Crew pilot for the record-breaking flight mission One More Orbit, July 2019
Spouse
Linda Harding
Children
2
George Hamish Livingston Harding (24 June 1964 – 18 June 2023) was a British businessman, pilot and adventurer based in the United Arab Emirates (UAE). He was the founder of Action Group and was chairman of Action Aviation, an international aircraft brokerage company with headquarters in Dubai. A member of The Explorers Club, he visited the South Pole several times, descended to the Challenger Deep of the Mariana Trench, travelled into space, and held three Guinness World Records.
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In the 1990s, Harding worked in the information technology industry. He helped establish Logica Middle East in Dubai and Saudi Arabia, as well as serving as the Managing Director of Logica India until he founded the private investment company Action Group in 1999. In 2004, he founded the business jet brokerage company Action Aviation.[4][1]
Harding worked with an Antarctic VIP tourism company, White Desert, using a Gulfstream G550 to introduce the first regular business jet service to the Antarctic.[5] Harding also visited the South Pole several times; he accompanied Buzz Aldrin in 2016 when he became the oldest person to reach the South Pole (age 86) and his son when he became the youngest (12).[1]
In September 2022, Harding's company Action Aviation supplied a customised Boeing 747-400 aircraft to transport eight wild cheetahs from Namibia to India to launch the reintroduction of the cheetah to India project of the Indian Government and the Cheetah Conservation Fund in Namibia (CCF).[14] Cheetahs were declared extinct in India in 1952.[15] This conservation project was designated a "flagged expedition" by the Explorers Club with club members Harding and Laurie Marker, founder of the CCF, carrying the flag on the flight to India.[16]
Harding was onboard the Titan, a vessel owned by OceanGate, Inc., to view the Titanic wreckage, when the vessel lost contact with the above-water ship, MV Polar Prince, on 18 June 2023.[17] Search-and-rescue missions involved water and air support from the United States, Canada and France.[18]
On 22 June, two days before what would have been Harding’s 59th birthday, a debris field was discovered approximately 490 metres (1,600 ft) from the bow of the Titanic. A United States Coast Guard press conference later confirmed that the debris was consistent with a catastrophic loss of the pressure hull, resulting in an implosion and the instant death of all on board.[19]
Personal life
Harding was married to his wife Linda and he had two sons and two stepchildren. He lived in Dubai with his family.[20]