Came upon this little gem of an article describing a fascinating flight back in 1958. What a fantastic feat!

Quote: During the months of December 1958 and January and February 1959, two young men flew a mission-modified Cessna 172 around and around over the desert Southwest for 64 days, 22 hours, and 19 minutes. The world endurance record in a propeller-driven airplane was set in that little Cessna almost 50 years ago.

http://www.aopa.org/members/files/pilot/2008/endurance0803.html

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Photo © TZ Aviation

Interesting, but what is the point? I can think of an awful lot of better ways to spend that much time and money.

Quoting SEPilot (Reply 1): Interesting, but what is the point? I can think of an awful lot of better ways to spend that much time and money.

Just humans being humans, I guess. The same could be asked for the Baumgartner jump earlier this year. Even if the point might be a bit silly or nonexistent, I'm still pleased that people like that exist and will exist in the future  

Quoting SEPilot (Reply 1): but what is the point?

As asked of the mountain climber "Because it was there"

Why did Dick Rutan and Jeana Yeager fly around the world non-stop.

I first became aware of long time endurance flights when stationed in Meridian, MS - the local airport is named after the Key Brothers - who flew 52,000+ miles in 653 hrs 34 min (27 days). http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Flying_Keys

Some of the longer flights

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Flight_endurance_record

Let's see:

IIRC, the Continental O-300A used in this particular 172 has, at best, a 1,500 Hour factory recommended TBO. I guess you are skipping the startup wear that piston engines normally endure during a startup  

Wonder how they changed the oil? No way they could have done it without some sort of setup to allow an oil change in flight,. especially on 1950's vintage aviation oil.

I have seen the system they used to get jerry cans of avgas on board during the flight...that would get extremely old after a while.

Wonder what kind of equipment failures they had during that time?

I never knew that little airplane at LAS had any historical significance. I used to live in Vegas and commuted out of LAS for six years. I saw that airplane every time I was there, but just thought it was decorative. How cool! Thanks for sharing!

How did they do inflight refueling?

Quoting bobloblaw (Reply 6): How did they do inflight refueling?

From the link in the original post:

Quote: A Ford truck, donated by Cashman Auto in Las Vegas, was outfitted with a fuel pump, tank, and other paraphernalia required to support the aircraft in flight. When fuel was required, a rendezvous would be arranged on a stretch of straight road in the desert near Blythe, California. An electric winch lowered a hook, the fuel pump hose was picked up, and Timm or Cook inserted it into the belly tank. It took a little more than three minutes to fill the belly tank. The total fuel capacity of the airplane was 142 gallons. Plans called for refueling twice daily. Sometimes weather or the inevitable glitches upset the schedule, and a new rendezvous was worked out by radio. This activity was repeated more than 128 times.

Last time I passed by the very aircraft at McCarren airport there were a number of explanatory placards in place.
-HT

Quoting KELPkid (Reply 4): Wonder how they changed the oil? No way they could have done it without some sort of setup to allow an oil change in flight,. especially on 1950's vintage aviation oil.

""Through-firewall plumbing was installed so that the engine oil and oil filters could be changed without shutting off the engine""

Thanks for posting this, I had no idea.

Quoting KELPkid (Reply 4): Let's see: IIRC, the Continental O-300A used in this particular 172 has, at best, a 1,500 Hour factory recommended TBO. I guess you are skipping the startup wear that piston engines normally endure during a startup Wonder how they changed the oil? No way they could have done it without some sort of setup to allow an oil change in flight,. especially on 1950's vintage aviation oil. Wonder what kind of equipment failures they had during that time?

They said they arranged the oil lines to be checked and oil added from the cockpit, so it would be simple to drain a small amount overboard while adding fresh oil. Never do a complete change, just a slight replenishment along the way.

At the end, they had lost the generator, tachometer, autopilot, cabin heater, landing and taxi lights, belly tank fuel gauge, electrical fuel pump to transfer fuel from the belly tank to the wings, and winch used to haul the fuel line and supplies up.

Quoting bobloblaw (Reply 6): How did they do inflight refueling?

Imagine doing this 128 times!

They must have been very smelly at the end ! And tired as hell.

I already knew about this, but it's still an impressive feat.

Quoting 71Zulu (Reply 9): Imagine doing this 128 times!

what would the average speed be here?

The article said truck speed 75 mph and took about 3 minutes to fill tank.

[Edited 2012-12-31 12:57:28]

I've walked past this plane at least 50 times going to and from flights at LAS and had no idea.

Were they driving...er...flying backwards?   

Quoting KELPkid (Reply 4): Wonder what kind of equipment failures they had during that time?

Kidney Failure!

Quoting soon7x7 (Reply 15): Kidney Failure!

you flown an old Cessna 172 with the O-300? That engine is smooth as silk, even if it is wimpy compared to the Lycoming 4-bangers  

The TBO on the O-300 is 1,800 hours, not 1,500. And the O-300 on my 1957 172 is at 2,100 hours and running like a Swiss watch.

I think of Robert Timm and John Cook on every long cross country flight and stand in awe of what they did.

Fantastic...it beggars the imagination. I had never heard of this before. Thanks for digging it up.

I had not heard about this before, and frankly I had no idea that someone could do it for such a long time. Great achievement! Thanks for posting the link.

I am most amazed that all the engine parts and other necessary components could function for such a long time.