May 12 2009 at 06:27AM
By Jenny Gross
"I'm absolutely blown away," said SAA captain Charles "Chalkie" Stobbart, 60, after walking out of the one-engined, home- built airplane he flew to beat a 70-year-old aviation record by 18 hours and 59 minutes.
Stobbart flew the return trip from Cape Town to London in three days, 15 hours and 17 minutes, bringing the world record back to South Africa.
The previous record was set in 1939 by Alex Henshaw, who flew the return trip from London to Cape Town in four days, 10 hours and 16 minutes in a single-engined aircraft.
"I'm elated, and of course my head is still shaky from all the bouncing in the airplane," Stobbart said. "There were hours and hours of boredom punctuated by moments of sheer terror," he said, citing dust storms in the Sahara and freezing rain.
The trip had been well-prepared, well-planned and well-executed, but Stobbart experienced some technical difficulties, he said. He accidentally sat on his satellite phone, which broke, and his stormscope, which shows weather patterns on the route, was not functioning either.
"The full moon shining was my only guide through the thunderstorm between Kano and Brazzaville after sunset to see the developments in the clouds," he said.
Stobbart made three fuelling stops in Africa on both legs of the trip. He arrived in London, slept for 12 hours and left early on Sunday morning for the south-bound trip.
"I'd hoped to knock a day off the record, but with the bureaucracy in Africa, every stop I planned for a one-hour rest became two hours," he said.
His first delay was in Brazzaville, Republic of the Congo, because the airport was closed while the president was flying to Jacob Zuma's inauguration.
Stobbart's wife Maureen said she was overwhelmed by the fantastic response and support the family has received.
"We've all been glued to watching his flight on the computer," she said, adding that she has slept for about eight hours since he took off on Thursday. When she talked to him during the trip, he said he was exhausted, had a "numb bum", and was also deaf in one ear because of the non-stop noise on the aircraft.
"It's been a stressful three- and-a-half days, and the team has battled with communications because they could only talk to him while he was on the ground while the plane was refuelling," said challenge co-ordinator Dolph Kruger.
jennifer.gross@inl.co.za
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