Disabled pilot Andy Lewis has gone into the record books after completing a coastal challenge as part of an airborne formation team.

Andy, who works for Airbus in Filton, was one of four pilots with disabilities who covered a distance of 1,500 miles in 17-and-a half hours, leaving Jersey in their light aircraft at 4am and finishing in Inverness.

They stopped at 15 airports on the way, including the Scilly Isles, Isle of Man, Stornoway and Sumburgh in Shetland, as part of the international Pooley's Dawn to Dusk flying competition.

It was the first time the route had been attempted by disabled pilots and the first time it had been tackled by four aircraft in formation.

Andy, 25, and his team-mates, who live in other parts of the country, also raised £33,000 for the charity Flying Scholarships for the Disabled (FSD), which taught them to fly.

Andy completed half of the challenge in a Piper Aztec and half in a Cessna 210. He was co-piloted by the aircraft owners, who gave up their time and paid the fuel bills as their contribution.

He said as well as raising money, he wanted to encourage other people with disabilities to apply for flying scholarships and change their lives.

Andy, who works as a document manager, lost his right leg after complications following a road accident when he was 16. He had passed his exams and physical tests and was just five days away from joining the Parachute Regiment.

He said: "I didn't know which way to turn but from the moment I applied for the flying scholarship, it was as if my disability didn't matter any more. Now I would rather be in the air than on the ground because the feeling of freedom and self-confidence I have when I'm flying is better than I could have imagined.

"I knew I could never be a commercial pilot but I wanted a job with an aviation company so that I'd be working around people who build aircraft, which is how I came to Airbus."

Andy lives in the Forest of Dean with his wife, Becky, and two-year-old daughter Jasmine.

He was such a fast learner that he earned his pilot's licence in a record one month. He now owns his own microlight and often flies to events around the country to promote the sport to other people with disabilities, usually accompanied by able bodied Airbus colleague Trevor Jackson, who has an identical aircraft.