Lawyer on course for flight record

Chen Jingxian bids to become first female Chinese pilot to fly around the world

Not everybody gets to fulfill their dreams, but 31-year-old Chen Jingxian, a lawyer from a small town in Sichuan province, is well on the way to living hers - to be the first Chinese woman to fly around the world.

To make the dream sweeter, Chen is aiming to win a prize of 1 million yuan ($150,700; 134,700 euros) for a circumnavigation by a female Chinese pilot.

Following in the footsteps of many famous pilots, Chen departed Cleveland, Ohio, in a single-engine Beechcraft Bonanza A36 on Aug 1. She stopped in New York, Boston, Canada, Greenland and Iceland, finally reaching Paris.

There, she spoke to China Daily with her stuffed toy cat named Ebony, and her support crew, which is accompanying her on the plane.

After Paris, she plans to touch down in Spain, Italy, Greece and Egypt, traverse Saudi Arabia to Dubai, and hop from India through Thailand to China. She is still applying for permission to land in China, and after a brief stop in her homeland, she plans to head for Japan and Russia before re-entering the United States by way of Alaska.

That's some trip for a woman who had never been to a big city until she went to university in Beijing at the age of 18. There, she read Night Flight and Wind, Sand and Stars, classic books about aviation by legendary French pilot Antoine de Saint-Exupery, author of the novella The Little Prince.

"His experience made me want to know how to fly and what it's like to fly around the world," she says.

Chen estimates it will take 45 to 60 days to complete her journey, which she plans to do on a budget of $10,000. To make ends meet, she has borrowed money from family and friends. Chen, who jokingly describes herself as a "weekend pilot", is a corporate lawyer who divides her professional time between New York City and Shanghai.

In 2011, she left Beijing for New York to get a master's degree in law. There, she set about learning to fly on weekends, which required a bus journey of several hours to get out to an airfield.

With about 300 hours of flight time under her belt, one year ago she started approaching rental companies to get a plane. More than 20 rejection letters later, she received a more positive reply from Air Z Charter and T&G Flying Club, which are run by Richard Rohl.

"I was very skeptical about the letter Chen sent me at the beginning," Rohl recalls. "The reason I replied is although we receive many request letters, hers was the most unique."

He asked Amanda Lincoln, one of the club's student pilots, to meet with Chen. The school teacher hit it off with the Chinese lawyer immediately.

"From the first meeting, we connected because we share the same love for flying," Lincoln says. "Female pilots are rare commodities, not only in the US, but also internationally. She is legitimate, educated and determined.

"Chen is not only a role model to me, she is also setting a good standard for other women to recognize and respect for reaching out and achieving their highest dreams."

Lincoln was so impressed by Chen that she has joined her on the trip, taking care of media and administrative tasks.

The support crew flying in the plane with her also includes Rohl and his father, Larry, the founder of T&G Aviation School and a veteran pilot with 40,000 hours of flight amassed over 50 years.

Larry Rohl is the safety pilot, which means he is in charge of checking Chen's fuel and navigation calculations, while his son is the backup safety pilot, taking care of instrumentation and technical matters. Chen is doing the flying, but in case of an emergency, the Rohls will be on hand.

"Flying around the world is something that many pilots would like to do," says Larry Rohl. "My son and I had the same dream that one day we would fly around the world. However, like so many people, when you have a business, you don't have time to chase your dreams. Chen shook us and woke us up to fulfill our dreams."

The prize money was put up by Chen Wei, from the central city of Changsha in Hunan province, who became the first Chinese pilot to circumnavigate the globe in 2011. He flew a Socata single-engine turboprop 40,200 kilometers through 21 countries, stopping at 39 cities.

"Meeting a young woman like Chen, who is very personable and intelligent, and shares this same dream, was wonderful," Larry Rohl says. "She made me look back at myself when I was her age. It's nice that we can be part of that dream to be the first Chinese woman to fly around the world."

tuoyannan@chinadaily.com.cn

Firsts in around-the-world flight

1924 First to fly around world: Four Douglas World Cruiser aircraft with eight US crewmen set out from Seattle, Washington. Three of the aircraft completed the circuit in 175 days.

1933 First solo trip: Wiley Post from the United States took seven days, 18 hours to accomplish the feat.

1949 First nonstop: US Air Force team completes the circuit in 94 hours, one minute. Their plane was refueled in flight four times.

1964 First woman solo: Geraldine Mock became the first woman to fly solo around the world. Her single-engine Cessna 180 was called the Spirit of Columbus.

1986 First nonstop, non-refueling flight: Voyager, a lightweight aircraft with a front canard wing, was flown by Dick Rutan and Jeana Yeager. They made the trip in nine days, three minutes, 44 seconds.

2011 First Chinese men's solo: Chen Wei from Changsha, Hunan province, became the first Chinese pilot to circumnavigate the globe in a Socata TBM 700 single-engine turboprop.

Source: idyouknow.com

(China Daily European Weekly 08/19/2016 page19)