Volunteer to take on fundraising skydive to mark 80th birthday

A Cornwall Air Ambulance volunteer is taking to the skies to mark his 80^th birthday with a skydive, raising money for your charity.

David ‘Terry’ Earl, from St Austell, is a flying instructor at both Bodmin and Perranporth airfields. He has spent his life in the aviation industry, from 27 years in the RAF, to being a civilian airline pilot and even working in Hong Kong.

For the past five years David has been volunteering for Cornwall Air Ambulance, often giving talks about the charity out in the community to help raise awareness. He said: “I wanted to do something useful, and it’s Cornwall based and aviation too, they do such good and necessary work. It was the first air ambulance and it’s a great organisation to be part of.”

After turning 80 in March, David decided he wanted to do something special to mark ‘the beginning of the end’ of his flying career, and to raise money for charity at the same time. So on Friday 2nd June, he will be taking on a skydive at Perranporth airfield.

David will be doing what he calls a ‘parachute jump’ from a small single-engine aircraft from around 10,000ft. He will be strapped to an instructor, who is a friend of his, and will jump into a freefall before opening the parachute and landing safely below.

He is aiming to raise £3,000 in total, which will be split between Cornwall Air Ambulance and ShelterBox.

David said: “Cornwall Air Ambulance is terrific, for people all over Cornwall, especially in the summer when they’re out doing things that can so easily lead to injury, whether it’s in the sea, off the cliff, on the moors, where it’s difficult to access, the helicopter is that key lifesaver. There couldn’t be a better reason to raise money.”

You can find David’s fundraising page here.