Beijing: A 57-year-old Chinese man has completed his second around the world flight trip after flying for 68 days with 50 stops, a media report said Monday.
Zhang Bo, who kicked off his flight from the Chicago airport April 2, flew over 21 countries in three continents and over three oceans, with a total mileage reaching 41,000 kms, landed at the same airport Sunday morning, the state-run Global Times reported.
Before landing, Zhang circled around a small airport four times at low altitude to express his excitement.
Earlier, Zhang had already made history August 7, 2016, when he completed his 49 days first flight around the world in a propeller-driven aircraft
Zhang said the challenges he faced in his second world flight trip were harder than the first one.
“As the airplane I flied is piston propelled and has no pressure cabin with limited endurance and flying altitude, the challenges I encountered this time were much more than when I did the first around-the-world flight,” the report mentioned Zhang as saying.
He said the most difficult part of the flight was while flying over the Arctic area.
“After taking off from Chicago, I directly flied northward into the Arctic Circle. Weather there was still cold in early April, when the ground temperature was 20 Celsius degrees below the zero,” he said.
As the small DA42 aircraft is not equipped with air conditioning system, Zhang donned a special kit called ocean commander immersion suit to keep him warm, the report said.
When flying across the northern Atlantic Ocean from the Greenland to Iceland, Zhang encountered strong headwind, and the flight speed dropped to 110 to 120 kilometers per hour. High oil pressure was another difficulty Zhang experienced during the flight trip.
Currently, Zhang has already started planning his third similar trip and there would be six planes together completing the trip.
PTI
