After Antarctic facing flight over world’s highest mountain

Biologist, environmentalist and photographer-pilot Matevž Lenarčič has been travelling around the world for almost two months. He set off for his journey on 8 January with the Pipistrel ultra light plane, specifically adapted to sustain temperatures up to 50 degrees below zero. In mid February, he landed his plane successfully in the Antarctic.

He has put behind one of the most thrilling stages of his journey and he will have to overcome such large temperature swings once more, i.e. when he attempts to fly over Mount Everest, the highest mountain in the world. Coming back from the Antarctic, Lenarčič faced an extremely difficult flight over the Pacific Ocean, including several individual flights over 4,000 kilometres long without having a chance to land. Extreme distances and unpredictable weather over the Pacific represent the most gruelling test for Matevž and his plane, weighing merely 300 kilograms.

1 light aircraft – 290 kg, around the world – westbound, 6 equator crossings, over 80,000 kilometres, 7 continents, 120 National Parks, 3 Oceans, the Antarctic, Mt. Everest, minimum unleaded fuel, new aerial images… these represent some brief statistics of the flight.

The flight, its progress, thoughts and impressions of the pilot and photos can be seen here.

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