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  [California Study Center]

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PITCAIRN ISLANDS STUDY CENTER, Pacific Union College, Angwin, California USA.

Herbert Ford, 559-592-0980, 559-732-0313.

PITCAIRN CHILDREN SEE THEIR FIRST AIRPLANE

                        ANGWIN (Napa County) Calif., July 27, 2007—How many children have never seen an airplane? A number of the children on tiny, remote Pitcairn Island in the South Pacific Ocean had never seen an airplane until recently when Pilot Wojciech Mirski, on an around-the-world flight in his 1970 Piper Comanche 260C, did a number of low-flying passes over and circles around the island.

                        "At 7:45 a. m., most Pitcairn residents were outside craning their necks and scanning the skies to follow the progress of a small, blue-and-white plane as it circled around the island several times before continuing on into the wild blue yonder, " reported Pitcairn's monthly newspaper The Pitcairn Miscellany.

                        "For some of the younger islanders, it was actually the first time they had ever seen an airplane, and for the older ones it was still a thrill, as Pitcairn is not on the flight path to anywhere. It has been several years since a plane has passed over (the island), " the paper reported.

                        On one of his passes, Mirski parachuted a small parcel onto the island for his friend Meralda Warren, a resident of the island. However, despite several searches on the mostly forested island, neither the parachute nor the parcel has yet been found.

                        On June 30, 2007, Mirski landed his plane at Le Chaux de Fonds, Switzerland, thus completing his globe-circling aerial journey which had started on November 1, 2006.

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