LONDON -- Tracey Curtis-Taylor, the self-styled "Bird in a Biplane," has landed safely in Sydney after flying 14,600 nautical miles from Britain in her vintage open cockpit biplane.
The 53-year-old said, “I need a drink. And I need a hairdresser,” after landing to cheers and applause. She thanked those who supported her and said to stay tuned for updates.
Curtis-Taylor was inspired to make the trip by one of her idols, British aviator Amy Johnson, who became the first woman to fly solo from Britain to Australia in 1930. She retraced Johnson's route over 23 countries and made more than 50 refueling stops.
She wanted the flight experience to be as similar to Johnson's as possible, so she used her open cockpit 1942 Boeing Stearman, christened "Spirit of Artemis". While Curtis-Taylor was the only pilot of the plane, a support crew flew along with her in a separate aircraft, as well as a camera crew who sometimes sat with her.
"This is the greatest adventure in the world - this is flying through some of the great iconic sites: the Dead Sea, the Arabian desert," she told BBC Radio 4.
"This is old fashioned stick and rudder flying, open cockpit, you get buffeted around - I've come through monsoons, thunder storms, turbulence, flying through the Australian outback in 45 degrees of heat."
A stunning morning flight over #Uluru #GBtoOz pic.twitter.com/LmjOz1YMRP— Tracey Curtis-Taylor (@biplanebird) January 6, 2016
A photo posted by Tracey Curtis-Taylor (@biplanebird) on May 27, 2015 at 1:41pm PDT
Her journey took her across Europe and the Mediterranean, over the Arabian desert, across the Gulf of Oman to Karachi, over India and across southeast Asia, then across Australia to Sydney. She kept followers up to date on her travels over Twitter and Facebook.
Sorry for radio silence, tricky flying Friday. Low cloud forced me to land in cow field! Made it to Romania #GBtoOz pic.twitter.com/q7Zz3lqVwr— Tracey Curtis-Taylor (@biplanebird) October 10, 2015
She said she needed to rest and decompress after her long journey, but that she also wants to keep going. She has plans for a coast-to-coast expedition across the U.S.
"I wish I could keep going, I never want to land as the experience is so profound, it’s addictive,” she said.