Michel has begun one of the most dangerous legs of this flight – to cross the Atlantic Ocean! At 0700 Sky Polaris time, Michel departed Dakar, Senegal en route to Natal, Brazil. Even though it is an enormous distance, it is still the shortest route between the African and South American Continents.

Who among us would attempt to fly an experimental airplane that we built with our own hands 3010 kilometers, 1800 miles across the Atlantic Ocean? A 13 hour flight where anything could go wrong. Unforeseen problems such as mechanical or electronic failure, violent weather, even health problems are all things that prevent even the most experience pilots to avoid this feat of airman-ship.  Yes, airliners do this routinely, however the airplanes fly themselves while the pilots lean back, sip coffee, and talk about their golf game. Not so with this flight. For 13 grueling hours Michel will hand-fly his RV-8 that he has designed and built so well. An RV-8 with an endurance like no other RV-8. He will have to correct heading, altitude, attitude, wing leveling every few seconds, not to mention fuel control, communications, and keeping himself hydrated, fed AND take care of other body functions.

Please track the flight along with Michel by clicking on the Flight Tracking menu above, or clicking HERE

UPDATE: The tracking shows that as of 8:30am Sky Polaris time, the aircraft was on the runway in Dakar going 140 mph, however there is no data after that, even 45 minutes later. This indicates that the plane was departing. But we will keep tracking to see if the GPS updates us with another location point.