iscover
Peter Norvil/'s record breaking Cessna Hawk XP.
Lone Cessna 172 Conquers The World
0 comment
Solo Around the World, Peter Norvill’s Ultimate Adventure
Thirty-seven year old Peter Norvill from Murrurundi in New South Wales recently became the first Australian-born pilot to fly solo around the world, backwards as it were, against the prevailing winds.
Not that world records are unknown to this man. He already holds three world records relating to his flying activities. In 1983, he became the first person to fly solo across the Australian continent in a single engined aircraft. He. was airborne for 22 hours and that alone set a world endurance record.
In 1984, Peter flew around Australia in 60 hours, 27. 5 minutes, which also netted him the record for the fastest time around Australia. Finally, in January 1986, Norvill piloted a single engined aircraft across the Tasman Sea from Tasmania to New Zealand, becoming the first pilot to make the crossing in such an aircraft. Peter’s dream to fly around the world solo centred on a Cessna XP Hawk aeroplane, mistaken by some members of the press during his record attempt for a Cessna 172. His intentions were to complete the journey to commemorate Australia’s Bicentenary, to honour Sir Charles Kingsford-Smith on the 60th anniversary of his epic flight from California to Brisbane, and to achieve his fourth world record. Peter Norvill had planned for eight years to undertake the flight in a loose sort of way and when the Bicentenary year arrived, decided to go ahead and ‘have a go’. After becoming airborne from Bankstown Airport in NSW on Friday, May 6, 1988, the thought crossed his mind that he had bitten off a bit more than he could chew this time, and for a moment he truly wished he’d never started it all. The flight plan showed: Sydney/Scone/Mt Isa/Darwin/Bali/ Singapore/Colombo/Bombay/Bahrain/Luxor/lraklion/Rome/ Lisbon/Santa Maria/St John’s/Montreal/Chicago/Denver/Los Angeles/Hilo/Christmas Island/International Dateline/Fiji/ Noumea/Brisbane/Murrurundi/Sydney. Monday, June 6, was to be completely lost as Peter passed the international dateline. The route depicted crosses Asia and the Indian Ocean on the way to Europe and then traverses the Atlantic Ocean to Canada and the United States. To emulate Sir Charles Kingsford-Smith’s epic flight, Peter flew from California to Brisbane and then to Sydney to complete his circumnavigation of the world. His arrival date in Brisbane, June 9, is the anniversary of the day Peter’s hero, Kingsford-Smith completed his crossing of the Pacific in the ‘Southern Cross·. Actually, Peter himself comes from a long line of pioneers. One of his ancestors, an Andrew Fishbourne, was a carpenter on Captain Cook’s ship ‘Endeavour’, part of the first fleet.
This content is available exclusively to Australian Aviation members.
A monthly membership is only $5.99 or save with our annual plans.
- Australian Aviation quarterly print & digital magazines
- Access to In Focus reports every month on our website
- Unlimited access to all Australian Aviation digital content
- Access to the Australian Aviation app
- Australian Aviation quarterly print & digital magazines
- Access to In Focus reports every month on our website
- Access to our Behind the Lens photo galleries and other exclusive content
- Daily news updates via our email bulletin
- Unlimited access to all Australian Aviation digital content
- Access to the Australian Aviation app
- Australian Aviation quarterly print & digital magazines
- Access to In Focus reports every month on our website
- Access to our Behind the Lens photo galleries and other exclusive content
- Daily news updates via our email bulletin
