Circumnavigation is the complete navigation around an entire island, continent, or astronomical body. This article focuses on the circumnavigation of Earth.
Sir David Kim Hempleman-Adams, is an English industrialist and adventurer.
The Scaled Composites Model 311 Virgin Atlantic GlobalFlyer is an aircraft designed by Burt Rutan in which Steve Fossett first flew a solo nonstop airplane flight around the world in slightly more than 67 hours. The flight speed of 551 km/h set the world record for the fastest nonstop non-refueled circumnavigation, beating the mark set by the previous Rutan-designed Voyager aircraft at 9 days 3 minutes and a top speed of 196 km/h.
Geraldine "Jerrie" Fredritz Mock was an American pilot and the first woman to fly solo around the world. She flew a single engine Cessna 180 christened the Spirit of Columbus and nicknamed "Charlie." The trip began March 19, 1964, in Columbus, Ohio, and ended April 17, 1964, in Columbus, Ohio. It took 29 days, 11 hours and 59 minutes, with 21 stopovers and almost 22,860 miles (36,790 km). The flight was part of a "race" that developed between Jerrie Mock and Joan Merriam Smith who had flown from a field near San Francisco, CA on March 17, 1964; Smith's departure date and flight path was the same as the aviator Amelia Earhart's last flight. Although they were not in direct competition with each other, media coverage soon began tracking the progress of each pilot, fascinated with who would complete the journey first. Mock was the first to finish. The story of this race is told in a book written by Taylor Phillips entitled, Racing to Greet the Sun, Jerrie Mock and Joan Merriam Smith Duel to Become the First Woman to Solo Around the World (2015). Jerrie Mock was subsequently awarded the Louis Blériot medal from the Fédération Aéronautique Internationale in 1965. In 1970 she published the story of her round-the-world flight in the book Three-Eight Charlie. While that book is now out of print, a 50th anniversary edition was later published including maps, weather charts and photos. Three-Eight Charlie is a reference to the call sign, N1538C, of the Cessna 180 Skywagon Mock used to fly around the world. Before her death, Mock, mother of three children, resided in Quincy, Florida; northwest of the state capital, Tallahassee.
Great Marlow School is a co-educational secondary school in Marlow, Buckinghamshire. It takes children from the age of 11 through to the age of 18 and has approximately 1,260 pupils. In August 2011 the school became an Academy. In 2012/2013 the school underwent a building project to erect a new sports hall, all weather astroturf pitches, new bus parking and a community gym complex. The school sold a large plot of land at the top of their field to fund this project.
Captain Barrington Irving Jr. is a Jamaican-born American pilot who previously held the record for the youngest person to pilot a plane around the world solo, a feat he accomplished in 2007. He is also the first black person and first Jamaican to accomplish this feat. His airplane, a Columbia 400, is named the "Inspiration", and was manufactured and assembled by the Columbia Aircraft Mfg. Co. in 2005, classified as a standard aircraft in the utility category using over $300,000 in donated parts.
Jessica Watson is an Australian sailor who was awarded the Order of Australia Medal after attempting a solo circumnavigation at the age of 16. Departing Sydney on 18 October 2009, Watson headed north-east, crossing the equator in the Pacific Ocean before crossing the Atlantic and Indian Oceans. She returned to Sydney on 15 May 2010, three days before her 17th birthday, though the voyage was ultimately shorter than the required 21,600 nautical miles (40,000 km) to be considered a global circumnavigation by the World Sailing Speed Record Council. In recognition of her attempt Watson was named the 2011 Young Australian of the Year, and the following year was awarded a Medal of the Order of Australia "For service to sailing and to youth through the achievement of sailing solo and unassisted around the world, and as a role model for young Australians". She currently resides in Melbourne.
The Shark.Aero Shark is a conventionally laid out, single engine, low wing ultralight aircraft and light-sport aircraft which seats two in tandem. It was first flown on 19 August 2009 and is built in both Slovakia and the Czech Republic by Shark.Aero. It has optionally fixed or retractable landing gear.
Carlo Schmid is a Swiss pilot.
Babar Suleman and Haris Suleman were a Pakistani-American father-son pilot duo who were attempting to fly around the world in 30 days to promote education, when their single-engine plane crashed into the South Pacific Ocean near Pago Pago on 22 July 2014 on the final leg of their journey, killing Haris and leaving his father Babar, also on board, missing.
Joan Merriam Smith was an American aviator famous for her 1964 solo flight around the world that began and ended in Oakland, California, as she set out to follow the same route as the 1937 flight plan of Amelia Earhart. Joan was the first person in history to fly solo around the world at the equator, the first person to complete the longest single solo flight around the world, the first woman to fly a twin-engine aircraft around the world, the first woman to fly the Pacific Ocean from west to east in a twin-engine plane, the first woman to receive an airline transport rating at the age of 23, and the youngest woman to complete a solo flight around the world. Joan had attempted to become the first woman to circumnavigate the globe by herself, but another woman, Jerrie Mock, set off during the same week and would complete the task earlier.
Matthew Lee Guthmiller is an American aviator, YouTuber, entrepreneur, professional speaker, and Massachusetts Institute of Technology alumnus. In 2007, aged 12, he founded an early iPhone unlocking company, AnySIMiPhones. In 2014, at age 19, Guthmiller became the youngest person to fly solo around the world, a record he held for two years. In 2019 he became the youngest member of the South Dakota Aviation Hall of Fame, on exhibit at the South Dakota Air and Space Museum.
Norman Surplus was a pilot from Northern Ireland who circumnavigated the globe in an autogyro, nicknamed "Roxy". His trip began in 2010 and ended on 28 June 2019. In 2010, during the first leg of his trip, Surplus flew over Europe, the Middle East, Asia, and North America. In June 2015, Surplus commenced the second leg of his journey by flying through the United States and crossing the Atlantic Ocean to eventually land in Larne, Northern Ireland in August 2015, becoming the first person to cross the Atlantic in an autogyro. In 2019, he completed the last leg of his journey when he finally obtained permission from the Russian Federation to fly through its airspace. He left Larne on Easter Monday in 2019, and flew through Russia to eventually reach the United States and land at the Evergreen Aviation and Space Museum in Oregon completing his circumnavigation of the globe in an autogyro. Surplus's AutoGyro MT-03 is currently displayed at the EAA Aviation Museum initially to remain there for the duration of AirVenture 2020. Surplus took nine years to complete his journey around the world, and flew over 32 countries, over a total distance of 27,000 miles (43,000 km). In a 2015 interview with the CBC, while on a stopover at Iqaluit, Canada, Surplus mentioned that the trip should have taken approximately four months but the problems with obtaining permission to fly over Russia, which persisted for three years, derailed his plans.
Spirit of Freedom balloon was a Rozière balloon designed and built by Donald Cameron and Tim Cole. In 2002 solo pilot Steve Fossett flew the Spirit of Freedom to become the first successful around-the-world nonstop solo flight in any kind of aircraft. On June 19, 2002, the 10-story-high balloon Spirit of Freedom lifted off from Northam, Western Australia, and landed in Queensland, Australia, on July 3, 2002. The solo flight circumnavigation lasted 13 days, 8 hours, 33 minutes and covered 20,626.48 statute miles (33,195.10 km). They reached speeds of up to 322 kilometers per hour, and flew as high as 10,580 meters.
Ravinder Bansal, is an Indian American entrepreneur, philanthropist, and amateur pilot from Clarence, New York. He was the first person of Indian origin to fly around the world solo in a single engine plane.
Oliver Daemen is a Dutch space tourist who flew as part of the 20 July 2021, sub-orbital Blue Origin NS-16 spaceflight. At the time of his flight he was 18 years old, and is the youngest person, first teenager, and first person born in the 21st century to travel to space. Daemen is a licensed pilot.
Zara Rutherford is a Belgian-British aviator. At age 19, she became the youngest female pilot to fly solo around the world and the first person to complete a circumnavigation in a microlight aircraft after a five-month journey which began in Kortrijk, Belgium, on 18 August 2021, and ended on 20 January 2022.
Mack Rutherford is a British-Belgian aviator, born 21 June 2005. In 2022 he became the youngest person ever to fly solo around the world on the 24th August of that year. He holds four Guinness World Records: These include youngest person to fly solo around the world - previously held by Travis Ludlow and youngest person to fly a microlight solo around the world - previously held by his sister Zara Rutherford.
