Polar First Crew Arrives Home | Aero-News Network
Aero-News Network
RSS icon RSS feed
podcast icon MP3 podcast
Subscribe Aero-News e-mail Newsletter Subscribe

Airborne Unlimited -- Most Recent Daily Episodes

Episode Date

Airborne-Monday

Airborne-Tuesday

Airborne-Wednesday Airborne-Thursday

Airborne-Friday

Airborne On YouTube

Airborne-Unlimited-07.07.25

Airborne-NextGen-07.08.25

AirborneUnlimited-07.09.25

Airborne-FlightTraining-07.10.25

AirborneUnlimited-07.11.25

Tue, May 15, 2007

Polar First Crew Arrives Home

Trip Provides World Record, Healing

British pilots Jennifer Murray and Colin Bodill brought their historic trek to an end at the Bell Helicopter Textron Canada Ltd. head office in Mirabel almost 1500 miles from their last stop in Texas and successful completion of  a new world record.

Murray, 66, is listed in the Guinness Book of Records as the first woman to circumnavigate the globe in a helicopter. Bodill, 55, is a two-time World Microlight Champion (he is the first person to fly solo around the world in a weight-shift aircraft) and helicopter pilot, as reported by ANN.

Murray insists this latest go-round was "the big one."

The duo ended their flight by visiting the workers who manufactured the decade-old, cherry-red Bell 407 they've flown for their more than 40,300-mile trip around the globe that crossed both the north and south poles, according to The Montreal Gazette.

The 407 was home to the pilots for about five months while they traveled through challenges like Arctic blizzards and poor visibility over Mexico City to achieve their goal. They even came close to crashing again while trying to land in Iqaluit, the capital of Nunavut.

As Aero-News reported, the team's first attempt at the record failed in 2003 (shown below), when their helicopter crashed in whiteout conditions at the South Pole. Both pilots suffered serious injuries in the accident... but vowed to keep trying. That helicopter was destroyed and the weather had been too harsh for a rescue plane to land. Murray, while not severely injured, ended up going into shock. Bodill, with a broken back and severe internal bleeding, set up their tent and other equipment to protect them from the minus 50 C weather.

"We were 2,000 miles from the nearest hospital," she recalled. "We were so lucky to be alive."

On this attempt, they returned to the crash site and buried the key of the destroyed helicopter.

"It was a huge healing moment," she said. "This is about not giving up."

FMI: www.polarfirst.com

Advertisement

More News

Classic Aero-TV: Up Close And Personal - The Aeroshell Aerobatic Team at Oshkosh

From 2014 (YouTube Version): One Of The Airshow World's Pre-Eminent Formation Teams Chats About The State Of The Industry At EAA AirVenture 2014, ANN News Editor Tom Patton gets th>[...]

ANN's Daily Aero-Term (07.13.25): Tactical Air Navigation (TACAN)

Tactical Air Navigation (TACAN) An ultra-high frequency electronic rho-theta air navigation aid which provides suitably equipped aircraft a continuous indication of bearing and dis>[...]

ANN's Daily Aero-Linx (07.13.25)

Aero Linx: Doobert Hi, we're Chris & Rachael Roy, founders and owners of Doobert. Chris is a technology guy in his “day” job and used his experience to create Doobe>[...]

NTSB Prelim: Pitts S2

The Airplane Was Spinning In A Nose-Down Attitude Before It Impacted Terrain On June 20, 2025, at 0900 eastern daylight time, a Pitts Aerobatics S-2B, N79AV, was destroyed when it >[...]

Airborne 07.09.25: B-17 Sentimental Journey, Airport Scandal, NORAD Intercepts

Also: United Elite Sues, Newark ATC Transitions, Discovery Moves?, Textron @ KOSH The Commemorative Air Force Airbase Arizona is taking its “Flying Legends of Victory Tour&rd>[...]

blog comments powered by Disqus



Advertisement

Advertisement

Podcasts

Advertisement

© 2007 - 2025 Web Development & Design by Pauli Systems, LC