First pole to pole by helicopter

[shutterbabe]

congratulations to British team Steve Brooks, Joanna Vestey and Quentin Smith for being the first team to fly from Pole to Pole using Robinson 44's. Steve and Q made the first leg to the North Pole and back to Anchorage in 2002 - Joanna and Steve then took on the challenge of flying 20,000 miles through 20 countries -North, Central and South America. Successfully completing this, Steve and Q continued from South America but were thwarted by engine failure in the Drake Passage. Undeterred they made the second attempt this year and successfully arrived at the South Pole making Steve Brooks the first pilot to fly from Pole to Pole by helicopter.

[widgeon]

Not sure , did they fly from pole to pole this year or just complete the last bit ?.
http://www.robinsonheli.com/prarchiv.../southpole.pdf

May also be a record for slowest pole to pole

[rotor-rooter]

Kind of a lame claim to fame.

Different people, different aircraft. One crashed and lost. Hardly an organised success. When did all this happen?

Sure hope shutterbabe isn't tooting her own horn here, as no-one has noticed or commented on this wonderous feat previously.

Maybe if you join up all the trips we have each made, some of us might have entirely circled the earth. Might have been with 5 different companies, 12 different types, 40 different crews and over a few decades.

Sorry to appear cynical, but seems to be a bit of a non-event.

[norunway]

pole to pole

I believe Mike Smith did it in a bell 206 back in the 80,s a year after his successful round the world flight in the same 206 long before this flight and it was solo with no backup

[shutterbabe]

pole to pole

not totally un-noticed - BBC News, ABC, Fox, Sky and Discovery etc all did features about it

[norunway]

speechless two

I knew i was close with the name sorry about that.

[Heli-Ice]

Shutterbabe.

So this must be the first engine failure in an R44 or what?