The stuff of dreams

Flying from Greenland to Iceland covers 400nm of the Atlantic Ocean. The weather had deteriorated to well below minimum visual flight rules (VFR) conditions – and I was 100ft above the water with practically zero visibility, flying off instruments and suffering with a headache from hell… 

Rewind two-and-half years – and I was learning to fly gyroplanes at my local airfield at Popham (EGHP) in Hampshire, England. It was a sunny day and I mentioned to my instructor, Steve Boxall, that I was thinking about flying around the world. The look on his face was priceless!

“You’d better book some more lessons then,” he replied. So I did. The idea of flying around the world had been in my head for a while. Ironically, it wasn’t the flying that I craved, more the adventure. 

Ever since I was young I’d had an interest in flying, but always thought it was for the super intelligent and wealthy elite – and I fell a long way short. 

Notwithstanding all that, I decided I was going to find a way to learn to fly. Anyone who has seen a gyroplane might worry about its sturdiness, plus the fact it’s open to the elements, so why opt for a gyro at all then? Despite a few attempts nobody had ever successfully flown around the world in a gyro. After all, there are plenty of people who have flown around the world in helicopters and fixed-wing aeroplanes, but I wanted to do something a little bit different. 

“Planning the route around the world was a complicated task, I wanted to route through Egypt, Saudi Arabia, Dubai, Pakistan, Thailand, Japan, Singapore, then up into Russia – but Pakistan had shut all its airspace down a month before I was due to go”

Just getting to the ‘start line’ and raising the funding I needed was by far the hardest part of preparing for the trip. I was not in a position to self-fund it so had no choice but to raise sponsorship if I was to make the whole thing happen. 

The aircraft I chose was the Italian-made Magni M16 tandem trainer. I had learned to fly in this aircraft, and it’s incredibly stable and known for its fantastic reliability. The Magni family were extremely kind and supportive about my plans to fly around the world. Despite having many setbacks, the most frustrating was securing a sponsor, enabling me to buy the aircraft, only then having them pull out. But it was all part and parcel of the project… However, I managed to acquire the aircraft in the summer of 2018 and paid for it up front, which meant that the trip was now on. But had I bitten off more than I could chew? Quite possibly. But my motivation for the trip was at an all-time high. 

As with all of my other adventures I had more than a single motivation for completing this circumnavigation. This wasn’t solely about proclaiming ‘look at me’ and being able to fulfil my own dreams of being a British adventurer doing ‘another’ challenge. As well as my other challenges I also do a lot of work with young people, plus I am an ambassador for the Scouts.

My main mission was to inspire one million young people around the world to pursue their own goals and dreams. I planned to achieve this by giving talks in schools en route, using my YouTube channel, as well as the mainstream media in a bid to achieve this one million figure.

I was due to depart from Popham in October 2018, but as some people were suggesting that I didn’t have enough flying experience I then decided to take the gyro to the South of France as a training flight. However, I got stuck in bad weather and had my first real scare. I flew over a small mountain and on the other side I got caught in a strong downdraught. It was the first time that I had felt out of control. The ground was fast coming up at me and I had to quickly increase power. The incident was a reality check for me and I realised that I wasn’t yet ready to fly around the world. I arrived home thinking, ‘I’m really not sure I can do this’.

It was the first time I actually contemplated ‘how can I get out of it?’ But I knew this was my ‘brain’ talking and not my heart, although I was well aware it was never going to be easy. By this point I had built a fantastic support network around me, with some highly experienced people and sponsors assisting and guiding me – not to mention thousands of young people who were already following my progress. I was at my first real testing point. I started flying as much as possible to build hours, and would be in the aircraft at every opportunity.

So with some more flying hours under my belt, 180 hours in total, and feeling confident, I finally took off from Popham on 31 March 2019.

Complex planning

Planning the route around the world was a complicated task. I wanted to route through Egypt, Saudi Arabia, Dubai, Pakistan, Thailand, Japan, Singapore, then up into Russia – but Pakistan had shut all its airspace down a month before I was due to go. There was no way around. Going north would take me through the Himalayas, and I didn’t have the range to go from Dubai to India. In short, it forced me to look at alternative options. Russia was opening its space to general aviation and it became an option to cut out all the tricky countries and fly through Europe. With the help of General Aviation Services Egypt and MAC Aviation we were able to route the whole way through Russia. This was a complete game changer for me and without their help I would not have been able to fly around the world. Yes, I was the man in the seat, but there were people in the background who made it happen and to whom I will be forever grateful.

I was joined in Moscow by a friend, Norman Surplus, who was in his own aircraft and had tried to fly through Russia during a previous attempt to fly around the world some years earlier. This was an opportunity for him to finally get the chance to fly through the country which had stopped him completing his own circumnavigation.

For a lot of Russia we were outside radio coverage, so I was relaying to airliners. I was at the end of the world in Siberia but talking to a British Airways pilot, relaying my position to air traffic controllers. When I was below them I could hear their transmissions. I was anxious about the procedures in Russia, mainly the radio work, but it turned out to be very straightforward in the end. We were the two luckiest gyro pilots… Seeing Russia from above was an inspiring sight. We flew over thousands of miles of forests and eventually through the coldest place on Earth, Oymyakon, where the temperature falls to an average of -50˚C.

Once we reached the US, and after flying for two months together and a whole lot of fun, Norman had finished and I was on my own.

In order to set an official FAI (Fédération Aéronautique Internationale) record for my circumnavigation I needed to fly a certain number of miles (19,870nm), which is the equivalent distance of the Tropic of Cancer. The FAI governs all aviation records so it was critical that my flight complied with all the rules set out.

If I had flown straight across the US from the West Coast to the East Coast, I would have arrived home short of mileage. As it happened I have a soft spot for the US, as I had already cycled across the country twice. So I decided to set myself a goal of landing in every mainland state – 49 of them to be precise. I managed to achieve this and in doing so met some wonderful people. The kindness and generosity that was lavished on me was incredible. I’ll be repaying favours for the rest of my life.

I was now homeward bound on the last big hurdle. I still needed to get back across the Atlantic, which could be achieved by flying from Canada to Greenland, Iceland, Faroe Islands and Scotland. I literally raced around America to ensure that I was able to come back across the Atlantic before the early winter weather started to roll in. I was regularly flying back-to-back 500nm days in the US, and it had started to take its toll on me.

The hardest thing for me was dealing with the workload. Once my flying days had finished, I was editing videos to get them up on YouTube, interacting with children from schools, and where possible I was speaking at events so as to fulfil sponsorship commitments.

The accumulative fatigue was starting to take its toll, which meant I was lethargic and tired all the time. Now that I had bigger, longer flights coming up over vast stretches of water I was slightly nervous.

When I was actually flying these legs I had a lot of adrenaline running through me, which was great for flying as it kept me alert and awake. However, as soon as I landed and the excitement wore off, I could hardly keep my eyes open.

The actual flying of the aircraft from A to B was the easiest part of the project – it was on the ground that it was tricky. Every time I landed I needed to tell the same story again and again, often so that I could get the support of the ground handlers to ensure that a hangar could be secured for the aircraft and that my needs were met with fuel, transfers and so on. The entire process was a long one. It was not uncommon to still be at the airport trying to sort things out two hours after landing. By far, the easiest country to fly through was the US, it is organised really well to accommodate General Aviation.

Almost as if someone was looking down on me, I got an amazing weather window and flew back-to-back days from Canada to Iceland. The weather was not so kind flying from Kulusuk (Greenland) to Reykjavik, as it had deteriorated, but I managed to make it to Iceland, and I have never been so pleased to see land. That was the only flight around the world where I felt out of my comfort zone. My friend and helicopter pilot, Peter Wilson, who flew around the world in a Robinson R66 in 2017, had been working with Eddie at GASE to monitor the weather over these difficult stretches. When he called me and said ‘well done you’re almost home’, it began to feel like a point in the trip where I thought I might actually manage to do this!

Engine noise…

Due to the weather I took two days off in Reykjavik and managed to get some much-needed rest. The next stop was Vagar in the Faroe Islands and another lengthy water crossing. Apart from monitoring 121.500 on the radio there was really nobody to talk to, so to take my mind off the engine noise I used audiobooks and ended up listening to Elon Musk’s autobiography during the entire Atlantic crossing.

I found myself stuck in Vagar for a week as Hurricane Doreen passed through. When I eventually departed it was only two-and-a-half hours later before I found myself looking at the Scottish coast… It was quite a surreal feeling to be back in the UK. By this point I was very comfortable flying over water, my Magni M16 was incredibly reliable, in fact the only tech issue I had was a puncture in Warsaw.

“On 22 September 2019, 175 days after setting off, I was escorted into Popham by a helicopter and a couple of gyrocopters to cheering crowds who were waiting below”

A few days later on 22 September 2019, 175 days after setting off, I was escorted into Popham by a helicopter and a couple of gyrocopters to cheering crowds who were waiting below.
     The whole way around the world, I had been wondering what it would be like to fly back into Popham. On the day I arrived it was raining hard, but many people had come out to see my arrival despite the poor forecast. Popham had never looked so good. Seeing all my friends and family really was a magical moment, the stress and pressure suddenly disappeared and was replaced with an overwhelming feeling of happiness.

I had completed my mission AND set an official FAI World Record: The first speed record around the world. This project taught me that if you really believe in something and you never give up, it’s highly likely that you will succeed.

The one flying moment that will stick with me forever was flying the New York VFR corridor along the Hudson River. Flying around the Statue of Liberty, looking down at all the tourists, I could see them looking up at me, probably thinking ‘what on Earth is that thing?’ – I circled the statue four times.

Then I headed up the Hudson River looking up at the famous skyline. It really was a day that I had to pinch myself, was this really happening? It sure was…

The other moment of the trip that I will never forget was visiting a school in Siberia. The school building itself looked dilapidated like an abandoned building.

I walked in with the Education Minister for the city, and there were puddles of water on the floor and even electricity cables running along the ground and floors. We walked through a wooden door and there was a group of school children sitting quietly reading.

They were incredibly polite and respectful. I gave a talk to them through a translator and I remember one little girl who had the biggest smile on her face for the whole talk.

I will never see her again but I hope she remembers the crazy British man who shared stories of fun and adventure with them.