Carli undertook the exercise to raise money to fund a spiritual rest area for truck drivers in the port city of Paranaguá.

He lived with his mother in Paraguay until her death due to a throat tumor, when he was fifteen years old, after which he returned to Brazil to stay with his father.

Fueled by a "necessity to spread God's message", he conceived the project with the intent of assisting and evangelizing the truck drivers who would pass by the port.

[1][12] His first attempt was on 13 January 2008, during which Carli successfully completed a four-hour flight from Ampére, Paraná, Brazil, to San Antonio, Misiones, Argentina, over a total distance of 25 kilometres (16 mi).

[14] Eu preciso entrar em contato com o pessoal para que eles me ensinem a operar esse GPS aqui para dar as coordenadas de latitude e longitude que é a única forma que alguém por terra possa saber onde eu estou.

Carli's last contact with the Paranaguá port authority occurred at 20:45,[14] after he had flown around 90 kilometres (56 mi) and was about 30 miles (48 km) off the coast.

[14] After his last contact, the Navy, the Brazilian Air Force and firefighters started searching the Santa Catarina coast, with the help of a small plane rented by Carli's family.

[17] Two days after the flight, a Penha fire department commander familiar with the situation put Carli's chances of still being alive at 80 per cent.

[19] On 4 July, the lower half of a human body was found floating on the ocean surface by an offshore oil rig support vessel about 100 km (62 mi) from Macaé.