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Sure, I figure the odds he had an IFR rating are probably 98% or so. And he better, because (as I recall) he only had a limited number of days to finish his expedition. That's the kind of time pressure that convinces people to push forward in marginal situations. But another major difference...

I never heard the term "solar impulse"... or maybe I just forgot the term. Are you talking about the airplane with solar-panels on the wings that flew around the world? What info would they have on the pacific? If you mean weather conditions before a planned flight, don't you think satellites...

Not non-stop. In smaller hops, maybe. The whole trip, maybe. I don't think the Cessna 152s and 172s I flew then had that much range. So no could do non-stop.

I'm supposed to be terrified of flying 25 miles at night. What other conclusion can I come to? You seem to think an IFR rating is MAGIC protection. Without even taking IFR training, I know that's BS. What might save your bacon someday (and may have already) is one or more specific skills you...

What is "hostile for landing" depends on what kind of airplane you fly. To be sure, a commercial jet (or even a private jet for that matter) cannot land at 35mph to 40mph like a little pipistrel virus can. Just imagine you are flying an airplane that is able to land on EVERY airstrip in the...

Like many others here, you ignore most of what I write, then put words in my mouth. I never said or implied what you said. So why do you pretend I did? What I did is attempt to identify the factors that I am currently aware of, and attempt to put your concerns into perspective... to the...

Why don't you not bother to read anything, and just make up your own facts? I got my private pilot certificate over 20 years ago. Sheesh! I have nothing for you. If you want something that I can give, just ask. Otherwise, what are you talking about?

You must live "back east", correct? Geez, I was flying several hundred mile trips (all the fuel the rental 152s, 172s, 182s would hold) while I was still flying solo before getting my pilot license! I'm sorry, but weather and visibility out west just ain't the same as back east! This is not...

I have already flown several flight of hundreds of miles on moonless nights... a large portion of which was over completely black wilderness areas and national forests. And the airplanes I flew had no GPS or moving maps or autopilots or fancy gizmos. So if you think moonless nights will scare...

Well, I obviously have more endurance than most people. Sometimes when I'm in the groove on software project I'll write code for 24 to 36 hours straight. Okay, I do get up, walk to the fridge, and get something to drink now and then. But I write complex code that takes a great deal of focus...

Then don't! Fine with me. Not that it matters, the reason I only have $200K savings (plus safety margin, plus monthly income from my products so I never need to work again) is largely because I always worked on projects I was interested in rather than projects with greatest financial...

I want to answer that without being offensive. I understand that a "normal way" exists to accomplish just about everything that has been done before. And I also understand that almost everyone just follows the "normal way" to do XYZ once they decide to do XYZ. Furthermore, I also understand...

No, I haven't heard about that... yet. However, pipistrel keeps doing a lot of "firsts", so who knows. What is "STC"? I don't know who ihenning is either, so I didn't get the joke. Pipistrel has been improving their all electric airplanes incrementally, but they are still only about 10% or...

That's interesting! My biggest fear is... mechanical issues! Just goes to show (assuming you're correct), I have my head on upside down! :eek: Actually, I worry a great deal about your first #1. Though I really, really, really don't want to build mine from a kit, from what I've heard so far...

km == kilometer == 0.62 miles (approximately). If you want to mention a few candidates, please feel free. But I should mention that an airplane with high fuel consumption and enormous fuel tanks would be too expensive for me to be able to feed with fuel on an ongoing basis. Also note (from my...

That's why I'm starting this conversation about 6 months before I get my airplane, and about one year before I provisionally fly across open ocean. You and everyone has to realize, when Neil Armstrong at age 11 said he was going to fly to the moon someday, people were appropriately [more-than]...

I came here for advice. Primarily I came here for practical advice about things like... what category is most appropriate for my purposes ("experimental xyz" or what)? However, some people decided they'd rather throw rocks rather than answer my questions or offer thoughtful advice. Both you...

If you read all my messages, you'd know that I am considering getting IFR rating. You'd also know from the list of avionics in my first post, that I'm only missing one or two items for the airplane to be fully IFR capable. The one item I know I'm still missing is the gizmo to enable ILS...

Please list the best examples of those airplanes that you know of. Unless you're talking used airplanes, I don't know of any others capable of 5000km non-stop flights. Note that I say 5000km even though the furthest I need to fly is 3800km, because 5000km includes a reasonable safety margin...

I apologize. Being that I've been a scientist and engineer for decades, I had to switch myself into metric for most purposes. In most of my posts I give both metric and non-metric measures, but not everywhere. For that I apologize. Note that the manufacturer of the airplane is in a region...