British female aviator Tracey Curtis-Taylor will stay in Dubai for the duration of the air show after having flown about a third of the distance between the UK and Australia aboard her 1942 Boeing Stearman biplane. She landed on November 5 at Al-Bateen airport in Abu Dhabi, approximately two months after her takeoff from Farnborough and targeting January 6 for her arrival in Sydney. “From nasty European weather to the beauty of flying at 100 feet over the desert, every moment is an extraordinary experience,” she said.

Boeing sponsors the stick-and-rudder, open-cockpit flying adventure and Execujet is a partner for refueling and maintenance. At the Dubai air show, Curtis-Taylor is to address 450 students, before taking the stage as the keynote speaker at the International Aviation Women’s Association conference. She flies aboard the Spirit of Artemis in memory of Amy Johnson, a pioneering British aviatrix who flew solo from Britain to Australia in 1930. The 11,000-nm journey will take her across 23 countries.