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Fly around the world for charity without ever leaving the ground with the annual World Flight Australia event. Between Nov. 4-11, pilots and a crew will operate a Boeing 747-400 simulator online while raising money to provide funding for essential services like air ambulances.Watch the flight live on Twitch
The concept of a virtual, round-the-world charity flight began with a team in the United Kingdom, growing to become a global event in countries around the world. World Flight Australia began in 2001 and since then has raised over $400,000 for the Australian Royal Flying Doctor Service. The money raised helps with the cost of avionics and provides funding for Fly Around Clinics in Air Ambulances, ferrying nurses, doctors and patients across rural Australia. There are participants across the world raising money for their own charities and hosting their own events in Canada, Ireland, Scotland, England, the U.S. and Austria.There are 15 pilots and crew operating the Boeing 747 simulator, built by Matt Sheil from Sydney. To participate, each volunteer crew member will donate to the RFDS fund. The flight is conducted online on the VATSIM network and provides live Air Traffic Control through many of the countries visited on the virtual journey. There will be a 45-60 minute turnaround at each stop, where the incoming crew will be briefed on the weather conditions along their upcoming route and other operational requirements. People can watch the flight tracking, instrument displays and streaming audio and video during the event online.
According to Scripps News, the shell is from a retired Indonesian airliner and each component has been carefully curated from real planes.
"Before they sell the shell, they remove all the expensive components and they go back to other airplanes because they can still reuse them," aviation enthusiast Fabian Betancur said to Scripps News. "But I was able to talk to the company who bought the seats and they were gonna sell them. But I talked to them and they sold them back to me. So I got the original seats back."This is one simulator flying around the world, around the clock, all for charity.
"It allows a lot of sim enthusiasts who don't have the pilot ratings to learn how to work as a crew," Shane Tillekeratne, a 737 captain, said to Scripps News.
WorldFlight began in Sydney on Nov. 6 at 7 a.m. and will end on Nov. 11.