Organisers of the First African Solo Flight around the world have announced that the solo effort piloted by a Nigerian, Lola will now kick off on June 23, 2016 and will instead commence from Washington DC, the United States of America instead of its initial plans to start from Nigeria.
According to the project organisers, Transcend, all is in readiness to fly around the world as the aircraft is currently in the USA stating that commencing from there greatly reduces the cost of the solo flight and achieving the ultimate goal.
The statement was made available to our official mail signed by the flight pilot, Nigerian, Mr Ademilola Odujinrin stating that baring no last-minute hiccup the June 23rd date is official and the flight can be monitored.
A fortnight ago NigerianFlightdeck had reported that the solo flight around the world has been greatly hindered by financial constraints, in our story, ‘Finance, Logistics may have stalled Nigerian’s solo flight around the world’ (search webpage for story)
During the course of the investigation, Nigerian flight deck called it the project may have suffered a setback as a result of potential backers backing down.
Through an aviation consultant who preferred anonymity, NigerianFlightdeck also called it that it would be cheaper to start the journey from United Kingdom the 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 as starting from Nigeria will raise insurance
The statement read,â€We the members of team Transcend wish to thank the general public for their immense interest and support during the last few months in relation to our project. The team have 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.â€
“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 challenge 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 request. We are cognizant of the fact that it is a financially difficult time for many institutions at this point.â€
“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 position enabling us fulfill the primary objective, which is to be the first African to Fly Solo round the World.â€
“The project will now kick off from Washington DC in the United States of America. The aircraft is currently in the USA and starting there (The United states) greatly reduces our cost thereby helping us to achieve our ultimate goal.â€
“We would like to thank our two main Sponsors Tolaram Group and Translynx Nigeria Ltd for their immense support in creating the impetus to our cause. We would also seize this opportunity to thank donors such as Cross River Sate, Arik Air, Lazza, Bruce Canopies (US) and Spidertracks (US).
We would like to thank you all for your continued support and appreciate your interest in our project.â€
According to the team, the project kicks off on Thursday 23rd June 2016 and can be tracked live on our website www.transcend.ng and followed on Twitter @TranscendNG, Instagram #transcend.ng and Facebook Transcend.ng.â€
The first solo flight by an African would, once successfully executed be the 114th successful flight around the world and would be piloted by a Nigerian, Mr Ademilola Odujinrin
The aircraft in use, the SR22 aircraft with registration number N313CD is nine years old, and has been refitted and upgraded to fly seventeen and half hours with special configuration before refuelling from its original 4 hour flight time.
