|
Reprinted with permission, Aircraft Owners and Pilots
Association
Feb. 6 — Erik Lindbergh, grandson of Charles A. Lindbergh, has announced
plans to retrace his grandfather's route in April and May from San Diego to
Paris using a Lancair Columbia 300 with a modified wing that can carry
additional fuel. The nonstop Atlantic crossing is expected to be completed in 17
to 19 hours and require about 300 gallons of fuel.
The Lancair Company will provide its certification testing aircraft for the
flight, and modify it with a wing designed to carry more fuel. The new wing is
90 percent complete, a Lancair official said. Additionally, an internal tank
holding approximately 80 gallons of fuel and built in the shape of a work desk
will be added to the interior. Lindbergh may use the workspace to keep in touch
with mission control at the St. Louis Science Center. The headquarters for
planning operations is at the Spirit of St. Louis Airport near St. Louis.
Dubbed The New Spirit of St. Louis, the flight will be followed by The
History Channel, which plans to air a two-hour documentary on May 20, the
seventy-fifth anniversary of Lindbergh's flight from New York to Paris. The
program will cover the flight from the modification of the Lancair to the
landing at Le Bourget Airport in Paris.
While there are few modifications to the Lancair, one of them will be to
remove much of the landing light equipment and use the space for fuel. A
makeshift landing light will be provided.
There will be several intermediate stops before the younger Lindbergh crosses
the Atlantic, possibly departing from Republic Airport in Farmingdale, New York.
The original flight departed from Roosevelt Field, New York. Beginning April 14,
he will depart San Diego's San Diego International-Lindbergh Field for St. Louis
and New York, as did his grandfather just prior to the history-making flight in
1927.
The Indianola, Washington, woodworking artist has put his furniture carving
business on hold while dealing with commemorative activities. Lindbergh is
director of the Lindbergh Foundation — a group "advancing the balance between
nature and technology." He is also a trustee and vice president of the X Prize
Foundation, an organization offering a $10 million prize for the first private
team to fly to space in a privately built spacecraft, return to earth, and then
return to space within two weeks.
Lindbergh said he had long dreamed of retracing his roots and flying the
Atlantic. He cited three reasons for the flight: To promote the X Prize (21
teams worldwide are trying to build rockets); to support research into
rheumatoid arthritis from which he once suffered; and to honor the legacy of
innovation made famous by his grandfather. New biotech drug treatments have
enabled the younger Lindbergh to overcome the effects of rheumatoid
arthritis.
He told AOPA Pilot that he plans to carry a Swiss Army knife on the
flight that once belonged to his grandfather. "We're doing it at the right time,
a time when the country needs a boost, just as it did in 1927," he
said.
| 
