Pensioner Trying To Fly Plane From Crete To Cape Town Is Found

Pensioner Trying To Fly Plane From Crete To Cape Town Is Found
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A 71-year-old British pilot attempting to fly a 1940s plane the length of Africa has been found after being reported missing.

Maurice Kirk was part of a vintage air rally flying from Crete to Cape Town.

Vintage Air Rally, which was organising the event, said Mr Kirk had continued to fly despite being asked to withdraw due to a "mismatch in expectations".

Organisers had said Mr Kirk was missing somewhere between Sudan and Ethiopia with his 1943 Piper Cub plane.

But he was now with the rest of the competitors at the airport in Gambela.

"All Vintage Air Rally crews are currently in Gambela where the Ethiopian authorities have elected to allocate them accommodation at the airport rather than permit them to proceed to their pre-booked hotel," organisers said in a statement.

"The reasons for this are at this time not 100% clear. There is no possibility to communicate with them but all participants, including the hitherto 'missing' Maurice Kirk, are safe and accounted for.

"The UK Foreign and Commonwealth Office is aware and is negotiating on their behalf."

Mr Kirk, from Bristol, went missing on a three-hour leg of the cross-African flight from southern Sudan into western Ethiopia.

The pensioner, who has been dubbed The Flying Vet, is a controversial character.

He is a former drinking partner of hell-raising actor Oliver Reed and in 2002 the Royal College of Veterinary Surgeons kicked him out of the profession.

He has also been involved in a string of legal cases against various police forces.