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Longest Flight on a Home Built Airplane
Pilot Bill Harrelson just landed after a 22:15 hour flight covering 4,340nm distance from Peru, IN to Honolulu, HI. This has to be a record..! (flightaware.com) More...
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That's odd...I guess if I had the range to do that I still would have stopped in California to fill up and let my body and mind catch up. I'd love to know more about this flight though.
I agree...
I wonder if he was alone....that's along time to stay awake over water with nothing really to do.
Gives you some appreciation for what Charles Lindbergh did in a comparatively crude flying machine, Spirit of St. Louis, when he soloed across the Atlantic on his way to Paris from Long Island N.Y. on May 20, 1927. Though his distance was less than this flight, 3500 miles compared to 4300 miles, his was longer in time, 33 hours compared to 22 hours. Lindbergh was lying in a prone position the entire time relying on a periscope device to sight forward while surrounded by hundreds of gallons of gasoline carried in spare tanks crammed into the fuselage taking up most of the available space
He had hardly slept the night before, the field was muddy making the takeooff hazardous and the takeoff roll longer the following morning at 8am whence he barely cleared some telephone wires at the field boundary. He at times was no more than a mere 10 feet above the Atlantic waves trying to get under the fog. He had no one to talk to and had carried 4 sandwiches as inflight catering. He relied entirely on dead reckoning navigation with a simple compass to guide him but came amazingly close to his planned landfall position on the Irish coast. At one point he started to ice up but managed to get low enough into warmer air to eliminate the hazard.
The most dangerous part of his flight may have been the landing at Paris when people broke through the police barracade and cam running at him with the engine still running and the prop turning. He was afraid he was going to kill somebody so he shut down the engine immediately after coming to a stop. He was a shy young man who was shuffled from pillar to post after his heroic achievement who didn't care much for all the attention he received which ultimately changed his life forever and not all of it for the best. His fame resulted in the painful kidnapping death of his first son.
He had hardly slept the night before, the field was muddy making the takeooff hazardous and the takeoff roll longer the following morning at 8am whence he barely cleared some telephone wires at the field boundary. He at times was no more than a mere 10 feet above the Atlantic waves trying to get under the fog. He had no one to talk to and had carried 4 sandwiches as inflight catering. He relied entirely on dead reckoning navigation with a simple compass to guide him but came amazingly close to his planned landfall position on the Irish coast. At one point he started to ice up but managed to get low enough into warmer air to eliminate the hazard.
The most dangerous part of his flight may have been the landing at Paris when people broke through the police barracade and cam running at him with the engine still running and the prop turning. He was afraid he was going to kill somebody so he shut down the engine immediately after coming to a stop. He was a shy young man who was shuffled from pillar to post after his heroic achievement who didn't care much for all the attention he received which ultimately changed his life forever and not all of it for the best. His fame resulted in the painful kidnapping death of his first son.
The next leg is to Guam, then Non-Stop back to Orlando!
1/2 way around the world & back without having to use your Passport..
As I understand, he's doing it Solo.
1/2 way around the world & back without having to use your Passport..
As I understand, he's doing it Solo.
I hope he flew this with NAA and/or the FAI sanction: then it can be actually be recorded as a record flight... otherwise, it's just an interesting personal achievement.
NOTE. I think a Long-Eze [or another similar Rutan acft] may have flown a longer non-stop leg (AK to FL ?).
NOTE. Flying over-water as the last leg of a 4340NM looooong flight is way gutsy: he obviously had confidence in his performance!
Regards, Wil Taylor
NOTE. I think a Long-Eze [or another similar Rutan acft] may have flown a longer non-stop leg (AK to FL ?).
NOTE. Flying over-water as the last leg of a 4340NM looooong flight is way gutsy: he obviously had confidence in his performance!
Regards, Wil Taylor
