Tragedy struck again with Martin sustaining a fatal accident. With encouragement from all corners of the world he arranged to meet up with a fellow South African pilot, Martin Walker, in San Francisco, USA where they continued across the continent and South through Mexico to Belize. This threw the expedition into disarray, leaving Ricky with the difficult choice of either ending the expedition or to try to revive the spirit of encouragement they had established through Asia and to continue flying in memory of Alan. Then turning South across jungles, islands and several sea crossings to Australia where they met up with family and friends before setting course back North passing through Cambodia, Vietnam and on to China where sadly Alan had a fatal accident. The updates that follow describe the fascinating adventure as they flew up the remote wilderness areas of Africa, across Yemen, Oman, Pakistan and North into Nepal. They set off completely unsupported, on a course that would achieve a world record of the longest microlight flight ever undertaken. On the 16th December 2003, after three years of preparation, selling their homes and possessions to fund the expedition, Alan Honeyborne and Ricky De Agrela took off from Cape Town, South Africa, flying two small (hang glider type) microlights around the world. Freedom Flight.Īll we ask is please not to use any of it for commercial purposes and should you feel obliged to contribute towards it in some way, we would appreciate you making the contribution to the Red Cross Children’s Hospital via their web site If you feel the expedition story maybe of encouragement to someone, please email a copy or pass this page link on to them. “To encourage others to pursue their own dreams and goals.” These will give you an introduction to the book that has been written exposing the excitement, hardships, trauma, and support that drove the expedition across the world and through incredible life transforming experiences, leaving provoking thoughts of our everyday life.įor more information on the book please send your email address to primary Mission of the expedition was Photographs are included to add visual impressions of the adventure. This is a copy of the unedited web page updates written along the way describing the people, places and experiences. The outcome of the expedition extended beyond physical limits, encompassed life’s greatest and saddest extremes, with each adding deeper purpose to the motivation and determination which achieved it’s success.
The expedition was the pursuit of the two pilots, Alan Honeyborne and Ricky De Agrela’s ambitious dreams and determination to fly two small microlights, not only around the world but also across each continent of the world on the longest expedition ever flown in a light aircraft. The longest microlight expedition in the world. Freedom Flight is the story of the world record setting microlight expedition which took off completely unsupported from Cape Town, South Africa on the 16th of December 2003, flying across five continents and 11 months later, on the 20th of November 2004 returned establishing a world record of 64000 kilometers (over 39000 miles).