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