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11-Year-Old Pilot Lands in Oslo After 6-Hour Atlantic Crossing

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From a Times Staff Writer

Unseasonably warm weather greeted 11-year-old Tony Aliengena after he conquered the North Atlantic and made a European landfall here Sunday on his quest to fly around the world.

The San Juan Capistrano aviator glided to a picture-perfect landing at Oslo’s Fornebu Airport, ending a tedious, six-hour flight from Reykjavik, Iceland.

Emerging from the cockpit of his single-engined Cessna, Tony was mobbed by Norwegian news reporters and photographers, who asked him to pose by his plane.

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Then without having to show a passport or clear customs, Tony and his entourage of eight were shuttled to a suburban Oslo Hotel, stopping along the way for a look at Norway’s Royal Palace, home of King Olav IV.

On the drive, they saw scores of picnicking families and bicyclists brought out by the 80-degree weather.

Oslo’s heat wave, not unlike temperatures in his native California, came as a welcome respite from the bitter cold that Tony experienced during his 2,500-mile journey across the north Atlantic.

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“No sweat,” Tony said of the treacherous crossing. “It was a piece of cake.”

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