Mr Gannon in the cockpit of his Cessna at Mandalay International Airport on October 1.

A 54-YEAR-OLD American pilot who has been travelling around the world in a single-engine airplane since 2000 landed at Mandalay International Airport late last month on a flight that began in Chiang Mai, Thailand.

“I came to Myanmar because I have never been here. I have heard many nice things about the country and its very nice people,” Mr Robert Gannon told Myanmar Times.

Mr Gannon has flown to 24 countries since leaving the US on his 50th birthday in September, 2000.

His aircraft – a 1968 Cessna 182 nicknamed Lucky Lady Too – has a cruising speed of 180 kilometres an hour. It has a 235-horsepower engine that consumes 45 litres of fuel an hour.

“My aircraft would normally seat four people but the two back seats have been removed to install a larger fuel tank to be able to make longer flights,” Mr Gannon said.

The longest flight on his trip so far has been from San Francisco to Hawaii, a journey of nearly 3600 kilometres over the Pacific Ocean that took 18 hours.

“There was no place to land during the flight and my airplane does not have an autopilot system so I had to stay awake all the way or die,” he said.

Mr Gannon, who is not a professional pilot, owns several construction companies in the US. He grew up in the small town of Lowa, California, one of 14 children in a large farming family.

He has financed the trip himself.

“I wanted to see the world and always got seasick when I sailed, so I decided flying would be easier,” he said.

“I learned to fly in San Diego, California, so I could fly around the world. I am very curious, and wish to see many things and meet many different people,” he said.

Before landing in Myanmar, Mr Gannon had visited several other countries in Southeast Asia, including Malaysia, Laos, Vietnam, Cambodia and Thailand.

On October 1 he left Mandalay for the Nyaung U airport near Bagan, where he stayed until October 4. He then left for Patna, India, with plans to fly to five more cities in that country before continuing on to Sri Lanka, Maldives, Seychelles and Kenya.

Mr Gannon said he plans to spend about four or five more years completing his around-the-world flight.