Today, November 1, 2016 Hobart Australia time Michel is planning to depart  the Hobart airport southbound across the Southern Ocean. His destination? The Mario Zucchelli, Antarctica station. Mapping in this area is not reliable, however Google Earth calculates the distance as 4000 kilometers (2400 Miles), and this is verified by other on-line mapping systems

This is one of the most dangerous ocean crossings of the entire project. Michel will be flying over 12 hours across the most remote ocean in the world. This is a route where there is almost no air traffic, few ships travel in this area, and any search and rescue operations should he ditch will be 3-5 days away.

The Sky Polaris project would like to thank the Australian Joint Rescue Co-ordination Centre (JRCC) for monitoring this flight and providing information to be used in an emergency. However as Captain Michel Gordillo has proven in his flights from Madrid around the North Pole, he and his RV-8 aircraft are reliable, resourceful and make flight safety the most important part of the project. The aircraft and Michel have many survival systems to be used in the event of an emergency including PIRB, ELT, Satellite Phone, VHF and HF radios and the Spidertracks system that has an SOS feature. Michel will be wearing a dry suit and has an inflatable raft.

The Spidertracks tracking system will be able to track the flight the entire distance. Please follow along for the next day while the whole world watches history being made in this flight.

Don Pearsall
Sky Polaris