CLARK FREEPORT, Pampanga, Philippines – A female pilot from China who dreams of becoming the first Chinese woman to fly solo around the world on a single-engine plane landed here last Wednesday for rest and refueling.
Officials of the Clark International Airport Corp. (CIAC) welcomed Julie Wang when she came out of the cockpit of a 6-cylinder, 310-horsepower Cirrus SR22 aircraft after a 10-hour flight from Guam.
Wang is a native of Dalian, China but moved to Florida in the US in 2010 where she got her flying license the following year.
“Wang, a Palm Beach, Florida-based flight instructor, aims to be the first Chinese woman to do a solo circumnavigation of the world piloting a single-engine aircraft. The journey will cover at least 23,000 nautical miles mostly over oceans,” a statement from CIAC said.
Flying from Florida, her first stop was Texas then San Francisco on her way to Hawaii. From Hawaii, she flew to Guam before landing here.
CIAC said Wang would cover a total of 17 stops and travel over 26,000 miles, 23,000 of those over water, before returning to her home in West Palm Beach.
Her journey would take 35 to 50 days.
Wang said she hopes to influence other women pilots. “I would be really happy to do that,” she said.
Wang’s passion for flight started in China, where she was born. Both of her parents were aerospace professors at Harbin Institute of Technology in China.
Wang and her husband moved to Florida in 2010 and met Wei Chen, a Chinese pilot who flew around the world in 69 days and inspired her to undertake her solo flight.
“I have snacks that I will eat every hour and drink a lot. I will avoid any coffee and chocolate, that can make me [tired],” she said.
Wang said she has a satellite phone so she could talk to friends and family along the way. But her plane does not have a parachute.
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