Slovenian pilot completes around-the-world flight

A Slovenian pilot Matevž Lenarcic arrived in Slovenia yesterday (19. 4.) at 16.00 local time and landed at the Jože Pu?nik airport in Brnik, near Ljubljana – the same airport where he also began his flight. The initial plan was to welcome Matevž as a guest of honor at the largest European aviation expo, the Aero Expo 2012 at Friedrichshafen, Germany. But because of bad weather and icing conditions the crossing of the Alps was unfortunately not possible. As the weather forecast for Slovenia was equally bad for the following 5 days, which could have prevented Matevž from returning safely, he decided to head straight home without waiting.

We at Pipistrel support this decision, because safety must come first. The fortune favored us for the entire duration of the flight around the world and it would be unwise to push the luck on the very last leg of the way. We are convinced that Matevž made the right decision and thus successfully concluded the most extreme around-the-world flight ever accomplished by such a small aircraft.

Matevž Lenar?i? proved that the Pipistrel Virus SW 914 Turbo aircraft is capable of crossing both the Atlantic and the Pacific Oceans (and the Indian Ocean as well), capable of extreme heights required to fly over Mt. Everest and capable of withstanding drastically low temperatures of the Antarctic and high temperatures and humidity when crossing the equator.
Matevz Lenarcic, a biologist and nature protectionist, flew from Slovenia to Africa, North and South America, then to Australia and Asia, over Mount Everest and India and than back home on Thursday.

The Slovenian-made Virus-SW914 ultra light plane can fly 2,485 miles (3,999 kilometers) with 92 gallons (348 liters) of fuel. Lenarcic says, "The world is not as big and indestructible as it seems. It is worth seeing it in all its diversity."

Lenarcic is reportedly the first to fly around the world in an ultralight plane without a co-pilot and without any ground support.


/worldgreenflight.com/