Growing up under Heathrow’s approach path during the era of Concorde launched my fascination with aviation. A flying experience in a PA28 on my 11th birthday left me in no doubt as to what I wanted to do in life.

From the very beginning – from that very first trial lesson – I have been incredibly fortunate. My career is a direct result of the love and support I’ve received from my family and friends, as well as the guidance from many fantastic instructors and mentors I’ve met along the way. Now, I am grateful beyond words to occupy a role in which I can help others learn to fly, as well as develop and hone their own skills as aviators.

At a relatively young and impressionable age, I was also lucky enough to visit far-flung parts of the world which opened my eyes to the fantastic human and geographical diversity of our planet. To travel and see as much of the world as possible is a privilege I try to embrace as much as I can.

This project is about combining these passions. To this day, I can vividly remember the very first moment where I wondered what it would be like to fly a small plane around the world – and, ever since, there has always been a plan of sorts floating around my head as to how I might make that dream a reality.

In early 2020, I “discovered” microlights. Unenthused by the fuel costs of something as basic even as a 172, as well as the thought of long-distance airways legs high above the world below, the notion of a simple, slow, and open-sided microlight immediately piqued my interest. And all the more so when I realised I could build my own!

Around the World at 80 Knots, is – I hope – the final evolution of my dream; it’s a bold and somewhat ambitious plan to fulfil a life-long ambition.

But I also want it to be more than that. I’d like to share it with my wife. I’d like to share it with my family – without whom none of this would even be conceivable. I’d like to share it with my colleagues who share my passion in aviation and, more than anything, I’d like to share it with all the young and eager individuals beginning their own journey into aviation. I do not want to share it with any Search and Rescue personnel.

– Daniel