No flying but check out the new logo on the plane!

Rain, rain & more rain. Finally, it looked like today would be different. With lots of fog, I was desperately hoping it would lift so I could fly up to Maryborough for the day & catch up with a mate, John, for coffee. Unfortunately, the fog didn't lift from Tooradin until late in the afternoon. So there I was, all fuelled up & no place to go as the fog base was 200 feet. 


However, on a good note, heading out to the plane today gave me the perfect opportunity to affix the On a Wing & a Chair logo. The two support planes will also have these stickers attached. Thanks to Electro Cut Signs for their kind donation.

Dave doing the quality check to ensure no wrinkles in the stickers.

Dave's plane - ready for the solo flight April 29th 2013.

I'm hoping for some clear days next weekend! Can't wait to get flying because I'm getting grumpy without my fix!

Over & out.

Meet the OWC Round Australia Flight Team!

Just 341 days until I take off on my solo flight round Australia!

I'm so excited to be able to say that the support team is now confirmed! Six of us managed to meet up in Tooradin last Saturday, where we had a great opportunity to discuss & plan the trip. The flight is planned to depart from Tooradin on 29th April 2013.

Special thanks to the Tooradin District Sports Club for helping us out with a great space to meet including free coffee & tea! 

Who are these crazy characters in our team? Well, I'd like to introduce you to a few:

From left: Michael, Gordon, Bob, Linda, Dave, Louise

Gordon, Bob & Michael, from Griffith NSW, will be piloting their own planes. They each have a tremendous amount of flying experience & have unique skill sets that will be invaluable for the adventure! 

Louise is the Coordinator, liaising with media, base support & generally organising us all. Linda & Lida (not pictured) will be helping Dave out as Carers, each for half the journey. More information about members of the support team will be up on the website soon.

The three aircrafts (2 support & mine) involved in this epic journey will soon be plastered with the On a Wing & a Chair logo thanks to the very generous donation from Electro Cut Signs in Brisbane.

We left the meeting feeling PUMPED! With just 341 days to go, we are all looking forward to the challenges, ticking things off our To Do lists & raising those much needed donations!

However, it's sometimes all too easy to get lost in the day-to-day of what we DO, but it is vital for us all to remember WHY.. WHY ARE WE DOING THIS? 

To raise the public's expectations of what people with disabilities can achieve 

& provide inspiration to all! 

Over & out.

I've had better Easter weekends!

It's been awhile since the Easter long weekend when we went for a flying trip, but as you'll find out in this blog, I've had better ones.

For the Easter weekend, Linda & I flew to Temora for the annual Natfly. We spent Easter Friday checking out aircrafts of all shapes & sizes, salivating over my next dream plane & caught up with friends.

On Friday night, we stayed with good friends Ian & Elaine Willis at their hanger in Cootamundra & had a great night with them, Glen & Wes. Ian put on a great BBQ dinner, finishing it off with his homebrew - Irish mint cream liquor - drink enough & it will make you go blind but it tasted so good! Earlier upon our arrival, as we were taxiing to their hanger, we discovered we had a flat tyre. Thanks to Ian, Glen & Wes for helping to put the spare on as we would probably have been stuck there for awhile. Elaine was wonderful as she kept us all hydrated & fed with nibblies. 

Dave hard at work with a beer as he directs Ian & Glen.

On Easter Saturday, after a great breaky prepared on the barby by Ian, we left Cootamundra. It wasn't until a few days later when we'd returned to Melbourne that we found out that Ian & Elaine had crashed their microlight on Easter Saturday afternoon as they returned to their Cootamundra hanger from a day spent at the Temora Natfly. They were wonderful friends & an inspirational couple. It is such a great loss to us all. We feel privileged to have known them.

From Cootamundra, we headed to Broken Hill for a romantic couple of days. We stopped in at Griffith to visit Gordan & Bob & chat to them about the around Australia trip next year. Both Gordan & Bob will be part of the support crew. It was great to catch up & we’ll be meeting again this month in Melbourne for trip planning.

The stopover in Griffith: Gordan, Bob & Dave.

It was Linda’s first visit to Broken Hill. So much for desert! The land was covered in green with very full Menindee Lakes. It’s easy to see why director George Miller decided is wasn’t possible to shoot the next Mad Max movie there. As he described “The Mad Max landscape looked like Wales”. It was beautiful to see the country so alive!

The beautiful colours of Broken Hill. 

In Broken Hill, one of my favourite spots, I was so excited to have found a new hotel that had a great wheelchair accessible room (not an easy feat) and I gave it the thumbs up (again, not an easy task given my fingers don’t work). The hotel is the Red Earth & conveniently located in town.

Early Easter Sunday, we got the call that our Maltese cross puppy had died. Poor little Max had most likely been bitten by a snake on a friend’s farm where he was staying for the long weekend while we were away. This really hit us and took all the fun & excitement out of the trip. We just wanted to get home. We left Broken Hill on Easter Monday but got held up for an extra night in Swan Hill on our way home due to the terrible flying weather. It was a sad trip home with Linda upset with the loss of Max. He was a great dog who was so courageous, definitely a big dog in a small body. Max will be greatly missed.

Max Jacka

Well, since Easter, more things have happened. We very much missed having a puppy as part of the family. We now have a new little one. Zeus is a male border collie. You’ll see more of him in future blogs!

Over & out.

Dave & Zeus.

The Big Summer

Since the last time I wrote a lot has happened!

I've been beamed around the world by the Federal Police, the planning for the trip is really starting to shape up, and I asked a lovely lady to marry me.

But let's start from the beginning...

After the Birdsville trip, in November 2011 the newly formed Disabled Pilots Association of Australia held their second fly-in up at Griffith, New South Wales. We visited an airshow in Temora. It was great experience flying in with so much air traffic. It was 38 degrees in the shade and the spray bottle couldn't keep up! Lucky the flying club had aircon! The way back got a little bumpy, but I only hit my head on the roof twice...

Dave & Dave sneeking a photo with a Spitfire at the Temora Air Show

In December I was invited to Canberra to help launch the Australian Federal Police's Disability Action Plan. It was a great privilege to present to senior managers as well as being live streamed to AFP officers around the world. The launch was held during the week of International Day for People With Disability.

Presenting to the Australian Federal Police at their headquarters in Canberra

I also presented at the Sandringham and Dromana Rotary Club meetings. I really enjoy giving these talks. It's nice to give something back to those that dedicate their spare time to helping their local communities.

The project planning has been steaming ahead. Two pilots have volunteered to accompany me on the trip around Australia, flying their own planes, paying their own way and carrying my personal carer and trip coordinator. Gordon has paraplegia and flys a Piper Archer and Bob flys a Lance. This is a tremendous gift to On a Wing & a Chair and will mean that, although we still need some donations, we no longer need a major coporate sponsor.

I've revised and finalised the itinerary, reducing the trip from seven to four and half weeks. And we've produced an information pack for potential volunteers and supporters to donate accommodation, transport and various equipment.

The Round Australia Trip stopovers - let me know if you can help out with accommodation or transport!

Summertime also means lots of flying trips (when the weather holds out!) My girlfriend, Linda and I flew to Echuca, Warrnambool and Bright. And on the weekend just gone, we flew to Bendigo for the day. We lazed in the shade of the trees in Rosalind Park and I asked her to marry me. Funnily enough, she said yes!

Lovely Linda agreed to marry me

Over and Out!