Five Italian pilots on board two colourfully painted single-engine aircraft landed at Sharjah International Airport enroute from Rome to Tokyo to commemorate the historic air trip undertaken by World War I pilot Arturo Ferrarin in 1920. Aldo Volini, the Italian Consul in Dubai, said the adventure flight, called ‘On the Steps of Captain Ferrarin’, is aimed at keeping alive the memory of the great Italian pilot who embarked on his trip to show the world that planes were not used only for war, but could be a means of transport, connecting people of different countries. He said the five-member Italian team was once again demonstrating adventure skills, flying their small planes along the same route taken by Ferrarin 81 years ago. The pilots arrived from Riyadh, Saudi Arabia, flying their two four-seater SIAI-Marchetti S-205 aircraft that weigh 1,300 kilos and can travel at a speed of 110 knots an hour. They can fly at a maximum altitude of 7,000 feet.
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