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Press
AVwebFlash: World's Premier Independent Aviation News
Resource
Complete
Issue: Volume 15, Number 25a
June 22, 2009
By The AVweb Editorial Staff
Brits Take Contiguous 48 States In Record
Time (For Diabetes)
Saturday, Diabetes Flight 48, piloted by Douglas Cairns and James D'Arcy,
two British pilots living with diabetes, broke the record time for landing
in all 48 contiguous states with their final landing in Kenosha, Wis.
At the time this was written, the two men had not yet blogged their final
time (they had to beat 131 hours, 5 minutes) but noted that they had
until 9:45 p.m. Central Time on Sunday evening if they were to succeed.
The trip was flown in a Baron starting from Council Bluffs, Iowa, on
June 16, and the men aimed to use the trip to raise awareness and funds
for the Juvenile Diabetes Research Foundation, UK. By Saturday the pair
had raised more than $4,500 (donations are
always welcome). The trip was originally scheduled to begin June 16,
in Iowa, running
counter-clockwise after an initial jog from Nebraska. But the best
laid plans are changed by weather and the crew reported on June 16 that
they began their trip from Iowa, made it to Nebraska and then turned
for Missouri, Oklahoma, and Texas, later configuring a figure-eight pattern
to hit all the states. Aside from the record time, the flight included
at least one segment that covered eight states in less than 12 hours,
detours around storms and "some tremendous low-level flying in the
Rocky Mountains." Of course, then there were the tornadoes.
One night the two set down in Council Bluffs south of Caroll to ride out weather. Morning news reports the next day informed them that their original alternate of Des Moines had suffered storm damage with tornadoes touching down in the state during the night. The flight was flown with an official NAA observer onboard and official NAA recognition to follow.
Video of the flight captured by AVweb reader Butch Weaver, who caught the flight over Southern Colorado and enjoyed a stint of formation flying, is available online here.