At the start of January, David Tillema and his Zenith CH 750 Cruzer, powered by the Viking 130 engine, took to the air with a new challenge.

To those unfamiliar, Dave completed the "48 State Challenge" last year, departing from his home in southern Texas, and landing in all of the lower 48 states on his journey to Oshkosh. Dave also recently reached his goal of giving 100 demo rides in the Zenith that he built himself (and evidently loves to fly so much!). You can see the journey he flew, landing at all 48 states, on the 48 State Challenge Facebook page dedicated to the challenge. He accomplished this record breaking journey in 10.5 days! Dave's journey was made possible with the help of amazing people that he met along the way. His journey is documented through daily videos. Check out Youtube Playlist of the flights!

This continues to show the robustness of the engine and its reliability, while pushing through the air a more than capable aircraft that took him from state to state with success. The big thing to realize, is everyone is capable of building their aircraft and using it to do whatever challenge may lie ahead, or maybe just floating up in the clouds.

While pushing the limits in the sky and his own personal limits, Dave started a new challenge in January 2023. 

Another year and the start of a new challenge: His goal was to fly a minimum of 50 hours in the month of January. This may seem like a small number, but you would be surprised to know that many light aircraft owners / homebuilders barely fly this number of hours in a year. It required a lot of dedication, all while working a job and day to day life occurrences, and sometimes weather just isn't allowing for it.

At the end of this 50 Hour Challenge, Dave is also nearing over 1,000 hours total time in his aircraft in just 3 years! Talk about some flying!

The Vlog (video blog) style documentation of the days and hours also includes something many of you may find incredibly helpful; the testing of new items, exploring Houston, engine shutdowns, climb tests, data, fuel used, RPMs and capabilities of the aircraft, how he flies his Zenith, and much more.

Below you can see Day 1 and the start of the 50 Hour Challenge, followed by some of the highlight videos of his month of flying. Check out the playlist of all the daily videos: 50 Hour Challenge:

Some In-Flight Performance can be seen here as well:

Diving from 12,000 Feet:

Flying Procedures:

The Conclusion:

If you would like to see every video in the journey, be sure to check out the playlist of all the daily videos. 

50 Hour Challenge