 5,014 screenshots too…)
While I was trundling along in the cruise on the many flights on that trip, I started to think about what would be next. That’s when I started to look at Neofly and other similar “mission based” software to go with MSFS. I think I might turn to these later, but for now, they didn’t really inspire me much - nothing against any of those by the way.
One of the things I found both good and bad about they way I was going about the trip was that each leg I had to think about where to go and which direction to fly. On the one hand, quite liberating, on the other I found it difficult to find the right challenge sometimes. So I thought about what were the options to do somethign where the route is more defined.
That’s where the idea of capital cities occurred to me. So I hatched a bit of a plan and an intellectual challenge!
The challenge
Well, my challenge was to fly around the world, going directly from capital city to capital city. But, to make it more interesting and challenging, I decided that I would try to find the most efficient route. So that became something of a mission in itself - how to find the capitals, how to work out the shortest route, just how far is it etc.
So the challenge (rules of sorts) is as follows:
- Visit all capital cities in the world once - returning to the original starting city
- Visit means land at the main airport serving each capital city
- Routes must be direct - no stop overs
- Do it in the shortest “great circle” distance - great circle, because SIDs, STARs etc will mean each flight won’t be exactly the same as the GC distance, but I needed a consistent measurement between capitals to work out the shortest route
So how did I go about finding the route…
Finding the route
First off, credit to Great Circle Mapper http://www.gcmap.com/ This great website enables you to find the shortest distance between any two airports, which is the great circle distance, and - even more helpfully, has all the latitude/longitude for every airport in an easily accessible format.
The short version:
I found all the capital airports, put them into Great Circle Mapper, copied all the latitude/longitude information into Excel - did some serious number crunching - and out popped the shortest route (that I can readily find).
The long version:
This problem is a large version of the “Travelling Salesman Problem”. There are 228 capital cities that I’m visiting, so this is akin to a travelling salesman who needs to visit 228 cities and wants to do this in the shortest distance possible. This sort of thing can be solved by free online tools…if there are less than 20 “nodes” or cities. Excel can do it to for about 15 or 20 nodes. Even professional software won’t do 228 nodes - that’s super computer territory.
However, there are ways to tackle this computationally. The way I came up with is not perfect, but has provided a good answer, but it won’t be the shortest. However, i was starting to find very quickly diminishing returns the more I ran the processes on the data, which makes me think I;m getting to a practically acceptable answer.
Here’s the approach:
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Get the list of capitals - I got this online, and landed on a list of 228 capital cities
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Using ICAO code look ups, I found all the ICAO codes for airports that serve those capital cities
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I plugged all those capitals into Great Circle Mapper and copied all the longitude and latitude information for each capital city airport into Excel
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I then got hold of the formula to calculate the great circle distance between any two lat/long coordinates (Calculate distance and bearing between two Latitude/Longitude points using haversine formula in JavaScript)
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I used that formula in Excel to create a matrix calculating the distance between every airport and every other airport on this list. This formed the raw data for what I needed. For every capital city airport, I now know how far away every other capital city airport is
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The easiest and simplest starting “solution” for the Travelling Salesman Problem is very simple. Pick a starting airport, and go from there to the nearest airport. From there go to the nearest airport…and so on until the list runs out and then you return to the starting airport
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If you think about it, this will never be a perfect answer - firstly because it could be shorter overall to go to a further away airport and then to the others that were closer because the airports are not in a straight line - they obviously zig zag around. Secondly, you need to think about the return leg at the end - it seems highly improbable that you’ll end up at an airport second to last that will be close to the starting point. Also having thought about it, I realised that the starting airport will make a difference. The closest airport might change depending on where you’ve come from and whether you’ve already been to that closest airport. So the order of the trip and the starting point will change the outcome
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So, using some VBA in Excel, I got Excel to come up with the length of the trip based on starting at all 228 airports, and picking the next airport as the closest one not yet visited. This gave a fairly wide range of outcomes, and a basis for further refinement
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The next step was to see what happens if I swapped the order of pairs of airports at each stage - would that make the journey shorter? Start with a route that goes A>B>C on the basis that B is closest to A, C closest to B. What happens if, instead of going A>B>C, I swap B and C around, so we go A>C>B? perhaps the distance A>C>B is less than A>B>C?
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So I ran a process of swapping every pair - but not just adjacent pairs. I systematically swapped every airport with every other airport to see what that would do to all the combinations - so we tray ABCD then ADCB etc.
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That reduced the distance a fair bit - maybe about 10% shorter
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I then took this a step further and tested swapping groups of 3 airports around. This took a LONG time in Excel - hundreds of thousands of permutations, and all x 228 as we need to test it with every capital as the starting point. By the time this finished (took about 3 days continuous running in Excel), I’d shaved a further 1% or so off the distance
Going further and swapping 4 cities at a time would be exponentially longer…time to take this as the answer and move on!
So I have my route. 228 cities, 95,085 Nm, starting and finishing in Dushanbe, Tajikistan.
The Route
ICAO codes
UTDD-UTTT-UCFM-UACC-UTAA-OIII-UBBB-UGTB-UDYZ-ORBI-OKBK-OBBI-OOMS-OMAA-OTHH-OERK-OJAI-LLJR-OSDI-OLBA-LCEN-LTAC-LRBS-LBSF-LWSK-BKPR-LATI-LYPG-LQSA-LYBE-LHBP-LZIB-LOWW-LDZA-LJLJ-LIPR-LIRE-LMML-HLLT-DTTA-DAAG-LESU-LEMD-LXGB-GMME-LPPT-EGJB-EGLL-EHAM-EBBR-LFPG-ELLX-LSZB-LSZE-LKPR-EDDB-EKCH-ENGM-ESSA-EFHK-EETN-EVRA-EPWA-EYVI-UMMS-UUEE-UKBB-LUKK-LGAV-HECA-HSSS-HHAS-OYSN-HDAM-HAAB-HSSJ-HUEN-HRYR-HBBA-HTDO-HKJK-HCMM-FSIA-FMCH-FMCZ-FIMP-FMEE-FMMI-FQMA-FDMS-FXMM-FAWB-FVHA-FWKI-FLKK-FBSK-FYWH-FNLU-FZAA-FCBB-FEFF-FKYS-FGSL-FOOL-FPST-DBBB-DXXX-DGAA-DIYO-GLRB-GFLL-GUCY-GGOV-GBYD-GOOY-GVNP-GQNO-GABS-DFFD-DRRN-DNAA-FTTJ-EIDW-EKVG-BIKF-BGGH-LFVP-CYOW-KIAD-TXKF-MBPV-MTPP-MDSD-TJSJ-TIST-TUPJ-TQPF-TNCM-TKPK-TAPA-TRPG-TFFB-TDCF-TFFF-TLPC-TVSA-TBPB-TGPY-TTPP-SOCA-SMJP-SYCJ-SVMI-TNCC-TNCA-MKJP-MYNN-MUHA-MWCR-MZBZ-MGGT-MSLP-MHTG-MNMG-MROC-MPMG-SKBO-SEQM-SPJC-SLLP-SCEL-SFAL-SUMU-SAEZ-SGAS-SBBR-MMMX-NTAA-NCRG-NIUE-NSTU-NSFA-NFTF-NFNA-NGFU-NGTA-PKMJ-ANYN-AGGH-NVVV-NWWW-YSNF-NZWN-YSCB-AYPY-PTPN-PGSN-PGUM-PTRO-RPLL-VHHH-VMMC-VVNB-VLVT-VTBS-VDPP-WMKK-WSSS-YPCC-WIII-WPDL-WBSB-RCTP-RJTT-RKSI-ZKPY-ZBAA-ZMUB-ZULS-VQPR-VGHS-VYYY-VCBI-VRMM-VNKT-VIDP-OPIS-OAKB-UTDD
Leg List (with links)
Leg 1: Dushanbe (UTDD), Tajikistan to Tashkent (UTTT), Uzbekistan
Leg 2: Tashkent (UTTT), Uzbekistan to Bishkek (UCFM), Kyrgyzstan
Leg 3: Bishkek (UCFM), Kyrgystan to Nur-Sultan/Astana (UACC), Kazakhstan
Leg 4: Nur-Sultan/Astana (UACC), Kazakhstan to Ashgabat (UTAA), Turkmenistan
Leg 5: Ashgabat (UTAA), Turkmenistan to Tehran (OIII), Iran
Leg 6: Tehran (OIII), Iran to Baku (UBBB), Azerbaijan
Leg 7: Baku (UBBB), Azerbaijan to T’bilisi (UGTB), Georgia
Leg 8: T’bilisi (UGTB), Georgia to Yerevan (UDYZ), Armenia
Leg 9: Yerevan (UDYZ), Armenia to Baghdad (ORBI), Iraq
Leg 10: Baghdad (ORBI), Iraq to Kuwait (OKBK), Kuwait
Leg 11: Kuwait (OKBK), Kuwait to Manama (OBBI), Bahrain
Leg 12: Manama (OBBI), Bahrain to Muscat (OOMS), Oman
Leg 13: Muscat (OOMS), Oman to Abu Dhabi (OMAA), United Arab Emirates
Leg 14: Abu Dhabi (OMAA), United Arab Emirates to Doha (OTHH), Qatar
Leg 15: Doha (OTHH), Qatar to Riyadh (OERK), Saudi Arabia
Leg 16: Riyadh (OERK), Saudi Arabia to Amman (OJAI), Jordan
Leg 17: Amman (OJAI), Jordan to Jerusalem (LLJR), Israel
Leg 18: Jerusalem (LLJR), Israel to Damascus (OSDI), Syrian Arab Republic
Leg 19: Damascus (OSDI), Syrian Arab Republic to Beirut (OLBA), Lebanon
Leg 20: Beirut (OLBA), Lebanon to Nicosia (LCEN), Cyprus
Leg 21: Nicosia (LCEN), Cyprus to Ankara (LTAC), Turkey
Leg 22: Ankara (LTAC), Turkey to Bucuresti (LRBS), Romania
Leg 23: Bucuresti (LRBS), Romania to Sofia (LBSF), Bulgaria
Leg 24: Sofia (LBSF), Bulgaria to Skopje (LWSK), Macedonia
Leg 25: Skopje (LWSK), Macedonia to Pristina (BKPR), Kosovo
Leg 26: Pristina (BKPR), Kosovo to Tirane (LATI), Albania
Leg 27: Tirane (LATI), Albania to Podgorica (LYPG), Montenegro
Leg 28: Podgorica (LYPG), Montenegro to Sarajevo (LQSA), Bosnia and Herzegovina
Leg 29: Sarajevo (LQSA), Bosnia and Herzegovina to Belgrade (LYBE), Serbia
Leg 30: Belgrade (LYBE), Serbia to Budapest (LHBP), Hungary
Leg 31: Budapest (LHBP), Hungary to Bratislava (LZIB), Slovakia
Leg 32: Bratislava (LZIB), Slovakia to Vienna (LOWW), Austria
Leg 33: Vienna (LOWW), Austria to Zagreb (LDZA), Croatia
Leg 34: Zagreb (LDZA), Croatia to Ljubljana (LJLJ), Slovenia
Leg 35: Ljubljana (LJLJ), Slovenia to San Marino (LIPR), San Marino
Leg 36: San Marino (LIPR), San Marino to Rome (LIRE), Italy
Leg 37: Rome (LIRE), Italy to Valletta (LMML), Malta
Leg 38: Valletta (LMML), Malta to Tripoli (HLLT), Libyan Arab Jamahiriya
Leg 39: Tripoli (HLLT), Libyan Arab Jamahiriya to Tunis (DTTA), Tunisia
Leg 40: Tunis (DTTA), Tunisia to Algiers (DAAG), Algeria
Leg 41: Algiers (DAAG), Algeria to Andorra la Vella (LESU), Andorra
Leg 42: Andorra la Vella (LESU), Andorra to Madrid (LEMD), Spain
Leg 43: Madrid (LEMD), Spain to Gibralter (LXGB), Gibraltar
Leg 44: Gibralter (LXGB), Gibraltar to Rabat (GMME), Morocco
Leg 45: Rabat (GMME), Morocco to Lisbon (LPPT), Portugal
Leg 46: Lisbon (LPPT), Portugal to St. Peter Port (EGJB), Guernsey
Leg 47: St. Peter Port (EGJB), Guernsey to London (EGLL), United Kingdom
Leg 48: London (EGLL), United Kingdom to Amsterdam (EHAM), Netherlands
Leg 49: Amsterdam (EHAM), Netherlands to Brussels (EBBR), Belgium
Leg 50: Brussels (EBBR), Belgium to Paris (LFPG), France
Leg 51: Paris (LFPG), France to Luxembourg (ELLX), Luxembourg
Leg 52: Luxembourg (ELLX), Luxembourg to Bern (LSZB), Switzerland
Leg 53: Bern (LSZB), Switzerland to Vaduz (LSZE), Liechtenstein
Leg 54: Vaduz (LSZE), Liechtenstein to Prague (LKPR), Czech Republic
Leg 55: Prague (LKPR), Czech Republic to Berlin (EDDB), Germany
Leg 56: Berlin (EDDB), Germany to Copenhagen (EKCH), Denmark
Leg 57: Copenhagen (EKCH), Denmark to Oslo (ENGM), Norway
Leg 58: Oslo (ENGM), Norway to Stockholm (ESSA), Sweden
Leg 59: Stockholm (ESSA), Sweden to Helsinki (EFHK), Finland
Leg 60: Helsinki (EFHK), Finland to Tallinn (EETN), Estonia
Leg 61: Tallinn (EETN), Estonia to Riga (EVRA), Latvia
Leg 62: Riga (EVRA), Latvia to Warsaw (EPWA), Poland
Leg 63: Warsaw (EPWA), Poland to Vilnius (EYVI), Lithuania
Leg 64: Vilnius (EYVI), Lithuania to Minsk (UMMS), Belarus
Leg 65: Minsk (UMMS), Belarus to Moscow (UUEE), Russian Federation
Leg 66: Moscow (UUEE), Russian Federation to Kiev (UKBB), Ukraine
Leg 67: Kiev (UKBB), Ukraine to Chisinau (LUKK), Moldova
Leg 68: Chisinau (LUKK), Moldova to Athens (LGAV), Greece
Leg 69: Athens (LGAV), Greece to Cairo (HECA), Egypt
Leg 70: Cairo (HECA), Egypt to Khartoum (HSSS), Sudan
Leg 71: Khartoum (HSSS), Sudan to Asmara (HHAS), Eritrea
Leg 72: Asmara (HHAS), Eritrea to Sana’a (OYSN), Yemen
Leg 73: Sana’a (OYSN), Yemen to Djibouti (HDAM), Djibouti
Leg 74: Djibouti (HDAM), Djibouti to Addis Ababa (HAAB), Ethiopia
Leg 75: Addis Ababa (HAAB), Ethiopia to Juba (HSSJ), South Sudan
Leg 76: Juba (HSSJ), South Sudan to Kampala (HUEN), Uganda
Leg 77: Kampala (HUEN), Uganda to Kigali (HRYR), Rawanda
Leg 78: Kigali (HRYR), Rawanda to Bujumbura (HBBA), Burundi
Leg 79: Bujumbura (HBBA), Burundi to Dodoma (HTDO), Tanzania
Leg 80: Dodoma (HTDO), Tanzania to Nairobi (HKJK), Kenya
Leg 81: Nairobi (HKJK), Kenya to Mogadishu (HCMM), Somalia
Leg 82: Mogadishu (HCMM), Somalia to Victoria (FSIA), Seychelles
Leg 83: Victoria (FSIA), Seychelles to Moroni (FMCH), Comros
Leg 84: Moroni (FMCH), Comros to Mamoudzou (FMCZ), Mayotte
Leg 85: Mamoudzou (FMCZ), Mayotte to Port Louis (FIMP), Mauritius
Leg 86: Port Louis (FIMP), Mauritius to Saint-Denis (FMEE), Reunion Island
Leg 87: Saint-Denis (FMEE), Reunion Island to Antananarivo (FMMI), Madagascar
Leg 88: Antananarivo (FMMI), Madagascar to Maputo (FQMA), Mozambique
Leg 89: Maputo (FQMA), Mozambique to Mbabane (FDMS), Swaziland
Leg 90: Mbabane (FDMS), Swaziland to Maseru (FXMM), Lesotho
Leg 91: Maseru (FXMM), Lesotho to Pretoria (FAWB), South Africa
Leg 92: Pretoria (FAWB), South Africa to Harare (FVHA), Zimbabwe
Leg 93: Harare (FVHA), Zimbabwe to Lilongwe (FWKI), Malawi
Leg 94: Lilongwe (FWKI), Malawi to Lusaka (FLKK), Zambia
Leg 95: Lusaka (FLKK), Zambia to Gaborone (FBSK), Botswana
Leg 96: Gaborone (FBSK), Botswana to Windhoek (FYWH), Namibia
Leg 97: Windhoek (FYWH), Namibia to Luanda (FNLU), Angola
Leg 98: Luanda (FNLU), Angola to Kinshasa (FZAA), Democratic Republic of the Congo
Leg 99: Kinshasa (FZAA), Democratic Republic of the Congo to Brazzaville (FCBB), Congo
Leg 100: Brazzaville (FCBB), Congo to Bangui (FEFF), Central African Republic
Leg 101: Bangui (FEFF), Central African Republic to Yaounde (FKYS), Cameroon
Leg 102: Yaounde (FKYS), Cameroon to Malabo (FGSL), Equatorial Guinea
Leg 103: Malabo (FGSL), Equatorial Guinea to Libreville (FOOL), Gabon
Leg 104: Libreville (FOOL), Gabon to Sao Tome (FPST), Sao Tome and Principe
Leg 105: Sao Tome (FPST), Sao Tome and Principe to Cotonou (DBBB), Benin
Leg 106: Cotonou (DBBB), Benin to Lome (DXXX), Togo
Leg 107: Lome (DXXX), Togo to Accra (DGAA), Ghana
Leg 108: Accra (DGAA), Ghana to Yamoussoukro (DIYO), Cote d’Ivoire
Leg 109: Yamoussoukro (DIYO), Cote d’Ivoire to Monrovia (GLRB), Liberia
Leg 110: Monrovia (GLRB), Liberia to Freetown (GFLL), Sierra Leone
Leg 111: Freetown (GFLL), Sierra Leone to Conakry (GUCY), Guinea
Leg 112: Conakry (GUCY), Guinea to Bissau (GGOV), Guinea-Bissau
Leg 113: Bissau (GGOV), Guinea-Bissau to Banjul (GBYD), Gambia
Leg 114: Banjul (GBYD), Gambia to Dakar (GOOY), Senegal
Leg 115: Dakar (GOOY), Senegal to Praia (GVNP), Cape Verde
Leg 116: Praia (GVNP), Cape Verde to Nouakchott (GQNO), Mauritania
Leg 117: Nouakchott (GQNO), Mauritania to Bamako (GABS), Mali
Leg 118: Bamako (GABS), Mali to Ouagadougou (DFFD), Burkina Faso
Leg 119: Ouagadougou (DFFD), Burkina Faso to Niamey (DRRN), Niger
Leg 120: Niamey (DRRN), Niger to Abuja (DNAA), Nigeria
Leg 121: Abuja (DNAA), Nigeria to N’Djamena (FTTJ), Chad
Leg 122: N’Djamena (FTTJ), Chad to Dublin (EIDW), Ireland
Leg 123: Dublin (EIDW), Ireland to Torshavn (EKVG), Faroe Islands
Leg 124: Torshavn (EKVG), Faroe Islands to Reykjavik (BIKF), Iceland
Leg 125: Reykjavik (BIKF), Iceland to Nuuk (BGGH), Greenland
Leg 126: Nuuk (BGGH), Greenland to Saint-Pierre (LFVP), Saint Pierre and Miquelon
Leg 127: Saint-Pierre (LFVP), Saint Pierre and Miquelon to Ottawa (CYOW), Canada
Leg 128: Ottawa (CYOW), Canada to Washington DC (KIAD), United States of America
Leg 129: Washington DC (KIAD), United States of America to Hamilton (TXKF), Bermuda
Leg 130: Hamilton (TXKF), Bermuda to Cockburn Town (MBPV), Turks and Caicos Islands
Leg 131: Cockburn Town (MBPV), Turks and Caicos Islands to Port-au-Prince (MTPP), Haiti
Leg 132: Port-au-Prince (MTPP), Haiti to Santo Domingo (MDSD), Dominica Republic
Leg 133: Santo Domingo (MDSD), Dominica Republic to San Juan (TJSJ), Puerto Rico
Leg 134: San Juan (TJSJ), Puerto Rico to Charlotte Amalie (TIST), United States of Virgin Islands
Leg 135: Charlotte Amalie (TIST), United States of Virgin Islands to Road Town (TUPJ), British Virgin Islands
Leg 136: Road Town (TUPJ), British Virgin Islands to The Valley (TQPF), Anguilla
Leg 137: The Valley (TQPF), Anguilla to Philipsburg (TNCM), Sint Maarten
Leg 138: Philipsburg (TNCM), Sint Maarten to Basseterre (TKPK), Saint Kitts and Nevis
Leg 139: Basseterre (TKPK), Saint Kitts and Nevis to West Indies (TAPA), Antigua and Barbuda
Leg 140: West Indies (TAPA), Antigua and Barbuda to Plymouth (TRPG), Montserrat
Leg 141: Plymouth (TRPG), Montserrat to Basse-Terre (TFFB), Guadeloupe
Leg 142: Basse-Terre (TFFB), Guadeloupe to Roseau (TDCF), Dominica
Leg 143: Roseau (TDCF), Dominica to Fort-de-France (TFFF), Martinique
Leg 144: Fort-de-France (TFFF), Martinique to Castries (TLPC), Saint Lucia
Leg 145: Castries (TLPC), Saint Lucia to Kingstown (TVSA), Saint Vincent and the Greenadines
Leg 146: Kingstown (TVSA), Saint Vincent and the Greenadines to Bridgetown (TBPB), Barbados
Leg 147: Bridgetown (TBPB), Barbados to Saint George’s (TGPY), Grenada
Leg 148: Saint George’s (TGPY), Grenada to Port of Spain (TTPP), Trinidad and Tobago
Leg 149: Port of Spain (TTPP), Trinidad and Tobago to Cayenne (SOCA), French Guiana
Leg 150: Cayenne (SOCA), French Guiana to Paramaribo (SMJP), Suriname
Leg 151: Paramaribo (SMJP), Suriname to Georgetown (SYCJ), Guyana
Leg 152: Georgetown (SYCJ), Guyana to Caracas (SVMI), Venezuela
Leg 153: Caracas (SVMI), Venezuela to Curacao (TNCC), Curacao
Leg 154: Curacao (TNCC), Curacao to Oranjestad (TNCA), Aruba
Leg 155: Oranjestad (TNCA), Aruba to Kingston (MKJP), Jamaica
Leg 156: Kingston (MKJP), Jamaica to Nassau (MYNN), Bahamas
Leg 157: Nassau (MYNN), Bahamas to Havana (MUHA), Cuba
Leg 158: Havana (MUHA), Cuba to George Town (MWCR), Cayman Islands
Leg 159: George Town (MWCR), Cayman Islands to Belmopan (MZBZ), Belize
Leg 160: Belmopan (MZBZ), Belize to Guatemala (MGGT), Guatemala
Leg 161: Guatemala (MGGT), Guatemala to San Salvador (MSLP), El Salvador
Leg 162: San Salvador (MSLP), El Salvador to Tegucigalpa (MHTG), Honduras
Leg 163: Tegucigalpa (MHTG), Honduras to Managua (MNMG), Nicaragua
Leg 164: Managua (MNMG), Nicaragua to San Jose (MROC), Costa Rica
Leg 165: San Jose (MROC), Costa Rica to Panama (MPMG), Panama
Leg 166: Panama (MPMG), Panama to Bogota (SKBO), Colombia
Leg 167: Bogota (SKBO), Colombia to Quito (SEQM), Ecuador
Leg 168: Quito (SEQM), Ecuador to Lima (SPJC), Peru
Leg 169: Lima (SPJC), Peru to La Paz (SLLP), Bolivia
Leg 170: La Paz (SLLP), Bolivia to Santiago (SCEL), Chile
Leg 171: Santiago (SCEL), Chile to Stanley (SFAL), Falkland Islands
Leg 172: Stanley (SFAL), Falkland Islands to Montevideo (SUMU), Uruguay
Leg 173: Montevideo (SUMU), Uruguay to Buenos Aires (SAEZ), Argentina
Leg 174: Buenos Aires (SAEZ), Argentina to Asuncion (SGAS), Paraguay
Leg 175: Asuncion (SGAS), Paraguay to Brasilia (SBBR), Brazil
Leg 176: Brasilia (SBBR), Brazil to Mexico City (MMMX), Mexico
Leg 177: Mexico City (MMMX), Mexico to Papeete (NTAA), French Polynesia
Leg 178: Papeete (NTAA), French Polynesia to Avarua (NCRG), Cook Islands
Leg 179: Avarua (NCRG), Cook Islands to Alofi (NIUE), Niue
Leg 180: Alofi (NIUE), Niue to Pago Pago (NSTU), American Samoa
Leg 181: Pago Pago (NSTU), American Samoa to Apia (NSFA), Samoa
Leg 182: Apia (NSFA), Samoa to Nuku’alofa (NFTF), Tonga
Leg 183: Nuku’alofa (NFTF), Tonga to Suva (NFNA), Fiji
Leg 184: Suva (NFNA), Fiji to Funafuti (NGFU), Tuvalu
Leg 185: Funafuti (NGFU), Tuvalu to Tarawa (NGTA), Kiribati
Leg 186: Tarawa (NGTA), Kiribati to Majuro (PKMJ), Marshall Islands
Leg 187: Majuro (PKMJ), Marshall Islands to Nauru Island (ANYN), Nauru
Leg 188: Nauru Island (ANYN), Nauru to Honiara (AGGH), Solomon Islands
Leg 189: Honiara (AGGH), Solomon Islands to Port-Vila (NVVV), Vanuatu
Leg 190: Port-Vila (NVVV), Vanuatu to Noumea (NWWW), New Caledonia
Leg 191: Noumea (NWWW), New Caledonia to Kingston (YSNF), Norfolk Island
Leg 192: Kingston (YSNF), Norfolk Island to Wellington (NZWN), New Zealand
Leg 193: Wellington (NZWN), New Zealand to Canberra (YSCB), Australia
Leg 194: Canberra (YSCB), Australia to Port Moresby (AYPY), Papua New Guinea
Leg 195: Port Moresby (AYPY), Papua New Guinea to Palikir (PTPN), Micronesia
Leg 196: Palikir (PTPN), Micronesia to Saipan (PGSN), Northern Mariana Islands
Leg 197: Saipan (PGSN), Northern Mariana Islands to Hagatna (PGUM), Guam
Leg 198: Hagatna (PGUM), Guam to Koror (PTRO), Palau
Leg 199: Koror (PTRO), Palau to Manila (RPLL), Philippines
Leg 200: Manila (RPLL), Philippines to Hong Kong (VHHH), Hong Kong
Leg 201: Hong Kong (VHHH), Hong Kong to Macau (VMMC), Macao, China
Leg 202: Macau (VMMC), Macao, China to Hanoi (VVNB), Viet Nam
Leg 203: Hanoi (VVNB), Viet Nam to Vientiane (VLVT), Lao People’s Democratic Republic
Leg 204: Vientiane (VLVT), Lao People’s Democratic Republic to Bangkok (VTBS), Thailand
Leg 205: Bangkok (VTBS), Thailand to Phnom Penh (VDPP), Cambodia
Leg 206: Phnom Penh (VDPP), Cambodia to Kuala Lumpur (WMKK), Malaysia
Leg 207: Kuala Lumpur (WMKK), Malaysia to Singapore (WSSS), Singapore
Leg 208: Singapore (WSSS), Singapore to West Island (YPCC), Cocos (Keeling) Islands
Leg 209: West Island (YPCC), Cocos (Keeling) Islands to Jakarta (WIII), Indonesia
Leg 210: Jakarta (WIII), Indonesia to Dili (WPDL), East Timor
Leg 211: Dili (WPDL), East Timor to Bandar Seri Begawan (WBSB), Brunei Darussalam
Leg 212: Bandar Seri Begawan (WBSB), Brunei Darussalam to Taipei (RCTP), Taiwan (Republic of China)
Leg 213: Taipei (RCTP), Taiwan (Republic of China) to Tokyo (RJTT), Japan
Leg 214: Tokyo (RJTT), Japan to Seoul (RKSI), Republic of Korea
Leg 215: Seoul (RKSI), Republic of Korea to Pyongyang (ZKPY), North Korea
Leg 216: Pyongyang (ZKPY), North Korea to Beijing (ZBAA), China
Leg 217: Beijing (ZBAA), China to Ulaanbaatar (ZMUB), Mongolia
Leg 218: Ulaanbaatar (ZMUB), Mongolia to Lhasa (ZULS), Tibet
Leg 219: Lhasa (ZULS), Tibet to Thimphu (VQPR), Bhutan
Leg 220: Thimphu (VQPR), Bhutan to Dhaka (VGHS), Bangladesh
Leg 221: Dhaka (VGHS), Bangladesh to Yangon (VYYY), Myanmar
Leg 222: Yangon (VYYY), Myanmar to Colombo (VCBI), Sri Lanka
Leg 223: Colombo (VCBI), Sri Lanka to Male (VRMM), Maldives
Leg 224: Male (VRMM), Maldives to Kathmandu (VNKT), Nepal
Leg 225: Kathmandu (VNKT), Nepal to New Delhi (VIDP), India
Leg 226: New Delhi (VIDP), India to Islamabad (OPIS), Pakistan
Leg 227: Islamabad (OPIS), Pakistan to Kabul (OAKB), Afghanistan
Leg 228: Kabul (OAKB), Afghanistan to Dushanbe (UTDD), Tajikistan
The Plane
OK, all good - but what aircraft are we going to do this in?
My first thought was the CJ4 - especially given the excellent Working Title mod. However, the range just isn’t big enough to be able to make some of the longer legs. That got me to think about the Longitude - again with an excellent mod this is a great aircraft.
However, there is one challenge that I couldn’t resist - and that’s the PMDG DC-6. My thinking here is that, a bit like the TBM, I can use this trip as a way to properly learn how to fly the DC-6. I’ve flown it a little so far with the assistance of the AFE. So my plan is to learn to fly the DC-6 without the help of the AFE, learning as we go. I also plan to gradually wean myself off the GPS system and move to more traditional means of navigation
