New York to Buenos Aires in 16 Days: The Daring Adventure of a Young Family's Intercontinental Flight in a Single-Engine Plane - Paperback

by Elayne Wells Harmer (Editor), Robert E. Wells (Author)

Before GPS. Before Rescue Teams. A Family Dared the Skies-And Paid the Price.

In 1956, Robert and Meryl Wells set off on what had always been their dream vacation. Flying a small, single-engine Cessna from New York to their home in Argentina, a distance of about ten thousand miles. With their children, three-year-old Susie and six-month-old Bobby, the intrepid couple set off on an intercontinental journey that would take them over jungles, deserts, two oceans, and the magnificent Andes mountains.

They had no idea what they were getting themselves into. The family barely survived.

Adventures that were had included:

• emergency landings in the middle of nowhere,
• a fearful night spent in the Colombian jungle as unexpected and unwelcome "guests" of a drug cartel,
• the unexpected generosity of the Peruvian military,
• hyperventilating while unexpectedly threading the needle between two large ships off the coast of Chile, and,
• flying panic-blind through wing-bending turbulence around the mighty Aconcagua.

The lucky couple arrived in Buenos Aires after sixteen days of flying, becoming the first family in history to make the epic journey in a single-engine airplane.