It has been a few hectic days. At the moment we are busy programming the IndigoSat Aircraft Traffic system, and will test it fully tomorrow while flying around. The landing gear was altered and the new one has gone to spray-painting which we will have back tomorrow as well. Will keep you posted on any

Herewith are photos from our flying the past few days. No substantial problems have been identified. Jean d’Assonville said “I can’t believe it, she handles like an aerobatic machine, you’ve got to have her acrobatically certified.” Working currently on auto pilot, the propeller, and other increasingly finer considerations.

Due to delays in documentation and flight permits, Sling 002’s date of departure for Oshkosh has been set back to Thursday 16 July 2009. Departure will be at 10am from Springs Airfield.

Today was spent between more flights, double-checking the autopilot system, the new IndigoSat Aircraft tracking system and making appointments for all the inoculations we will need for the countries we are flying through. We should also be getting our new website-interface add-on which will enable all website visitors to get a live update via the

Test flight day is here! We are conducting the first test flights at lunch time, so hopefully by later this afternoon we will post some photos for you. Update: Absolute joy as the test flight went perfectly!

The operations have now been moved over to the airfield, and everyone have been burning the midnight oil to finalize the last bits of assembly. Though we were hoping to do the first test flights today already, the last phase of assembly and double-checking everything in the engine and avionics has pushed our test flight

The nose cowl has been painted. The team fitted the canopy last night, which works beautifully. The instruments are also all in, and we are preparing to move the aircraft to the airfield.

The team worked till late last night to fit the new canopy properly.

It has been a very busy few days for us. All the newly spray-painted sections of the aircraft arrived back, the static wing load test was completed without any hitch, and the airplane for the trip around the world is being assembled very quickly now.

Our route had to be changed en-route to Oshkosh. See The Route Page for more details. Our departure date has now also been brought forward a day to the 14th of July 2009.