FOR IMMEDIATE
RELEASE
CROSS COUNTRY PRACTICE FLIGHT
COMPLETE
 Wednesday, February 13, 2008— Adele Schneidereit, the
woman who is working toward the goal of being the first
disabled person to fly around the world, has successfully
completed a practice flight across the United States and back.
Her goal in these flights is to raise worldwide awareness for
Cerebral Palsy.
Starting in California, Ms.
Schneidereit flew a Cessna 172 along the southern states to
the East Coast ending in Saint Petersburg, Florida. After a
brief rest, Ms. Schneidereit flew back, a forty-eight hour
flight in total.
Schneidereit chose the southern
route to avoid winter weather, but thunderstorms remained a
major difficulty nevertheless:
"At times I was
able to avoid the storms by flying behind them. I had to stop
in Mississippi and again in Alabama to wait out thunder and
lightning as an unusual summer type storm sped through the
southeast."
She also reported turbulence, a
minor mechanical problem, and the rising cost of fuel to be
slight difficulties:
"Over the radio,
the passenger jet pilots were complaining about turbulence,
trying to change altitude to keep out of it. There were times
I felt as if I were wrestling to keep the little plane
upright. When I leave for my around the world trip, I'll take
a bigger craft, one designed for these longer
flights.
I made an unplanned
landing in Texas to have the plane looked at by a mechanic. It
was night and the volt light kept flickering. I didn’t want to
lose electrical, especially at night. The next morning after
the mechanic looked the plane over, it had a loose fan belt
causing the alternator to slip and not produce enough
voltage.
I looked at the
morning local paper which read, ‘OIL REACHES $100 PER BARREL’.
The price of fuel had skyrocketed as I flew.
On the way home, I
hit wind sheer in Palm Springs and had to stop for two nights
before the wind sheer subsided enough for a small plane to
depart."
Was this a good practice flight
for your ultimate goal of your flight around the
world?
"Looking back on
it, I had a great time flying and I think learned much of what
I'll need to know for the global
flight." | 
