The world’s first father–son helicopter circumnavigation team is dropping by the Thompson Airport on July 31 as part of their world record 38,000-kilometre tour of the globe.
From July 1 to Aug. 6, the duo of Bob and Steven Dengler, along with fellow pilot Rob MacDuff, will visit more than 100 airports across 14 countries in a Bell 429 Global Ranger helicopter as part of the campaign titled “C150 Global Odyssey” (C150GO).
Outside of raising funds for charities like the Southlake Regional Health Centre Foundation and the True Patriot Love Foundation, C150GO media co-ordinator Alex Thomas said that the trip is meant to be a “celebration of Canadian history, technology, innovation, [and] aerospace” in the wake of the country’s 150 birthday.
Both Bob and Steven are no strangers to these concepts.
Bob is the founder of Dynatec Mining and recognized as a pioneer in the industry, while Steven made his mark as an entrepreneur who helped create the online currency authority XE.com. Both men are also proficient pilots, with Bob recently making a 4,400-nautical mile journey from Toronto to the northern part of Baffin Island in 2015.
With this adventurous mentality in mind, the team has already made a couple stops in famous Canadian historical spots like Confederation Bridge and the Alexander Graham Bell National Historical Site. However, Thomas said the team also aims to shine a light on Canada’s influence in an international context by visiting places such as the Vimy Ridge memorial in France and the Marconi Centre in England.
Ever since the C15GO team took off for the first time in Vaughan, Ontario on July 1, Thomas said the trip has been going very smoothly, although he admits that there are a couple unavoidable variables that have lead to minor delays.
”One of the biggest things that’s totally out of our control is the weather, especially in or around a lot of the coastlines, heading through the Maritimes, up through the Arctic, over to Greenland and Iceland,” he said.
Thankfully, Thomas said Bob and Steven are able to adjust to any possible delays, since they’ve been carefully planning this trip for years.
“The trip was planned in a way so that these guys could go from four to upwards of six, seven stops a day, not flying more than about two-and-half-hours at a time. Just based on distance, fuel, and [the fact that] they need to sleep at night.”
In the 10 days leading up to their visit to Thompson, Bob and Steven have to cover a lot of ground if they want to stay on schedule. Not only do they have to cross the Pacific Ocean (from Russia to Alaska), but they’re also tasked with traversing the entirety of Western Canada, including stops in the Yukon and Northwest Territories.
“They still got quite a ways to go,” said Thomas. “We’re touching all the provincial, territorial capitals across Canada, so it really is quite a significant trip.”
Baring any significant delays, the C150GO team will be stopping at the Thompson Airport between 2:30 p.m. and 3:30 p.m. on July 31.
