The Real Hazards are in Politician's Offices

After years of planning and flying for months over some spectacular scenery, the dream of Matevz Lenarcic to fly his CH-701 around the world has ended, thanks to bureaucrats in Canada, who know what's good for him, and have decided to cram their collective opinion down his throat.

After traversing forbidding terrain over Siberia, dealing with bureaucrats of many stripes, in many countries, Matevz has finally met his match: Canadian officials have decided he isn't competent (or his Canadian-designed airplane isn't competent) to complete the last segment of his 'round the world flight.

The CH-701 isn't the problem. The design has proven itself capable of negotiating any air/ground/water combination there is. Mr. Lenarcic, a Slovenian GA pilot, has already shown that he can take off, navigate, and land safely; and that he has the good judgment to know when to fly, and when to wait things out. The route, designed to minimize bureaucrats' fears, comprises a minimal time over water. [The land over which Lenarcic planned to fly was probably at least as treacherous as more-southern water would have been. He picked that route to appease the officious, in the first place --ed.]

The whole sad tale is written in Lenarcic's well-done website. The ups and downs of his, and his team's, emotions are captured in a few excerpts:

"Slovenian CAA issued a letter of support for my project and I hoped that this document would help me already yesterday get the permit for crossing North Atlantic. The silence on the other side was telling me a lot but I didn’t got the message... I was quite sure that tomorrow I will be on my way again."

There was time to attend to some annoyances: "On Saturday morning Daniel finished works on my Rotax engine. He even discovered and eliminated the cause of odd engine vibrations. They were caused by improper angle of attack setting on one of the propeller blade."

Canadians, as Matevez found out, aren't at all like their ruling class: "Judith Cooper and Jack Brown, owners of Cooper Aviation treated me with some free gasoline for the trip back to Ottawa where nice good half an hour flight took me. Something is certain. French part of Canada is a different country. People here are warm and open. They are always prepared to help to the stranger. On my flight around the world I got to know so many 'great' and good individuals that they already justified it regardless of the final outcome of it."

No reasons -- just denial of previously-granted permission

"...Regardless of the fact that we were already notified on 24th of August 2001 that there are no reasons for not letting us fly over the North Atlantic due to the fact that our proposed route doesn’t qualify as a transoceanic flight and regardless of the fact that our CAA issued to us letter of guarantee on request of Transport Canada the answer we got was a negative one. This outcome surprised me totally because we fulfilled all the conditions that Canadian authorities set to us on the last official meeting where our ambassador Mrs. Veronika Stabej and Mr. Gregor Kozovinc from Slovenian side and Mr. Rosh from Canadian ministry of foreign affairs were also present."

There's more to consider, with Fall closing in: "Every day we lose puts the project closer to bad weather."

Hope even seemed a rational feeling, for a while: "Through Mr. Hunt from CAOPA they together put some pressure on Transport Canada. First results are here. There was quite positive article about Canadian bureaucratic problems on first pages of The Ottawa Citizen newspaper ["Red Tape Stalls Odyssey"].

There's a lot more riding on the flight than meets the bureaucrat's eye: "Up North the winter is knocking on the doors and as this wasn’t bad enough every day we lose costs us dearly. Until now we lost while waiting for papers in Russia and Canada more than $18,000. Responsible bureaucrats should think about the financial damage they inflicted with their deeds to us already."

There's still solace to be had, even if it is fleeting: "Thank God I am at least able to fly after all those negotiations and nervous waiting for the wrong answers. Hour of flying at sunset over the river Ottawa helps me to forget all the daily troubles."

Weather is here, and the bureaucratic fooling around continues: "The story is at the end. We could only hope for a miracle to happen." [We pray for a miracle, too; and we hope that your trip, a success as far as the 'flying' part went, will still bring you many pleasant memories --ed.]

FMI: www.worldtranssiberia.com/index1.php