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Global Flyer: Around the World in 80 Days
In 1998, Brian Milton set off with Keith Reynolds from England to fly a flimsy open-cockpit microlight around the world in 80 days; 120 days later, Brian returned alone.
The flight aboard the GT Global Flyer retraced the route taken by Phileas Fogg and his manservant Passepartout in Jules Verne's classic story published 125 years earlier.
In effect a hang glider with a motorbike slung underneath, the GT Global Flyer was lightest-ever such aircraft to attempt the hazardous journey.
Brian and Keith flew across Europe, the Middle East, India, Vietnam, and China to far-east Russia. There they were held up for 18 days and Keith opted to go home. Brian flew across Siberia with a Russian navigator in the back, and then alone from Nome, Alaska, through Canada and the USA via San Francisco and New York. He then achieved the first west-east crossing of the Atlantic by microlight.
Global Flyer is Brian's account of this incredible trip, and of the setbacks and dangers he had to overcome. These ranged from engine failures and atrocious weather to being harassed by a big black SyrianMiG-21 fighter, as well as dealing with numerous bureaucratic obstacles.
This is a story of courage in the face of adversity, of a constant battle against time and the elements, and betrayals that even Phileas Fogg did not have to contend with.
Brian's flight won him the British Royal Aero Club's Britannia Trophy, the Club's highest award. He also gained the prestigious Segrave Trophy, once won by Amy Johnson. A Microlight Odyssey, the story of Brian's flight, was broadcast in four half-hour programs on National Geographic TV.
The flight aboard the GT Global Flyer retraced the route taken by Phileas Fogg and his manservant Passepartout in Jules Verne's classic story published 125 years earlier.
In effect a hang glider with a motorbike slung underneath, the GT Global Flyer was lightest-ever such aircraft to attempt the hazardous journey.
Brian and Keith flew across Europe, the Middle East, India, Vietnam, and China to far-east Russia. There they were held up for 18 days and Keith opted to go home. Brian flew across Siberia with a Russian navigator in the back, and then alone from Nome, Alaska, through Canada and the USA via San Francisco and New York. He then achieved the first west-east crossing of the Atlantic by microlight.
Global Flyer is Brian's account of this incredible trip, and of the setbacks and dangers he had to overcome. These ranged from engine failures and atrocious weather to being harassed by a big black SyrianMiG-21 fighter, as well as dealing with numerous bureaucratic obstacles.
This is a story of courage in the face of adversity, of a constant battle against time and the elements, and betrayals that even Phileas Fogg did not have to contend with.
Brian's flight won him the British Royal Aero Club's Britannia Trophy, the Club's highest award. He also gained the prestigious Segrave Trophy, once won by Amy Johnson. A Microlight Odyssey, the story of Brian's flight, was broadcast in four half-hour programs on National Geographic TV.
Hardcover
First published November 16, 1998
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Displaying 1 - 3 of 3 reviews
May 11, 2020
This was a very fast read - a real page-turner. It's also a book that deserves thinking about. If you think it's going to have a lot of heavy aviation technical detail, it doesn't. There's actually more information about bureaucratic inefficiency and obstruction, because while Milton clearly took the physical dangers of his flight in stride, it was the difficulties put in his path by other people that clearly angered him.
What this book is, is a shatteringly honest account of the author's round-the-world trip in a Pegasus Quantum microlight (ultralight). Reading it, I thought that the author's personality came through loud and clear, probably without the filter of an editor aiming to tidy him up and package him in a manner calculated to appeal to the masses.
Milton is obviously a man obsessed. Probably, you wouldn't - and couldn't - fly around the world in such a fragile little aircraft without being obsessed. Like many who have an obsession, Milton barrels forwards, not caring about - or even noticing - the consequences. Reading between the lines, I think he must have been extremely difficult to work with. He appears to have had his own ideas about how things should be done, and an inability to see anyone else's point of view. But in the end, it's Milton's obsession that carries him through. But it's also one of the saddest things, because I got the impression that while he succeeded in his global flight - following the route taken by the fictional Phileas Fogg - in the end it wasn't the the glowing triumph that he had hoped it would be. A lot of authors, I think, would have tried to pretend otherwise - not Milton. With this book, you get the warts-and-all picture.
So, I would recommend this book - thoroughly - to anyone who wants to read a personal account of a great adventure and the trials and emotions undergone, written in the adventurer's own words.
What this book is, is a shatteringly honest account of the author's round-the-world trip in a Pegasus Quantum microlight (ultralight). Reading it, I thought that the author's personality came through loud and clear, probably without the filter of an editor aiming to tidy him up and package him in a manner calculated to appeal to the masses.
Milton is obviously a man obsessed. Probably, you wouldn't - and couldn't - fly around the world in such a fragile little aircraft without being obsessed. Like many who have an obsession, Milton barrels forwards, not caring about - or even noticing - the consequences. Reading between the lines, I think he must have been extremely difficult to work with. He appears to have had his own ideas about how things should be done, and an inability to see anyone else's point of view. But in the end, it's Milton's obsession that carries him through. But it's also one of the saddest things, because I got the impression that while he succeeded in his global flight - following the route taken by the fictional Phileas Fogg - in the end it wasn't the the glowing triumph that he had hoped it would be. A lot of authors, I think, would have tried to pretend otherwise - not Milton. With this book, you get the warts-and-all picture.
So, I would recommend this book - thoroughly - to anyone who wants to read a personal account of a great adventure and the trials and emotions undergone, written in the adventurer's own words.
February 1, 2020
I have been flying microlights (powered Hanggliders) for 27 years with thousands of flying hours. My dream has always been to fly long distances. Since I offer introductory flight lessons on Maui/Hawaii and confined to short distances I would have loved to join Brian Milton on this adventure. However there were some flying days were I would have opted out. I had a hard time to put away the global flight book after I started reading it. A book for every pilot and adventurer.
April 19, 2012
A page turner of a book, about a real life adventure in a microlight.
Displaying 1 - 3 of 3 reviews