Pair in Diamond Bests 2000 Record -- by More Than Double

Laksen Sirimanne, 38, and Assaf Stoler, 31, flew from Los Angeles Thursday and landed at Kill Devil Hills on Friday, having set a new weight-class transcontinental record. They averaged 135 mph in a DA40 Diamond Star.

That clobbered the old record, set in 2000 -- by an Alon A2 Ercoupe. The existing record was 52.46mph.

With weather considerations and the vagaries of logistics -- not to mention pop-up TFRs and ADIZ creations that make such planning a real nightmare, they didn't know just when they were going to leave, until just before the flight. "It's sinking in slowly," a tired Assaf Stoler told ANN. "We weren't sure it was going to happen. That's why we didn't tell anybody."

It wasn't mandatory that they land in North Carolina. There's a certain magic there, though, especially this year: "We picked to fly here because it is the 100th anniversary of flight," Sirimanne told another reporter. "If two forward-thinking people could accomplish something much more difficult here, so could we."

The FAI, through the NAA, sanctioned the record attempt (for aircraft under 1000 kg). "The day before takeoff, 8AM, we had the plane, the toolbox, the charts, a bottle of water, on the scale," Assaf Stoler told ANN. "We took out anything that wasn't permanently attached. We got to 2201 pounds -- we had three pounds left over -- with 40.5 gallons of fuel. We decided to use half a gallon, and take off with no more then 40 gallons. Consistentely, we filled to 38 to 39 gallons of fuel." It wasn't just the airplane, either: "We spent a month to lose weight," Assaf noted. "I skipped a lot of meals -- no Cokes -- I lost 13 pounds. My partner dieted, too -- but he was light anyway -- at takeoff, he only weighed 129 pounds. I was 157."

Close, but on the right side of the weight limit.

"With us, 39.5 gallons fuel, and the stripped-down plane, we had a couple pounds left over," plane-owner Stoler told us. That, in itself, wasn't a big deal; but the records people are sticky about making sure the record rules are adhered to. "This was a problem, when every bit of fuel had to be certified." In the daytime, during normal hours, there wasn't any trouble, but "some airports are automated at night." that meant they either couldn't get their fuel intake witnessed -- instant disqualification -- or they could wait until the FBO opened. "The biggest problem was the last fuel stop -- Sparta, Tennessee," he said, but the "Volunteer State" still has some volunteers in it. "The guy actually agreed to be there for us at 4AM. That was awfully nice of him." It probably saved the record, too.

It was one thing to get on the ground at Sparta; it was another to find the gas pump in the dark. "We found him, frantically waving his hands." They got their purchase witnessed, and were on their way -- one landing from the record.

In fact, everybody was nice.

" Everyone along the way was very helpful -- ATC, flight service (checking winds aloft, the unpredicted headwind) -- they were wonderful. We planned each leg to land with at least 6 gallons of fuel. We had to change speeds, altitudes, to make the goal."

Flying stingier meant they were able to take on less fuel -- they didn't want to bust weight. "During the whole route, we were calculating fuel and mixture, trying to get the most out of the airplane," Assaf explained. "We would go higher, go leaner. We had two legs where we arrived with 10~14 gallons. The other legs, we had 6 to 7 gallons." If they weren't near needing fuel, that didn't matter. "We couldn't change our stops, because we had to have someone there signing, to verify us."

The last leg was the toughest.

"Luckily the only leg where we had no reserve (beyond the 6 gallons), was uneventful -- we had low headwinds." Gas to spare, Mr. Stoler noted. "We landed with 7 gallons in the tanks."

Because they had encountered significant headwinds on virtually the whole route, they were traveling over the ground slower than they had planned. They had people waiting to gas them up, though -- and they didn't want them to go home. "One changed fuel stop, and there goes the record," Assaf reminded us. "We stayed on schedule all the way, making the ground stops faster than planned. We planned 45 minutes, and were able to do it in 30 minutes or less, each time. We planned Sparta at 4AM -- we were there at 4:05; We planned Kitty Hawk at 6AM -- thanks to no headwinds, we got there at 5:50."

He really likes his Diamond Star.

Assaf (pictured) really likes that machine and its Lycoming power. "This airplane has the Lycoming IO-360, 180 horspower. It has very good performance, especially at high altitude. We burned 8-9 gph, at altitude." He didn't modify the plane, except to remove anything that wasn't bolted in. Strategy was simple: "We used the standard M-T propeller. We ran lean of peak, most of the time. We normally flew at 7500 or 9500msl -- those were best for us. We went a little higher on the way into Kitty Hawk -- there were clouds -- we actually climbed to about 10,000 feet, to maintain radar contact."

Diamond, are you listening? Here's a testimonial: "This airplane is always a lot of fun to fly -- it's a great plane."

"It's almost new -- I got it a couple months ago. I bought it at 150 hours -- it was a demonstrator -- when we landed, it had about 215. We flew it back to LA -- now it has 233," he said.

Flew it back???

"We both flew the airplane back," he said. "We took off that same day [Friday]. We went to refuel, and got back to Kitty Hawk; we got our FedEx package, and then started our flight back." FedEx was the shipper they chose to bring in their stuff. "Because of weight, we had FedEx'd our clothes, toothbrushes, etc. We landed at about 6AM... FedEx got there about 4." And that was after the FedEx dispatcher said he'd make sure the driver went to them, first. (Two world record-holders, hanging out at the airport for ten hours -- no clothes, no toothbrushes, afraid to leave and miss their shipment...)

They got their package, and they left. "We just couldn't find anywhere to sleep," Assaf, citing $400-a-night accommodations. "We flew to Raleigh International, and spend the night there. After four hours, we couldn't sleep any more -- too much adrenaline, I guess -- so we went back."

One record a week is enough.

"We could have set another record coming back," he said, "but we didn't want to pay the sanction fees -- they're too expensive."

Coming back, they flew with full tanks. "It was so nice to just say, 'top off, please,'" Assaf related. It was smooth sailing most of the way back. "Two thirds of the way back, we were at 4000 feet, with bottoms were at 3800 and tops at 4200. Ten seconds in cloud, ten out -- it was very interesting visually. At the end, we hit a line of thunderstorms. With good cooperation from Flight Service, we stayed away from that. We spent only maybe 5 minutes in the rain, and got no more than light turbulence. Flight Service deserves a lot of credit."

They used 3 quarts of oil -- a quart and a half each way; and the record used 33, 31.2, 31.0, 29.8, and 32 or 33 at the end. They started with 39.5. "We were under budget, [regarding] fuel," he noted.

He likes this plane. He even likes buying it.

"Diamond Aero was very nice, very helpful," Assaf noted, for the record. "You can print that. The transaction was very easy, very smooth. They deserve a lot of credit. I've had a lot more trouble buying cars."

[Tomorrow, we plan on getting Assaf's partner in the record flight, Laksen Sirimanne (right), on the record --ed.]

FMI: (after 10AM -- brand-new site) www.sunriseaviation.com; www.diamondair.com