Touched Down Back In Slovenia Thursday Afternoon

For most, making a solo circumnavigation of the planet would be an accomplishment in any aircraft. Word came in Thursday that "extreme pilot" Matevž Lenarcic touched down back in Slovenia after successfully circumnavigating the World in a Pipistrel Virus SW 914 Turbo.

Matevž arrived in Slovenia Thursday at 1600 local time, landing at the Jože Pucnik airport in Brnik, near Ljubljana – the same airport where he began his odyssey. The initial plan was to welcome Matevž as a guest of honou at the largest European aviation expo, the Aero Expo 2012 at Friedrichshafen, Germany. But because of bad weather and icing conditions it was not possible for him to cross the Alps. As the weather forecast for Slovenia was equally bad for the following 5 days, which might have prevented Matevž from returning safely, he decided to head straight home.

Pipistrel supported this decision, because safety must come first. The company said in a news release that good fortune "favored us for the entire duration of the flight around the world and it would be unwise to push the luck on the very last leg of the way. We are convinced that Matevž made the right decision and thus successfully concluded the most extreme around-the-world flight ever accomplished by such a small aircraft."

Matevž Lenarcic proved that the Pipistrel Virus SW 914 Turbo aircraft is capable of crossing both the Atlantic and the Pacific Oceans, as well as the Indian Ocean. It is able to reach the extreme heights required to fly over Mt. Everest, and can withstanding both the drastically low temperatures of the Antarctic and the high temperatures and humidity when crossing the equator.

Pipistrel congratulates Matevž Lenarcic on a job well done.

FMI: www.pipistrel.si