Microlight pilot killed on first day of charity flight to Australia

London: A microlight pilot who set off to fly from the United Kingdom to Australia for charity has been killed on the first leg of his journey.

Martin Bromage took off Tuesday morning from Gloucestershire airport but flew into thick fog over the Channel and lost touch with his ground crew.

His body was later recovered 32km off the coast of France. In interviews before he left Bromage, a 49-year-old father of two, said it was important to be able to both read the weather conditions and land quickly if trouble arose.

The tree surgeon had a life raft, life jacket and emergency locator on board and said he had undergone training in maritime and desert survival but one of the biggest challenges would be staying alert as he flew up to eight hours a day.

The 17,600km flight was expected to take six to eight weeks. After France he was heading across Europe to Greece, followed by Egypt, Saudi Arabia, Pakistan, Malaysia, Indonesia and Australia. Staff at Gloucestershire airport raised the alarm when a signal from Bromage's microlight suddenly stopped.

They alerted RAF Kinloss and two patrol vessels were sent to search the area. They confirmed that a body had been recovered and was being taken to the French mainland.

Barry Woodward, of Dover Coastguard, said: "The problem seems to have been the thick fog which developed over the Channel as Mr Bromage was flying across. There was fog along the French coast most of the day yesterday although it was clear on the English coast when Mr Bromage flew over.

"The fog came in midway across the Channel during his flight and we had reports from our colleagues just to the west of Calais that they were receiving requests from a light aircraft that was diverting continuously because he couldn't find an airfield that was clear.

"Then they lost contact with him. Unfortunately for the same reason that he was in difficulty, the thickness of the fog, we could not fly from either side of the Channel to look for him."

Bromage had been aiming to raise £150,000 (Dh900,000) for the soldiers' charity Help for Heroes and had spent months working out his route