Azimut 270 - Around the World Dream Flight

This isn't just a cool video. It's the final landings of something very special. Exactly 100 years after the birth of Swiss Aviation, two friends decided to honor aviators of the past with an around-the-world odyssey...

...and what pilot doesn't at least toy with the idea of flying around the world? It's been done before and it'll be done again, but I think it's an impressive accomplishment every time. A couple Swiss pilots recently completed one of these amazing adventures. They flew around the world, in formation, in a pair of Flight Design CTLS LSAs. What a blast! 44,000 kilometers from April 30th to June 19th. They called their adventure "Azimut 270."

Yannick Bovier and Francisco Agullo got permission to fly their CTLS aircraft (named Céline and Dreamcatcher) at 600kg, 25% over the normal max gross weight. This let them carry 120 gallons of fuel...enough to make 17+ hour legs over the ocean.

Their website has a great logbook section with some nice pictures and interesting accounts of their journey. It sounds like it was a pretty significant headache getting clearance to fly through some countries, but it all worked out for them in the end.

Some people are always looking for that faster aircraft...they'll spend thousands for a few extra knots. I think one of the great parts about the Sport Pilot rule is the fact that qualifying Light Sport Aircraft (like the Flight Design CTLS) are so efficient and comfortable that they can cover a lot of ground and let you have a lot of fun on the way. We've gotten some discussion at AviationBull about what great cross country machines the Flight Design aircraft are. That was further evidenced in Azimut 270.

Congratulations to Yannick and Francisco. I'm happy for you and jealous that I didn't get to fly along as #3. Thanks for honoring aviation history and showing us how much fun LSAs can be!