HGFA Skysailor Magazine

28 SKY SAILOR May | June 2019 F or a long time, I have wanted to find a charity event that aligns with my personal feelings. I do believe we should all do our part to make the world a better place, locally as often as possible and, if we can, on a more global scale. I often feel though, that while charities mean well, they can get stifled with administration costs, fundraising expenses and so much red tape that a lot of their resources never make it to the purpose they were created for. When I heard about ‘Wings of Kilimanjaro’ though, I very quickly decided that I had found that charity and it was time to put my efforts into supporting a great cause. For members of our flying community, it is worth looking up ‘Wings of Kilimanjaro’ for ourselves. They are ambassadors for our sport and deserve our support. Their greatest difference, other than giving participants the opportunity to throw themselves off Africa’s tallest mountain, is that all donated funds go towards their intended purpose in Tanzania. Each participant pays for their own journey and organises their own fundraising. This includes the event organisers as well. In addition, the event itself employs a large number of locals as guides, suppliers and porters, thus bringing well-earned funds into the local economy. The charity has no administration costs and so far, funds have mainly gone towards the drilling of clean-water wells, tree planting, micro-finance and the construction of a now 700-pupil strong primary school in remote Tanzania. The event attracts participants globally and this year hopes to exceed the million-dollar mark for funds raised for Tanzania. Lessons from setting up my flying equipment I began my preparation for the ‘journey of a lifetime’ during a winter trip to Switzerland. It was the perfect place to test my hiking and flying The reason I chose to join the ‘Wings of Kilimanjaro’ charity event is the same which started me on the path to becoming a pilot in the first place: I love adventure and I love to do things that are a bit different. Following the crowd has never really been my thing… by Dan Ussher Preparing To Journey to the top of Africa Dan starting to look like a real Swiss mountain goat Training in less than ideal conditions was common early in winter