Steve Wood, who last July became the first British pilot to fly around the four corners of America in a homebuilt aircraft, now plans a record setting solo flight around the world, promoting British American trade, travel, culture and the Royal International Air Tattoo. The flight also is intended to support Flying Scholarships for the Disabled.
No British pilot has flown around the world in a homebuilt airplane, Wood says. If successful, he will join an elite group. Only 10 pilots of any nationality have flown homebuilt aircraft around the world. Most such flights are made in certified aircraft, and there haven’t been many of them: a grand total of 121 in single engine aircraft and just 69 solo circumnavigations in airplanes of any type of aircraft.
Officially named “Spirit of Endeavour,” Wood’s GlaStar is affectionately known as “GOOFY,” a name derived not from its rather ordinary looks but from its unique registration, N-600FY. The real name honors a fellow Yorkshireman, Capt. James Cook, perhaps the greatest navigator in history, whose famous ship was HMS Endeavour.
A member of the British American Business Council and the International Fellowship of Flying Rotarians, Wood will promote Britain during his attempt to establish a new FAI ’round the world flight record from New York to New York.
Adventure of Flight, Wood’s world flight program, aims to raise $1 million for Flying Scholarships for the Disabled.
Wood is following in the flight path of Polly Vacher, a record-setting aviatrix and Wood’s mentor, who has flown two fund raising world flights for FSD.