Lachie Smart was planning to fly solo around the world before he'd even flown solo around the circuit area.
Whilst most pre-solo students were worried about getting the flare absolutely correct and their radio calls prim and proper, the Sunshine Coast teenager was concerning himself with long over-water legs, ferry tanks, international airways clearances and survival kits ... as well as all that other stuff.
On Monday 4 July this year, Lachie will beat the sparrows out of bed and launch himself and Cirrus SR22 VH-IBC out of Maroochydore on an eight-week odyssey that will culminate with him being crowned the youngest person to fly around the world.
Dubbed Wings Around the World, the flight will cover 24,000 nm and 20 countries, and when he lands again at Sunshine Coast Airport, he'll be less than 19 years old and will have set a mark for another young adventurer to aim at.
But for those that think Lachie's ambition is no more than to wrest the title away from American Matt Guthmiller are selling him well short; he has alterior reasons that are a greater motivator than getting his name in the Guiness Book of Records.
"I'm not doing it for a world record," young Lachie told Australian Flying, "or just because I think it's cool to fly around the world –which of course I do think is cool – but the main reason I'm doing it is to spread a message to young people about setting and achieving goals.
"When I was in school I'd hear of lot of my friends say 'I'd like to do this one day' or 'I wish I could do this sometime in the future'. And really, there's nothing holding us back from doing it now except a bit of self-belief and motivation. I want to help a lot of young people to find that motivation and say 'you know what, let's give it a go.'"
It all started in October 2013, when Lachie watched a 60 Minutes report on then 19-year-old Ryan Campbell's record-breaking around the world flight in his lounge room, and promptly announced to his mother that he was going to emulate the feat.
"She sort of said 'Cool, Lachie. Good stuff.' Then about a month later when I started to build the team and had my first sponsor on board, then Mum and Dad sort of said 'You're really serious, aren't you?!' They jumped on board then and have been an integral part of the team since.
It started two-and-a-half years of planning, chasing sponsors, talking, learning and training. It was an exhaustive program of first going solo, then getting the Private Pilot Licence and all the endorsements and ratings needed to make sure he was going out full bottles on everything he needed to know.
From the outset, Lachie had his eyes on the Cirrus SR 22 as his weapon of choice. He's a very happy lad that he's been able to lease one from a private owner to carry his dreams across the globe.
I've always thought it's a very cool aeroplane," he says. "The parachute is an added safety feature that not many other aeroplanes have, so that not only adds to the risk mitigation plan, but also gives the family some peace of mind. It's also a very fast aeroplane for a single; 172 knots is pretty good and the fuel burn is not too bad either.
"And the last reason is that I know it's been done before. Ryan [Campbell] and lots of others have done world trips in an SR22, so I'm comfortable knowing that the aircraft is capable of doing what I need it to do."
With a log book about a thick as a credit card, Lachie understands that his flying experience is in the very low category, so has developed a program that packed a full career's worth of experience into a very short time frame.
"I came up with this idea of flying around the world before I'd even gone solo," he points out, "so all my training has been geared with the aim of flying around the world. I've made sure I've flown in varying conditions in a number of aeroplanes, and done a fair bit in the exact aircraft that I'm taking around the world."
One of Lachie's training flights covered much of the eastern states of Australia, with him venturing as far west as Alice Springs, but it was the flight from Bendigo in Victoria to Launceston Tasmania that presented him with his greatest challenge and a most valuable learning experience. The plan was simple: shoot an ILS to a go around at Launy and trundle off home, but a line of marauding thunderstorms made life hard for him.
"I actually lost a few instruments in the aircraft: all my engine instruments dropped out, my autopilot, my second altimeter and the OAT gauge," he recalls. "I turned on the anti-icing system and hand-flew the ILS. It turns out it was a build-up of P-static, so that had to be discharged on the ground, and everything came back except the second alternator, which I got fixed back on the mainland.
"I've been through some testing conditions. I know the limitations of the aircraft and how comfortable I am with various weather conditions and how to handle these situations. So I'm about as prepared as I can be."
The program continues on 30 June, when Lachie and his ferry mentor set off to Norfolk Island with the SR22 in full dress-rehersal condition for the first time.
"The idea of this trip is to get myself comfortable with the ferry systems in the aircraft. We'll be testing everything from the fuel pumps, the ferry tank itself, the HF radios ... making sure that's all working smoothly and correctly.
"Obviously I haven't used a ferry system like this before, so doing it with a ferry pilot on board is a good way to go."
Lachie also managed to wangle his way onto an ATR72 ferry flight that was going from Toulouse in France to Port Morseby. He had to jump off after only two days to get back to Australia for a fundraising event, but the experience of seeing how international ferry flights work was invaluable.
Add to all of that the experience and support of renowned international flight clearnance expert Mike Gray of White Rose Aviation, and of course the man who came before, Ryan Campbell, and there's probably little else Lachie can do to make himself ready to go.
But once in the air and droning onward to the next of 26 stops he'll make over the eight weeks, Lachie will be faced with making decisions that at this moment he hasn't even thought that he'll have to make. As most pilots know, a flight is often just a series of decision that finish with aeroplane at the right destination (mostly). So often, those decisions fall back on flying experience, something Lachie is short on at the moment.
"I do know my personal limitations and that helps in making decisions," he says. "I know I'm not going to fly through a weather condition that I'm not comfortable with, or I'm not going to take a route through airspace that I know I'm not happy with.
"You won't always make the right decision the first time around, but once you've made a decision to can work with it to make things happen. It's something I'm comfortable with and something I've learnt to do over the years."
It's not every teenager that makes such a calculated decision to change their life to the extent that this will change Lachie's. He's not only learned how to fly around the world, but also how to deal with people, how to present proposals to business, how to deal with media and how to aim, plan and achieve. If Lachlan Smart was ever in his shell, he sure is out of it now.
And much of what he's learned is about himself. When pointedly asked about what he thinks are his greatest strength and his greatest weakness, there is confidence in his answers.
"My strongest characteristic is my love of learning. Every flight you should be able to learn something new. Aviation is a field that you never stop learning in and you never fully master. There's always ways to improve your flying, and that's something that I really love about aviation. I love learning and I love building my confidence and my experience."
However ...
"Teenagers tend to think they know everything! I've got to fight that tendency as well. Mum or Dad might say 'have you thought about this?' I need to work on thinking 'maybe I haven't thought about that' and taking their advice on board a bit more."
In a little over nine weeks, the dust will be settling on his magnificent achievement. The SR22 will likely be back in the hands of the owners sans ferry tanks, pumps, HF radio and no doubt with all the seats back in. But for Lachie, the work won't be over with.
He will be the face of a company called Young Achievers International, which aims to provide practical pathways for people to go and chase their dreams rather than keep wishing. Whether that dream be to invent a new mouse trap (please!), a better potato peeler or even to fly solo around the world, Lachie and his company plan to connect the dreamers with the means of doing.
And by then it will be hard to question his street credibility when it comes to turning dreams into concrete. His years of planning will have shown that achievement starts from a base of ambition that anyone can have if they believe in themselves.
"It's a testament to what a lot of hard work can do," Lachie says of his achievement thus far. "I'm just an average kid from the Sunshine Coast."
Find out more about Lachlan Smart and his journey on the Wings Around the World website.
Lachie's Route Around the World
- Sunshine Coast
- Fiji
- Pago Pago
- Kiribati
- Hawaii
- Hollister, Ca
- Las Vegas
- Fredericksburg, Tx
- Niagara Falls
- St Johns, Canada
- Iceland
- Wick, Scotland
- Biggin Hill, UK
- Cannes, France
- Iraklion, Crete
- Hurghada, Egypt
- Muscat, Oman
- Sri Lanka
- Medan, Indonesia
- Jakarta, Indonesia
- Broome
- Darwin
- Longreach
- Bundaberg
- Sunshine Coast