South African Team In LA On GA Circumnavigation Attempt | Aero-News Network
Aero-News Network
RSS icon RSS feed
podcast icon MP3 podcast
Subscribe Aero-News e-mail Newsletter Subscribe

Airborne Unlimited -- Most Recent Daily Episodes

Episode Date

Airborne-Monday

Airborne-Tuesday

Airborne-Wednesday Airborne-Thursday

Airborne-Friday

Airborne On YouTube

Airborne-Unlimited-07.14.25

Airborne-NextGen-07.15.25

AirborneUnlimited-07.16.25

Airborne-FlightTraining-07.17.25

AirborneUnlimited-07.11.25

Thu, Sep 08, 2011

South African Team In LA On GA Circumnavigation Attempt

Change In Route Has Trip Tied Up In Red Tape

In a saga with undertones of "the best laid plans" ... an 'Around The World' attempt being undertaken by the manufactures of the Sling 4, a four-place airplane born out of the South African Sling LSA, have become bogged down in some red tape in ... Los Angeles.

Sling 4

The Airplane Factory, based in Johannesburg, South Africa, is making the attempt to show off its latest airplane. After a long flight from Hawaii, they arrived in southern California late last week, and had planned to continue their journey Tuesday morning. But a late change in route raised some concerns on the part of the FAA, and so as of Wednesday, they were still on the ground.

The team determined that a more southern route would be a better bet than heading across North America (and the U.S.) before the final ocean crossing back to the African continent ... a decision reportedly made after an arm-wrestling contest. "So now it's Baja then Acapulco (Mexico), San Jose (Costa Rica), Bogota (Columbia), Manaus, Rio and Recife (Brazil), Accra (Ghana), Pointe Noire (Republic of Congo) and Johannesburg (South Africa)," company co-founder and pilot James Pitman wote on The Airplane Factory blog. "Mike (Blyth, the other co-founder) reckoned the southern route has better weather but Jean's not going to Brazil without seeing Rio de Janeiro. Hhhmmmm. Unfortunately Jean (d'Assonville, the other pilot) got the better of Mike on the arm wrestle that resolved that little route planning difference, so they'll be able to send us shots of sugar loaf mountain in the next few days."

Sling 4 Circumnavigation New Route (purple)  

But they had difficulty getting permission to leave the U.S. "OK, my turn to deal with the bureaucracy … although we made application to fly from Torrance to Brown Field where we would exit the USA into Mexico the powers that be seemed to miss that part and issued us flight authorization but not to Brown Field," Blyth wrote Tuesday. "We were fueled and loaded up, flight plan about to be filed, customs paperwork for the flight already submitted … when the FAA called and said, sorry, you can't go - do a new application. Maybe they got confused because of our change of route …So, sorry to say, but our departure is delayed until tomorrow (Wednesday). Mike."

As of Wednesday morning, the team was still having difficulty getting its authorization, but was hoping to be able to depart at some point during the day.

Stay tuned.

FMI: www.airplanefactory.co.za

Advertisement

More News

ANN's Daily Aero-Term (07.15.25): Charted Visual Flight Procedure Approach

Charted Visual Flight Procedure Approach An approach conducted while operating on an instrument flight rules (IFR) flight plan which authorizes the pilot of an aircraft to proceed >[...]

Aero-News: Quote of the Day (07.15.25)

“When l became the Secretary of Defense, I committed to rebuild our military to match threats to capabilities. Drones are the biggest battlefield innovation in a generation, >[...]

ANN's Daily Aero-Linx (07.15.25)

Aero Linx: Stearman Restorers Association Welcome to the Stearman Restorers Association. The Stearman Restorers Association is an independent “Not for Profit” 501C-3 Co>[...]

NTSB Final Report: Kjelsrud Gary Kitfox

Airplane Exhibited A Partial Loss Of Engine Power When It Was About Halfway Down The Runway Analysis: The pilot of the experimental amateur-built airplane was departing from his pr>[...]

NTSB Prelim: Cessna A150L

The Flight Path Was Consistent With Low-Altitude Maneuvering On June 18, 2025, about 0922 mountain standard time, a Cessna A150L airplane, N6436F, was substantially damaged when it>[...]

blog comments powered by Disqus



Advertisement

Advertisement

Podcasts

Advertisement

© 2007 - 2025 Web Development & Design by Pauli Systems, LC