Expedition Global Eagle
[5] The purpose of the mission was twofold; to set the world record and to raise funds for three charities; the Dyslexia Institute, the NSPCC and the British Red Cross.
[4] Jones embarked on his mission on 26 April 2004 from the Museum of Army Flying, Middle Wallop, Hampshire with an honorary military helicopter armada accompanying him during the send off.
The expedition encountered difficulties while flying through Europe, including the Alps[8] and the Middle East and it was downgraded due to flight delays before finally being abandoned after it landed in Guwahati, India around the onset of monsoon season.
[16] He also flew for approximately 50 miles (80 km) over the North Sea which, as he acknowledged during an interview, was a dangerous course due to the fact the autogyro only had one engine and therefore in case it cut-off there would be no alternative solution but to crash land in the water.
[21] The circumnavigation attempt trip commenced on 26 April 2004 under the patronage of General Sir Michael Walker,[13] Chief of Defence Staff of the British Armed Forces and it was supposed to last about three and a half months.
[24] The expedition successfully completed the European leg of the journey which included Ostend, Belgium, Friedrichshafen, Germany, the Alps, Bolzano, Trento, Casaleggio Novara, the location of the Magni airfield in Italy,[26] Forlì, Pescara, Bari, Italy, Corfu, Athens,[27] Mykonos, Kos and Rhodes, in Greece and the military base of Akrotiri in Cyprus,[28] albeit with delays.
[14] Also the trip from Athens to Akrotiri over the Mediterranean proved very frightening because flying over the water, with only a few ships below, meant that it would be very difficult to get any help in case of a mishap.
[4] From Akrotiri, Global Eagle went to Amman, Jordan, Turaif, Saudi Arabia, Arar, Hafr Al-Batin, Qaisumah, Jubail, Bahrain, Abu Dhabi in the Arab Emirates and Muscat, Oman.
[35] From Karachi, Jones flew the autogyro to India where it navigated to Ahmedabad, Udaipur, Jaipur, New Delhi, Bareilly, Gorakhpur, Patna and Baghdogra, sometimes through sandstorms, and finally landed during monsoon rains in the army base of Guwahati.
