Tue, Oct 18, 2011
'Faceless Pen Pushers' In Russia Blamed For Latest Delay
Adventurer Norman Surplus has been delayed for another winter in
his quest to become the first person to circumnavigate the globe in
an autogyro. He's conceded the need to park his yellow AutoGyro
MT03, G-YROX, in Japan to wait for the late arctic spring to arrive
again before crossing the Bering Straits to Alaska.
Surplus, a colon cancer survivor who set out in March of 2010
from Larne, Ireland to make his assault on one of the last
unclaimed circumnavigation feats in aviation while promoting cancer
awareness, had most of the necessary permissions lined up to
complete the trip last year. But he was caught in a high density
altitude situation which forced a ditching in a lake on takeoff one
day in the Philippines, and while the machine was quickly fixed,
delays in repair approvals within the UK, where the machine is
registered, cost him the rest of the summer. He pickled the gyro
for the winter, and went home to Ireland.
This year, Japan proved an obstacle, because exemptions had to
be obtained to allow cross-country flight in a gyro. That was
overcome in part with the help of a letter writing campaign to
Japanese embassies by supporters worldwide. The next step was
traveling north along the eastern coast of Russia, which required
agreeing to carry a Russian-speaking guide in place of the ferry
tank, flying only in the daytime, and other restrictions to which
Surplus agreed. But this year, Team G-YROX says the Russians
revoked permission and demanded Surplus reapply, and months later
there has been no approval, or even a response. So the gyro is
again being pickled in Asia for the winter, this time at Shonai
Airport, Yamagata Prefecture, East Japan.
Surplus has been immersing himself in Japanese culture while
stranded in Japan waiting for the Russians to act, and even giving
presentations on his travels to Japanese students. He'll shortly be
headed home to Ireland for another winter. His team recently posted
on the official blog, "It is sad news that once again bureaucracy
has brought this magnificent adventure to a grinding halt. The fact
that our brave aviator is doing something unique and for such a
good cause seems to go over the heads of these faceless pen pushers
in so many countries, but they haven’t reckoned with the
tenacity of Norman Surplus."
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