The bags under ’Dolly’s’ eyes speak volumes about the difficult times the Howardians find themselves in of late. Doubtless, he’ll be glad to have the Hicks issue off his plate. I dare say the plane might even be in-country by the weekend.
On the subject of just which route the government fleet VIP 737 might take, the logistics of it’s departure point – Cuba – make the return flight plan an interesting one. With a range of 5,500kms, the tricked out BBJ’s in the government fleet, I reckon, will make a track straight for French Polynesia to re-fuel, then onward to continental Oz. Probably Sydney. The plane will need to re-fuel again for the trip to Adelaide. This would be the shortest route available where the aircraft could land in a foreign nation where – as ’Dolly’ has claimed – "people who’ve supported Al Qaeda" can pass through. What better place than a French colony?
By the by, a route across Central America to Tahiti then on to Sydney does happen to be the shortest. It just doesn’t travel through Hawaii which would be longer anyway. For those flightsim fans who follow this tome, and there are a couple, I’ve plotted a FSNav 4.* plan as I believe the government aircraft might take.
Computer games aside, welcome home, David Hicks, when you finally get here.