Amanda Harrison

Amanda Harrison is a commercial pilot with a tremendous sense of adventure. Eighteen months after being diagnosed with breast cancer, she started her journey in a Tiger Moth which inspired her book, Solo2Darwin: In the Footsteps of Amy Johnson. Inspired by her father's remote-controlled aircraft models, she started flying lessons at the age of fourteen and gained her PPL after attending university. She then trained to be a commercial pilot and flight instructor specializing in vintage aircraft—an incredible feat for someone with severe dyslexia and with only five per cent of commercial pilots being female.

Though the 'Solo2Darwin' flight is her most ambitious to date, Amanda has achieved success in many international aviation competitions including the 75th Anniversary Schneider Trophy Race and being a holder of four UK speed records for distance over time.

Amanda believes that ordinary people can do extraordinary things and is a living example of this. She is passionate about inspiring others to keep their dreams alive and live them to the fullest.

Born in south Devon, she trained in physiotherapy and spent twenty years in music education. Her interest in aviation developed from a charity skydiving event. She obtained her private pilot license with her husband Peter in Australia in 1994 and they followed this up by a circumnavigation of the continent. In 1997 she toured the United States by plane, flying solo across the North Atlantic in both directions.