|
Updates
on Emmanuel Coindre |
|
ORS HQ, London. October 22, 2005 |
|
|
|
Chris Eisle, co-owner of
Bighorn
Airways Wyoming, told ORS today:
“Yesterday we dropped supplies to Emmanuelle Coindre. We made 2
trips from Newport Oregon; the first trip he got two of the
three boxes, and at least 1 of the boxes on the second trip”.
(scroll down for the chart) (scroll down to read the letter from
the pilot with the corrections of this statement)
The
reason the plane travelled from Wyoming to make the drop is
because in order to drop packages from a plane into the sea the
plane must be approved. The
Dornier 228 utility
plane owned by Bighorn Airways has such approval.
|
|
|
|
|
 |
|
|
|
Plane lands in
Newport on way to aid lone rowboat |
|
By Steve Card Of the
News-Times |
|
|
|
This
Dornier 228 utility plane made a stopover at the
Newport
Municipal Airport on Thursday to take on fuel and supplies as
part of an unusual mission at sea. The plane would soon be
dropping boxes into the ocean 500 miles
offshore, resupplying a Frenchman who
is on his way toward completing the first-ever, solo non-stop**
A "utility plane" made a stopover at the Newport Municipal
Airport on Thursday on its way to complete a rather unusual
mission 500 miles out to sea.
** -
this statement is not
correct. Gerard d'Aboville was the first to row the Pacific
West-East solo non-stop in 1991. |
|
 |
Randy Leypoldt is
chief pilot for Bighorn Airways of Sheridan, Wyo. On Thursday
morning, he arrived on the Oregon coast in the company's Dornier
228 utility aircraft, which is mostly used to transport West
Yellowstone smokejumpers during the summer fire season.
Leypoldt had made the stop in Newport to take on fuel and
supplies. And before loading those supplies on the plane, they
were wrapped in multiple layers of bubble wrap and then stuffed
into cardboard boxes with more bubble wrap, to make sure they
would float. In a couple of hours, Leypoldt would be flying 500
miles offshore so a crew member aboard the plane could dump
these boxes into the ocean. |
The purpose of this excursion was to
resupply Emmanuel Coindre, the French sailor who is on a journey
to row a boat from Japan to San Francisco. Coindre has
previously completed five Atlantic crossings in a rowboat [
not correct: four in a rowboat and one in a hydrocycle -
edit.] , and
he set out in June on the first-ever**
[see editor's note above], solo non-stop rowboat
voyage across the Pacific Ocean.
Coindre, 32, will be rowing nearly 5,600 miles in 100 days.
Prior to his departure, he estimated he would have to row about
three million times in his 21-foot, high-tech rowboat before
reaching his destination.
Leypoldt said Thursday his role in Coindre's odyssey is limited
to this one-time drop of supplies. In fact, Leypoldt knew
nothing of Coindre's trip before 4 p.m. Wednesday when told of
his assignment.
The Dornier 228 is ideally suited for this type of work. It has
large fuel tanks, giving it an extremely long range - about
seven hours. The plane is capable of landing and taking off on
short airstrips, and it can fly at fairly low airspeeds.
The drop itself, said Leypoldt, involves slowing the plane to
around 90 knots (slightly more than 100 miles per hour) and
dropping the boxes from an altitude of about 150 feet. The rest
is up to Coindre, he said.
After the supply drop, Leypoldt said he would probably return to
Newport to spend the night - then it will be back to Sheridan to
await the next assignment. |
|
 |
|
|
 |
|
|
|
