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A team of 20 pilots and support crew are preparing to ‘fly’ a Boeing 747-400 simulator around the world in November to raise funds for the Royal Flying Doctor Service South Eastern Section.
The World Flight Australia team will takeoff on their virtual flight from Sydney on Monday November 2 and will visit 44 cities worldwide, including Moscow, Vienna, Dublin, Bermuda, Washington, Vladivostok and Hong Kong before returning to Sydney a week later. The annual event will cover 35,000 virtual nautical miles during the seven day, 130-hour non-stop trip.
“World Flight is now entering its eighth year, and during this time we have raised more than $120,000 for the Flying Doctor,” says organiser Terry Scanlan. “Donations are gratefully received from all of our participating pilots and our many sponsors. In 2008 we raised $19,000 for the RFDS, and we hope to exceed this amount this year.”
The state of the art flight simulator used by World Flight Australia is almost an exact replica of a 747-400 cockpit and was created by local Sydney pilot Matt Sheil. Matt, who was this year inducted into the Guinness Book of Records for building the world’s most expensive home flight simulator, is one of the 15 pilots taking part in the flight.
Live feeds from the flightdeck can be viewed 24 hours a day from the World Flight Australia website and seats as a virtual passenger can be booked in economy, business or first class for $20-$50 per person.
