By Barbara A. Schmitz
As soon as EAA AirVenture Oshkosh 2024 was over, Daniel Giuliani and his son Valentino decided they would come back in 2025. But for the first time, they would fly in their own aircraft from Rafaela, Argentina, to the United States.
The two did just that, arriving in Oshkosh on July 19 and camping under their tent. Valentino said the trip was so much fun that they have already decided to do it again next year.
Planning for the trip started almost as soon as they returned home in 2024, he said. They had to figure out their route, determine fuel stops and which countries were safe to fly in, come up with emergency plans and more. They made no changes to their airplane, which has a Rotax 912 ULS 100-hp engine and Garmin Avionics. But they did bring a life raft and flotation devices since they flew over water for 18 hours with three stops in between, he said.
They departed their home in Argentina on June 30, flying about 5 hours a day and arriving in Florida in eight days. The two then spent about two weeks flying around the United States. They flew to Minnesota for a wedding and to New York to fly the Hudson River and over the Statue of Liberty.
“My dad has been to AirVenture about 10 times, and this is my fifth trip,” Valentino said. “I love the air show and Oshkosh. Flying here in our own plane has been a dream since I was a kid. It was my dad’s dream, too.”
Daniel, 54, is a CFI who has been flying about 30 years and has logged about 2,150 hours in the air, while Valentino, 21, is a private pilot who has been flying for about 3 years and logged 500 hours.
They flew over the Amazon in Brazil. “There were 4 hours with no radio communication, and no roads or cities,” he said.
They ran into some storms and heavy winds, and their longest leg of the flight was 6.2 hours from St. Martin to the Bahamas.
Yet they didn’t have any mechanical issues. The hardest thing about the trip was the paperwork in Brazil, Valentino said, as well as the storms they encountered.
“The trip was an amazing experience,” Valentino said. “We met new friends in every country we stopped. People were friendly and wanted to help us with everything we needed. In many places people even gave us gifts, such as a T-shirt or mug.”
By the time they get back home, they will have flown approximately 14,000 nm and used about 635 gallons of fuel, Valentino said.
One thing Valentino said he learned from this trip is to be more meticulous about the weather and thus, better prepared for it. “We had to deviate our route, but we were never grounded due to the weather,” he said.
They plan to depart Wittman Regional Airport today and should arrive back home about Aug. 15.