Kelowna pilot's epic journey

Photo: Contributed

A Kelowna pilot will embark on the trip of a lifetime in January.

Kelowna Flying Club president Dave McElroy will join two other pilots on a 20,000-mile circumnavigation of Central and South America.

The epic journey in their small, Vans RV experimental aircraft will raise funds for Hope Air, a Canadian charity that provides free flights to people across the country who have to get to medical care far from home.

McElroy will launch from Kelowna on Jan. 2. Russ Airey and Harold Fast will simultaneously take off from Windsor, Ont., and they will meet up in San Diego. They'll depart from there Jan. 8 on the 60-day circumnavigation, including 50 flights across 20 countries.

The entire expedition will feature live tracking on the Give Hope Wings site.

The expedition hopes to raise $500,000 for Hope Air.