San Diego, CA—Two pilots who lived in San Diego in July 1992, Bob Reiss and Dennis Stewart, are featured prominently in World Flight documentarian Michael B. Butler's new book, Round the World & Across Russia in 21 Days, 30 Years Later: 12 Planes & 22 Aviators Thru 11 Countries When the Soviet Union Fell & Russia Returned.
The reason they are featured is that Dennis Stewart's detailed flight journal is key to telling the full story of 12 small planes flying 18,000 miles around the world and thru Russia right after the final collapse of the Soviet Union. They left Santa Monica Airport on July 4, 1992 and made history by becoming the first private group to circumnavigate while crossing the entire landmass of Russia.
Flying in Reiss' single-engine Bonanza Jetprop, putting out 425 horsepower, Bob and Dennis were a valuable part of a group which included four other Bonanzas and a Beech Baron 58 plus five Cessnas—two twin-engine 421 Golden Eagles, a twin 340A, a twin turboprop King Air Super 200 and Citation I business jet, the latter two in lead and follow-up support roles.
Bob Reiss, then CEO of a major medical device company, and Stewart, a former U.S. Air Force pilot and air traffic controller, were vital to the success of the World Flight in a variety of ways. First, Reiss's experience as an army intel officer provided keen insight in the Russian manner of thinking in regards to World Flight air routing and flying around and over highly restricted military installations. Second, Dennis' experience as pilot and air controller gave the crews info on how to deal with Russian controllers along with the ins-and-outs of dated Russian radio aviation communication systems, or lack thereof.
Actually, Dennis Stewart is hugely responsible for the World Flight book even existing, for it was his effort in collating four major pilot journals, and distributing them to many participants, that led Michael B. Butler to realize it was the foundation for a book. The 2024 version, containing additional pilot journals and greatly expanded historical sections, is the second World Flight book, the first one came out in 1998 from Wind Canyon Books.
Currently available at Amazon, Barnes & Noble and in audio book from Google Play, the author, who also documented the event, constructed the book using 7 major pilot journals, 5 ancillary journals, 25 hours of video tape, interviews and what he recalled. Details and color slide shows can be found at www.MichaelButlerBooks.com.
Official Round the World & Across Russia in 21 Days Book Trailer
Here are two excerpts from Dennis Stewart's journal used in Round the World & Across Russia in 21 Days, which covers how it got involved in this historic flight around the world.
Reiss and Stewart are the lone single to divert, Dennis Stewart's journal continues, "When it's clear, you see Greenland from about 100 nautical miles, out, as Bob and I approach it reveals itself as one of the splendors of the world. A long-rugged coast with icebergs in all the bays and inlets, many with the most intense aquamarine ponds and hollows where the ice is melting. The mountains along the shore and sticking out of the ice cap, which comes almost to the shore, are splendid. Glaciers are everywhere with the melting snows of July producing a number of waterfalls. Truly fascinating. We approach the coastline homing in on Narsarsuaq's ADF beacon, located at the end of three long parallel fjords stretching from the coast, but it is concealed behind a 3,000-foot mountain until you are right on it. I read our topographical chart and tell Bob, 'It's that one.' As we let down, he asks several times 'Are you sure?'
"I keep saying, 'Yes.' We make the final turn in the fjord and there it is, Narsarsuaq airfield, a barren place with 6,000 feet of runway met at the far end by the face of an enormous glacier, which is 150 feet higher than the approach end. The prudent airman will land uphill and then reverse the process, we land at 1237 local time, 1437 Zulu, after a four-hour flight."
Two aircraft diverted to Scotland, one was Reiss and Dennis Stewart in the single Bonanza Jetprop as Dennis relates, "We have a cold breakfast in the hotel. Outside there is light rain, low clouds, and cold. We depart with full tanks at 08:42 am, 0842 Zulu, cleared to Stornoway in the Outer Hebrides of Scotland. Reykjavik Control vectors us out over the water so we can stay low and try to avoid icing.
"Climbing through the clouds we pick up some icing anyway, but it is not serious. We are cleared to 11,000 feet and are between cloud layers. We vary our requested altitude between 11,000 and 9.000 feet in an effort to stay clear of visible moisture. It is cold outside, -7 Centigrade, and we have no wing deicers. The forecast for Stornoway is solid overcast and rain. We pass through occasional cloud tops, each time picking up a little ice. The windshield has a light coat of ice that doesn't melt so we cannot see ahead. This makes steering around the clouds more difficult. We enter visible moisture once more. As he had done in the past, Bob reaches down and pulls on the propeller deicer—the prop-blade has electric elements running down the leading edge of each blade.
"Without warning our GPS fails! I punch all the proper buttons to make it reacquire the satellite signals but to no avail. Bob tries it also with the same results. We have a back-up GPS unit just in case something like this happens, it is battery powered with its own stubby antenna. Bob hauls it out, puts it on the instrument cowling and turns it on, same result, a blank screen. Bob looks at me and says, 'What do we do now?' I reply, 'We don't do anything, we're headed for Scotland'."
Media Contact: For review copies or interviews please contact Eric Blair Enterprises at MichaelButlerBooks@pm.me or 213-534-7292.