Fort Carson Colorado.

Colorado Rockies

Dave Monti in Minden NV.

Pat, from Eastwest Avionics, assisted me with troubleshooting the autopilot problem. Thank you Pat!

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Norwegian Cruise Line’s Pride of America cruise ship returning to port.

Waikiki Beach in Honolulu.

Oahu’s Diamond Head is Hawaii’s most recognized landmark.

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Oahu’s Hanauma Bay State Park.

My view of the Pacific for the remaining 10-hours of daylight.  Solid undercast clouds and clear blue skies provided a perfect day to fly, despite the constant headlwind for over 13-hours.

Note to Dr. James Koch: didn’t get a chance to tell you before I departed that your patch would be traveling around the world with me.

Another beautiful sunset off my left wing.

Full moon rising off my right wing.

While taking a short tour of the San Francisco Bay, I couldn’t help but notice the traffic at the Bay Bridge toll booths.

Alcatraz Island – is home to the first lighthouse and US build fort on the West Coast and is the infamous former federal penitentiary.

The Golden Gate Bridge.

Snow in the Sierra Mountians.

South Lake Tahoe in Sierra Nevada.

Heavenly Mountain ski resort in South Lake Tahoe.

Descending to Minden, Nevada where I will leave 33G with my good friend Dave Monti, while I return home to fly with JetBlue.  The remainder of my journey will resume on or about 7 June when I’ll be traveling back to Minden to fly Gina home to Virginia.

I want to take this opportunity to say “thank you” to the great folks at Air Service Hawaii (Honolulu) for the outstanding customer service they provided me this past week.  Not only did they assist me in meeting all the flight requirements to return to the United States, but they provided me hangar space to perform the needed autopilot repairs.  Due to their incredible support, I am now ready to begin my next , and the longest flight to the mainland today.  To the staff at Air Service Hawaii, it was my privilege and pleasure meeting all of you!  From left to right; Jan Bodinus, Shaen Tarter,  Lynn Akina. Becci Goin.

Take off from Majuro and the beginning of the 2000 mile flight to Honolulu, Hawaii.

MASSA is the intersection on the airway between Majuro and Honolulu that marks crossing the International Date Line (thin green line).

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Aerial view of Johnston Atoll.  In 2003 this former military base was completely deserted and only a few structures remain intact.

For nearly 70 years, Johnston Atoll was under the control of the American military and during that time it was used as a naval refueling depot, an airbase for nuclear and biological weapons testing, for space recovery, as a secret missile base and as a chemical weapon and Agent Orange storage and disposal site.

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The large white building is the former Joint Operations Center.

Aerial view of Sand Island and the former U.S. Coast Guard LORAN Station.

This is the site where a Nuclear-armed Thor missile exploded and burned during the failed “Bluegill Prime” nuclear test on July 25, 1962.

During WWII Johnston Atoll was used as a refueling base for submarines, and also as an aircraft refueling stop for American bombers transiting the Pacific Ocean, including the Boeing B-29 Enola Gay.

The point just forward my left tip tank is where the Base Commander’s house was located.

This is a picture of the Base Commanders house as it was in 1991, and it’s also where I celebrated my 36th birthday.  From 1989 to 1992, I was assigned to the Defense Nuclear Agency as the Military Construction Program Manager for all the construction activities on Johnston Atoll.  This overflight was a real trip down memory lane.

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I enjoyed a beautiful sunset and good weather for the remaining four-hour flight to Hawaii.  Total flight time was just over fifteen hours and it was completed without a functioning autopilot.  Tentatively planning to fly to the mainland on Thursday or Friday, depending on the weather and autopilot repair.