Ionel Cociașu

Ionel Cociașu completed his university studies in Toulouse, in France, where he obtained an engineering degree and came into contact with aviation. He is training as a civilian pilot at the "Mircea Cantacuzino" Aviation School, under the guidance of Octav Oculeanu.

In 1930, he purchased, together with Ioana and Mircea Cantacuzino, a Klemm airplane registered YR-TIK, with which he set a world record for duration in a closed circuit in the category of airplanes weighing less than 280 kg, with a time of 8 hours and 17 minutes, on the Bucharest – Urziceni – Buzău – Ploiesti – Bucharest circuit. It is the first valuable sporting performance of Romanian aviation, approved by the International Aeronautical Federation as a world record. For this, Ionel Cociaşu receives the "Golden Cross of the Order of Aeronautical Virtue" decoration.

In February 1935, he successfully made a flight on the Bucharest - Bombay route, piloting a Klemm airplane alone. The Romanian record set by Cociașu is inscribed on one of the walls in the lobby of the International Aeronautical Federation in Paris.