7,870 km, 27.5 flight hours, 5,000 m altitude, four days in a very small space: Martin Scherer, chief pilot of the Wiener Neustadt-based aircraft manufacturing company Diamond Aircraft, and reporter Elias Zindal crossed the Atlantic together in a small propeller plane. The aircraft was to be brought from Lower Austria to its buyers in Canada. The adventurous journey took him from Wiener Neustadt across the Atlantic to London in Canada.

“It was definitely an experience that I will never forget for the rest of my life,” Zindel said of the flight. Because he wasn’t aware of what he had gotten himself into from the start: “It didn’t dawn on me how long we’d be together in a small space until we flew away. You just can’t get off.”

However, the summary that the Waldviertel natives receive after a four-day visit is consistently positive. Apart from the adventurous nature and the vast network of small airports around the world, he was particularly imbued with a sense of freedom, but also a sense of community.

“And of course the beautiful landscape,” Ziedl says. Due to the relatively low flight altitude and speed, it was possible to see and admire various areas during the flight. “Also, when you move so slowly with the sun, you lose track of time. You run out of time and space”.

“The Horizon Is Open”

In addition to impressions and photographs from dizzying heights, Zindel was also able to take a few things with him, namely “There are a lot more people, things, jobs and things than you think. You think everything you do.” But it’s not true. And even if it sounds strange: the horizon has opened,” the reporter reported in an interview with NÖN. “And: I have experienced the best of things in those places where I was afraid and dared,” he concluded.

There was no shortage of thrill in flight. Above the sea between Iceland and Greenland, Zeindl almost lost consciousness: at an altitude of 5,000 meters, there is only half the amount of oxygen on land. To compensate, the pilot and passenger had to rely on their oxygen cannula, which resembles wearing a prosthetic mustache. However, Scherrer and Zeindl were also able to master this challenge together.

four-part documentary series

Ferry pilot Martin Scherer and reporter Elias Zindel discuss and experience what else on their trip, where to go to the toilet in such a tiny propeller and how to react when the flight system suddenly signals an open door at an altitude of 5,000 meters – That’s it, it can be seen from Tuesday, April 26 through Friday, April 29, at 6:05 pm on “Serve M Abend”.