Flying RTW 2024 | threejourneysround

Celebration of Round the World
18 June - 01 October 2024

Andre de Freitas made the first circumnavigation of the world in a helicopter by a Brazilian general aviation pilot.

The flight was co-ordinated by both the Brazil and Great Britain National Airsport Control bodies representing Andre and Peter Wilson and conducted under FAI Sporting Code.

The pair have taken Peter Wilson’s existing antipodal record by circumnavigation - subject to FAI ratification.

The route took them through the following 34 countries (some entered twice), flying about 31,000 nautical miles in 106 days: Brazil (2), French Guiana, Guyana, Grenada, Saint Lucia, Sint Maarten, Dominican Republic, Turks & Caicos, Bahamas, USA (2), Canada (2), Greenland, Iceland, Faro Islands, United Kingdom, Germany, Austria, Serbia, Bulgaria, Turkey, Georgia, Turkmenistan, Uzbekistan, Kazakhstan, Russia, Mexico, EL Salvador, Costa Rica, Panama, Colombia, Ecuador, Peru, Chile, Argentina and Uruguay.

The antipodes were Bichura (UIUA), Russia followed by El Calafate (SWAC), Argentina. The start and finish point of the trip was Jaguaruna (SBJA), Santa Caterina, Brazil.

For Peter this route combined the beauty of his previous LATAM 2018/19 and RTW 2017 routes. However, by taking the northerly route through Europe, Turkey, and entering Russia from the Stans the pilots saw the beauty of this region including stunning Lake Baikal and awesome Kamchatka whilst able to avoid the monsoonal weather of the southerly route.