His flight ended about 15 feet directly in front of me. Was closest person at his finish.
Video at end of flight in Memphis. Download and click on photo for video.
While shopping at a Memphis Walmart in 2011 I ran into old friend Jon Thompson. He
informed me that he was organizing a WELCOME HOME for a Chinese pilot completing
his round-the-world flight. He invited me to the event to be held at Wilson Air
Center at Memphis International Airport in a few of days.
I invited friend Jim Briske to come along. We cruised over to the event in my
VW Beetle with convertible top down. The event was to be held in the airplane
hangar at Wilson Air Center, and it was all decorated with flags of nations that
Wei passed through on his flight and other memorabilia. We talked to our old
running friend, Joe Birch, who was there with a filming crew for NBC Channel 5
TV.
Jon told us the taxi route Wei would take upon landing. Our view was obstructed
after his plane landed. We kept looking in the area where he was supposed to
be. All of a sudden we heard his plane’s engine in another direction. He was
just approaching the streaming water of the fire truck salute. We started
snapping pictures, and I took a video of the water salute and of Wei taxing to
the hanger which was about 45 seconds long. His plane came to a stop about 15
feet directly in front of me. After flying around the world, it was a thrill to
be so close to the finish of a historic flight.
Wei was the first Chinese to complete a round-the-world flight in a single-engine
turboprop aircraft. He had millions of followers (mainly Chinese) on Social Media
during the 69-day trip. He was the only private pilot ever allowed to land at
the Beijing Capital International Airport as special permission had to be
granted.
We were required to stand just inside the airplane hangar. Jim Briske was standing on my right side and next to him was a Commercial Appeal news reporter. He overheard Jim say, “ I think I see him.” He later asked Jim for his name and other information. The next day on the front page of the Commercial Appeal newspaper it mentioned Jim and his comment.
There were speeches by Jon and dignitaries including a couple of pilots who made the flight many years ago. Wei gave a long talk about his flight. An automobile company presented Wei with a new SUV vehicle.
MEMPHIS Newspaper – On May 22, 2011, 39-year-old Wei Chen left Memphis, Tennessee, on a historic flight. He was going to attempt to fly around the world in a single-engine turboprop airplane, a Socata TBM 700A, that he choose mainly because it flies on jet fuel, the only aviation fuel available at many major airports around the world. 69 days later, Wei landed safely last Friday, July 29, 2011, at Memphis International Airport, parking his airplane right next to the busy FedEx Global Hub, where FedEx's MD-11s were taxiing in.
When Wei's airplane engine stopped in front of a cheering “welcome home” crowd, he had fulfilled his lifelong dream. Wei successfully flew around the world, piloting his airplane over 25,000 miles to 21 countries and visiting 40 cities. He was also the first private pilot approved to fly across China in a General Aviation airplane and the first Chinese pilot in a single-engine airplane authorized to land at the Beijing Capital International Airport .
The flight raised money for St. Jude
Children's Research Hospital, and Chen in December 2013 released a book about
the flight, "Around the World in 69 Days."
I have video of flight taxing and passing under water spray salute and coming to a stop in front of me.
Wei Chen was killed along with 3 others on December 20, 2018, when the Cessna
560 jet he was piloting crashed near Atlanta, GA. There was no co-pilot and
some think he might have had vertigo when climbing into an 800-ft. ceiling.