Richard Wiese (September 25, 1929 – September 18, 2021) was an American

aviator An aircraft pilot or aviator is a person who controls the flight of an aircraft by operating its Aircraft flight control system, directional flight controls. Some other aircrew, aircrew members, such as navigators or flight engineers, are al ...

. He entered the record books on August 14, 1959 when he became the first pilot to solo an airplane from east to west across the

Pacific Ocean The Pacific Ocean is the largest and deepest of Earth's five oceanic divisions. It extends from the Arctic Ocean in the north to the Southern Ocean (or, depending on definition, to Antarctica) in the south, and is bounded by the continen ...

. The route was from

San Francisco, California San Francisco (; Spanish for " Saint Francis"), officially the City and County of San Francisco, is the commercial, financial, and cultural center of Northern California. The city proper is the fourth most populous in California and 17th ...

Sydney, Australia Sydney ( ) is the capital city of the States and territories of Australia, state of New South Wales, and the most populous city in both Australia and List of cities in Oceania by population, Oceania. Located on Australia's east coast, the metro ...

. ''

The New York Times ''The New York Times'' (''the Times'', ''NYT'', or the Gray Lady) is a daily newspaper based in New York City with a worldwide readership reported in 2020 to comprise a declining 840,000 paid print subscribers, and a growing 6 million paid ...

'' (January 30, 1983) referred to him as the "Lone Eagle of the Pacific". Wiese was not attempting to set a record or enter the history books at the time of his flight, and he wasn't even aware that his flight would be notable. In 1959, Wiese was a pilot for

Pan American Airlines Pan American World Airways, originally founded as Pan American Airways and commonly known as Pan Am, was an American airline that was the principal and largest international air carrier and unofficial overseas flag carrier of the United States ...

when he heard rumors of mass layoffs at the airline. To provide a second source of income, he started ferrying plans as a side job. Since Pan-Am did not allow its pilots to do side jobs, he worked under the alias Richard Merrick. He was hired to fly an aircraft from

San Antonio, Texas ("Cradle of Freedom") , image_map = , mapsize = 220px , map_caption = Interactive map of San Antonio , subdivision_type = Country , subdivision_name = United States , subdivision_type1= State , subdivision_name1 = Texas , subdivision_t ...

. Wiese flew the Cessna 310B from San Antonio to

San Francisco San Francisco (; Spanish language, Spanish for "Francis of Assisi, Saint Francis"), officially the City and County of San Francisco, is the commercial, financial, and cultural center of Northern California. The city proper is the List of Ca ...

, where his cross-Pacific journey began. On the first leg of his flight to Hawaii, he periodically kept himself awake by banging his head against the window during the 14-hour flight. After Hawaii, he stopped in

Kanton Island Canton Island (also known as Kanton or Abariringa), previously known as Mary Island, Mary Balcout's Island or Swallow Island, is the largest, northernmost, and , the sole inhabited island of the Phoenix Islands, in the Republic of Kiribati. It i ...

and

Fiji Fiji ( , ,; fj, Viti, ; Fiji Hindi: फ़िजी, ''Fijī''), officially the Republic of Fiji, is an island country in Melanesia, part of Oceania in the South Pacific Ocean. It lies about north-northeast of New Zealand. Fiji consists ...

, before his final destination in Australia. At these stops, other pilots commented that they had never seen a pilot make the trip solo before. Upon arriving at Sydney at night, he noticed spotlights and a crowd of people at the airport. Pilots and journalists correctly realized that he had made the first solo east-to-west flight across the Pacific Ocean. While they had arranged a party for Wiese, he instead went to a hotel to sleep. The next day, the newspapers reported his accomplishment, using his real name, which they had got from the customs documents. The flight time for the 7,730 mile flight was 42½ hours over 6 days. (August 6, 1959 - Special to The New York Times. - Article)

Personal life and death

Wiese's son,

Richard Wiese Richard Wiese (born July 13, 1959) is an American explorer, the longest serving President of The Explorers Club, and Executive Producer and Host of the multiple Emmy Award-winning ABC and PBS program, Born to Explore. Early life and education ...

, is a known explorer, environmentalist, and Emmy-winning television host and executive producer. Richard Wiese Sr. died on September 18, 2021, at the age of 91.

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Wiese, Richard 1929 births 2021 deaths American aviators American aviation record holders