Aviation General

Steve Noujaim speaks about his Cape Challenge

14 February, 2011

Steve Noujaim holds the current world record for flying a return journey from London to the Cape solo in a RV7 single engined 200 hp propeller driven aeroplane. Steve accomplished this feat in only 3 days 11 hours and 16 minutes aided by his Garmin G900X avionics.

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Steve spoke about his trip in an interview with Garmin once he returned. Here’s the Q & A

What’s your next challenge?
Don't know yet but I would like to fly 500km in UK in a glider, I do of course have a Garmin GPS in the glider
What did you miss most?
Home and my wife!
What can we look forward to seeing you do in 2011?
Flying the RV as a 2 seater so that others can experience what a fantastic machine the RV 7 is
Why did you choose Garmin?
Because from my early days in aviation Garmin has proved to be the most reliable and the best built avionics available in General Aviation
How user friendly did you find the G900X?
The system took a little time to learn, especially if you want to get the highest performance out of the system but it is intuitive to use
Was the G900X suitable for the challenge?
Absolutely without my G900 I could not have achieved the high performance that the Cape Challenge demanded

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Can you remember any key moments where the G900X helped you?
The Synthetic Vision saved my life. It gave me a really accurate air picture of the terrain I was flying over especially in the dark over Cameroon. I would have been very worried if I did not have this feature together with my WX 500 stormscope. The Syn vis allowed me to avoid the ground and the WX 500 display on the MFD kept me out of the worst weather. But for these great systems I would have been in real trouble.
What’s your favorite plane to fly?
After flying over 65 hours in 3 and a half days my RV7 with G900X kept me safe while flying at maximum performance, so I will leave you to guess!
What features of the G900X did you like the most?
Synthetic vision and ease of use while being able to monitor parameters with great accuracy
Has the G900X changed your view of Garmin as a company?
No, always thought Garmin was great. The trip just confirmed that fact. What I didn't realise was that the people at Garmin and their dealers like Avionicare and RGV are great too, the help I was given in terms of assistance to integrate my G900X was absolutely invaluable.
What’s your favorite plane to fly?
Still the RV7. I love her