Gliding champion wants to fly around the world

For Czech pilot Hana Zejdova gliding is preferable to walking. She undertook her first solo flight at age 17 and today has 52 world records to her name. Constantly seeking new challenges in the sky, Hana is now dreaming of achieving the near-impossible - a flight around the world in a glider.

Gliding champion wants to fly around the world

Hana Zejdova, Photo: CTK

Hana for whom flying has been a passion ever since her pilot father first took her up in his plane, arrived at Wednesday's press conference radiating energy and enthusiasm. She unveiled her plan to the press, colleague pilots and flying enthusiasts appealing for sponsorship and support in what will be a costly international project, estimated at some 400 million crowns. The bulk of the money will go to financing the construction of a unique glider tailored for this particular mission. According to its designer, the plane will be two to three times bigger than a regular glider, equipped with technology to fly at a height of over 20,000 meters in temperatures reaching - 50 degrees Celsius at a maximum speed of 700 km per hour in jet streams. A solar engine should serve only in the event of an emergency. Hana, who plans to fly around the world with a woman co-pilot, says she is hoping to set the record for the 100th anniversary of the International Flying Federation -that's in 2005. In the meantime she has several "interim" records on her agenda such setting a record continental flight and then crossing the Atlantic. I asked Hana when we can expect to hear news of her next world record.

"You know, it is not easy to say in gliding because you can be in Australia all season and come back without a record or you can be there for three to six weeks and you come back with thirty records. It depends on the weather conditions. You must be there and you must be ready."

So you do a lot of waiting in between?

"Yes, gliding is waiting. That's true."

What was it like when you broke your first world record?

"It was great. It was the first world record after many, many years in our country and it was a great feeling."

What is it like up there - for you?

"It is a magic feeling. You know gliding is not only about achievements it is nice just to go up. Some people get on a plane and they go up and they don't have any special feeling. Everything below is very small and it is boring for them. For me flying is not boring. I feel as if it gives me wings. So it is special."

At present two other teams are trying to achieve the goal that Hana Zejdova has set herself. One is led by Steve Fosset, who recently flew around the world in a balloon, the other is a German glider pilot from Stuttgart. Hana says the competition is fierce - but that for her part she's ready to cooperate. This will not just be an individual's victory - it will be a victory for mankind, she told journalists in Prague.