AOPA Pilot Magazine - June 2015 - 72

"I actually used the E6B quite a lot,"
he said. "I've got five separate GPSs in the
airplane. But ATC sometimes asked me
to provide estimated times for boundary
crossings into or out of terminal airspace.
In those cases, I found it easier and quicker
to measure the distance on a chart and
use the E6B to come up with the estimate
rather than build new GPS waypoints."
GPS worked well, but there were some
complications near the poles as the software that predicts turns got confused.
When that happened, Harrelson used the
attitude indicator and directional gyro to
maintain a steady course.
The Iridium GO messaging system was
particularly handy for weather updates.
Harrelson's support team had access to
global satellite images and international
weather forecasts that helped him avoid
violent storms over the South Pacific. "The
text messages were indispensable," he said.
"The voice capabilities were always available, but we found text to be so much more
efficient that we almost never used voice."
Harrelson considered bringing music for
the flight but didn't-and he didn't miss it.
"People assume I must have been bored
during some of those long legs, but the
truth is that I was busy planning; making
position reports; communicating with my
team; eating, drinking, or exercising almost
all the time," he said. "There was very little
idle time. I'd make a position report every
hour, send detailed aircraft and engine

performance data, and I forced myself to
drink something every hour whether I
wanted to or not. It's easy to get dehydrated."
For exercise, Harrelson would put the
airplane on autopilot, unstrap his seatbelt harness, and turn around. Facing
aft allowed him to fully extend his legs,
move his arms, bend his back, and avoid
the potentially fatal hazard of deep vein
thrombosis.
Each hourly status report contained 18
parameters: OAT, altitude, true airspeed,
groundspeed, miles per gallon, manifold
pressure, rpm, fuel flow, oil pressure and
temperature, cylinder head temperature,
fuel used, fuel remaining, hourly burn,
angle of attack, blood oxygen saturation
level, heart rate, and cockpit temperature.
Optimal altitudes varied according to
aircraft weight, air temperature, prevailing wind, and other factors. Generally,
the Lancair IV does best in the mid-teens,
where it travels about 190 KTAS on roughly
12 gph. The IO-550 engine has been modified with heavy 10:1 pistons, as well as
GAMI matched fuel injection nozzles for
smooth lean-of-peak operations. "Other
pilots get high-compression pistons for
a higher top speed or a faster climb,"
Harrelson said. "I got them for better efficiency in cruise."
ANOTHER DETOUR

Harrelson flew nonstop from New Zealand
to Hawaii, and he planned to continue

north to Alaska. But the threat of icing
over the north Pacific convinced him to
change his route. He flew to California,
then northwest to Fairbanks, Alaska, for
his shot at the North Pole and beyond.
Arctic air temperatures were unusually
warm when he arrived-but for Harrelson,
that was bad news.
"When you get colder than minus 20
degrees C, there's almost no chance of
picking up airframe ice," he said. "I was
glad when I'd see lower temperatures."
Harrelson dressed in multiple layers for
the North Pole flight and directed hot air
into his jacket through a flexible tube. But
as the outside air temperature dropped to
minus 38 degrees C over northern Canada,
he was alarmed to see the engine oil temperature fall to just 70 degrees F-about
one third its normal value.
"I was never physically uncomfortable,"
he said, even though cockpit temperatures
remained in the single digits for hours.
"The cold temperatures were harder on
the engine than me."
Reentering the United States,
Harrelson climbed to 18,000 feet on the
final leg of the journey to stay above clouds,
and he had to overcome a final hurdle.
There was heavy snow, low visibility, and
wind in western Pennsylvania, Maryland,
and parts of Virginia.
Harrelson was able to avoid the worst
of it with the now-functioning XM satellite
weather, and he made a normal approach

MONTE SARMIENTO at the southern tip of Tierra del Fuego is 7,175 feet tall and has four glaciers on its slopes (below, left).

The South Pacific island of Tafahi was the only spot of land Harrelson saw between New Zealand and Hawaii.

72 | AOPA PILOT June 2015

AOPA Pilot Magazine - June 2015

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