The Muskoka Airport was a key stop for two pilots doing a 100-day journey around the world.
The pilots, both in their 80s, landed last Friday (Aug. 30) in the late afternoon.
Pilot Barry “Baz” Payne says the main purpose of the journey is to commemorate the centennial of the first flight around the world.
“We’re following the flight path, not religiously, but in most places,” says Payne.
He says between him and his other pilot friend, Bob Bates, they have a combined age of 161.
“Nobody, no crew older than that, has ever flown from around the world,” he says.
He says they needed to stop in Muskoka so they could see their friend Bruce Hodge.
Hodge is the founder and president of Goaway, a travel company out of Toronto, and says he has been talking to them regularly to make this happen. He says they were originally going to follow the original flight around the world’s route but decided to stop in the area and stayed at Hodge’s cottage for the weekend.
“Here we are in this wonderful sunshine and these 20-something-degree temperatures today,” added Payne. “Is it real? I have to pinch myself sometimes.”
Payne said they started June 1 from Bob’s house in Papua New Guinea. Then they flew to Japan and then across Russia to the United Kingdom.
“This is the second part of our journey now, which is taking us from northern Scotland to the Faroe Islands, Iceland to Greenland,” shared Payne.
He said they will go to Plattsburgh and Dayton once they leave Canada.
“We follow across the fliers’ path across the northern part of the United States and to Seattle, where they finished,” said Payne. “There’s quite a crowd of people that are waiting to see us there.”
Payne added from there they will follow the beginning of the original flight, which will take them through Alaska, down the Aleutian Islands, across to Kamchatka and Russia, and back down to Kagoshima, Japan.
