Atlantic crossing re-enactment lands near Clifden
Millionaire adventurer Steve Fossett has successfully repeated the 1919 feat of pilots Alcock and Browne by the Atlantic in a bi-plane.
The American and his co-pilot Mark Reibholz set off from Canada last night and had to battle the elements for the last few hundred miles of their journey.
The plane landed safely on the eighth fairway of the Connemara Championship Golf Links in Clifden, Co Galway at 5.04pm, close to where their famous predecessors touched down just after 5.00pm this evening.
Steve Fossett paid tribute to the two men who had inspired his transatlantic flight in a replica World War one bi-plane.
“I was very impressed that they didn’t really have a good idea of the weather,” said Mr Fossett. “They didn’t have a good idea of the things that could go wrong with the airplane so they had it all hanging out risking their lives.”
He added: “Whereas we were doing not what would be called a safe flight, but basically a flight that was under control with an acceptable risk.”
Mr Fossett, 61, and Mr Rebholz took off from Newfoundland in a Vickers Vimy bi-plane at 10.52 pm yesterday and navigated their way across the Atlantic using only a sextant and compass – the instruments available to Alcock and Brown in 1919.
The wood and canvas bi-plane, escorted by the Irish Air Corps, had to circle around the golf course for nearly half an hour before landing to cheers from thousands of spectators.
It is the latest unlikely feat to be achieved by Steve Fossett, who holds world records in five sports – balloons, sailboats, gliders, airships and powered aircraft.
Last March, he made the first solo non-stop round the world aircraft flight in 67 hours in the Virgin Atlantic Global Flyer and in 2002, he made the first solo round the world balloon flight.
He said his next challenge would be a world glider record.
“In fact, the day before I took off on this flight, we made an attempt at the glider world record in Nevada. We weren’t successful so we’re going to go back next week and try that again.”
Mr Rebholz flies vintage aircraft for fun, and is a Boeing 747-400 captain with United Airlines. He said it was a great relief to see the West coast of Ireland on the horizon after some fairly bad weather.
“We didn’t even see the sun until about three hours after sunrise. It was cloudy and rainy and dark. But we knew five hours out that we were going to make it fine,” he said.
The two pilots had been planning the flight since 2001 and had to cancel last month at short notice due to unsuitable weather conditions.
The town of Clifden, located around 50 miles from Galway city, is now preparing for two days of celebrations, with a gala ball for the two pilots in the Alcock and Brown Hotel tonight.
It will be followed by a victory parade with vintage cars on Tuesday, before the Vickers Vimy takes off once more.
The Clifden Chamber of Commerce said local people had enjoyed re-living the historic moment which they had heard so much about, in glorious sunshine.
“We’ve all learnt about Alcock and Brown in school and now we’ve re-wrote history today. It is fantastic here, people have brought their families and have had had picnics and barbecues,” said spokeswoman Aine O’Neill.
Minister Community, Rural and the Gaeltacht Eamon O’Cuiv said tonight he would be attending the gala ball to extend the Government’s congratulations to Mr Fossett.
“I’m absolutely delighted that it went off safely and according to plan. It’s amazing they were able to replicate the flight,” he said.
He added that it would re-inforce the historic link between Clifden and transatlantic aviation.
During Alcock and Brown’s original flight there were strong tail winds and thick cloud cover, which meant the pair confused the sea for the horizon and flew perilously close to the ocean waves at times.
However, after they completed the journey in 16 hours and 20 minutes by crash-landing into a bog in Clifden, they were presented with Lord Northcliffe’s Daily Mail prize of £10,000 by Winston Churchill and were knighted by King George V.
