 Twice combinations of bad weather, equipment failure, and fuel exhaustion forced him to bail out on night approach to Chicago; both times he reached the ground without serious injury and immediately set about ensuring his cargo was located and sent on with minimum delay.In mid-February 1927 he left for [[San Diego]], California, to oversee design and construction of the "Spirit of St. Louis".The world's first nonstop transatlantic flight (though at 1,890mi, or 3,040km, far shorter than Lindbergh's 3,600mi, or 5,800km, flight) was made eight years earlier by British aviators [[Alcock and Brown|John Alcock and Arthur Whitten Brown]], in a modified [[Vickers Vimy]] IV bomber.