One hundred years to the day, two pilots started a journey to celebrate the first flight of an airplane in Switzerland in 1910. The pair of European pilots departed April 30, flying as a team in two nearly-identical Light-Sport Aircraft.
“Two Swiss airline pilots left their home country, each flying in a modified CTLS aircraft,” said Tom Peghiny, president of Flight Design USA. Yannick Bovier, 37, and Francisco Agullo, 41, departed Sion, Switzerland, on the last day of April flying the first leg of the around-the-world tour that will take them 44,000 kilometers (27,500 miles) through 18 countries and across five continents and two oceans. A world map of the “Twin CT” flight is available here Interested parties can follow their progress here.
“U.S. stops are planned for Miami, Dallas, Las Vegas, and Monterey, California,” reported John Gilmore, National Sales Manager for Flight Design USA. “During their week in the USA (planned for May 17-21) Flight Design USA is arranging for Bovier and Agullo to meet American CT owners plus interested media.”
The Twin CTs around the world flight has four primary objectives: Pay a tribute to the pioneers and commemorate the 100th anniversary of Swiss aviation; promote a more ecological and economical general aviation in order to reduce its environmental impact in the future; inspire young people thinking of starting in aviation or making a career out of it; and make a dream come true and encourage other people to act and fulfill their own dreams.
