A Sussex man took off in a helicopter today in a bid to smash the round-the-world record.

Simon Oliphant-Hope, from Worthing, took off from Shoreham Airport at 5.15am and headed east.

He aims to beat the current record of 24.5 days and is already ahead of schedule.

He arrived at his first refuelling stop at St Michaelisdonn airfield in Germany 65 minutes early thanks to a strong tail wind.

His MD 900 Explorer helicopter was reaching ground speeds of about 155mph on the first leg of the journey.

Simon, 38, who is married with three children, is chief executive of Eastern Atlantic Helicopters.

Staff at the Shoreham-based company are keeping careful tabs on his progress.

Project operations manager Jamie Chalkley said: "We would expect him to gain a bit more time today. His next stop-off will be at Visby airport in Sweden and then he will be arriving in St Petersburg tonight.

"We have arranged all the airfields where he will be stopping en route. He should be arriving back here in Shoreham on September 22."

Simon's route will take him across Russia, down the west coast of America and back up the east coast, then home across the Atlantic.

The current record is held by American Ron Bower and was set in 1994. Simon is trying to smash this by almost a fifth.

His helicopter is unmodifed, apart from carrying extra fuel tanks.

The attempt is sponsored by Hove chemical firm Pearson and Wilkinson.

Simon's progress can be followed at the web site www.easternatlantic.co.uk