Couple Begin Adventure in Tiny Plane

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A couple from Germany has departed from a Florida airport in a kit-built airplane for a three-year adventure. Pilot Detlef Heun and his fiancée, Liliana Tagliamonte, who recently obtained her pilot's license, took off from Lantana Airport on trip that will include a wedding in the Bahamas. The couple plan to fly the small plane, which they assembled over the course of three years, from island to island in the Caribbean before turning around in Brazil and heading north. "It's one thing to jump from one international airport to another, (but we're) landing at the smaller airstrips and spending time in the communities," says Heun. "All you know are the fuel station and the customs personnel at the (international airports). You can't get to know anything about the people and their cultures."

April 15, 2009