1⁄2 hrs, Lindbergh and the Spirit faced lots of challenges, which provided skimming over storm clouds at 10,000 ft (3,000 m) and wave tops at as reduced as 10 ft (3. m). The plane fought icing, flew blind by way of fog for numerous several hours, and Lindbergh navigated only by dead reckoning (he was not proficient at navigating by the sunshine and stars and he rejected radio navigation gear as heavy and unreliable).