THE round-the-world journey of a paraplegic microlight pilot from York Flying Club is set to start again after emergency repairs to his vehicle.

Dave Sykes set off from York in April, with the intention of reaching Sydney, Australia, in an epic solo flight to raise money for the Yorkshire Air Ambulance.

The 43-year-old, who has been nominated for Fundraiser of the Year in the 2011 Community Pride Awards, has been plagued by delays on his journey through bad weather, and crashed during a landing last week in Timor Kupang, ripping a wheel from his plane, and trapping one of his feet.

Speaking on his blog, at soloflightglobal.com Dave said: “The wind got hold of one side of the wing to try and turn me over, but I managed to save it. In doing so it blew me off the runway into the grass, just missing a landing light.

“The wind was really violent, trying to tip me over as well. Then a pick-up van came racing towards to help me. They grabbed hold of the wing. I got my feet out and got into the chair while there must have been 20 people holding on to stop it getting wrecked.”

The crash broke the nose wheel leg of Dave’s mircrolight, and he had to order new parts to repair the vehicle before he can make the 500-mile sea crossing from East Timor to Darwin, Australia.

The Press received confirmation yesterday that the parts had arrived, the vehicle had been repaired, and Dave was awaiting permission to leave the country, with his journey expected to begin on Monday.