Mark Stolzberg learned to fly while in the army, earning his license in 1968. Putting aside early ambitions of becoming a commercial pilot for a major airline, he decided to become a clinical psychologist. In 1972, he sadly decided that family and professional pressures were too great for him to continue flying. That was that. So be it. Until one day 30 years later, while out to breakfast at a local airport one Sunday morning, their three children pretty much on their own and professional pressures diminished, his wife Marilyn encouraged him to begin flying again.

On Wednesday, July 21, 2004 Mark, with Fred Coon of Victoria, Texas as his co-pilot, set the piston engine, under 1,000 kg. (2,205 pounds) Class East_West Transcontinental speed record in Mark’s Grumman AA5_B Tiger (N28786), flying over the JFK tower (the starting fix) at 1:58 A.M. local time, and crossing the Santa Ana, CA (SNA_John Wayne) tower at 9:39 P.M., local time. As required by National Aeronautic Association rules, starting and finishing points were confirmed by FAA radar.

The average speed, including time stopped for fuel, was 113.3 miles per hour. Not bad, considering significant head winds, two longer than planned fuel stops, diversions due to convective activity, and one diversion around a particularly high part of the Rockies due to poor visual conditions (setting sun through haze).

After passing over JFK tower (Mark made sure to fly over the Atlantic a bit on the way from ISP), Mark and Fred proceeded to Lima Allen County in Ohio (AOH), a total distance of 573 miles, arriving while it was still dark. Seven clicks of the PTT switch about 10 miles out made visual contact easy. Their next stop, 503 miles later, was Chillicothe Municipal in Missouri (CHT), where about 15 minutes was lost due to an empty fuel truck.

The next stop was La Junta Municipal in Colorado (LHX), 551 miles away. This portion of the trip was made more difficult by increased headwinds. Convective activity along a good portion of that route was only a minimal problem. Mark noted that "We were fortunate in that one of our sponsors, Control Vision, manufacturers of Anywhere Map, provided us with their only prototype Anywhere XM_WX, a satellite (XM) weather system so that we could actually see which areas of rain were safe to go through without fear of running into embedded thunderstorms. Thunderstorms were visible on the screen, but we stayed clear of them, while at the same time saving distance (and fuel) by not having to divert any more than necessary. Without the Anywhere Map XM weather system, there is no way we could have made it to LHX because we had only 7.2 usable gallons left when we landed, just a bit above required reserves."

The next stop was at Flagstaff, Arizona (FLG), elevation 7,011 feet (and hot), 495 miles away. A quick refueling and they were on their way, thankful that they were also fortunate to have a newly installed Power Flow Exhaust System (the other sponsor) to help them over the mountains that were ahead of them. Using runway 3, Mark noticed that there were three areas of rain on the Control Vision XM screen behind them. As they turned toward a more westerly heading, there they were __ three isolated areas of rain, just like those represented on the screen. They were coded green, with no lightning, so they went through the one that was lying across the planned course, giving the plane a 160 mph power washing. They came across the mountains facing the setting sun and hazy conditions, erring on the side of caution, diverting around areas with poor visibility.

Not long after sunset, they passed over the tower at Santa Anna (SNA), which was the final fix, following which Mark made sure to fly a bit over the Pacific _ likely the first time in North America that the Atlantic, then the Pacific were overflown by a pilot in a light plane (under 2,205 pounds) on the same day.

In 2003, Mark and Fred were likely the first to overfly the Pacific, then the Atlantic on the same day, when they set the West to East record in Fred’s Grumman AA5_A Cheetah. That record was listed first by the National Aeronautic Association among the eight most memorable aviation records set during the centennial year of aviation.

Fred took a commercial flight back home the following morning. The next day, Joe Gabriel, a friend of Mark’s who also owns a ‘78 Grumman Tiger home based at Islip, joined Mark in California. They began the return trip home about 6:30 the next morning stopping at Durango, Colorado (DRO), 617 miles distant, elevation 6,685 feet. After having spent the day at Durango, they left the next morning for Kansas City (MCI), 722 miles away.

Mark and Joe climbed to 15,500 feet, where fuel burn was slightly less than seven gallons per hour. After a stop for fuel, oxygen, and lunch, they left Kansas City, expecting weather to shorten the next leg, where they figured they would stay the night. Instead, they simply tapped the METAR box on the Anywhere Map XM screen, finding that Cleveland (CLE) was VFR and likely to stay that way. They also saw that the course to CLE was clear of convective activity, although some problems were building to the South and East. The decision was made to fly to Cleveland, 692 miles away, and then back home to Islip. Mark and Joe arrived at Islip in the early morning hours, tired, but with quite a few great memories.

Mark Stolzberg
markst1@verizon.net
(631) 751-4277