The Great Circle Air Safari DVD: Experience an exhilarating flight through the vast Australian Outback with nine vintage aircraft. In the fall of 2005, two Americans, Doug DeVries and Rob Richey, shipped their 1942 Stearman biplane all the way to Australia, joining up with their Aussie mates for a 4,000 mile flight through some of the most remote areas in the country.

Picture it: It's Autumn 2005 and an Oscar-winning director of photography is filming nine vintage aircraft flying 4,000 miles through some of the most desolate areas of the Australian Outback...this is exhilaration at its best from the comfort of your couch!

This compelling film features Eric Thiermann's high-definition footage (1983 Oscar-winning director of photography of In the Nuclear Shadow: What Can the Children Tell Us?).

Doug DeVries and Rob Richey shipped their 1942 Stearman biplane from the United States to Australia just for this adventure! Sit in on their pursuit of adventure and enjoy the view...

Background of The Great Circle Air Safari - organized as a fundraiser for the Royal Flying Doctor Service of Australia (RFDS). Vectored Flight, LLC of Everett, WA has produced the GCAS DVD to continue the fundraising for the RFDS. All of Vectored Flight's profits from the DVD are being donated to the RFDS.

THE PLAN   “Dream no small dreams, for they have no power to move the hearts of men,”  and so it was that The Great Circle Air Safari(GCAS) was conjured up by an eclectic group of four Australians. The adventure was a fund raiser for the Royal Flying Doctor Service of Australia, a group of dedicated doctors and pilots providing emergency medical care to the inhabitants of the vast Outback.  

The quest of discovery took us from the shining seas of Australia’s east coast, across the coastal range, through the desolate outback, and ultimately to Uluru (formerly Ayers Rock), the sacred aboriginal red-rock monolith.

DOUG AND ROB SIGN UP  Doug and Rob, the only American participants,  heard about the tour through the aviation grapevine, and quickly signed up, little knowing what the Outback had in store for them.

THOUGHTS FROM THE TRIP  On the first day, we flew up the east coast at our leisurely 90 mph. The deep azure sea transitioned to emerald hues as the swells broke on the white sand beaches. As we moved up the coast, the beaches were interrupted by occasional rocky-cliffed peninsulas, providing us with the opportunity to hone our terrain avoidance skills.

At times we flew alone playing our game of aviation solitaire, other times we flew formation and shared the sights with our mates. The wonders of this flight pushed back any fears we were harboring about the long flight ahead. Besides, wasn't this the land of “no worries”?

On the eighth day, we first sighted the highlight of the safari, a rust-colored pebble on the distant horizon that swelled to a large red monolith as we approached. This was, of course, Ayers Rock, now known by its Aboriginal ame, Uluru. Geologically, this is a bornhardt, a hunk of weather resistant stone left standing after centuries of erosion. But the aura of this place made us feel that we “had arrived”; that the object of our desire was finally at hand. We were mesmerized by “The Rock.” Whether we were standing, walking, riding, or flying, our eyes were continually drawn to this rusty red rock; it was, in a word, arresting.