14 April 2014
Scottish Aero Club Chairman, Dave McElroy, departs from Perth Airport on 19 May this year on the first leg of a Round the World in Eighty Days flight in aid of Scotland’s Charity Air Ambulance and the Toronto Sick Kids’ Hospital.
The Canadian-born businessman will be covering a total of more than 38,000 nautical miles over six continents and will cross the Atlantic three times during the flight. Dave has no illusions about the difficulties involved in flying a single engine aircraft around the world. “The planning has been challenging in itself,” he says. “As an example, it took four months to secure my permit to enter Israeli airspace. In addition, avoiding general aviation-unfriendly regions, including Middle Eastern hotspots, plus China, Japan and Russia, makes for long non-stop flights across the Pacific.”
Pilots and non-pilots also have the opportunity to join him in the adventure as he is offering a co-pilot or passenger seat on one or more of the flight legs in exchange for a substantial donation for the air ambulance charity.
“Originally I had planned the flight with my flying partner and fellow Canadian, Chris Elgar, in our jointly-owned Piper Comanche 250. However, Chris was unable to complete the whole flight and, as a result, there was a ‘spare seat’ on several of the legs. This seemed to be an ideal opportunity to raise more money for our two chosen charities by offering to share our adventure in return for a donation,” says Dave.
“The offer has already been taken up by some adventurous souls but there is still time for others to sign up to take part.”
Full details of available legs are posted on the project’s official website <a href=’http://www.FlyRTW80.com’ target=’_blank’>www.FlyRTW80.com</a>.
