STOP PRESS! James just called to say they landed at Conakry at 0745 GMT! They had a beautiful flight much less stressful than the previous one as the navigation system was working well. They are currently in customs and will look for an internet connection to post a log shortly. The current plan (weather dependent)

We’ve landed in Conakry after such an awesome flight and just can’t believe that the satellite tracking didn’t work this time around – it’ll be sorted out by tomorrow if there’s any way to do it. Last night’s flight was sooooo much easier, less stressful and therefore even more enjoyable than the flight to Sao

I have just chatted to James and Mike in their hotel room in Soa Tome. I find it hard to put my emotions in words as these two good friends take on a mammoth adventure while simultaneously setting new standards for light aviation. I have had the pleasure of being intimately involved with this project

10am GMT 20th July (Tim): I spoke briefly to our glorious aviators this morning in Sao Tome. Understandably they were in very high spirits after a successful first leg and a first full night’s sleep in months, in the hotel. The flight went well. The Sling flew beautifully apparently and shot into Sao Tome with

I can’t believe we’re in Sao Tome after more than 18 hours of flying. There couldn’t be a more perfect place to put down after this first flight – big smiles all round, no request to see a passport or even a crew card, not a single stamp or form (literally, not one – we

I am sitting in a hotel room relaxing at last after 6 months of stress and really hard work. James is going through the Jeppesen en route maps and has just shown me how few African countries have radar (SSR to track transponders). Well … in a way that is the beauty of Africa. I

We’re here in this awesome place which feels like it comes from a different century, feeling very emotional. Mike’s asleep right now, but we’ll try get better comms later and send proper messages. Thanks to all who’ve helped and we’ll be in touch soon. What a flight – what moments, so beautiful, so out there

Mike and James departed amid a huge farewell from Springs Airfield in South Africa.  Herewith some photos from today’s celebrations.

The date of departure has been moved to 11am on Saturday the 18th of July 2009. The Sling Around the World team have put in a lot of extra hours preparing the aircraft and flight testing and need an unhurried final preparation time and this will give them one more day to double-check everything but

Due to unforeseen delays with some documentation, we had to move our departure date to Friday the 17th of July at 10am.