10-Year-Old Pilot Hopes to Set Records on Cross-Country Hop
A 10-year-old pilot who has dreamed of flying since he was 4, said Saturday that he is “confident” about his planned cross-country flight, which he hopes will break speed and distance records.
Erik Feiderer, who began flying three months ago, is set to take off this morning from Vandenberg Air Force Base in a single-engine Cessna 210 on a three-stop transcontinental flight due to end Tuesday at Patrick Air Force Base near the Kennedy Space Center in Florida.
“I’m getting excited,” he said after practicing takeoffs and landings Saturday morning. “I’m confident that I can do it and I just hope and pray for safety. I’m ready for almost anything that could happen.”
Accompanied by an adult flight instructor, as required by federal regulations, and his mother, Air Force Col. Mary Feiderer, herself a student pilot, Erik plans to first fly north to Ft. Lewis, Wash., where he will stay overnight.
Weather permitting, he plans to leave early Monday for an expected 13-hour flight to McConnell Air Force Base near Wichita, Kan., from which he will take off for a flight to Miami International Airport, where he hopes to touch down Tuesday afternoon.
The last leg of his planned trip is a short flight to Patrick AFB.
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