training for an epic charity event will take place in Fleetwood this weekend as two men are plunged into a wave tank in preparation for a trans-Atlantic crossing.

Pilot Mike Libra and co-pilot Tony Elliott, will be attending the Fleetwood Offshore Survival Centre to undergo intensive training in preparation for their charity flight which aims to raise more than £25,000 for disabled children.

The pair will spend Saturday (June 26) morning completing survival theory lessons such as suit routine, the best way to bring an aircraft down, how to hit the wave and how to subsist in a survival raft. In the afternoon they will move on to practical survival techniques in the wave tank at the centre.

Their flight will start on July 30 in a single-engined Piper Malibu aircraft which will leave Oxford's Kidlington Airport to link two exceptional children's charities. The plane will take mementoes from the children of White Lodge Centre of Chertsey, Surrey, to STDC, the Centre for Discovery in Harris, New York State, USA. The event is being organised by two corporate sponsors of White Lodge, Masterdrive Leasing and Rental of which Tony is the director and general manager, and MPS International, of which Mike is the chairman.

Tony is no stranger to daredevil feats, as he also recently took part in a climb of Mount Kilimanjaro, Africa's highest mountain, which raised more than £27,000 for White Lodge.

He told the Citizen: "I am deeply committed to helping White Lodge in any way I can. Flying across the Atlantic in a small plane, being buffeted by wind and weather, is not everyone's idea of a perfect holiday but I'm looking forward to it. "

The pair will fly via Wick in North Scotland, Reykjavik in Iceland, Narsarsuaq in Greenland, Goose Bay in Canada, Bangor in Maine, USA, and stop off at New York before heading to Washington D.C., aiming to arrive in the capital on August 3 or 4th. Their progress can be followed on the White Lodge website at www.whitelodge.org.uk

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