A Liberian's solo flight across the Atlantic

DW (English)

Edith Kimani meets Liberian pilot Abner Yonly, who recently realized his lifelong dream of flying across the Atlantic Ocean with a single engine and no autopilot. His solo flight started from the US with stops in Greenland, Iceland and Europe before heading over to Liberia. He takes us on a spin over Liberia's capital, Monrovia.

Transcript

00:00 So, something interesting about young Liberians, they are actually still using Facebook.

00:05 Isn't that incredible?

00:06 And that's exactly where we found the story of Abner Yonli.

00:09 He's the one we are hoping to meet at the airport just now.

00:12 He's a Liberian based in the US, a pilot who has made an insane journey across the Atlantic

00:18 on a single engine plane.

00:20 Abner Yonli flew from Maryland, USA to Liberia.

00:24 He made several stops along the way including Canada, Greenland, Iceland, UK, France, Spain,

00:31 Morocco, Mauritania, Senegal and Sierra Leone.

00:35 Finally, on November 23rd, he arrived in Liberia where he was welcomed as a hero.

00:41 He touched down not too long ago and we can't wait to hear what inspires him

00:47 and why he even decided to do that.

00:49 Let's go!

00:51 We meet him and his fans at the old Monrovia airport.

00:55 An inspiration for young Liberians.

00:58 Is this him on the T-shirt?

01:01 Oh wow!

01:03 His fans have a gift for him.

01:05 I've been looking for you, but thank you so much.

01:07 A model of his aircraft.

01:09 Someone has to do something to inspire the younger guys around.

01:13 It's spinning.

01:15 The story of his journey has become a hot topic in Monrovia.

01:19 And by the way, did you have to fly alone the whole time?

01:21 I had to.

01:22 That must have been very lonely.

01:24 I mean, it's a passion, so it's not lonely. It's something I enjoy doing.

01:28 Yeah.

01:29 Okay, do you have a special name for your plane?

01:32 It's Fancy Nancy.

01:33 Fancy Nancy!

01:36 Oh, nice to meet you Fancy Nancy.

01:38 Fancy Nancy is a 1976 Beechcraft Sundowner

01:45 that cost him around $70,000 when he purchased it in 2001.

01:50 One of the most concerning aspects of his trip was the high cost of fuel.

02:01 The IT engineer had to make a few sacrifices to finance his journey.

02:08 I'm a motorsport kind of guy.

02:11 I love to go fast. I love riding motorcycles.

02:13 And I got this Nissan GT-R.

02:16 And I'm sitting looking at it, I'm like, "This is an expensive trip.

02:23 I got to sell this car."

02:25 It was the hardest thing to do.

02:27 This is my dream car. I can sell it, but then it can help build up another kid's dream.

02:32 I mean, it sounds to me like it's really important to you that you inspire people here

02:36 and you show them that it's possible.

02:38 Why is that?

02:39 In Africa, if we see good things taking place, it's in other countries.

02:45 And my mindset is we're capable as well.

02:49 From Liberia, we are capable people. We're able.

02:53 And we are smart people. We can make things happen.

02:57 Abner still has some fuel left and he offers me a special surprise.

03:03 We're about to go on our flight.

03:06 I started feeling a little bit uncomfortable.

03:08 Okay.

03:09 The cockpit feels exceptionally cramped.

03:16 The narrow ceiling, loud noises and numerous instruments

03:20 make it hard to believe that Abner travelled across three continents in this tiny cabin.

03:25 Wow, it's already so cold.

03:33 But the view outside is exceptional.

03:37 Did you get scared at any point?

03:39 I flew in temperature negative 12 degrees Fahrenheit and there was a wall of clouds.

03:47 I'm talking vertically like wall.

03:49 And I'm sitting there going like, "Oh, this is not good."

03:52 There's nothing you can do. You can turn around, mirror away.

03:55 You don't have that much view. So I just kept pushing.

03:58 Yeah. All right.

04:06 Thank you very much.

04:08 Woohoo! It's so beautiful up there.

04:12 I have to agree with you. Every Liberian definitely needs to see that.

04:16 And guys, I promise you, you will not appreciate this city from any better view than that.

04:23 I can tell.

04:25 Good. Okay. Maybe let's go grab a coffee now.

04:28 [Laughter]

04:29 [Music]

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