Recent media reports on sleeping air-traffic controllers in the USA has highlighted the effects of sleep-deprivation when controlling anything associated with aviation



Late last year a Flight Training Adelaide student pilot fell asleep while on a solo cross-country flight from Parafield to Mildura and return - controllers were able to 'awake' the sleeping pilot after he had passed overhead Parafield and was 12nm out over the sea heading for the Southern Ocean



The 'Middle Eastern' student was able to successfully return the SOCATA TB-10 Tobago which had been on autopilot back to Parafield

The owner of the Swiss designed and built Solar Impulse - a single-seat high-wing totally powered by sunlight flying machine - is planning an around-the-world-flight in about two years time



The aircraft recently completed it's first international flight from Payerne Airfield in Switzerland to Zaventem airport in Brussels reaching an average altitude of 6,000 ft during the 13-hour day/night flight covering the 630km distance an average speed of just under 50km/h

British microlight pilot and paraplegic Dave Sykes is on his way to OZ on an epic record attempting solo flight from York in England to Sydney Australia in a weight-shift control flexible-wing mini-aircraft to celebrate the 80 years since pioneering English aviator Amy Johnson became the first woman to fly solo to Australia in 1930 achieving worldwide recognition for her feat of daring and navigational skills



Amy was also honoured here in OZ by the issue of the No. 1 civil pilot's licence under Australia's 1921 Air Navigation Regulations