30 August 2007
Two Indian Air Force Officers are claiming a new world record, having flown round the world in a Flight Design CTsw.
The pilots, Rahul Monga and Anil Kumar, end their flight India last week. They completed the circumnavigation in 79 days, involving 19 countries. The pilots made contact with Air Forces in the various countries which they visited, and the whole trip was made as part of the celebrations for the Indian Air Force’s 75th Anniversary.
The pair covered 40,497 km in the course of the trip, all of it day VFR.
Kumar told the Indian Times: ‘Of course, weather was a problem for us, we had to train ourselves to handle all kinds of problems… We were sitting in the cockpit for nine-ten hours, moving from culture to culture, time zone to time zone.’
In fact, Kumar had fewer of the problems – the long legs across the Atlantic were flown solo by Monga in order to save weight and increase the aircraft’s range (they didn’t cross the Pacific as such, hopping across the Bering Straits instead).
According to Flight Design, the aircraft’s manufacturers, the Indian Air Force chose to use the CT – a serial production model – after thorough evaluation, and the pilots were highly complimentary about its performance and reliability.
The record which the pair are hoping to claim is for a flight around the world in an aircraft of this size. It’s a remarkable testament to what this class of aircraft can achieve.
