Around The World In 79 days

By Aleta Vinas ANN Correspondent

Bill Randolph had throat cancer a few years ago. "I thought of all those things I'd planned to do with airplanes that never got done and given my age I decided to get this show on the road." While recovering, he ordered the RV8 kit "with the intention of building it then flying it around the world."

Randolph spent about three months planning and obtaining the information he'd need to make the trip. Says Randolph "That's when the trouble began." Many places never answered the faxes, phone calls or e-mails. Delays caused entry windows to close. The setbacks didn't deter Randolph at all. "Finally, I didn't have it all set up and I just left."

On March 9, 2005, Randolph left Watsonville, (CA) for Abilene, (TX), Ft. Lauderdale, (FL), San Juan, (PR), then Trinidad and then off to Belem, Brazil. From Belem he flew to Fortaleza, Brazil. His departure to Dakar, Senegal was delayed. The Brazil taxi clearance was not given to Randolph, which caused his departure window to be shut.

By the time he refiled and lifted off from Fortaleza he was flying the 14-hour leg over the Atlantic at night. The extra headwind was a concern; Randolph says "it kept me awake." The headwinds made the normal ten-hour trip into 14. He was detained in Senegal and had to speak with the chief of Air Traffic Control. They kept him several hours because he was on the Brazilian mandated VFR flight plan but Senegal requires IFR over water.

Randolph says, "After a lot of haranguing they all broke into smiles and said 'no problem'." He left Senegal for Rabat, Morocco but was diverted to Casablanca because Rabat was closed for the night.

In Casablanca he received a "tongue-lashing" for flying over the ancient city that wasn't depicted on his charts while flying IFR, following ATC headings. The next day it was back to Rabat since Casablanca had no fuel.

On to Rome, but Rome wouldn't let him land at the main airport. He landed in Sardinia. The next day he headed for the tiny airport Urbe in the middle of the Rome. He was required to fly below one thousand feet, which made for an interesting flight, as Rome is somewhat hilly. "You get a ticket here for doing stuff like that but the Italians are wild and crazy people." Randolph spent some time in Rome visiting an old friend.

After Rome, he continued on to Cyprus. They directed him to a remote area where police cars surrounded the plane and officers trained guns on him. After several questions they decided Randolph wasn't a terrorist.

Dubai was 1700 miles away, the long way to avoid Syria, Iran, Iraq and Israeli airspace. Once in Dubai he received his permit to Ahmedabad, India. The $400 landing fee and $1000 handling fee in Ahmedabad left a bad taste in his mouth. Randolph headed for Chennai, India.

Phuket, Thailand, Randolph's next stop after Chennai, was where he had his biggest adventure. He blew two tires and almost 11,000 feet of runway by keeping 160 knots to stay ahead of the three jetliners following him. The tires caught fire and once clear of the runway; Randolph was unable to extinguish the fire with his portable extinguisher. To the rescue was the Phuket Airport fire truck. They were thrilled to have the opportunity to spread their foam…all over everything.

Randolph had his wife Shirley, who was back home in Watsonville; order the needed parts from Vans Aircraft in Oregon. Randolph spent some time with his son who has a home in Jakarta, Indonesia. In about two weeks the parts arrived, there were some tool issues and more brake problems but within another couple of weeks Randolph was back in the air.

Johor Bahru next, then Bali where he again met his son who also has a house in Bali. The continent of Australia was the next stop, Broome, Darwin and Cairns.

Noumea, New Caledonia was a rainy stop. Randolph met two French pilots who had read about Randolph's trip and offered him the use of their hangar. They filled his down time with lunch and dinner parties. Says Randolph "When I left New Caledonia, I was dead tired." His newfound friends also helped him get through more bureaucracy. They flew formation with him out of New Caledonia, for about an hour.

Randolph headed to Nandi, Fiji, then on to American Samoa. No controllers were there and after he broke out of some weather, no airport was there. He executed a missed and came back around to try again. "Lo and behold" Randolph says, "Somebody had turned on the lights."

Christmas Island with Avgas at $600/drum was after Samoa. On to Kona, (HI), then Honolulu on Oahu, where Randolph stayed with friends for a couple of days.

The home stretch started with brake and tire problems before leaving Oahu. Once repaired he departed, picked up some tailwinds and made good time back to Watsonville, on May 26th, where a warm welcome waited. Over 200 people celebrated his return plus a party at the local EAA hangar, Chapter 119. He'd promised his sponsors, Tru Trak Flight Systems, Aircraft Spruce and Specialty, Bose Headset and Mountain High E & S Company, that he'd be back in time for the Watsonville Airshow on May 27th.

The bureaucracy of the various governments showed Randolph one side of humanity but it was more than over shadowed by the generosity, kindness and caring of people, pilots and non-pilots at all the stops he made.

This is Randolph's first AirVenture and he's already a speaker. Randolph spoke on Thursday July 26th at the EAA Nature Center Pavilion.

After flying over 21,000 NM, more than 15,000 over water, 30 countries, five continents, three oceans and eight seas, what's next? Randolph has some new plans for another adventure but for now he's not telling.

FMI www.earthrounders.com, www.vansaircraft.com, www.eaa119.org