Dan Becker's 2021 Round-the-World Plane Trip

This page shares flight plans and screen captures from a virtual round-the-world plane trip. My goals were to see the world and improve my flight skills. The trip visited all continents and oceans of the world, major cities, landmarks, and world heritage sites.

The virtual trip was made in Microsoft Flight Simulator (MSFS) in 4k (3840 by 2160) screen resolution on "high quality" settings. Flight planning was done with Little Nav Map, Sky Vector, ForeFlight, and Google Maps software. The entire virtual trip was made with a Daher TBM 930 turboprop airplane. This plane has a cruising speed of about 240 knots (nautical miles per hour) and a range of about 1700nm (nautical miles).

Flight Plan

The round-the-world trip visited 106 countries, 247 cities, crossed the equator 6 times, covered 68,709nm in nearly 283 hours of flight time (nearly 12 days), spread out over 60 day trips.

The trip was made in 13 large segments of about 5000 nautical miles each (1 nm equals 1.15 statute miles or 1.85 kilometers). Each segment took about 4 to 6 day trips of about 1000 to 1200 nautical miles. Each day trip consists of about 4 to 8 legs of about 200 nautical miles between airports or waypoints.

Pictures

Here are some highlight pictures from the round-the-world plane trip. Click on the images to get a larger view in a photo gallery.

Seg	Ctry	City	Ident	Name	Dist nm	Time hh:mm	Cumu nm	Cumu hh:mm
1	USA	Austin	KEDC	Austin Executive
2	RUS	Petropavlovsk	UHPP	Yelizovo	5002	20:31	5002	20:31
3	HKG	Hong Kong	VHHH	Hong Kong Intl	4550	18:58	9552	39:29
4	AUS	Sydney	YSSY	Sydney Kingsford Smith Intl	4672	19:28	14224	58:57
5	AUS	Hobart	YMHB	Hobart	3265	13:37	17489	72:34
6	IND	Kolkota	VECC	Kolkata Chandra Bose Intl	5757	24:00	23246	96:34
7	IRQ	Baghdad	ORBI	Baghdad Intl	4745	19:47	27991	116:21
8	MWI	Lilongwe	FWKI	Lilongwe Intl	6061	25:15	34052	141:36
9	GIN	Conakry	GUCY	Conakry	5969	24:53	40021	166:29
10	DNK	Copenhagen	EKCH	Kastrup	5727	23:52	45748	190:21
11	USA	Detroit	KDET	Coleman A. Young Muni	5322	22:11	51070	212:32
12	BRA	Rio De Janeiro	SBRJ	Santos-Dumont	5512	22:59	56582	235:31
13	CHL	Concepcion	SCIE	Carriel Sur	5740	23:56	62322	259:27
14	USA	Austin	KEDC	Austin Executive	5768	24:03	68090	283:30

Departing Austin Executive (KEDBC), Austin Texas

Glaciers near Whitehorse Erik Nielsen Intl (CYXY), Alaska

Mount Fuji, the seventh highest island peak, southwest of Tokyo

Beijing China, the world's most populous city, is huge

Even from a mile high, the skyscrapers of Hong Kong look tall

The approach to Ternate Babullah (WAMT) Sango-Ternate Island, Indonesia

Approach to Burnt Pine on Norfolk Island

Morning departure from Nelson, New Zealand and Tasman Bay

Flyby of Uluru (Ayers Rock), Northwest Territory, Australia

Closeup flyover of Singapore with its distinctive harbor

Morning flying over Karachi Pakistan with the Arabian Sea in the background

So long to the 160 stories of the Burj Khalifa in Dubai

Pre-dawn departure from Juba (HSSJ), South Sudan. MSFS does a good job with the stars and phases of the moon

The beautiful coast of Port Elizabeth (FAPE) South Africa, where the Atlantic and Indian Oceans meet

I did not believe the flight plan, but Mount Cameroon is a 13,250ft volcano nearly on the beach of Cameroon

Nice flying over the Rock of Gibraltar, LXGB airfield, and the harbor. Rare ships of Microsoft Flight Sim. — Flying over the Rock of Gibraltar, LXGB airfield, and the harbor. Rare ships of Microsoft Flight Sim.

Flying over the valley Innsbruck Kranebitten (LOWI) Austria

Morning departure of Paris Orly (LFPO) France with the Seine River down the middle

The Daher TBM 930 looks good idling on the Fenris Glacier insode the Artic Circle, Greenland — The Daher TBM 930 looks good idling on the Fenris Glacier north of the Artic Circle, Greenland

The Boca Raton inlet to Lake Boca Raton and the Boca Raton Hotel — The Boca Raton inlet, Lake, and Raton Hotel, Florida on the Atlantic Ocean

Flying over Bimini (MYBS) in the Bahamas

A quick view of Cristo Redentor on Corcovado mountain, Rio De Janeiro, Brazil

Here is the Daher TBM 930 idling on the Larsen C ice shelf, south of the Antarctic Circle

Landing approach at El Dorado Intl (SKBO) Bogota, Columbia (8,357ft)

Over downtown Austin near Austin Bergstrom Intl (KAUS). The Capitol has no dome.

More Details

Select a text link or click on a flight plan picture to see more details from each segment of the trip.

What's Next

I had a very good time with this epic plane trip. From the planning, to flying the plane, to reading about the locations on Wikipedia as I flew over, it was completely enjoyable. I'll probably fly around the world again.

Along the way I had ideas for other sites to see. I want to visit more World Heritage sites, and it might be great to visit the mightiest rivers, tallest mountains, and other places I've missed.

However, I'd like to learn another plane, possibly the Cirrus Vision jet. I'd also like to do more legs in instrument flight rules (IFR) or real world weather.

Flight simulation software and computer graphics are going to get better with more detail and more objects, and better modelling. We might laugh at these images, just as we look back on the flight simulators of the 1980s. It might be fun to revisit this route and get better images.