Offaly pilot and teddy bears continue fund-raiser for two charities

Tullamore native Mikey McMahon raises funds for Laura Lynn and Dogs Trust Ireland

TULLAMORE native, Michael (Mikey) McMahon - an aerobatic pilot based out of Deanland, near Lewes in the south of England – is continuing with an unusual fundraising venture for two charities, the Laura Lynn children’s hospice and Dogs Trust Ireland

Recently a friend of Mikey's started the charity fundraiser with two teddy bears - "Capt Paddy T. Bear" and "Lucky".

Explained Mikey: "The goal of the teddy bears is to fly in as many types of aircraft as possible. To date they have some impressive entries in their logbook including the Red Arrows and most of, if not all of the Irish Aircorp fleet. All this is to raise money for the Laura Lynn children’s hospice and Dogs trust Ireland."

Mikey added that he and another pilot friend, took the bears flying in six new aircraft types in one day.

"This was a new record for the bears, myself and my friend. There were three aerobatic flights included in this. To top off their visit, I'm a volunteer with Spitfires.com, based from Goodwood, also on the south UK coast, and they went for a trip in the Spitfire and support plane, the Airvan to top off their week," outlined Mikey.

During their travels they each carry a logbook to record all flight hours, pilot in command, flight information, aircraft type and registrations.

At the end of the challenge the teddy bears, their logbooks and a photo book of their adventures, will be auctioned off to raise valuable funds for their two Irish charities.

"Capt Paddy T. Bear" will be donated to LauraLynn Children’s Hospice and "Lucky" to The Dogs Trust of Ireland.

The challenge started in January 2023 and our globetrotting aviation duo continue to break new ground by raising over €9600 and making headline news online and through the printed press, radio and TV.

Their achievements so far include visiting 25 countries and travelling to four continents, spending over 400 hours in the air each and flying on 65 different aircraft types.

The bears arrived into New York last week and then flew to Denver.

For more info see the dedicated website www.aviationireland.ie

To contact Mikey email [email protected]