My Round the World Flight – 2024

The most recent statistics show that 6664 individuals have summited Everest, and 644 have been to space. In contrast, fewer than 100 individuals have circumnavigated the globe solo in a single-engine piston aircraft, and only 22 individuals hold the FAI’s westbound circumnavigator certificate.

I had a skipper’s ticket well before my pilot’s license and was always fascinated by the pioneers of solo round-the-world sailing—to the extent that I once organized a first date where we went to see a talk by Sir Robin Knox-Johnson at the Royal Cape Yacht Club! (She still speaks to me) I was fascinated by Bernard Moitessier, Eric Tabarly, and Ellen MacArthur; my bookshelf is filled with their memoirs. I started flying in 2007, and in that, I found a true passion. Then Calle Hedberg, a Norwegian pilot based in Cape Town at the time, did a solo circumnavigation in 2013. As I followed his progress and long over-ocean trips, I was nailed to my computer. (In one single flight, Calle logged more hours than I had done that entire year.) Then, when I bought my Mooney in Texas in 2019, it just so happens that the broker arranged for me to get my transition training from Brian Lloyd, who just happened to have completed his solo circumnavigation in 2017 in the exact model of plane I just bought. The dots connected, and it seemed possible to do this myself.

In the last couple of years, I’ve gradually been upgrading my aircraft with a circumnavigation in mind, and several months ago, it seemed that 2024 was finally going to be the year where everything came together sufficiently for me to attempt the same trip. And believe me, it only *just* came together. The hurdles in doing something like this are more than you would imagine initially, especially in a time of global turmoil.

So, to make a long story short, next weekend, I’m departing on my own westbound, solo circumnavigation attempt. My route will take me from New York via Western Canada to Alaska, the Aleutians, Japan, Philippines, Singapore, Thailand, India, UAE, Egypt, Europe, and then Iceland and Greenland back to New York.

I’ll post here and on Instagram (@N5810T) throughout my flight, which you can track live here. More to come in the next few days.