Helicopter pilot Simon Oliphant-Hope has arrived back in Sussex after flying around the world.

Simon was attempting to smash the record for circumnavigating the globe single-handedly in a chopper and left Shoreham in high spirits three weeks ago.

But due to the terrorist attacks in America, he found himself grounded first in Russia and then in Alaska and unable to complete the scheduled route.

Although he travelled around the world in fewer days than the existing record, he did not complete the required number of miles so the attempt is not valid.

However, he and his colleagues at Shoreham-based helicopter firm Eastern Atlantic have vowed to try to break the record next year.

They are dedicating the failed attempt to the thousands who perished in New York, Washington and Pennsylvania.

Project operations manager Jamie Chalkley said: "We only had five days leeway on our schedule but we were grounded for seven.

"Simon was in the east of Russia when the towers went down. We were held there for a day, then we were allowed to go into Alaska. There were days he could fly and days he couldn't.

"Realising the record could not be beaten on this attempt was very difficult to swallow. There really was no way forward - we explored every single option."

The original route would have seen Simon fly down the west coast of United States and up the east coast. It was necessary to take this path to clock up the correct amount of mileage for the record attempt.

In the end, Simon had to complete the journey in Canadian air space, meaning his journey was not long enough to be a valid record.

After Canada, Simon flew via Greenland and Iceland. In the latest leg this week, he flew from Scotland down to Manchester and then on to Shoreham.

Jamie said the crew were still pleased as there had only been a handful of people who had gone around the world by helicopter but it was a shame not to have broken the record.

The start of the attempt seemed promising as the MD 900 Explorer helicopter completed the first few legs to Germany and Sweden ahead of schedule.

The chopper, which has no tail rotor, was reaching ground speeds of around 155mph with a good tail wind.

American Ron Bower, who still holds the record, sent messages of support to the Eastern Atlantic team during the attempt. His record of 24.5 days was set in 1994.