The Sky’s No Limit

“Round The World Air Race  –  1994”
by Dave Weiman

PALM SPRINGS, CALIF. – You just never know who you are going to meet at the AOPA Aviation Summit. This year in Palm Springs, while having dinner with Harrison Ford (sitting at least four tables away) at the “A Night for Flight” charity gala, October 11, the gentlemen sitting to my right remarked that he had flown around the world in an A36 Beechcraft Bonanza.

Flying around the world takes a tremendous about of guts, preparation and money, but my first thought was “a lot of people have flown around the world, so what makes this flight so special?” But when the gentleman autographed a copy of his book for me,  – The Sky’s No Limit – he dared me to “Try It!” Considering he was 73 in 1994 when he made the flight, and is 91 today, his book quickly became a must read.

In 1994, Herbert Halperin set out on an around-the-world air race, flying through Morocco, Italy, Greece, Turkey, Syria, Jordan, Saudi Arabia, India, Thailand, Vietnam, Japan, Russia and Canada. The race was organized by the French company Arc en Ciel, and involved competitive participants from several countries flying a variety of aircraft. It began and ended in Montreal, Canada, and became more of an adventure than anyone imagined before they took off.

Halperin – an electrical engineer, inventor and businessman – and Dr. Wilfred Tashima – a surgeon from Hawaii – encountered problems that required all their skills and resourcefulness to overcome: a bird strike out of St. John’s, an instrument panel power failure in Istanbul, and a GPS software glitch while over the Atlantic.

Mother Nature also played an important role throughout the journey with impenetrable conditions, including electrical and dust storms, and severe icing. They had to do a little airway-control wrangling, and deal with politics and international relations in the air and on the ground.

The pilots overcame each problem, even falling behind at two points, and in the process, along with the other participants, experienced an adventure of a lifetime. When you read the book, you will feel like you are sitting in the right seat during the good times and the bad, like being faced with the threat of being shot down if they touched Bangladesh airspace.

The people they met on the ground were as diverse as the airspace they flew. They attended lavish receptions and witnessed poverty at its worst.

Halperin provides interesting insights into postwar Vietnam and a completely reconstructed Japan. Having traveled the world while serving in the armed forces during World War II, and his subsequent business career, Halperin provides interesting perspectives of “then” versus “now” for the many countries they visited or flew over.

I asked Herb if he would make the flight again: “Yes, with the right conditions. But, it would be much too strenuous at my age now, and the world’s political situation would make it far more difficult, dangerous and expensive.”

For a personally autographed, hardcover copy of the book, which includes 256 pages and over 90 photos, mail check or money order in the amount of $35.00 to:

Herbert H. Halperin
159 Madrid Avenue
Palm Desert, CA 92260
E-mail:  aiches3@aol.com

MORE ON HERBERT H. HALPERIN:
• Bachelor of Aeronautical Engineering, New York University, Class of 1942.
• Elected a “Fellow” in the American Institute of Aeronautics and Astronautics, 2001.
• Principal designer for development and testing of the new “Aeromatic” aircraft propeller. This Halperin did right out of college, as an engineer with the most unique situation of authoritative responsibility.
• Director of the Total Electronic Combat System for the Navy’s Spruance Class Destroyer. Halperin says that this was the most challenging and largest project he was involved with in scope and responsibility.
•  Overall configuration design and development of the Sparrow Air-to-Air Missile thru production.
•  Introduced and directed the first National Aeronautics & Space Administration (NASA) Program and Information Management System during NASA’s early years before its major growth.
• Director of the Northrop “Anti-Submarine Warfare Program” as base for overall Command and Control.
• Defined and developed the Strategic Defense Initiative Organization’s (SDIO) “Star War’s” HAVESTING miniature Kinetic Energy Interceptor Program.
• Consultant to Rockwell International during their acquisition and development of the Space Based Interceptor Program.
• Consultant to Hughes Aircraft on their Ground Based Interceptor (GBI) efforts.
• Introduced and conducted extensive briefings on a new concept for “Navy Theater Ballistic Missile Defense” – (NTBMD) to the U.S. Navy, leading to the final acceptance by the Chief of Naval Operations (CNO).
• Consultant to Boeing Space Systems after their acquisition of Rockwell International.
In addition, Halperin has hands-on foreign in-country business experience in Canada, United Kingdom, France, Holland, Germany, Sweden, Denmark, Spain, Brazil, Portugal, Switzerland, Monaco, Greece, Israel, Egypt, Iran, Singapore, Malaysia, Japan, South Korea, Italy, Taiwan, Hong Kong, Australia, Mexico, Venezuela, Argentina, and Peru.

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