Recreating Max Conrad's record breaking flight

[danmand]

In June of 1959 Max Conrad flew a Comanche 250 non stop from Casablanca to Los Angeles. I read that he was 2000 lbs overweight at takeoff with all the extra fuel he was carrying

Is it possible to modify our Comanche to hold enough fuel to recreate this flight?

[ebo]

I actually did two repaints of his aircraft. The can be found at Avsim. Just click on my signature.

[Nick - A2A]

Is it possible to modify our Comanche to hold enough fuel to recreate this flight?

Hello,

It is actually, though please bear in mind the caveats I mention in the linked post. I also posted this before I was hired by A2A, just in case you think it's a bit of an odd thing for a member of the A2A team to be posting.

Personally, I think anyone who plans to spend 58 hours on recreating the flight would have to be a bit crazy, but if you're serious it should be possible.

Thanks,
Nick

[Jacques]

You really need to do this Danmand! That would be amazing...might even drive you around the bend!

[danmand]

No, no. Nick (and by extension A2A) crushed my spirit and killed my dreams by calling me crazy. I'll just go sulk in a corner now.
j/k

I can't see myself flying non stop on one sitting like that though. If I did, I'd have to live stream on twitch for charity or something. I was thinking about flying a few hours then saving it though. Not sure it would even be interesting to create YouTube videos of it as your just flying over water for the vast majority of the time.

I haven't tried the modifications yet, but I will. I'd also like some help from anyone here on finding as much historical information on the flight. I was only able to find a few articles on my first search attempt. I really love the Comanche and I'm really interested in this flight.

Dan

[Nick - A2A]

Did you check out the article referenced in the post I linked above Dan? (this one.) It seemed to be one of the most informative ones I found at the time including the route taken. I'll stand by the "crazy" remark, but simulating a 12 hour long haul flight in a jetliner in real time falls into "crazy" territory in my book too, so don't take it too personally!

I find these feats fascinating too. As the author of that article wrote, "Conrad had his own theory regarding the best altitude for long flights, preferring to fly very low, at less than 100 feet, and climbing to 500 feet at night for safety."

Interesting use of the word 'safety' there.

Cheers,
Nick

[Tomas Linnet]

Personally, I think anyone who plans to spend 58 hours on recreating the flight would have to be a bit crazy, but if you're serious it should be possible.

Thanks,
Nick

Haha, I think crazy is the wrong word here, nerd or geek seems more appropriate and I mean this in the best possible way.

[danmand]

Ok, so far in this post I've been called crazy, geeky, and nerdy.
NOW I HAVE TO DO THIS FLIGHT!

Nick, I haven't read the article yet but I'm going to this weekend. That's when I'll try the modifications you mentioned as well.
And I'll have to download the livery by Mr. Haberkorn. Thanks!

[danmand]

I read the article that Nick provided and the one thing that stood out the most was the fact that Conrad switched to the 180hp engine in his Comanche for greater range. So now the question is can this be done with the 250hp.