ARLA/CLUSTER: Projecto Amelia Earhart - O piloto Brian (WB6RQN) é escutado em 14.210, 14.346, 18.117 ou 7.130 kHz .

[João Costa > CT1FBF]

Busy time for Project Amelia Earhart flyer

The commemorative Amelia Earhart flight by Brian Lloyd WB6RQN reached
Darwin to enjoy local hospitality and some Territory Day celebration
events that included a fireworks display.

When the 62 year old Texan landed at Darwin airport on July 1 there
were so many aircraft there he had to put his single-engine 1979
Mooney 231 aircraft in the ‘boneyard’ for no longer needed aircraft.

Greeting his arrival in Australia was Stuie VK8NSB, who had been in
contact with him on the 20 metre band and via a satellite phone while
he was in the air, having left Bandung Indonesia.

During an earlier news conference in Bandung, Brian WB6RQN told of his
around the world flight, the achievements Amelia Earhart who
disappeared in 1937, and how he was looking forward to seeing
Australia as a tourist.

Stuie VK8NSB found that most of the time he talked about mutual
interests in radio, flying, and in telling Stuie’s two young children
of his adventures so far. He hoped to return to Australia later.

“With Brian now part of the family, we headed to the Territory Day
fireworks at East Point Darwin, had dinner there … spending about two
hours before heading home.”

Brian WB6RQN was very grateful for the hospitality after his 10 hour
flight. Spent time answering emails, updating Facebook and other
Internet requirements, and off to sleep.

As Stuie VK8NSB explains the flyer was cooked a ‘big breaky, bacon and
eggs with a full spread’, then taken to the Casuarina shopping centre
for an Australian phone card.

He had planned to fly out of Darwin at lunch time Sunday, with Stuie
VK8NSB willing to assist in many ways including seeing that the
aircraft was refuelled.

“I helped him push his plane on to the taxiway, wrote a welcome to
Australia message and signed the wing, and oh, helped him stick the
flag of Australia on the plane - each country he goes to he puts the
sticker on, in order.”

Stuie VK8NSB found the whole experience very rewarding, and putting on
the Australian flag was a “very cool to be part of that with Brian”.

During the meeting Brian WB6RQN revealed that he “plans to drop a reef
of flowers when over Howland Island in memory of Amelia Earhart.”

That was where the famed aviator and author Amelia Earhart, and her
navigator Fred Noonan, vanished July 2, 1937.

He told Stuie VK8NSB it was his belief that both were “safely on the
beach on remote Gardner Island (Nikumaroro) and attempted to radio for
help, but ran out of fuel and died”.

After taking off from Darwin on Sunday he was worked on the 20 metre
band by Mike VK8MA who had him near Katherine on the away to Central
Australia’s Uluru (Ayres Rock), involving a five hour flight.

Many VKs worked him on this leg. News of the event was well known with
Facebook chatter, the WIA website, the Sunday morning VK1WIA broadcast
and in general.

On reaching Uluru, Brian WB6RQN said: “I got some good shots of Ayers
Rock. Now it's off to Birdsville for a quick lunch and then on to
Bundaberg.”

The Australian flight plan ends in Sydney where a TV interview was
planned. After Sydney across the Tasman Sea comes Auckland, then the
Pacific for Suva, a fly-over of Howland Island which has no runway and
where a flower reef will be dropped, to Hawaii, then ending the two
month flight.

Earlier the flight has took him across the Atlantic Ocean from Miami,
to South America, through Africa, India, South-East Asia, and to
Australia.

Brian WB6RQN is on 14.210, 14.346, 18.117 or 7.130 using a 125 watt
transmitter on SSB.

Jim Linton VK3PC