17 May 2016
Channel 5 is to broadcast a series capturing Carol Vorderman’s planned solo flight around the world this summer in her light aircraft. Carol’s Incredible Solo Flight Around The World will follow Carol’s attempt to become only the 9th woman in history to complete a solo flight around the world.
Carol only started flying in 2013, and has gained her private pilot’s licence, plus an Instrument Rating and Multi-Engine Piston rating. Her aircraft, a Diamond DA42 light twin, is nicknamed Mildred, after the female British aviator Mildred Bruce from the 1930s.
Carol will travel through Europe, across Asia, north to the easternmost point of Russia, across the Pacific Ocean, the United States and finally through the frozen north back to the UK. “We’ll capture the highs and lows, the adventure and the humour, the tears and the pain – all against spectacular backdrops ranging from the dramatic Aleutian Islands to the magnificent Pyramids of Giza, and the Niagara Falls,” said Channel 5.
FIRST AIRWAYS SOLO…..nailed… @GlosAirport to @BAESystemsAir….Warton…time for a celebration drink x pic.twitter.com/mLeqb2jkem
— Carol Vorderman MBE (@carolvorders) May 13, 2016
Carol Vorderman said, “My life’s dream has been to be a pilot. I fought to get to Cambridge University as a comprehensive kid on free school meals in the 70s. I was the first child from my town to get there. My drive was always because I wanted to be a pilot but the RAF wouldn’t train women as pilots back then. We were a poor family so flying lessons were out of the question and my dream was put on hold.
“Only when I got into my 50s have I had the proper opportunity as a single parent to put everything else on the backburner. I’ve given up a lot of TV, spent the last few years training and passing difficult flying exams and committing to this passion which builds inside me with every flight.
“It has been, and will be, a journey with tears and doubts and I still have huge areas of self-doubt and massive inexperience but I am going to push through it step by step. I WILL DO IT.”
