The first-ever nonstop transatlantic flight happened in June 1919. British aviators John Alcock and Arthur Brown flew from St. John’s, Newfoundland, to Clifden, Connemara, County Galway, Ireland in a modified First World War Vickers Vimy bomber. They received the Daily Mail prize for the first Atlantic Ocean crossing by airplane.
Next came Charles Augustus Lindbergh, who in 1927 won the Orteig Prize for making a nonstop flight from New York City to Paris – a distance nearly 2,000 miles longer than Alcock and Brown managed. It took him 33.5 hours. The incredible distance made this success story a turning point in the development of aviation.
A century later, there’s a whole new kind of prize to be won involving crossing the Atlantic Ocean. Carbon Footprint Ltd., an organization based in England, has launched a competition called the Freedom Flight Prize to encourage sustainable passenger flight.
MD of Carbon Footprint Ltd. John Buckley, an Aerospace Engineer and the founder of the Freedom Flight Prize, said:
This is the revolution that I have been waiting for my whole career for – the Freedom Flight Prize puts 100% renewable flights right in the spotlight in order to address the climate emergency we face. The Prize does not accept the compromise that long haul travel produces a high carbon footprint – in fact, it recognizes that the technologies to power flights solely on sustainable renewable energy are available. We anticipate that the Freedom Flight Prize will propel the travel industry to deliver on the needs of the people and the planet.
The aim is to inspire and motivate the development of an airplane that can seat at least 100 passengers and is 100% powered by renewable energy. The first contestant to go from New York to London in under 10 hours in a plane, powered by either solar or hydrogen fuel (biofuels and synthetic aviation fuels don’t count), will win millions of British pounds and reap the rewards of being a historical first.
The website reads:
The competition is open to manufacturers, research/academic groups, and inventors to design and fly a 100+ seater passenger aircraft powered by 100% renewable energy. The plane must complete a return trip from London to New York; each leg of the trip in under 10 hours and must finish the return leg within 24 hours of starting out on the round trip.
Winning the Freedom Flight Prize would be the gift that keeps on giving. A fully sustainable commercial airliner would be the most attractive choice as we face the challenges of tackling the climate crisis. For those involved with the “flight shaming” movement, such an aircraft could make flying acceptable again. For governments, subsidizing an operation could be incorporated into their Green Deals, facilitating sustainability goals.
Commercial air travel doesn’t have to be the villain it’s being made out to be. After all, it has a massive role to play in trade, business, education, culture, leisure, and our happiness. So, we may have to wait till the end of the decade to hear about a winner, but when it happens, it’ll be one of the most memorable aviation and technological advances of the century. It will be a world-changing achievement and a turning point in history – just like winners Lindbergh, Alcock, and Brown from around 100 years ago.
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