Past District Governor and Iowa City Noon Rotarian, John Ockenfels and Cedar Rapids Rotarian, Peter Teahen, are preparing to fly around the world to raise awareness of Rotary's campaign to achieve a polio-free world. Their goal is to fly eastward from Cedar Rapids, raising money and awareness around the world to for Rotary International's 2 for 1 dollar match from the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation.  Their goal, with the match, is to raise $1million.

 

Their plan is to leave on March 24th and the trip will take them 7 weeks, 135 flight hours and 19,601 miles.   The cruising speed of their six-cylinder, 300 horsepower, single-engine, six-passenger Piper Lance II will be 171 mph.   The plane will burn 16.5 gallons of fuel per hour.   Besides the 94 gallons in each wing, the seats behind the front row will be removed to make way for a 165-gallon reserve tank, as well as luggage and supplies.  They plan to drink only enough liquid to stay hydrated and eat very few solids to keep their inflight, in place toilet needs to a minimum, relying on disposable, environmentally correct bags in their confined space. When flying over water, they will wear a special kind of wet suit that will keep them warm in case of an emergency water landing and will have a life raft on board if they need it.  Each day's flight will end at an airport that allows them to refuel and leave the craft overnight but finding these airports has been difficult since most will be outside the United States.  Weather, changing time zones, airport hours of operation, and visas, all have to be taken into consideration. 

 

For more details on their flight, check out the article in the Des Moines register on Janaury 6, 2020 on page 7A.