This news story was originally published in The Catholic Herald.
A Catholic family of adventurers has set a new world record for the longest solar-powered flight by electric paramotor. Along with a group of friends the Cardozo family spent 15 days flying from Monte Carlo to Morocco, a distance of around 1,250 miles. The adventure was led by renowned inventor Gilo Cardozo, the creator of the paramotor that TV hard man Bear Grylls flew over the summit of Mount Everest with last year.
Paramotors are powered by large fans attached to a paraglider wing and are notoriously difficult to fly. The team flew three of the machines with a team of nine pilots taking turns. They covered an average of 130 miles a day flying at altitudes of up to 5,000 feet.
The aim of the Mediterranean journey was to raise awareness of ataxia, a debilitating condition which affects part of the nervous system that normally controls co-ordination and balance. Damian Cardozo and his wife Madeleine, from Mere, Wiltshire, have been fund-raisers for the charity Ataxia UK after three of their six children were diagnosed with the condition. The trip has so far raised nearly £10,000 for the charity.
Ataxia UK funds research to improve diagnosis and find treatments for the condition. There are even hopes that gene therapy could lead to a cure after recent breakthroughs. After travelling along the coasts of France and Spain, the paramotor pilots crossed the Straits of Gibraltar, arriving in Morocco at dawn on a cloudless day.
The flying team included Gilo Cardozo, 30, his brothers Cosmo, 25, and Damian, 39, along with Damian’s daughter, Tilly, 17, and five other pilots, while a support team followed on the ground. A van with solar panels on the roof was used to charge the electric paramotor— while the other two machines used bioethanol.
Cosmo said: “The flying conditions were often very difficult. Due to the weather, updrafts of hot air could put the pilots in great danger, particularly during landing. There were a lot of prayers said during the trip.
“We would fly very early in the morning before it began to get too hot and in 15 days had only two days off when flying was impossible.”
The journey included a number of failed launches and emergency landings. Irish Guards Officer Hugo Collis broke his foot when a piece off equipment got caught in the fan during take-off. But in spite of his injury he continued with the trip. “The weather for the crossing of the Straits of Gibraltar had to be perfect,” said Cosmo. “We had cousins following us in a boat and a GPS tracking system just in case one of the paramotors’ engines failed.”
The team was aware of an added danger during the crossing of the Straits as sharks had been spotted in the area.
Cosmo said: “At one point, the pilots could see dark shapes moving in the water, hundreds of feet beneath them. But they were amused to hear after landing that the boat team had enjoyed some quality dolphin-watching.”
Damian said: “When you are up there you feel a mixture of nerves looking down at the sea and thinking what would happen if your engine failed, and then a sublime happiness and peace. Each day was a new adventure and what we have done is a remarkable feat. It has been an amazing amount of fun. The last little bit over the Straits of Gibraltar was the most glorious flight. The weather was perfect.”
Sue Millman, chief executive of Ataxia UK, said: “We were delighted that the flight went so well and that the pilots touched down safely. As a smaller charity, Ataxia UK is so grateful for this boost to awareness of the condition- at present just seven per cent of people know about ataxia and this will help to change that figure. Funds raised will go to our specialist services and extensive programme of research into treatments and a cure for ataxia, which has recently seen some important breakthroughs. We’d like to thank the Cardozo family and friends for their dedication and ongoing support of Ataxia UK. It makes such a difference.”
The Next Post: Freedom is an illusion for many Muslim women - Britain is letting them down
The Previous Post: The London Paper: no great loss to the reader
1 trackbacks/pingbacks
You can follow any responses to this entry via its RSS comments feed. You may also leave a trackback by clicking this link.