FRIENDSHIP FLIGHT: Tony Circles the Globe : Boy May Be at the Controls, Pilots Say, But He’s Got Help

Although the round-the-world flight of 11-year-old Tony Aliengena may appear to be the stuff of high adventure, aviation experts see it more as an affirmation of the advanced state of modern aviation than the marvel of a boy wonder.

“Any 10-year-old could do this without any training whatsoever,” said Philip Lesch, 30, a flight instructor at Martin Aviation at Orange County’s John Wayne Airport. “This is a great experience for Tony, but he’s really not flying that plane.”

Tony, a San Juan Capistrano fourth-grader, is now flying across Soviet Asia in his quest to become, according to the Guinness Book of World Records, the youngest person to circumnavigate the globe by air.

The trip, dubbed Friendship Flight, began June 5 in Orange County and is to cover about 17,000 miles. A highlight came in Moscow last week when Tony presented Soviet officials with a friendship scroll signed by thousands of U.S. schoolchildren. On Sunday, Tony was passing over the Ural Mountains from Kuibyshev to Tumen, 700 miles into Siberia.

The man who conceived of the trip, Tony’s father, Gary Aliengena, is a licensed pilot. When they are airborne in their Cessna Centurion 210, Aliengena sits at Tony’s side at all times, giving the boy the benefit of his years of flying experience, much as he did last year when Tony became the youngest person to fly across the United States. Aliengena also performs the bulk of the other duties required for such an inter-continental air trip.

Official Observer

Also on board is Gunter Hagen, 58, a retired physicist from Malibu who is serving as an official observer for the National Aeronautic Assn., the U.S. body that sanctions all claims for world and national aviation records. It is up to Hagen to verify that Tony remains at the controls of the craft throughout the trip.

In addition, a chase plane carrying reporters and a film crew is tailing the Cessna. The pilot of the chase plane remains in constant radio contact with Gary Aliengena, swapping information on weather conditions and navigation to make sure Tony remains on course.

While taking nothing away from the enthusiasm for what the boy is doing, Lesch and other pilots stressed that it is Tony’s father who is bearing the real headaches and logistical details that come with piloting a small plane around the world.

It is the father, they say, who is charged with charting the route, checking weather conditions and talking with air traffic controllers, and who gives the boy expert advice on handling the plane in difficult conditions.

“I don’t see Tony as the pilot,” Lesch said, echoing the view of other pilots interviewed. “It’s his father who talks to the controller, his father who makes all the flight plans. I see Tony there with his hands on the controls, that’s all. It’s like having a credit card and not being responsible for the charges.”

The key to flying a plane, Lesch said, “is not the ability to manipulate the controls but being able to accept responsibility and everything associated with the airplane. Who is watching the weather and reading the maps? Who is talking to the controllers and doing the weight and balance of the aircraft? Not Tony.”

At the same time, Lesch said, he too is “touched how this thing has affected some people, especially Tony’s friends. They are living the excitement of this flight vicariously. It’s really great for the kids.”

Gary Aliengena said in a recent interview that he saw nothing wrong with Tony’s not being involved in every aspect of the flight. Aliengena compared his role to that of a commercial airline co-pilot whose jobs is to prepare the flight for the pilot.

Aliengena emphasized that in the Cessna’s cockpit, it is Tony who makes all the critical decisions, such as whether to descend or ascend in bad weather.

Several times during the trip, Tony has described the flying itself as “boring,” and upon landing he has usually rushed off to eat something or watch cartoons while his father sets about the business of preparing the plane for the next day’s journey.

According to local pilots, it is this expertise and backup that is making the trip possible. The boy is taking but a minor role in guiding the craft through the skies, they say.

Jim Parsons, owner of Avantair, a charter service operating out of John Wayne Airport, compared Tony’s role in the flight to that of “a kid who does real well in a piano recital. But that doesn’t mean he can go to a symphony and sit down and pick up a piece of music and sight-read it. He just can’t do it without some help.”

“It would take one hell of a guy to do that sort of thing by himself,” Parsons said. “But here he is with people chasing him, with support equipment and a person riding in there on the right side. He isn’t really piloting that plane.”

“It’s a nice trip for the boy and I think it is great for him, but what he is doing is not a difficult chore,” said Gregory Wilcox, a charter pilot for Martin Aviation at John Wayne Airport who, like Tony, began flying with his father when he was just 4 years old. “My kid, or anybody’s kid, could do that.”

“There is nothing inherently dangerous about flying an airplane anywhere, anytime,” he added. “In many ways, it is easier than driving a car. In this case, Tony is just holding the wheel while somebody else does all the work.

“This is not Indiana Jones,” he added. “It is not dangerous.”

Tony’s journey is not without peril, however. Pilots who have been following the flight note that the Cessna 210, although it is a high-performance small aircraft, has a limited altitude and distance range, and in colder weather is prone to ice buildup on the wings. In Tony’s case, this was avoided on the North Atlantic crossing, for instance, with pre-flight planning to avoid storms and icy conditions.

The pilots also note that while the general public may see a Cessna’s crossing vast expanses of Siberia as hazardous, given the relative lack of sophistication of Soviet aviation, the journey will be made somewhat easier by the multitude of sophisticated and redundant navigational systems on the plane.

In fact, Tony will not be able to obtain his pilot’s license until he is 17, and on this around-the-world flight, his father is listed as the pilot of record.

Unlike those for driving, aviation regulations do not list a minimum age for a person to be allowed to begin flying. The only requirement is that a licensed pilot be at the controls. Although it is not a common practice, aviation sources said many licensed pilots introduce their children to flying at an early age, tutoring them on the intricacies of flying and allowing them to hold the controls. Tony himself was introduced to flying at the age of 4, sitting on his father’s lap as they traveled through the air.

To set his record as the youngest person to fly around the globe, Tony must perform all takeoffs and landings (although his father will be at his side to intervene in an emergency).

Flight instructors generally commend Tony’s ability in that regard, but they note that most flying students master landings and takeoffs in the first five hours of lessons.

Still, the flight has caught the imagination of many people, among them corporate pilot Joe McElroy, who flies for a small Orange County computer company.

“I flew airport transports across the Atlantic in World War II, and I can tell you it can get hairy out there,” said McElroy, 52, a Fountain Valley resident. But, he added, “Tony doesn’t need to know everything you need to know because of his father. Tony is just doing the driving.”

To Vi Smith, author of “From Jennies to Jets, the Aviation History of Orange County,” the journey has been something “that I have followed every day. It takes me back to the days of Lindbergh, it’s just so exciting. Everyone is wishing the boy well.”

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