On a half world tour, Aussie trio in a four-seater lands in Mumbai | Mumbai news - Hindustan Times
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On a half world tour, Aussie trio in a four-seater lands in Mumbai

Mar 17, 2023 12:14 AM IST

A stoppage in Mumbai was in their tour plan and they landed here on March 12 and took off on Thursday morning for the UAE. They had started their tour on March 6 from Brisbane, Australia.

Mumbai: Aircrafts are delivered in many ways. They are flown straight to destination, they are sent on a ship, in some cases the components are shipped in boxes and then assembled. This Australian trio, however, decided to turn the transportation of a four-seater single engine Cirrus plane to the UK into a half world tour.

On a half world tour, Aussie trio in a four-seater lands in Mumbai
On a half world tour, Aussie trio in a four-seater lands in Mumbai

A stoppage in Mumbai was in their tour plan and they landed here on March 12 and took off on Thursday morning for the UAE. They had started their tour on March 6 from Brisbane, Australia.

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The trio Joseph Corrigan, from Gold Coast, is a businessman, Zoch Fitton, from Melbourne, is an airline pilot and Charles Mosse, from Canberra, is a cancer surgeon and they all had come together because of their interests in aviation. They are all in their forties.

Elaborating on why they chose the plane and how the idea came about, “The plane had to be transported. There were many ways of sending an aircraft, but we chose to fly it the long way around,” said Corrigan.

While Corrigan has come to Mumbai earlier, for the other two, it is their first visit. The highlights of their stay in the city? They are quick to point out that on Tuesday, they visited Alibaug. Also, that they enjoyed biryani and kebabs while dining in Mumbai.

The three seats in the plane are occupied by the trio and the remaining seat is for the luggage. The Cirrus plane has an Airframe Parachute System to bail them in case of emergency.

“The planning for the journey started six months ago and we chose to avoid rough weather, though we had a rough patch when we took off from Australia,” added Joe.

They took off from Australia and have halted in East Timor, Indonesia, Singapore, Malaysia, Thailand, Myanmar, Bangladesh before landing in India on March 12. After the UAE, they plan to halt in Saudi Arabia, Jordan, Greece, Italy and then England.

The halts were selected in such a way that the fuel for the plane — Avgas (aviation gasoline or aviation spirit) — should be easily available in those places. “Avgas is available only in select places in the world,” said Fritton.

Asked what was the message the three wanted to send to aviation enthusiasts with their tour, Corrigan said that he wanted to convey that such trips are achievable and appealed to aviators the world over to expand their horizons.

In Mumbai, they had got in touch with an aviation enthusiast Farrokh Chothia, who put them onto Mihir Bhagvati, who heads the Bombay Flying Club at Juhu.

Bhagvati said, “They asked me for ground assistance and flight planning in India. I had the pleasure of taking them from Sahar airport to Juhu airport with an aerial tour around Mumbai.’’

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