Fly4Fun

Fleury reports one more World wide record

"At the begining of the year I noticed an alteration in the weather in the Northeast region and I was quite disappointed going to Patu, thinking that we could get a very bad flight condition. This feeling of non security plus the unorganized calendar of The Brazilian Championship make us change the date to start The Northeast Expedition many times. So, we decided go in a small group of pilots to test Prymus 2 (DHV 1), Eclipse 2 (DHV 2-3) and Dynamic AR-F.

On the 12th September Ceceu, Fernando and I left Sao Paulo and head to Recife, where we met Dio, who took us to the Northeast. In the plane as in the car when we were getting to the northeast desert, we noticed cirrus clouds in the sky. Days were cold and we wondered if would be worth we be there. We prepared the equipment and started test it and regulate it. We flew every day, taking off early and flying at maximum 110km until the Mountain that separates Ceara from Rio Grande do Norte. When we got there if the condition was good we went ahead or we landed before cross the Mountain to make easy the rescue and reduce the physical tiredness.

The forecast usually did not get right and every day the wind radically changed, sometimes it was lateral and sometimes it was on our back. It was this way for a week. We slept and wake up early, we did eat well and study the forecast but we did not participate in the events of the city. We were just focused and get prepared to the right day. The days were getting hot and on the 17 th Ceceu and I decided to fly although the wind was blowing in another direction. There were few clouds and the condition was turbulent, but we though it would be all right.

We thought that the turbulence would be local, but it lasted for 8 hours and 20 minutes of flight. It was hard during the flight and we were physically and mentally exhausted. Ceceu and I looked at each other, wishing that the other give up in order to land, but no one did it so we went until we could and when we landed we could not stand up because our legs were shaking. Ceceu took of his helmet during the flight because his neck could not hold anymore its weight. In that day I flew 300km and Ceceu did 302km.

We were really tired for about three days and we lost the classical day on the 19 th , with perfect clouds and wind on our back. We returned to our routine of tests and flights of 100km for more one week when on the 26 th the sky was perfectly blue without clouds and wind. We went up a little upset and just stayed there when suddenly started a classical formation and very fast. Ceceu was already ready and he was faster than I and took off first. I managed to take off after many attempts. Although it was just test flights we were always prepared for a possible record flight. We filled up the FAI Declared Goal, prepared a GPS route, camera to film it and leave. This was our daily ritual.

Up there the visibility was bad and we could not see us in flight. We started forcing into a parallel route in order to get out from a huge dam that influenced the formation due the high relative umidity caused by it in the local atmosphere. We wasted time and we did not manage to avoided it. We ended above it and went to the ground, I mean, to the water. Some how I managed over the water and Ceceu made a sub aqueous flight. It was amazing!!

Although there was much umidity in the air, the formation disapeared and the sky was blue for 120km. In this part I saw Ceceu twice with a thermal forward but he went through another one and I followed through the one was coming. We were in trouble in a Mountain without possibility to land or access to rescue. I went to the ground without landing there. If I had done I still would be there trapped. I managed in a small dry dam which was near the Declared Goal only 58 Km to go. I went up to the base and I heard in the radio that Ceceu was getting into his Declared Goal of 333 km in the border of the cities Independencia and Crateus. The Declared Goal Worldwide Record have been broken!

At this point I was 23km away from my Declared Goal but out of formation. With the wind in my back and a good high I decided to risk and went directly to my Goal. The amazing gliding with Dynamic AR-F made me get to the limit and I reached the city in a very low flight. Still 3km to go to the goal and I could not give up. Then I decided to land in roof in case it would be necessary but I would break the record. I landed in an uncultivated land and I broke the Declared Goal worldwide Record with 355km. When I looked up I saw Ceceu passing above my head and landing with amazing 371km, the new Free Distance South American Record and the bigger landing in the Mountain in the world.

We returned to Patu in the following day full of joy after we collect the witnesses declarations of the landing and made a recognition of another mountain which separates Ceara from Piaui, where we will have to cross in order to break the 423km Free Distance Worldwide Record in the next flights. But the condition got worse in the following days so we went to the beach to fly to finalize the tests, film and take pictures. At the end we ate a delicious lobster to celebrate the breaking of the world wide record.