WE Expedition: Circumnavigation of the earth

Around the world in 100 days!

Do you know about the Jules Verne's 1872 adventure novel 'Around the world in 80 days'? If yes, then you probably know how cool circumnavigation is. Oxford dictionary defines circumnavigation as The action or process of sailing or otherwise traveling all the way around something, especially the world. Travelling all around the earth isn't that exciting? (Unless you are the moon, then that's usual thing, Lame joke!) In the Jules Verne's novel, Englishman Phileas Fogg with his servant Passepartout uses various transportations to accomplish the circumnavigation. In 2004, Movie of the same name as the novel was made, directed by Frank Coraci.
This was complete fictional though! 

But there are few successful circumnavigations in the real world.

World's first Circumnavigation of the Earth

The Magellan–Elcano circumnavigation was the first circumnavigation. It was a Spanish expedition under the command of Ferdinand Magellan that sailed from Seville in 1519. They left Spain on 20th September 1519 with 5 Ships and 270 men. They traveled from Spain to East Asia through the Americas and across the Pacific Ocean. This trip was concluded by  Juan Sebastián Elcano after the death of Ferdinand Magellan at Philippine. At the end of the circumnavigation, Juan Sebastián Elcano returned Spain with only 1 ship and 18 men on 6th September 1522. 

As Aircraft Nerds, we are more interested in aerial circumnavigation, aren't we?

World's first Aerial circumnavigation of the Earth

Douglas World Cruiser Aircraft Chicago

In 1924, The team of aviators of the United States Army Air Service (United States Air Force) conducted the first aerial circumnavigation of the world. In this trip, they covered 27,553 miles (44,342 km) in 175 days. 4 Douglas World Cruiser aircraft named Seattle, Chicago, Boston, and New Orleans left Santa Monica, California for circumnavigation on 4 April 1924. Douglas World Cruiser was modified version of DT Torpedo Bomber. 

Lucky Lady II - Non-Stop circumnavigation

Not amazed yet? So, here is the exciting info. Lucky Lady II USAF Boeing B-50 Superfortress is the first aircraft to circumnavigate around the earth Non-Stop. In 1949, it was supported by in-flight refueling. The flight lasted for 94 hours and 1 minute. 

Enough talking about the past. Now, let's talk about Indian mother-daughter duo who is going to create history in the circumnavigation of the earth. They have named their this journey around the world as WE Expedition.

WE Expedition!

What is 'WE'? 'WE' stands for Women Empower. WE is a movement which will inspire women & girls all over the world and help them to grow. WE expedition is the world’s first circumnavigation by an Indian women pilot in a motorglider. 

India’s daughters Keithair Misquitta (Age 23) and Aarohi Pandit (Age 22), are all set to go around the globe with microlight motor glider Mahi (which means Great Planet Earth in Sanskrit)! Actually, Mahi is Sinus 912, two-seat, ultra-light, high-wing, cantilever monoplane developed by Pipistrel with the wingspan of 14.97 m (49 ft 1 in) and max. take-off weight of 544 kg (1,200 lb). It is powered by Rotax 912UL, 4-cylinder liquid cooled engine. 

Sinus 912

WE Expedition is a 100 days long journey. Young women duo will cover 40,000kms touching 3 continents.

According to the official website of 'WEfly', World records set by this WE Expedition are as follow:

• A World Record for the first motorglider circumnavigation by a woman
• World First for an all-woman, non-commercial, civilian expedition
• The First motorglider circumnavigation by an Indian pilot, man or woman

The special thing about this journey is it will not only create multiple World Records but also it will motivate woman across the globe. Fund collected by this journey (WE Udaan Scholarship) will help deserving girls across various cities and towns in India to enroll in aviation training.

Track their expedition here: http://wefly.org.in/where-is-we/

More Details!

To get detailed information about WE Expedition you can visit their official website

http://wefly.org.in

This article is a small attempt to support WE Expedition. We wish WE Expedition to be a great success. You can support WE Expedition by contributing to WE Udaan Scholarship. Click on the link below to contribute to WE Udaan Scholarship

http://wefly.org.in/the-we-udaan-scholarship/

Thanks for reading!