Mystery as British pilot and former pal of Oliver Reed vanishes during vintage plane race between Sudan and Ethiopia
A BRITISH pilot is missing in Africa after vanishing during a vintage plane race.
Maurice Kirk - a retired vet and drinking pal of late actor Oliver Reid - was attempting to fly from Crete to Cape Town when he disappeared.
The 72-year-old, from Taunton, Somerset, was taking part in the Vintage Air Rally in a 1943 Piper Cub plane when he went off the radar between Sudan and Ethiopia.
The alarm was raised when Kirk failed to arrive at his destination in Gambella in Ethiopia after taking off yesterday from Khartoum in Sudan.
Organisers had asked him to pull out of the race after he suffered engine failure on Sunday and was forced to make an emergency landing.
After the experience, the pilot, whose nickname is Captain Kirk, said: "Normally I would have taken this kind of event in my stride, but as I get older in years, even a minor incident like this one has shaken me up.
“But it won’t wont stop me. It could be one of my last great adventures and I’m going to keep going.”
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A post on the Facebook page of the rally organisers said last night: “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 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.
“The Ethiopian authorities, and his family, have been informed and search and rescue procedures will begin at first light.”
The pilot is taking part in the 8,000-mile trans Africa vintage plane rally with 14 other single-engined vintage planes.
The rally, which is being sponsored by Puma Energy, will raise money for UNICEF and Bird Life International and will attempt to cross the continent at low altitude.
The race has been organised by Sam Rutherford, a former helicopter pilot in the Army Air Corps, who now runs a logistics company Preapre2go.
Sunday's incident isn't the first time Kirk has had a narrow escape. The flyer, who was once Oliver Reid’s vet, was rescued after ditching in the Caribbean in an attempt to fly solo around the world in a 65-year-old plane in 2008.
And two months later he was arrested by Texas cops after landing near former president George Bush’s ranch.
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