The
much-awaited first African solo flight was expected to take off
yesterday from Washington DC in the United States.The flight, being
manned by Nigerian pilot, Captain Ademilola Odujinrin, will see a
specially configured single Cirrus aircraft fly around the world, with
stop overs in selected cities. Odujinrin will be the 114th pilot to have
embarked on such mission globally.
But for paucity of funds and support, the mission was initially
planned to takeoff from Lagos and end in Lagos.Project organisers,
Transcend, in a statement on Wednesday said all was set for the mission,
explaining that Washington DC became their choice to cut cost and still
achieve the ultimate goal of traversing the entire globe.
Experts concludded that it would be cheaper to start the journey from
United Kingdom, United States or even the United Arab Emirates’ as the
cost of Jet A1 is far cheaper in those areas than what you get in
Nigeria and so also is the cost of insurance.
The organising team thanked members of the public for their immense interest and support during the last few months of preparing for the project. According to the organisation, “The team has been working very hard to make this historic event a success.
Our primary objective has
been to have the First African Pilot fly Solo across the World and we
are ever so determined to make this a reality.
“A round the world flight involves overcoming many challenges and
team Transcend is no exception when it comes to facing pioneering
trials. Taking off from Nigeria imposes an even more logistical
challenges, which amplifies the entire project cost.
“Needless to say, we have experienced a myriad of challenges and
issues, which has led to a delay affecting our original plan. Primary to
the delay is the lacklustre response to our sponsorship requests. We
are cognisant of the fact that it is a financially difficult time for
many institutions at this point.
“As a result, we have had to review the original plan taking into
consideration the economic factors and coming up with the most
achievable, cost-effective positions enabling us fulfill the primary
objective, which is to be the first African to fly solo round the world.
“The project will now kick off from Washington DC in the United
States. The aircraft is currently in the U.S. and starting there greatly
reduces our cost thereby helping us to achieve our ultimate goal,” the
statement read in part.
The aircraft in use, the SR22 aircraft with registration number
N313CD is nine years old, and has been refitted and upgraded to fly 17
and half hours with special configuration before refueling from its
original four hour flight time.
