Pilot Polly aims for record books

A former music teacher was hoping to enter the record books today as the first solo woman pilot to circumnavigate the world via Australia and the Pacific in the smallest aircraft.

Polly Vacher, 56, from Drayton, near Abingdon in Britain is expected to complete her journey when she touches down at Birmingham International Airport later today.

The mother of three landed at Wick in Scotland on Sunday in preparation for today’s final historic leg to the West Midlands.

During her trip Mrs Vacher covered nearly 29,000 miles and crossed 17 countries in 47 legs.

The adventurer took-off from Birmingham on January 12 in a single-engine Piper Dakota aircraft G-FRGN.

Her two-seater plane has been specially adapted with long distance fuel tanks, hand-held Global Positioning System and battery-operated radio, but is otherwise the same as when she bought it second-hand following a trip to Australia with her publisher husband, Peter.

For the trip, Mrs Vacher underwent desert and jungle survival training as well as learning how to escape underwater and launch a life raft in the event of ditching.

A veteran of 245 sky dives, Mrs Vacher first took up the pastime seven years ago as a ‘‘compromise’’ after Mr Vacher refused to join her in the charity jumps.

Since gaining her full pilot’s licence, she has flown long-distance on her own to America and Canada and back and with her husband around the periphery of Australia.

Dressed in an orange flying suit emblazoned with some of her 800 sponsors, Mrs Vacher told a news conference before her departure she was looking forward to the trip.

Asked about the risks involved, she said: ‘‘If you’re worried about danger or that you might hurt yourself, you wouldn’t do anything.

‘‘The aircraft’s in good condition. If something went wrong, yes, it’s dangerous but then so are other things.’’

Mrs Vacher is aiming to raise money for the Air Tattoo Flying Scholarships for the Disabled in Memory of Sir Douglas Bader.