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Around the world in six days

Broadcast Date: Aug. 7, 1982

With a time of six days and 7½ hours, two Canadian pilots have broken the world record for an around-the-globe flight by a single-engine plane. Don Muir, 26, and André Daemon, 22, shaved more than 28 hours off the previous record. A crowd at Montreal's Dorval airport cheers as their Cessna 210 touches down and camera operators jostle to take the first photograph of the triumphant team in this CBC Television report.

Around the world in six days

• Don Muir and André Daemon completed their journey in their plane — The Wings of Life — in six days, seven hours, 25 minutes and 47 seconds. They travelled 36,500 kilometres.
• Muir, a bush pilot from Sioux Lookout, Ont., and Daemon, a flight instructor from Montreal, carried several good luck charms with them on their historic journey. Each pilot wore a St. Christopher medal (the patron saint of safe travel). They also packed a Bible in their survival kit and fixed a small statue of Snoopy — the Red Baron — above their radio.

• By the time they completed their flight, Muir and Daemon had raised $150,000 for the Canadian Cancer Society (this clip reports $100,000 donated to that point.)
• "We never worried about not making it. The wind was in our favour and flying was incredibly smooth," Daemon told the Toronto Star after the flight. (Aug. 8, 1982)

• Muir and Daemon made pit stops in St. John's; Shannon, Ireland; Naples, Italy; Cairo; Bahrain; Bombay; Madras; Kuala Lumpur; Manila; Guam; Majuro; Honolulu; San Francisco; Denver and Chicago.
• On their journey, the pilots subsisted on a diet of sandwiches, peanut butter, cookies, V-8 juice, apple juice and spring water.

• The previous record was set by Seattle lawyer Robert Muckleston in 1978.
• As of June 2006, Muir and Daemon's record still stands as authenticated by the Fédération Aéronautique Internationale.

Also on August 7:
• 1950: The federal cabinet decides 5,000 Canadian soldiers will serve with the United Nations forces in Korea. Prime Minister St. Laurent makes the announcement on a national radio broadcast.
• 1979: Jacques and Louise Cossette-Trudel are sentenced to two years less a day for their part in the October 1970 FLQ kidnapping of British trade commissioner James Cross in Montreal.


• 1997: Bjarni Tryggvason becomes the seventh Canadian in space when the shuttle Discovery lifts off. Tryggvason performs various experiments during his 11-day, 20-hour mission as a payload specialist.

Around the world in six days

Medium: Television

Program: The National

Broadcast Date: Aug. 7, 1982

Guest(s): Don Muir

Host: Peter Mansbridge
Reporter: Jim Sunstrum

Duration: 2:04

Last updated:
July 29, 2008