British pilot on a daring world tour for charity

A daring British army helicopter pilot is trying to become the first person to fly around the world in an autogyro.

Expedition Global Eagle is scheduled to take five months, pilot Barry Jones says. He began his journey from Middle Wallop in sout-hern England on April 26.

An Army Warrant Officer and Air Corps pilot, Jones told Gulf News in an exclusive interview during his two-day stay in the UAE that the main aim of his expedition is to raise funds for three charities and to prove that this light aircraft can set a world record.

He is raising funds for the British Red Cross, the UK-based National Society for the Prevention of Cruelty to Children and the Dyslexia Institute of London. Jones, who has been flying helicopters for ten years, and his two children suffer from dyslexia.

He raises money for the charities with the help of sponsors and by selling air miles from his journey.

So far, about 2,000 air miles have been sponsored, he says. "Those who buy miles will receive a signed certificate detailing the geographical position of the mile that has been sponsored," he says.

Each mile costs £5 (around Dh33), and sponsors can pick from three categories: Bronze (1-10 miles), Silver (11-20 miles) and Gold (more than 20 miles).

"By purchasing a mile, you will be adding your name to our historic flight. At the end of the trip, a ledger will be made detailing each mile and the owner of this mile along with images taken from the trip. This will then be placed in an aviation museum along with other items from the trip for all to see," Jones says.

When he visited Carlisle Airfield in England and test-piloted an autogyro in 2002, Jones says he found himself surprisingly attracted to the aircraft and thought about a world record and satisfying his sense of adventure.

Once Expedition Global Eagle began to take shape, he approached his commanding officer at 9 Regiment Army Air Corps and asked permission to make the journey.

The army's chief of the general staff at the time, General Sir Michael Walker, visited the regiment and saw Jones's idea.

Thereafter, Sir Michael agreed to become the expedition's patron. By this time, Jones had acquired an autogyro (or a gyroplane as they are more commonly called) from South Africa that had been "grounded due to severe neglect," according to its logbook.

The aircraft is similar to the one made famous in the 1967 James Bond film You Only Live Twice. In the movie, Sean Connery flies an autogyro called Little Nillie.

Jones landed at Abu Dhabi International Airport on Monday and was met by Mohammed Ibrahim Al Mazroui, general manager of Abu Dhabi Aviation, on behalf of Sheikh Hamdan bin Mubarak Al Nahyan, Chairman of the Abu Dhabi Department of Civil Aviation.

He left Abu Dhabi and flew to Muscat, where he stayed for two days before heading to Gawadar and Ormara in Pakistan. He is then scheduled to fly to Karachi, where British Embassy officials are to receive him and where he will stay for a day before flying to India.

The most difficult flights along the way have been over the Austrian Alps, the Mediterranean and the Saudi Arabian desert. He had to climb to 10,000 feet over the Alps, where it was extremely windy.

"The next frightening flight was from Rhodes in Greece to Cyprus, flying over the sea for four hours," he says. "It was just blue sea and few ships could be seen below for about 300 miles. Anything could have gone wrong, and it would have been a huge task to get help on time."

In the Middle East, he says, he had to fly over desert for hours and battle sand storms (from Jordan to Saudi Arabia).

"I could neither fly at low nor high altitudes. It was extremely hot with sand blowing at lower altitudes and freezing weather at higher levels."

Another problem he had to battle over the desert is the lack of communication with the ground, as stations do not exist in the desert. "I had to communicate with commercial planes flying over the air space. I was also helped by a Saudi Air flight to approach and land at Turaif."

Looking ahead to rest of the journey, he says, the more challenging flights will be over the rain forests in Burma and other East Asian countries, the flight from Russia to Alaska and the flight over the Arctic Circle from Canada to Greenland.
He is scheduled to return to England in September.

Philanthropists can buy air miles
• Expedition Global Eagle is a five-month attempt by British army pilot Barry Jones to fly around
the world in an autogyro.
• Jones hopes to raise funds for three charities – the British Red Cross, the UK-based National Society for the Prevention of Cruelty to Children and the Dyslexia Institute of London.

• He raises money for the charities with the help of sponsors and by selling air miles from his journey.

• Each air mile will cost £5 or around Dh33. They are available in three categories.