TORRINGTON — Ralph Capuano concedes that flying to, and landing in, each of the 48 contiguous states in 7 to 10 days is a stretch. Nonetheless, he and his brother, William, who both are instrument-rated pilots, are planning to attempt such a trip.
If successful, the brothers will apparently be the first to accomplish the trip in such a short time, though that is not their ultimate objective. Their goal is to raise funds for Darlene Clarke, a 25-year-old New Britain mother of two who was recently diagnosed with acute myelogenous leukemia.
It was Ralph, 58, president of Capuano Buick Cadillac GMC, who thought up the idea for the trip during the doldrums of winter. “Back in February I said I really wanted to do something different,” Mr. Capuano recalled this week in his office at the Winsted Road dealership. “I looked at this and mapped it out, but it was over my head for one person.”
It was then that he approached William, 43, who is president of another company in the city, TEC Control Systems, about partnering up for the journey.
Ralph Capuano originally considered using the trip to raise money for Angel Flight, a nonprofit organization that transports children with cancer to metropolitan hospitals for treatment. But in early March, Ms. Clarke, who is the daughter of Capuano’s sales manager, Gary Jones, was diagnosed with leukemia. Mr. Jones started a fund for his daughter and created a poster with her photograph and a brief summary requesting financial support for Ms. Clarke, who once worked two jobs and whose husband had recently been laid off from work. “I showed it to Ralph and he said he’d figure out something to help me out,” Mr. Jones said this week. “A couple of days later, he came up with this.”
Mr. Capuano created maps that chart the course of the trip and is selling them for $48, one dollar for each of the states. All of the proceeds will benefit Ms. Clarke, the pilot said, while the brothers will cover all of the expenses associated with their 7,000-mile trip, the heftiest of which is fuel, which could total as much as $3,500.
The two are preparing to travel in the largest single-engine plane made in the United States. The seven-passenger Cherokee “Six” is a 300-horsepower prop plane with instrument-landing systems, weather radar, dual Global Positioning Systems and back-up navigation systems, Mr. Capuano explained, pointing to an enlarged, framed photograph of the airplane’s cockpit hanging behind his desk. He and his brother own the plane.
They plan to depart from Mountain Meadows airport on the Harwinton-Burlington line, stopping in 10 states the first day and spending the night in Lambertville, Mich. The final stop of each day is intended to be at a larger airport with a hotel on the premises for convenience. Stops throughout each day are scheduled at medium-size airports, where airplane services are available if necessary. “We wanted to be able to land and jump out to photograph the plane near a recognizable sign,” he said, adding that such documentation is required by the Guinness Book of World Records.
Mr. Capuano stressed that achieving the record is not the goal of the trip and is “the furthest thing from my mind.” He contacted the Guinness organization at the request of a flying magazine and said he’ll “see where it goes,” if the pair is able to complete the flight as planned.
“This is a challenge. It’s a long time, even if you were in a car sitting down,” he said. “I don’t know if we physically can do it, and we’re not going to kill ourselves over it,” he said casually. Days are planned to consist of about eight total flight hours, including periods when the pilots will connect to a supplemental oxygen source because of high-altitude travel, particularly in the Pacific Northwest. And the brothers have taken a Federal Aviation Administration course on flying in mountainous areas, as part of their preparation.
Ralph Capuano took his first trip in an airplane in 1965 when he was working as a mechanic at the auto dealership. “The owner had a two-seat plane and I went out with him one night.” He later purchased the plane and took lessons, upgrading aircrafts over the decades. He’s taken trips to Texas, Florida and Wisconsin but has never embarked on an adventure of this magnitude, he explained.
Flying is attractive to him because it’s challenging and requires a variety of skills, he said, commenting, “For an adult to go out and get a pilot’s license is the most challenging thing you can do. You’re learning something new and something totally different—there’s so much to it.”
Mr. Capuano said he has been surprised with the volume of support the public has shown since he issued a press release about the project. “It’s only been a week and a half and every day we get a bunch of donations,” he said. “One guy bought 10 posters.”
Mr. Capuano was also surprised to receive a box from the U.S. Air Force containing charts and approaches to all of the airports in the country, at the request of a retired Air Force pilot he is associated with. The gift from the Air Force saved the Capuanos $1,200.
The trip is expected to take place sometime in mid-June, depending on the weather. The brothers are hoping to depart with a clear five-day forecast, offering blue skies, especially while flying at the higher altitudes. Until then, their energy is to be spent preparing the aircraft and themselves for the trip and selling the 1,000 posters they had printed.
Mr. Jones said his daughter is going in for the last in a series of chemotherapy treatments next week. The good news, he said, is that Ms. Clarke recently learned that she is capable of donating bone marrow to herself during an intense three-week transplant scheduled to take place this summer.
“She’s doing as well as can be expected. She thinks this is wonderful,” Mr. Jones said of the flight. “But you always think something like this would be for someone else, not for you. We pray for the best and go from there.”
Anyone who wishes to buy a map is asked to send a check, made payable to Leukemia Fund Darlene Clarke, to Capuano Buick Cadillac, 790 Main Street, Torrington, CT 06790.
