Two Perth men will fly across the top end of Australia in a small plane later this year to raise thousands of dollars for the Royal Flying Doctors Service.
In August Caleb Duggan and Scott Palmer will fly nearly 4000 kilometres in a two-person aircraft along with 40 other planes as part of the 2018 Outback Air Race from Brisbane to Broome.
Teams from across Australia have signed up to the race from Queensland to the Kimberley, which will take about 12 days.
The plane and RFDS Perth are based at Jandakot Airport and Mr Duggan, from Kelmscott, said the pair had great respect for the work of the RFDS pilots and doctors.
“Pilots see the flying doctor all over the place,” he said.
“We know they have passengers on board who are quite sick and need emergency care.
“A lot of us have had to be transported by them for surgery, and it’s a great opportunity to raise awareness of the service.”
The pair will stop in towns including Bundaberg, Longreach, Katherine and Kunnunurra along the way.
From Jandakot Airport to Brisbane, Broome and back to Perth will be about 11,000 kilometres for the small aircraft.
Flying under the name Team Zic, the men have targeted raising an ambitious $10,000 and were hoping to reach nearly half of that before the event began on August 19.
They have already raised over $1000.
In 2016 the RFDS flew a combined 72,000 kilometres a day across Australia, providing support to more than 900 people through aircraft call-outs and healthcare clinic support.
Information on how to donate to the fundraiser can be found at facebook.com/pg/teamzic.
All money raised will go to the Perth RFDS.
