Round-world pilot in red tape wrangle

The GT Global Flyer has been grounded since May 14

One of two Britons aiming to become the first aviators to circumnavigate the globe by microlight is set to miss out on one stage of the journey.

Brian Milton and co-pilot Keith Reynolds have been grounded in Russia by red tape on the island of Sakhalin, north of Japan.

Brian Milton: it's very unsporting

The authorities have accused them of entering Russian airspace illegally and refused to grant them a flight number to continue their journey.

The Russians say the flyers must have a chase plane to escort them to the US border which would cost them up to $100,000 (£62,500).

Mr Milton said: "I don't have that sort of money, so the suggestion now is that Keith takes an airliner while I take a Russian navigator with me.

"The Russians appear to be happy with that idea. I've said we want somebody small, light and brave.

"The whole thing is very unsporting and Keith is obviously devastated."

Compromise is only way

Spokesman for the expedition Simon Newlyn said: "It's a great shame. Keith has gone nearly half way round the world and then the Russians throw him out.

"Before they set off they said the biggest problems would be bureaucracy and the weather, but they've lost only two days to the weather, and 27 in all to bureaucracy.

"They thought the whole Russian thing had been sorted out before they left - but it's a different situation when you actually get there.

"The only way to get the plane through Russia is to accept this compromise."

Mr Milton, 55, from Bethnal Green, east London, and Mr Reynolds, 45, from Rochester, Kent, have been stranded in Yuzhno-Sakhalinsk, in Sakhalin, since they flew in from Japan on May 14.

Chasing records

They have accepted that the £350,000 expedition, now in its 63rd day, will fail to get around the world in 80 days as they hoped.

But they are still chasing a string of other records, including the first round-the-world microlight journey, first microlight flight across the Pacific and the first west-to-east microlight crossing of the Atlantic.

The microlight, called GT Global Flyer, has already crossed the Alps, the Middle East, India, Bangladesh, Burma, China and Japan.

Mr Milton plans to fly up the Pacific coast of Russia, before crossing the Bering Strait to Alaska.

The pair will then fly across north America and the Atlantic to finish the journey back in Britain.