Around the world glider project

From the Czech news service.

Headline: Brno pilots plan to fly around the world in glider

BRNO (PDM staff with CTK) 12 July - A team of experts from the
Brno-based Sport Aviation Association is preparing for the first ever
flight around the world in a glider, association head Vladislav Zejda
told CTK yesterday.

The model of the glider could be ready next year, after which the
flight could take place, he said. Zejda's daughter Hana Zejdova, the
holder of the most world aviation records in the Czech Republic, is to
be one of the glider pilots.

The project is financially very demanding and will cost the equivalent
of more than CZK five billion, Zejda said.

However, if the mission is a success, it will become a milestone in the
history of aviation, he added.

"There have been around-the-world flights on a plane with both a
plunger- and jet-type engine, but the only unpowered flight was in a
balloon. It has never been done on a glider," he said.

The plane under construction is to be the top achievement of modern
aviation technology, with regards to its construction and aerodynamics
and aviation electronics and navigation systems.

"We are cooperating with domestic and foreign experts on the project,
for instance, with NASA and renowned aircraft producers," Zejda said.

The route of the flight has not yet been determined, but a route across
the Himalayas seems to be the most advantageous, he said. The time of
the flight is estimated at five or six days.

The project is being implemented under the auspices of South Moravian
regional governor Stanislav Juranek, and the region has contributed CZK
200,000 to its financing.

Zejdova is the first Czech pilot to receive the Lilienthal medal, which
has been awarded annually since 1939 for extraordinary sport
achievements. Zajdova, 43, is also the winner of other prizes and the
holder of more than 50 gliding world records.

(USD 1 = CZK 25.402)

CTK news edited by the staff of the Prague Daily Monitor, a Monitor CE
service.