Emma Blackburn is raising money for the Isle of Man Air Ambulance service, in memory of her late brother William, who had served as a pilot with them.

William Blackburn, 26, from Douglas, was the co-pilot of a light aircraft which crashed in Dubai in May 2019.

Emma told us that the former St Ninian’s High School student was ’such an outgoing, lovely guy’ who had been ’obsessed’ with flying all his life.

When he was asked at age five by his primary school teacher what he had wanted to be when he grew up, he had said a pilot.

William started his flight training in New Zealand in 2015 before qualifying as a commercial pilot in 2017, and then going on to fly for the island’s air ambulance service for about a year.

His flying duties there involved carrying out rescues and escorting babies in need of medical attention to the Intensive Care Unit.

Emma said that his time with the air ambulance service had ’fulfilled his dream of flying whilst helping people’.

Emma told us that she felt that this May was the right time to raise money for the emergency service in William’s memory to mark the two-year anniversary of his death.

She recalled her last fundraising challenge in 2017, which involved hiking mount Kilimanjaro for the charity ChildReach Africa - at the time William had posted pictures of her trek on his social media, saying ’couldn’t be prouder of my sister right now’.

’I think it’s time for a new challenge to make him proud,’ Emma said.

She added that he loved adventures, and that they often used to take long walks together. She and her friend Maddie Landels plan on hiking around the whole island along the Raad-ny-Foilan path, which is about 160km [99 miles], in just three days.

Emma said she has already walked the section of the coastal path between Port St Mary and Fleshwick Bay, which she hopes should have been the hardest section in terms of terrain.

She expects the long hike will involve two overnight stops, and despite admitting she is not much of a camper, says she is prepared to not shower or sleep for the three days.

Emma added that she hopes there is no lockdown in May, and that restrictions will have eased.

Emma’s fundraiser, which to her amazement has already reached over £7,000, can be found at: https://uk.gofundme.com/f/isle-of-man-air-ambulance or by searching ’Isle of Man Air Ambulance’ on the gofundme website.