飞行员将试飞纯塑料废品柴油飞机

澳大利亚一位业余飞行员将于今年7月驾驶一架完全由塑料废品提炼的燃油为动力的飞机从悉尼飞往伦敦，全程共飞6天，每天计划飞行1500英里（约合2414公里），途中将在印度尼西亚、泰国、印度、巴基斯坦、阿拉伯联合酋长国、约旦、埃及、希腊、法国等国家的15个城市停留，以补充燃油。据介绍，此次飞行的所用燃油是由5吨塑料废品经新技术提炼而成的1000加仑（4546升）航空级柴油，所有废品原料均为不可回收、只能填埋处理的各类塑料废品。负责提炼的公司负责人表示，塑料废品提炼的柴油比多数飞机使用的柴油更清洁，生产过程更环保，成本更低。此次飞行途经的国家将会提前将塑料废品运到位于都柏林的处理工厂，然后将提炼好的燃油分配到飞行员计划停靠的城市。废塑料提炼的柴油已经汽车测试，正处于航空发动机测试的早期阶段，但尚未用于飞行。因此，这次飞行属于塑料废品柴油的首飞。

A pilot will attempt the 10,500-mile trip from Sydney to London using a fuel that has never before been tested in the air – and is produced entirely from plastic waste.

His flight will be powered by five tons of discarded packaging and waste collected from rubbish dumps and – using a pioneering technique – melted down into 1,000 gallons of aviation-grade diesel.

The 41-year-old will leave Sydney in July, flying over Asia, the Middle East and then Europe, and hoping to arrive in London six days later, after flying a single-engine Cessna 172 about 1,500 miles a day at a speed of about 115mph.

To do this, he will have to fly for up to 15-hour stretches to reach his scheduled stops on time. He will travel at an altitude of 5,000ft – much lower than commercial airliners, which reach up to 40,000ft on long-haul flights.

The fuel will come solely from so-called “end-of-life” plastic that cannot be recycled and would otherwise end up as landfill, including household waste such as packaging and wrapping.

The plastic will be collected from the countries in which he is scheduled to stop along the way and shipped to Cynar, the Dublin firm that will help process the waste into aviation-grade diesel.

Recent advances mean that it is now possible to distil plastic – most of which is petroleum-based – into fuel, using a process known as pyrolysis that does not pollute the air.

The company says its plastic waste diesel fuel is cleaner than that used by most planes, its production process is cleaner, and it estimates a lower cost per gallon.

Although it has been tested in cars, it is in the very early stages of aero engine tests and has never been used in flight.

Mr Rowsell, a hobby pilot and insurance broker, decided to undertake the trip to raise awareness of new technologies that are exploring viable, environmentally friendly ways to fly, while also cutting down the amount of plastic waste in landfills around the world.

“I saw the opportunity to link the British adventurous spirit and technological innovation of the early pioneers with similar challenges that face us today,” he said.

“Aviation leads technology in many instances, why not do it once again with this fuel? If this plan works, it would solve some major environmental problems all at once.”

But the flight will not be without its logistical challenges. Mr Rowsell, who was born in London but now lives in Australia, will have to battle the elements in a plane that is not designed for such long distances.

He must also get the timing right on the stops where batches of the fuel will be positioned in advance. He will take food to last the challenge and use local accommodation near his landing points.

His provisional route stops at 16 locations: Bundaberg, Darwin (Australia), Bali, Jakarta, Medan (Indonesia), Chang Mai (Thailand), Chittagong (Bangladesh), New Delhi (India), Karachi (Pakistan), Muscat (Oman), Abu Dhabi (UAE), Amman (Jordan), Cairo (Egypt), Rhodes (Greece), Nice (France), London.

The weather will be hard to predict and he will have to negotiate several mountains at a dangerously low altitude.

But he is also concerned about other, more unusual hazards: “When you’re flying as low as I will be, you are within the range of RPGs [rocket-propelled grenades] and you can’t plan for being shot down mid-air.

"Admittedly it is unlikely, especially as I’m avoiding Syria, but it is still scary to think how vulnerable you can be.”