The Flying Boat Expedition must be one of Johan Ernst Nilson’s biggest challenges. This was by far the least physical one, but just because it wasn’t physical doesn’t mean it wasn’t complicated.
Country by country, Johan had to fight against regulations, bureaucracy, and government. The first problem that came up when planning the flight over Europe was the pilot license. The next one was the instruments inside “the plane” and how to navigate when the maps on the GPS didn’t show small lakes where you could land the Flying Boat.
There is a solution to every problem, but it was a challenge for Johan to fly across Europe in a small rubber dingy. The Air Traffic Control was not fond of the little boat 6000 feet up in the sky.
The Flying Boat was not allowed to fly over some of the cities in Europe, but besides that, it was more of a “waiting expedition.” Every time something broke, Johan and his partner in the following car had to wait for new equipment from Italy or the UK.
And every time bad weather was approaching the Flying Boat had to wait until the weather cleared up.
Well, the expedition turned out to be a National Geographic documentary, and the Flying Boat was something Johan Ernst Nilson would never forget.
“Is it a boat, or is it a plane?”
Flying across Europe is difficult at the best times, but imagine how much more challenging this is when you can only land and take off from water. That is the challenge facing Swedish adventurer Johan Ernst Nilson as he embarks on a journey of around 5,500km from his homeland to Morocco in a state-of-the-art flying inflatable boat. And it’s not the first time Johan has done this same journey — the first time he did it by bicycle, and the second a few years later, by kayak!
But undertaking it by Flying Boat is Johan’s most ambitious and audacious attempt. Finding water is the least of Johan’s worries; he also has to contend with aviation protocol and a flying boat that often refuses to take off. Can the Scandinavian adventurer overcome the odds and fulfil his dream?”
