World Flight in RV-8

FlyingforCure · #1 05-21-2011, 01:35 PM

After six years of building our own plane my 12-year-old son Charlie and I are attempting to fly our Vans RV-8 around the world and raise money for pediatric cancer. We named our plane SEE WORLD I and the project ?Flying-for-the-Cure?.

Taking the North Atlantic route, our flight is scheduled to leave in May 2012. We are leaving from Borrego Valley Airport. From there we will travel to the East Cost, Canada, Greenland, Europe, Africa, the Middle East, Asia, Australia, Japan, Russia, Alaska, and then back to San Diego.

Our goal is not to break records or foolishly risk life and limb. With a few exceptions our average leg time is a little more than two hours. The only record we like to break is the amount of money we can raise for pediatric cancer. We also like to proof that you don?t have to be a movie star or a millionaire to make a difference. I am employed as an apple farmer in Julian, California.

If you like to learn more about our project, visit us at: www.Flying-for-the-Cure.org

panhandler1956 · #2 05-21-2011, 06:56 PM

Good luck! Should prove to be a great adventure, for a great cause!

John Clark · #3 05-21-2011, 07:20 PM

A noble plan, but I have a question. Are you a 501(c)(3) charity so that one can deduct a donation? I couldn't find any information on your website or the IRS's http://www.irs.gov/app/pub-78/ regarding your status with the IRS.

John Clark ATP, CFI
FAA FAAST Team Member
EAA Flight Advisor
RV8 N18U "Sunshine"
KSBA

Jack Tyler · #4 05-22-2011, 04:51 AM

Stephan, good luck to you and Charlie on your world-circling voyage.

A suggestion for you: Someone who's gone before you - CarolAnn Garratt - is on her third (!) Circle flying her Mooney expressly for the purpose of raising money for ALS research. Her first Circle set a world's record for her class of aircraft, and she's enjoyed a great deal of exposure (media of various types, book published, lots of TV time) as a result. And yet she's the first to admit that raising funds for a worthy charitable cause has proven very, very difficult and she's had a lot to learn. Your website makes it clear that your fund raising goal isn't just a small, tangential aspect of your world flight but rather the purpose of it. I'd suggest you seek out whatever advice CarolAnn can offer.

She (and a good friend, Wes Whitley) are currently on the first major leg of her third Circle right now, somewhere in (or over) France, so her ability to respond in detail may be a bit delayed. But this Circle does not have the time pressures of the first two, and I'm sure she'll have an opportunity to share her thoughts if you seek them out. Meanwhile, an AOPA update can be found here:
http://www.aopa.org/aircraft/article...nquer_als.html
And CarolAnn's website is here:
http://www.alsworldflight.com/Media.aspx

That 2nd link, you'll notice, is actually her media page. I offer that because it reveals one of her key means of raising funds: to set up 'meet & greet' sessions along her route, which generates media attention as well as allowing her to solicit contributions.

Best of luck to you and your team!

Jack

FlyingforCure · #5 05-23-2011, 08:16 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by John Clark

A noble plan, but I have a question. Are you a 501(c)(3) charity so that one can deduct a donation? I couldn't find any information on your website or the IRS's http://www.irs.gov/app/pub-78/ regarding your status with the IRS.

John Clark ATP, CFI
FAA FAAST Team Member
EAA Flight Advisor
RV8 N18U "Sunshine"
KSBA

John,
Thanks for your post. We get this question quite a bit. Flying for the Cure is not a 501(c)(3) charity, but our fundraiser is. If you click on the donate button it will link you to our fundraiser page which is directly associated with Cure Childhood Cancer, a 501(c)(3) since 1975 with an excellent record, the charity of our choice. None of the money donated benefits us and it is used for pediatric cancer research only.

Contributions placed to help us offset our cost for fuel, equipment, accommodations, landing-, overnight-, airway fees, bureaucracy, international insurance,etc., are not tax deductible.

FlyingforCure · #6 05-23-2011, 08:42 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Jack Tyler

Stephan, good luck to you and Charlie on your world-circling voyage.

A suggestion for you: Someone who's gone before you - CarolAnn Garratt - is on her third (!) Circle flying her Mooney expressly for the purpose of raising money for ALS research. Her first Circle set a world's record for her class of aircraft, and she's enjoyed a great deal of exposure (media of various types, book published, lots of TV time) as a result. And yet she's the first to admit that raising funds for a worthy charitable cause has proven very, very difficult and she's had a lot to learn. Your website makes it clear that your fund raising goal isn't just a small, tangential aspect of your world flight but rather the purpose of it. I'd suggest you seek out whatever advice CarolAnn can offer.

She (and a good friend, Wes Whitley) are currently on the first major leg of her third Circle right now, somewhere in (or over) France, so her ability to respond in detail may be a bit delayed. But this Circle does not have the time pressures of the first two, and I'm sure she'll have an opportunity to share her thoughts if you seek them out. Meanwhile, an AOPA update can be found here:
http://www.aopa.org/aircraft/article...nquer_als.html
And CarolAnn's website is here:
http://www.alsworldflight.com/Media.aspx

That 2nd link, you'll notice, is actually her media page. I offer that because it reveals one of her key means of raising funds: to set up 'meet & greet' sessions along her route, which generates media attention as well as allowing her to solicit contributions.

Best of luck to you and your team!

Jack

Jack,
Thanks for your post. We know, and greatly respect CarolAnn's inspirational story in her Mooney. Anyone using their plane to make the world a better place is a hero in our eyes.

Although our stories greatly differ - I am an apple farmer from Julian with a 12 year old who helped me - with great enthusiasm I might add - build our own plane to fly around the world and raise a million dollars for pediatric cancer, I do wish her nothing but blue skies, tailwind and the best of success for her project.

Whether we are able to raise a million dollars or not greatly depends on people like you and about 99,999 others willing to chip in $10.- dollars.

Whatever the outcome, we are flying and will do our best to reach our goal.

pierre smith · #7 05-24-2011, 05:27 AM

It is not the critic who counts, not the man who points out how the strong man stumbles, or where the doer of deeds could have done them better. The credit belongs to the man who is actually in the arena, whose face is marred by dust and sweat and blood; who strives valiantly; who errs, and comes short again and again....who knows the great enthusiasms, the great devotions, who spends himself in a worthy cause; who at best knows in the end the triumph of high achievement, and who at the worst if he fails, at least fails while daring greatly, so that his place shall never be with those cold and timid souls who know neither victory or defeat.

Teddy Roosevelt,
Paris, 1910

You Sir, are the embodiment of that great devotion,

Best of everything to you and your son,

Godspeed,