Epic Flight - 9 Days Circling the U.S. in a Diamond DA42 Twinstar

Truly a dream come true!

On June 28th 2015 I set off from Charlotte NC for a flight of a lifetime. Flying solo in a Diamond DA42-VI, my main goal was to fly all over the Western U.S. and make it to the Pacific Ocean!

Although I grew up in the West, I didn't learn to fly until many years later in the SouthEast. I've been all up and down the East coast, from Boston to Key West, but well you know...it's just kind of flat around here. I wanted to see the Grand Tetons and Yellowstone, Volcanos and the Rugged Pacific Coast, I wanted to fly into San Francisco and see the old neighborhood and old old friends.

I had a recurring dream...

Thankfully, my wife cleared me for a 7-10 day trip, with VERY little notice, and off I went!

My other idea was to have as little of a plan as possible, rather to wake up each morning, look at the weather and then see which way the wind blew me. No hotel or car reservation were ever made, although I did coordinate with some friends and family for stopovers on the last few days of the trip.

After passing Kansas City on the first day, I turned off the radios, squawking 1200 for the next few thousand miles, only finally having to talk with SF Approach as I flew over the Golden Gate on Day 5. After that, I did file IFR the rest of the trip, but those days flying NORDO were amazing. Just me and my plane, the sky and the mountains, and sooo much empty airspace. Loved it!

In the end, I flew 8 out of 9 days, with one day off in Bend, Oregon. In total, the trip was 6,135nm while flying through 22 states.

About halfway through making this video, going through all the amazing footage, I was seriously ready to drop everything for a new adventure!

Hope you enjoy!