Excuse the thread-drift, but if any pilot of light aircraft - male or female - is currently worthy of consideration for an award, the list should include Sacha Dench, She returned to Blighty yesterday at the end of a 4500-mile flight following the autumn migration of Bewick's swans from the Arctic-Sea coast of Russia in September, finally landing her powered paraglider in Kent after crossing the English Channel - her first sea crossing.
She's a conservationist, working at Slimbridge Wildfowl and Wetlands Trust in the west country. Her expedition included a small support team. Interviewed on BBC Radio 4's
PM programme this evening, she made little fuss about her flying achievement, during which she injured a knee. She did admit that there were times when flight conditions were difficult enough to suggest a precautionary landing - but there was nowhere suitable to set down. Elsewhere she complains that, unlike the swans she flew with, she was unable to stave off the cold by flapping her arms about. A brave and modest person.
BBC Radio 4 - PM, 06/12/2016
[start at 40:30]
More details here:
'Human swan' describes navigating thunderstorms and battling temperatures of -25C during 4,500-mile trip
And here:
https://www.google.co.uk/url?sa=t&rc...exi_NpgPGlq0rQ