A British pilot is preparing to fly the smallest aircraft across the Atlantic, from St John's in Newfoundland to Shannon Airport. Mr Brian Milton is currently in Stephenville, Newfoundland, waiting for the weather to change so he can carry out the Atlantic challenge, a 1,915-mile flight, in his nine-foot long microlight craft. He hopes to make the trip in 24 hours, flying between 5,000 ft and 6,000 ft and raising £300,000 sterling for the Artificial Heart Fund. "If I get a really good strong westerly for 1,400 or 1,500 miles, I can do it."
He will be travelling at 65 mph on a similar route taken by Sir John Alcock and Sir Arthur Whitten Brown in 1919 when they crash landed near Clifden after the first non-stop transatlantic flight in a Vickers Vimy plane.
Mr Milton's Mainair Blade microlight has an 80-horse power and four-stroke engine. He described it as "a hang glider with a motorbike under it". They are descended from hang gliders and started 30 years ago last month. With no autopilot, he will have to be awake during the flight, using a GPS navigation system. A descent alarm will go off if he descends below 3,000 ft. If he crash lands, his only back-up is a life raft with a homing beacon.
On May 30th, he flew from New York to Halifax, Nova Scotia, and then to Newfoundland. Yesterday he was planning to fly 280 miles from Stephenville to St John's before preparing for Shannon Airport. He plans to emulate part of Charles Lindbergh's solo New York to Paris flight in 1927. "I do not just want to go out to have a beer. I want to go on to Paris to finish his route," he said.
An accomplished microlight flyer, he broke world records when he flew around the world in 80 flying days three years ago, and was awarded a Britannia Trophy.
He said his latest venture was partly a philosophical quest. "You have to think, you have to be fearful and you have to overcome that fear. I know the pilots who went ahead of me did that, they were just more reticent about it."
Daily updates on the Atlantic challenge are available on www.atlanticflight.co.uk