San Diego Pilot to Travel from South Pole to North Pole on Peace Mission

His preparation will have lasted far longer than his flight, but Robert DeLaurentis, departed Saturday from Gillespie Field to begin his historic South Pole to North Pole around-the-globe journey.

His highly modified 1983 Gulfstream Turbine Commander 900 is equipped with six extra fuel tanks, five-bladed propellers made of a nickel-tipped scimitar composite, a NASA experiment, a STEM project and an innovative tracking system.

DeLaurentis, who took up flying only eight years ago, calls his mission one of global peace, pointing out that the North Pole and the South Pole are the only places where peace has prevailed. He named his plane "Citizen of the World" and plans to visit more than 20 countries during his six-month odyssey.

Equipment failure is his biggest fear, but there are plenty of other uncertainties: flying in whiteouts, landing on ice runways, the possibility of fuel gelling in spite of an avant-garde heating system and a malfunction of navigation equipment.

Upon returning into San Diego International Airport next May, he plans to have a passenger in the co-pilot seat — Erik Lindbergh, the grandson of pioneering aviator Charles Lindbergh.

DeLaurentis is grateful to more than 90 sponsors who have helped fund a portion of his $2.5 million dream trip through contributions, equipment donations or discounts.

He is marking off many "firsts" on this adventure. One involves flying a plane that has been modified to accommodate environmentally friendly biofuels. "This will be the first time in history that an aircraft will fly across the South and North Poles using Sustainable Aviation Fuel (SAF)," DeLaurentis noted before his departure.

Why does this matter? Because biofuels burn cleaner and emit less sulfur dioxide and particulate matter into the atmosphere, his Facebook page explains.

DeLaurentis also is working with NASA on testing a Waferscale Spacecraft, a prototype for those the space agency intends to blast out to space to conduct interstellar probes.

Another task will be to collect air samples over the poles to be analyzed for evidence of microfiber particles having infiltrated the polar atmosphere.

"We saw the plane as a global billboard and now we see it as a global scientific experiment that benefits stem education as well," he says.

The San Diego pilot is making his trip over six months with a series of 30 or more legs. The longest leg will be his flight from the southern tip of South America to the South Pole and back, a distance of 4,300 nautical miles that requires about 18 hours in the pilot's seat.

This isn't the first airborne adventure for DeLaurentis. I initially wrote about the former naval officer and real estate investor when he circumnavigated the globe in a private plane in 2015. Devoted to meditation and spirituality, he called himself a "zen pilot," but now is changing his brand to "peace pilot."

After his journey, he plans to turn the aircraft into a mobile STEM lab, taking it on the road to make educational presentations at museums, schools and other sites.

Rich and the famous: Few people could make skirting the law a pastime and have the San Diego mayor, former San Diego Police Chief Shelley Zimmerman, county Treasurer Dan McAllister and Padres Hall of Fame pitcher Randy Jones show up at their 90th birthday party.

But Dion Rich can.

Not only did Mayor Kevin Faulconer attend Rich's party on Saturday, he declared Nov. 16 "Dion Rich Day" in San Diego. Another special guest gave Rich a peck on the cheek — The Famous (San Diego) Chicken.

Rich long has made gate crashing his favorite sport. The affable party crasher has sneaked into a reported 35 NFL Super Bowls, numerous World Series games, Olympics ceremonies, the Kentucky Derby, Academy Award and Emmys parties, golf tournaments and VIP parties of all kinds.

At 90, though , he isn't much of a security risk these days. A ticket broker by trade, Rich could easily enter games the old-fashioned way with his purchased tickets. But that would spoil the thrill and challenge of slipping past ticket takers to sidle up to VIPs for selfies with his intact ticket to later display as proof.

Rich's notoriety, especially after being the subject of a Sports Illustrated piece on the post-9/11 Super Bowl in New Orleans in 2002, put officials on alert, and security details began circulating his photo.

On Saturday, Zimmerman told of SDPD's crime prevention approach at the San Diego Super Bowl in 2003.

Rich had bragged about his plan to sneak in and, somehow, he had obtained the uniform of a stadium worker, explained Zimmerman, who was one of the lieutenants in charge of security. He tried to mingle with the workers as they entered at about 6:30 a.m. on Super Bowl morning. But he was recognized, pulled out of line and escorted home.

"I fessed up at his party that he was surveilled from his house, so he didn't stand a chance," Zimmerman said. Police officers later picked him up, drove him to Qualcomm Stadium for the game and escorted him in with the paying customers.

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