BY767 raises some good points but I disagree with the comment that most pilots are ex ATC. I am not and don’t know anyone else who was. Many are ex forces, not only RAF but Army and Navy too.

The flying scholarship is a very good idea. It ill get you a PPL as a start and give you a good indication of whether you want to do it for real and if you have the aptitude. When I started you didn’t have to be an ATC member to get the scholarship. It is very competitive though. The Royal Air League used to offer a scholarship too.

There is no cheap way of learning to fly these days. The CAA stopped that by introducing the structured course. This virtually closed the self improver (destroyer) route as it once was. I think the way I learnt was the cheapest at the time. I got my PPL in Florida and then bought a Cessna 172 so only had to pay an instructor on top of the running costs of the aircraft. Once I had my CPL I was then able to offer sight seeing flights around the local area and I used to also fly people to watch the shuttle launches. Once I had my hours ( I got 700 over there) I sold the aircraft and actually got the same money as we bought it for. This meant my hours were very cheap but I still had to convert to a UK licence which was very expensive in itself.

If you do win the lottery I would recommend going to one of the major UK flying schools, in particular Oxford, as they have a very good reputation with the airlines and will often work with them when type ratings are being offered.

The good news is we are just coming into a period of famine for pilots with not enough trained people around. This means that the goalposts are going to be moved in your direction in the near future. You may be lucky and by the time you are of age, they are offering full scholarships again as they did in the late 80’s. Good luck!

last week and it was 2 hours late arriving under a XLA flight number, passengers complained about lack of leg room.

Probably on the 767 then. Delay due in part by a faulty anti-collision light and then further by a particularly long flight time. As of the end of March, all flights on will be on the 747. I operated the SFB-LGW sector so should know. Don’t remember any legroom complaints though.

Dropped in before crossing the pond to fill up some more seats. Remember the Pan Am the ended up in Lockerbie originated in FRA.

I didn’t think they had cross crew qualification. I understood the CAA stopped it as the aircraft were too different in handling and size.

Wow! I didn’t think African Safari (ASA) were still going!

Nice photos!

I suspect you are thinking of East African Safari Air that went under in Spetember of 2004.

Some airlines mothball their aircraft during their low season. Cheap parking especially considering the huge costs of parking at international airports these days.

If I remember from the B777 manufacturing video they bent the wing up 26 feet before it failed. 7m, being approx 23 feet, is a little short especially as you would expect it to move further with the additional wingspan. All this is assuming there is a direct relationship between wing loading and deflection, which I hope you will agree is a fair assumption.

SQ will be asking some fairly serious questions if it does cause a delay having already been delayed. I am sure they wouldn’t be happy!