Pilot(s) name(s)
First name: Hank
Surname: CHENG
Nationality: Hong Kong SAR

Other people who may have flown part of the journey:

First name: Gary   Surname: Tat
Leg (s) flown: Hong Kong to Gold Coast, Australia

First name: Hang   Surname: Pang
Leg (s) flown: San Carlos to Sacremento, CA

First name: Gary   Surname: Tat
Leg (s) flown: Sacremento to Boeing Field, WA

First name: Ken   Surname: Cheng
Leg (s) flown: Boeing Field to Paine Field

First name: Teresa   Surname: Yiu
Leg (s) flown: Paine Field to Chicago

First name: Ellen   Surname: Tam
Leg (s) flown: Chicago to Toronto, Canada

First name: Catherine   Surname: Law
Leg (s) flown: Toronto to Caldwell, NJ, USA

First name: Alan   Surname: Cheung
Leg (s) flown: Santa Maria to Toulouse, France

First name: Simone   Surname: Pang
Leg (s) flown: Toulouse to Milan, Italy

First name: Thomas    Surname: Yu
Leg (s) flown: Milan to Bahrain

First name: Chris   Surname: Gibbs
Leg (s) flown: Bahrain to Muscat, Oman

First name: Thomas   Surname: Ng
Leg (s) flown: Muscat to Karachi, Pakistan

First name: Stephanie   Surname: Chow
Leg (s) flown: Phuket to Chiang Mai, Thailand

First name: Gary   Surname: Tat
Leg (s) flown: Macau SAR to Hong Kong tSAR


Class of Aircraft: (single, twin, homebuilt, helicopter, ultra light, balloon…): Single
Brand: (i.e.: Beechcraft): Van's
Model: (i.e.: Bonanza): RV8
Type: (i.e. A35): RV8
Name of aircraft if any (ie. Spirit of the Wind, or whatever): Inspiration
Registration: B-KOO
Route (Eastbound, Westbound, via the Poles): Eastbound
How did you cross the Atlantic Ocean (North, Centre, South)? North (CYYTto LPAZ)
How did you cross the Pacific Ocean (North, Centre, South)? Centre (PHTO to KSQL))
Date of departure: August 28, 2016
Point of departure: VHHH
Date of return to point of departure: November 13, 2016
Point of return: VHHHH
Duration: (days): 78 days
Duration: (flying hours): 206.2 hrs
Distance flown:  

How many overnight stops did you make? :  
How many any additional refuelling stops, if any? :  
How many countries did you visit?: 20
Itinerary: Listed on the Web Site
Means of communication used: HF Radio, sat telephone, e-mail by HF radio, other? : HF, SAT PHONE (minimal usage), Delorme two way messager (used on every flight for tracking and messaging with ground support team). Getting an international Sim Card is essential.,
Did you use any satellite tracking system? Which one ? In Reach Delorme
Flight clearances: did you obtain them all, or part of them, yourself? : If not, which company did you use?: White Rose Aviation
Which insurance company did you use? : Willies
Which was the easiest country or region that you flew through? : USA, Australia and the Azores
Which was the most difficult? : China and India
Which was the best airport you landed at? : Santa Maria, love it!!
Which was the worst? : Can’t say one that are particularly bad, most of them are nice, but at a cost. Philippines, Indonesia are expensive. China tried to charge us $6000 at one point but didn’t take us too much effort to reduce to less than $500 (but they tried), and in the end we didn’t land there. Macau was expensive as well.
Have you applied for the FAI Circumnavigator Badge/Are you thinking of doing so? : : I would like to but no one seems to know how to get one….
Have you set or broken any records during your RTW? : No. It’s not really a record, but we are the first one from Hong Kong, and also the first homebuilt aircraft registered and flown under HKG registration.
Did you create a Website of your RTW? If so, what is the URL? www.inspiration.bkoo.hk

General remarks about your flight:
We are very fortunate to have a huge group of volunteers to assist. I don’t think we can do this without White Rose’s help. Having a team in Hong Kong tracking the aircraft and send me in flight weather updates helps enormously, especially for weather deviation and re-routing decision. I think getting sponsors was a project itself, but having enough funding makes a huge difference because there are a lot of surprise fees and cost, especially with ground handling agents, they are the single most expensive item on our bill, follow by fuel and hotel.


Advice to other pilots:
We did two trial flights before the actual RTW, proven to be extremely valuable. We ferried the aircraft from Australia to Hong Kong, gave me the chance to get use to long flight in a GA aircraft, and the ground support team a chance to practice the flow and learn from the experience, making the RTW operation smoother. Make sure the GHA charge you appropriately. There are unrelated charges such as trash disposal, cleaning fee, catering, etc that does not apply to us but appears on my bill ($78 for crew transport for a 5 minutes ride; $80 for garbage disposal; $150 for catering delivery, etc)
Bring cash, a lot of places do not accept anything but cash, a barrel of AVGAS will cost $1000+ in some part of the world. For my Pacific crossing, none of the stations until Hawaii accept credit card.
Have someone who knows what they are doing to track you and the aircraft at all time when you are flying. We used Delorme InReach for that purpose, two way communication is important, this allow me to receive weather information on long flights, and I can delegate non-flight critical tasks such as fuel arrangement, or hotel bookings to the ground crew to arrange. It might sound luxurious to have people helping with what sounds like a tedious task, but this allows me to focus on the flying.


Please indicate here if you agree that we may use the information contained here on the Earthrounders website: YES


Database Flight Number: 595