Boy, 10, Flying Over Rockies

A 10-year-old boy who hopes to set a new cross-country flight record for his age group took off Monday under gray skies to face his toughest challenge--the turbulent air over the Rockies.

Erik Feiderer, sitting on several pillows to help see through the window of his single-engine Cessna 210, left at about 7:20 a.m. from Ft. Lewis for McConnell Air Force Base near Wichita, Kan. Erik, the son of two Air Force officers, was accompanied by his mother, Air Force Col. Nancy Feiderer, and Daryle Crowder, his flight instructor. The trio began the cross-country trip Sunday morning from Vandenberg Air Force Base and stopped briefly in Klamath Falls, Ore., before resting overnight at Ft. Lewis.