Monday, September 04, 2000, updated at 10:38(GMT+8)
Life
Chinese-piloted Plane to Circumnavigate Globe
After National Day on October 1, China will send the first Chinese-piloted plane around the world, something no Chinese has ever done.
According to a spokesman from the Beijing Aviation Association, which is sponsoring the flight, a Cessna 206 single engine plane will be used to go around the world. The plane, normally capable of carrying six people, will have the passenger seats replaced with fuel tanks to make the trip over the oceans. The pilots who will attempt the flight are Cai Yunfu and Zhang Yuanhong.
The flight is scheduled for mid-October. The pilots will take off from San Francisco and fly over the American, African, European and Asian continents. It will arrive in China in early November and stopover in Kunming, Beijing and Shanghai before passing through Hong Kong and Australia. It should arrive back in San Francisco in early December.