Teen to pilot Cessna around Australia raising hospital ward funds

Byron will be piloting a Cessna plane around the country from September 13 to raise money for a teenage ward at the Queensland Children's Hospital and awareness of Crohn's disease.

As an ill teenager he has spent months with the adults on his medical team and children much younger than himself in children's wards.

"It's very hard being stuck in there non-stop, day-in day-out, not being able to socialise," he said.

"You don't have the passions that all the other kids have and you don't really know what they talk about."

Byron took up flying after his parents told him he had to pick an activity that would get him out of the hospital to socialise with teenagers his own age.

He went for his first trial flight just a few months after he turned 13 years of age.

"I've been able to find other kids who are interested in flying as well," he said.

"It gives us something to relate to, when before I didn't really have anything to relate with other people with."

Byron was inspired to make the 10-day flight after meeting Australian Ironwoman Bonnie Hancock who raised $70,000 for mental health by paddling 12,700km around Australia in 2022.

"And I thought, 'I could do it in a plane'," Byron said.

Byron will be piloting a Cessna 172 - a four-seater, single-engine plane often flown by beginners.

In Australia, pilots have to be 15 years old before they can fly solo so he will be accompanied by an instructor and his father who will be in charge of feeding everyone.

They have a planned itinerary of about 30 towns around Australia but with the need to refuel at regular intervals they will have to go where there is fuel available.

Despite the tentative schedule Byron said he will try and get anywhere people want him.

He has already been contacted by a disability support company in Gympie who want him to speak with their teenaged clients about trying new things.

"I want to spread awareness of getting people out of the house and doing stuff when they're unwell," Byron said.

He hopes other rural communities will reach out to him so he can spread awareness about Crohn's disease and living with an illness.

Five years ago Byron's family moved next to the Queensland Children's Hospital after realising they were waiting up to an hour for ambulances to reach their inner city home.

The experience was even worse when he visited his grandparents in rural Australia but it inspired him to look into the challenges regional Australians faced when accessing healthcare.

"There's not many hospitals. It would be hard to get a diagnosis out there," he said.

"They might not know that it [Crohn's disease] even exists," he said.

Byron is encouraging other pilots to join him on his flight for however long they can and donations could be made through Byron's GoFundMe.