August 14, 2003

"A shot glass of gasoline left in the tank."

plane.jpg
"The Spirit of Butts Farm." Not quite the
same lilt as "The Spirit of St. Louis," but
as long as it gets there....

Model airplane crosses Atlantic

It didn't fly high and it didn't fly swiftly, but the "Spirit of Butts Farm" made it all the way from Canada to Ireland with a few drops of fuel to spare, a group of model airplane enthusiasts say.

They are hoping for a distance record for the flight of 38 hours, 23 minutes over 1,888.3 miles by a model plane designed by an engineer in Maryland. It weighed 11 pounds when it took off from Newfoundland.

For Dave Brown, who was at the controls for Monday's landing at Marrin Beach in County Galway, it was a great moment. "A great cheer went up when we saw it, and four minutes later I landed it in the field. It was so thrilling," Mr. Brown said in a telephone interview.

The balsa wood-and-mylar plane was designed by retired engineer Maynard Hill, 77, of Silver Spring. He launched it from Cape Spear, Newfoundland, on Saturday night.

Posted by Vanderleun at August 14, 2003 7:38 AM
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