Never satisfied with the "status quo" Emilio was always planning long distance flights. One of his first goals was to procure an airplane to accomplish his record-setting flights. A consummate dealmaker, he enlisted the assistance of Mr. Loyd A. Winship, Elmon C. Hammond, and Harry J. Lawson to purchase a Lincoln Standard biplane, considered top of the line at the time.

On June 20th, 1926, Emilio was in Chicago to taking delivery of his Lincoln Standard. He carefully planned his itinerary for the 3,500-mile trip back to Mexico City: Chicago, Moline, St. Joseph, Kansas City, Wichita, Oklahoma City, Ft. Worth-San Antonio, Laredo, Monterrey, San Luis Potosi, and Mexico City. He left Chicago on the 25th. Emilio relates in a letter to Mr. Juan Guillermo Villasana dated June 26th, 1926:

“I left Chicago at 11:30 am on the 25th of June after obtaining a good map and a compass. I flew a half-hour with good weather, but later we (his brother Sebastian accompanied Emilio on the flight) started flying in thick clouds. We flew into a strong headwind and rough weather for three hours. My compass moved wildly, and, at times, I had to lower the nose of the airplane to see the terrain through the low cloud cover. I couldn’t fly above the 8,000 ft. cloud cover because my airplane was heavy. At times I was forced to descend to 200 ft. in order to identify my position on the map, but flying at this altitude was dangerous because the heavy rain could stall my engine, so I decided to continue flying in between the clouds. It started raining heavily, up and down and [sic] vice-versa, hail and lightning, but I did not forget my duty to maintain the high standard of my country and my school. About two in the afternoon, the engine started stalling and making the sound typical of an empty fuel line. I immediately pointed the airplane down and asked Sebastián to remove his goggles and start looking for a place to land. Our descent took about 15 minutes and even at about 180 ft. we could not see the ground. We continued our descent and at less than 120 ft. we started to recognize the ground in between clouds and rain. I made use of my eyes as I had never done before. I immediately found a small clearing, and made a safe landing. The plane was intact, except for the propeller's leading edge, which was nicked by the hail. We anchored the airplane and as Sebastian replaced the propeller with a spare we had on-board, I went to look for the nearest service station.

It didn't take long to find a service station. There I learned that the place we landed was just over our planned route. After making arrangements for fuel and some food to be delivered to the airplane I found that one of the magnetos in the engine was wet and was not working. We decided to remove both magnetos in order to clean and dry them. Some of the folks that came out to the field gave me a ride to the nearest township where I telegraphed the airfield at Moline, Illinois, that we would be making a night landing.

Very late that night we got airborne and we arrived at the Moline airfield at midnight, where I found the landing strip perfectly well lit.

In Moline we were treated in a manner that makes me very grateful; even though we arrived very late, pilots and personnel of National Air Transport greeted us warmly, invited us to dinner, and took us to the nearest hotel.

The following morning, newsmen from Moline came to interview us before our departure, which we had set for 10:30 am. When we arrived at the airfield, we found many families that had come out to greet us and wish us a safe trip. The National Air Transport personnel had cleaned our airplane, leaving it looking like new, this being another reason to be extremely grateful to the people of Moline, IL.

We departed toward Memphis, where we landed to refuel and eat. We also received a very warm welcome since personnel from National Air Transport continually telegraphed our itinerary. All this attention and interest from all the company officials meant very much to us. It is apparent that they consider this flight very important given the times, and the airplane we are flying.

The airfield in Memphis is very short, and I took off at a time when the heat made the atmosphere very light. I took the entire length of the runway given the heavy fuel load; even then I had to force the airplane up by pulling with all my strength to avoid a house. I did hit some telephone wires, breaking them, but fortunately, the propeller did not suffer any significant damage

The airplane could not gain altitude for two hours and I flew over a dense forest just about 30-60 feet above the treetops. I could not find a single clearing. The engine was overheating and the airplane barely gained altitude, so I had to decelerate the engine to avoid overheating it even more, decreasing altitude to tree-top level, then accelerating again to gain altitude so I could decelerate the engine and lose altitude again.

When I finished flying over this large forest, I thanked God, for now the airplane was slowly gaining altitude as fuel was used up. We arrived in Kansas City around 5 pm where we received a very warm welcome. The next day we left for Oklahoma after fighting heavy winds up through Wichita where we landed to refuel and eat. From Wichita we left for Oklahoma and when we arrived, I landed on the first airfield I found, not having the energy to locate the National Air Transport facilities. At this airfield we were promised fuel first thing in the morning, but after nine o'clock none had been delivered. I had to take off with an insignificant amount of fuel in order to locate the National Air Transport airfield, which was located about 15 km away and situated in a manner that is hard to find; it is difficult to tell the difference between homes and hangars. Fortunately, we found the airfield and made a landing with a very strong tail wind. Once in the middle of the airfield, and very low in altitude, being ready to maneuver into the wind for landing, my fuel ran out. Fearful of making a turn at such low altitude and with a tailwind, I started my landing in a small agricultural field in between homes near the airfield. I made the airplane reduce speed and just about the time I was to put it down on the ground I saw a man plowing his field. To avoid hitting him, since I would have surely killed him, I forced the airplane to turn and landed about 3 feet from some trees, but the heavy wind threw me into the trees, breaking the airplane and coming out in a form that is well known...!

This is how the young Emilio Carranza, not even twenty-one years old and a recently graduated Lieutenant, wrote of his flights; as a seasoned aviator.

After recovering from his injuries and repairing his airplane he continued his flight to Mexico City. Despite his bad fortune on this flight, he did not lose his enthusiasm and continued making plans for future non-stop long-distance flights.