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Charity pilots reach for the skies
Two Chorley pilots have gone the extra mile for charity – flying to Greenland and back in a single-engined aircraft.
Paul Yates and Paul Squires, both from Adlington, set out on July 10 and covered 5,000 nautical miles – flying from Liverpool almost as far as Canada and back.
The flight took more than eight days and 40 flying hours and covered Scotland, the Faroe Islands, Iceland and Greenland.
It wasn't without its drama. The pilots had to be followed down a runway by fire engines when a warning light signalled.
Commercial airline pilot, Paul Yates said: "I've wanted to do a trans-Atlantic trip in a light aircraft for some time.
"There's a world of difference between flying a passenger jet at 20,000 feet and flying a small aeroplane a lot closer to the ground – where you feel much more vulnerable.
"The trip was quite a test and we had some ups and downs along the way."
Paul Squires, who runs a firm of independent financial advisors, and owns the Piper Saratoga used for the trip, added: "We planned the expedition very carefully, but not much actually went according to plan.
"We were stuck on the ground in Iceland both going out and coming home due to bad weather.
"Because of that delay we couldn't get into Greenland when we'd planned due to the authorities closing all airfields on Sundays.
"We had a bird strike on take-off at Reykjavik and we had to turn back on our way to Iqaluit, in northern Canada, again due to terrible weather.
"We also had a bit of excitement when a cockpit warning light indicated our landing gear had malfunctioned.
"We were followed down the runway by fire engines, but thankfully we landed safely and it turned out to be a faulty switch."
The two pilots agreed beforehand that one would fly the outbound journey and the other the return leg so they could both lay claim to having flown the North Atlantic single-handed.
They agreed that the trip had been more daunting and tougher than they had expected.
Paul Yates said: "We knew the terrain would be challenging, but it's quite sobering when you look out of the window hour after hour going over the Greenland icecap and realise that there's nowhere to carry out a forced landing if the engine stops."
Paul Squires said: "We thought we were equipped for any eventuality, but the land masses and the seas were so vast we began to realise that if we crash-landed or ditched we might never be found."
The men are raising money for the Rosemere Cancer Foundation and are running a competition to win a flight around the Lake District.
To enter, guess the exact distance flown and the time taken for the trans-Atlantic trip.
Entry forms can be downloaded from.brokenwingaviation.co.uk/rosemere or picked up from the Guardian offices.
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Weather for Chorley
Thursday 24 May 2012
Today
Sunny spells
Temperature: 12 C to 24 C
Wind Speed: 9 mph
Wind direction: North east
Tomorrow
Sunny
Temperature: 10 C to 21 C
Wind Speed: 15 mph
Wind direction: East
