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Maurice Kirk is in Africa
The old aviator is still going strong and taking a break from his UK litigation.
Crossing Africa in his usual style. Maurice about his engine failure in Khartoum yesterday! #VintageAirRally #sudan #khartoum #africa Khartoum and mentally shaken from two 'donkey- tops (sic) ' in one week when , in the old days, that sort of thing was simply taken for granted and livend up my day! I see he is doing his bit for 'outreach' .... https://s22.postimg.org/kc1dzipfl/image.jpg ....and education. Here promoting the Light Aircraft Association and UK law and order to the young generation. https://s13.postimg.org/gjir5qht3/image.jpg |
I presume he means two donkey stops.
Wouldn't be related to the high tech fuel system by any chance? |
Thank god our world is still enriched by characters like Maurice, good luck to him.
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I agree Mothminor.
I wonder if he has tasked Sam Rutherford to carry his luggage to the hotel:D Did you notice his reserve fuel tank in the last picture? |
Did you notice his reserve fuel tank in the last picture? The lad on the left was asked about what he thought of a certain lady aviator who had recently passed by who tried to empower his sister. His English was pretty good, but he had recently learnt sign language. |
I too think it is some kind of anti-freeze rather than fuel.
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I think Maurice really needs a makeover.
To quote another famous aviator of recent times he is telling the young lady in the picture "I'm feeling just a bit windblown, sunburnt and a bit punch drunk" Epaulettes but no RAF brevet! I reckon he has earned the former over the years. |
Epaulettes but no RAF brevet! I reckon he has earned the former over the years. |
4 bars, even if you are qualified to castrate a camel, is surely over the top for a J-3 Cub?
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Entitled to 5 bars for his L4 Cub :)
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Vintage Air Rally participant Maurice Kirk, with his 1943 Piper Cub aeroplane, has not arrived at his expected destination, Gambella, Ethiopia.
Contrary to our advice to return to Khartoum, Mr. Kirk, 72, departed Ad-Damazin, Sudan at approximately 1400 local time (1100 GMT) on the +/- 3 hour flight to Gambella. No radio communications or satellite tracking were received at any time during the flight, and his location is unknown. Mr. Kirk is a very experienced pilot, and so it is believed that he has made a precautionary landing before sunset, somewhere in Ethiopia. The Ethiopian authorities, and his family, have been informed and search and rescue procedures will begin at first light. PREVIOUS The VintageAirRally committee announces with regret that Maurice Kirk has had to withdraw from the Rally. This decision was taken due to a mismatch in expectations between the organisers and the participant. We wish Maurice a safe return to Khartoum and onwards back home. From the Vintage Air Rally fb page. Hope he's OK. |
Par for the course.
None of us ever thought he would stick to the rules. Probably eating a nice meal somewhere and drinking the local brew. He will get airborne again and cause headaches for the organisers until he arrives in Cape Town. Eccentric until the end...that's Captain Kirk. |
I do feel for Sam, but to be honest Captain Kirk's reputation precedes him. Something like this occurring was almost a given.
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Looks like a big falling out and Kirk is making his own way to Cape Town Mongo?
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Looks that way. Two engine failures already though... Good luck to him. He needs it.
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I am sure the old boy will make it to Cape Town.
He is free up there in the sky unlike his constant fights with the judicial system which incarcerates him routinely. Looking closely at the picture below there appears to be a plastic drum and a couple of jerry cans in the front of the Cub? A liferaft strung above? Where does the pilot sit? Given his past record that aircraft could have some serious range? https://s11.postimg.org/lmxuq7yar/image.jpg |
... as long as the donkey keeps going.
Hope he is ok. It isn't a nice area to put down and it could take time to find him. I hope when he 'withdrew' the Rally Organisers didn't take his tracker. |
I too think it is some kind of anti-freeze rather than fuel. Why on Earth would he need anti-freeze for an air cooled engine? De-icing fluid perhaps?* :hmm: * Yes, I am joking. |
This statement from the organisers is unclear about whether or not he has a Tracker.
Contrary to our advice to return to Khartoum, Mr. Kirk, 72, departed Ad-Damazin, Sudan at approximately 1400 local time (1100 GMT) on the +/- 3 hour flight to Gambella. No radio communications or satellite tracking were received at any time during the flight, and his location is unknown. Mr. Kirk is a very experienced pilot, and so it is believed that he has made a precautionary landing before sunset, somewhere in Ethiopia. The Ethiopian authorities, and his family, have been informed and search and rescue procedures will begin at first light. |
The story in the UK press today.
This from the Times A British amateur pilot is missing after his light aircraft disappeared during a race in northern Africa last night. Maurice Kirk, 72, from Taunton, Somerset, disappeared between Sudan and Ethiopia with organisers unable to contact him by radio. The retired vet, who was a drinking partner of the late actor Oliver Reed, was attempting to fly from Crete to Cape Town in a 1943 Piper Cub. The alarm was raised when he failed to arrive in Gambella, Ethiopia, after taking off yesterday from Sudan. Organisers of the 8,000-mile trans-Africa rally, which involves 14 other single-engined vintage planes, had asked Mr Kirk to withdraw after he suffered engine failure on Sunday. He was forced to make an emergency landing and admitted that the experience had left him “badly shaken”. However, he vowed to continue, saying that it could be one of his “last great adventures”. A post on the rally’s Facebook page said: “Contrary to our advice to return to Khartoum, Mr Kirk departed Ad-Damazin, Sudan, at approximately 14.00 local time on the three-hour flight to Gambella. No radio communications or satellite tracking were received at any time during the flight, and his location is unknown. “Mr Kirk is a very experienced pilot, and so it is believed that he has made a precautionary landing before sunset, somewhere in Ethiopia.” In February 2008 Mr Kirk was rescued in the Caribbean during an attempt to fly solo around the world in a Second World War-era aircraft. He was found 75 miles from the Dominican Republic by the US coast guard, which tracked his radio beacon. Two months later he was arrested in Texas after landing near a ranch belonging to the former president George W Bush and was later deported. |
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