Pilot on her way
around the globe
stops off in HiloPolly Vacher gets to see flowing
lava on her long journey
A British pilot circumnavigating the globe took a break in Hawaii over the weekend before continuing the journey aboard her single-engine plane.
Polly Vacher, 60, landed her bright orange and black plane in Hilo on Friday and expected to take off for Christmas Island early today. It was the latest leg of a journey that is in its ninth month and has already logged more than 331 hours in the air.
"Every stop is a highlight, really," Vacher said in a telephone interview from Hilo. Her entire trip is to raise money for World Wings, an English aviation organization that provides flight training to the disabled.
The 16-hour trip from Santa Barbara, Calif., to Hilo included some tough conditions for Vacher before her landing. She found herself amid storm clouds bringing heavy rain, lightning and turbulence.
"Nearly two hours of this hell," she wrote in her online journal.
Since being seen off by Prince Charles in Scotland on May 6, Vacher has flown her one-seat plane over the North Pole, Alaska, and North and South America en route to Antarctica.
She had hoped to cross the South Pole, too, but strong winds and a depleted fuel supply grounded her plane in Antarctica for some time last month, before she passed up the pole and flew on through Argentina, Brazil, the Caribbean and across the southern United States.
After flying on to Christmas Island, she plans to fly to Pago Pago, New Zealand, Australia, Southeast Asia and the Middle East before returning home, possibly in April. Along the way, she will meet with supporters, including the queens of Bhutan and Jordan.
Vacher's stop in Hilo was longer than most on her journey, but it was not her first time there. When she flew around the world in 2001, raising $317,600 for World Wings, she made a 10-hour stop in Hilo.
This time, she was even able to view the lava flowing from Kilauea.
Vacher said she looked forward to a reunion with her husband, Peter, in New Zealand, though she said she did not feel lonely when in the air.
"Sometimes on the ground, it's lonely," she said. "But I have a real purpose."