Mission to Moscow : San Juan Capistrano Boy Hopes to Meet Gorbachev on Record Flight

In his fourth-grade classes at St. Margaret’s School in San Juan Capistrano, Tony Aliengena doodles pictures of airplanes and daydreams of faraway places.

When the Episcopalian school lets out for the summer, the doodles and daydreams will become real. Beginning June 5, Tony is set to fly around the world in his father’s single-engine plane.

In six weeks, the 10-year-old plans to pilot the Cessna 210 over the United States, across the North Atlantic, over Northern Europe and--the highlight of the journey--across the entire width of the Soviet Union.

Soviet officials last month granted permission for Tony, his family and a small entourage to fly across their country. It is the first time they have allowed such aerial access to foreigners.

After 14 stops in the Soviet Union--including Moscow, where he hopes to meet Mikhail S. Gorbachev--Tony intends to cross the Bering Strait and re-enter the United States through Alaska. From there his route will follow the Pacific coast back to John Wayne Airport in Orange County, his point of departure.

The larger goal of the global adventure is to enhance relations between the superpowers, said Tony’s father, Gary Aliengena, 39, a certified pilot who helped teach his son to fly.

Dubbed “Friendship Flight ‘89,” Tony’s plane will be carrying letters from American schoolchildren to their counterparts in the Soviet Union, as well as a “Friendship Scroll” signed by U.S. youngsters during the American leg of the journey.

“We want to make (the scroll) big,” Tony’s father said at his home. “We want a million signatures.”

After delivering the letters and scroll to Gorbachev, Tony intends to bring back letters from Soviet children and a friendship scroll signed by youngsters at stops in that country. Tony hopes to deliver those good-will messages to President Bush.

A shy, soft-spoken youngster, Tony does not like to talk about himself. Aside from his flying talent, there is little about Tony that distinguishes him from other children his age.

He plays Little League baseball. He plays football. And he likes building models and skateboarding. With his family, Tony also enjoys fishing, hunting and skiing trips. In the winter, the family spends many weekends at their cabin in the mountains of southern Utah.

It is his flying that sets Tony apart. He began learning at age 4. He became the youngest person ever to solo on March 13, 1988, by piloting an ultralight aircraft.

Tony’s next feat was to fly across the United States and break a record set by 10-year-old Eric Fiederer. Tony accomplished that goal in April, 1988, flying from Orange County to Bedford, Mass. He broke another record flying back, as the youngest pilot to have traversed the country in both directions.

The very day he returned home from that adventure, Tony announced that he wanted to fly around the world.

Aliengena, a real estate investor and longtime flying enthusiast, remembers shaking his head in doubt. After all, airsickness had plagued Tony on his U.S. flight, and he was only minimally trained in instrument flying, a necessity for a round-the-world flight through various weather patterns.

Aliengena did not say no. Instead, he presented this challenge to the youngster: “I said that if he could figure out a real good project, then we would support him.”

Tony did. In May, he wrote a letter to Gorbachev, proposing the idea of a friendship flight.

“I will try to learn some Russian words so I can talk to you if I meet you,” Tony said in the letter.

To show support for his son’s letter, Aliengena sent one of his own to the Soviet leader. In the letter, he implored Gorbachev to approve the trip, in part because, “I feel that the children of today are our leaders of tomorrow, and that if we can help bring the leaders of tomorrow closer today, we have accomplished a great deal.”

Tony got a reply to his letter nearly six months later, when the Foundation for Social Inventions--an arm of the Soviet newspaper Pravda--let the Aliengena family know that the Soviet Union supported the proposal.

“This project is of great interest and importance for us,” a letter from the Soviet foundation said.

In January, an exhilarated Aliengena flew to Moscow to work out details of the trip. Most importantly, he wanted to obtain permission to fly across the entire country, not just to Moscow, as the letter had stated. He noted that because the Cessna has a flight range of only 1,500 miles, it would be difficult--if not impossible--to fly it across the Pacific.

The only other way to fly round the world, he added, is to go over the Soviet Union.

After some bureaucratic delays, Aliengena finally met with Victor Shumsky, Soviet head of European-U.S. relations. In fluent English, Shumsky said: “We know who you are and we know about your son. You have our permission to proceed with this project.”

Article in Pravda

Aliengena flew home with the good news, proudly clutching a front-page article about him and his son that was published in Pravda during his visit. The article heaped praise on Tony, saying:

“Tony wants to bring letters from American children . . . many letters of friendship and trust, hope and concern. But, what is most important, he wants to bring greetings from a generation of Americans who will enter life in America tomorrow. It is for them that the summit meetings (between Ronald Reagan and Gorbachev) were held. . . . All of that is just the beginning for them. They will continue to do what we are doing now for the two countries.”

One of the Soviet officials who met with Aliengena went home to his 10-year-old son that night to say that he had met the father of “the famous” Tony Aliengena, Aliengena said.

When he heard of the Soviet boy’s excited reaction, Aliengena invited him to accompany Tony on the trip. The boy, Muscovite Roma Tcheremnykh, gladly accepted, and the two boys have become pen pals.

Back in San Juan Capistrano, Aliengena rallied the family to begin organizing the trip.

His wife, Susan, was placed in charge of obtaining Soviet visas for the Aliengena family and for the friends and reporters who will go along in a separate, twin-engine plane. In all, there will be 11 people along with Tony for the flight.

Their daughter, Alaina, 9, was put in charge of the friendship letters and scroll, collecting letters and signatures so she can help Tony present them to Gorbachev.

A family friend, Guy Murrel, a public relations executive, volunteered to help with publicity. Murrel soon began handling so many facets of the trip that Aliengena made him flight coordinator. As part of that job, Murrel runs a nonprofit organization set up in El Toro to help collect donations for the flight.

The flights of Tony’s plane and the twin-engine companion plane will cost an estimated $150,000. The Soviet government has already agreed to pay half the cost; Aliengena is raising donations to help with the rest.

With most of the details of the trip left to others, Aliengena and his son have time to concentrate on basics: namely, making sure that Tony can handle the plane through a wide variety of situations. To help do that, they practice at Oceanside Airport, where Aliengena’s Cessna is parked, at least twice a week.

Watching during one recent session was Ed Fernett, Tony’s former flight instructor, who will accompany the Friendship Flight as an observer for the National Aeronautics Assn., which verifies world records.

“It’s gonna be quite an adventure,” said Fernett, who also accompanied Tony on his cross-country flight. “He’s got his work cut out for him. But it’s do-able. He’s one fine pilot. He has some experience that some pilots don’t get for years.”

During the 1 1/2-hour practice flight, Aliengena was unrelenting as an instructor, watching Tony’s every move. Though this clearly rankled the young pilot--as was expressed in good-natured banter back and forth--Aliengena said it was necessary to keep Tony from becoming dangerously overconfident.

Lots of Training Sessions

At one point, Tony complained that his father’s instructions had contributed to one fairly rough landing.

“If you wouldn’t talk to me I could do it,” Tony said.

“I get nervous,” his father replied good-naturedly.

“Dad, can you just be quiet for one landing?” the boy asked.

“When you’re 16, I won’t talk,” Dad answered.

Father and son stopped bickering long enough to enjoy a sunset from their aerial vantage point.

“I wish we were going to Mexico fishing, Dad,” Tony said softly as the two took in the magnificent sight.

“Yeah, well, we just don’t have the time right now,” his father answered.