An 11-year-old aviator who plans to emulate Charles Lindbergh's flight to Paris arrived in New York with a bit of a scare. Christopher Lee Marshall was piloting his Mooney 252 two-seater toward busy La Guardia Airport on Friday evening when the plane's electrical power _ and radio _ went dead. ``I thought we might get in trouble if we can't call the tower,'' Chris said later. But the power outage lasted only about 10 seconds and he landed safely. ``I thought it was neat to land at a big airport,'' the Oceano, Calif., boy said. Chris, who is accompanied by a former Navy pilot, hopped across the country from San Diego to Kerrville, Texas, then to St. Louis and New York. Today _ if the plane's electrical problems are sorted out _ he and his companion planned to head toward Europe. His flight plan calls for stops in Montreal, Greenland and Iceland. ``I want to show all other kids across America that if I can do this trip, they can do this trip,'' Chris said Friday at Lambert Airport in St. Louis before taking off for New York. Chris, the son of a commercial pilot, first took the controls of a plane at age 4, and began flying with an instructor at 7. Lindbergh flew from San Diego to St. Louis, then to New York before completing his 33{-hour, non-stop solo flight across the Atlantic to Paris in 1927. Last year, Chris became the youngest flier to cross the United States. Tony Aliengena, a 9-year-old from San Juan Capistrano, Calif., broke the record in April by making a California-to-Massachusetts round trip. Chris, who will be a fifth-grader this fall, said this trip would make him the world's youngest trans-Atlantic pilot. He is accompanied by Randy ``Duke'' Cunningham, 46, a retired commander at Miramar Naval Air Station, Calif., and Vietnam War pilot. Cunningham sits in the pilot's seat in the two-seat craft. Chris' seat is boosted to window-level by a foam cushion. But Chris has done all of the flying, Cunningham said. The two flew to Texas in a borrowed plane, then traded it for a new aircraft that was built for the trans-Atlantic journey. Because Cunningham is limiting the boy's flying time to less than eight hours at a time, the flight will be stretched out over five days. ``He's doing good; he's a tiger,'' Cunningham said. ``He was sick on the flight from Texas, but he flew right through it. He's got around 270 hours of flying time in and he's very responsive. Tell him to do something and he does it.'' Chris' mother, Gail Marshall, founded a company that raised money to pay for the flight.
