The Aviation Appreciation Dinner Hosted Pilot That Took A Bonanza Around The World

By Maria Morrison

On the second day of EAA’s AirVenture, the Ninety-Nines hosted their first annual Aviation Appreciation dinner for members of the organization. The event, which brought together over 160 women pilots and their supporters, was a huge success. It provided a time for guests to socialize with other women at Oshkosh, from mechanics to commercial pilots to aviation enthusiasts. International President Jan McKenzie was thrilled with the aviation community's response to the dinner, recalling that it was “great to intermingle with so many International as well as North American Ninety-Nines members,” and accredited some of the attraction to guest speaker Adrian Eichhorn.

Eichhorn flew his self-modified Bonanza solo around the world after four years of preparing both aircraft and pilot. Now flying for JetBlue, he started flying long-distance with a 2011 trip to Greenland, and soon after began planning his circumnavigation. He fixed his airplane to the highest standard, stating that “it needed to be perfect.” This included re-skinning parts of the airframe and rebuilding the landing gear and magnetos. He also installed an HF radio that was “absolutely 100% perfect all around the world.” New avionics equipment was supplied by Eichhorn’s sponsors, including Jeppeson, Lynx, and Whelen.

Equipped with 280 gallons of fuel, Eichhorn had a range of 23 hours. In the last two years of working on his airplane, Eichhorn started planning out his legs for the trip. His first factor when looking for airports was which ones had AvGas available. On some occasions, the fuel had to be shipped in at a high price. The second determinate for airports was which ones fell around the 1500 mile radius that Adrian had set out as ideal, since he was heading eastward and didn’t want to fly at night. With the help of General Aviation Support Egypt to file paperwork for going into different countries, Eichhorn was ready to depart from his home in Manassas, VA in April 2016.

Although Adrian was flying solo, he employed the help of two friends on the ground to plan the trip with him. “They gave the go, no-go decision for each leg,” Eichhorn explained. One of the men was in charge of advising Eichhorn on the weather, since advisory systems overseas are limited. The other, a longtime friend, looked out for Adrien’s health and mental state on each leg. This collective decision allowed Adrian to fly every part of his trip as planned, and never think of diverting.

After 21 days, Eichhorn landed in Nevada, having flown 23,000 miles. Adrien found that fatigue was not the great issue he thought it would be, since the fear of flying long distances over ocean, as well as constantly doing things like making position reports or balancing fuel, helped him stay awake while flying. “When you only have one engine, you’re constantly looking out for it.” He also walked away with a greater appreciation for this country’s dedication to General Aviation, since he didn’t see another GA airplane “from Germany to California...They don't have GA in other countries like we have here.”

FMI: flybluehorizons.com, www.ninety-nines.org