Henlow Flying Club

Paul started flying at the ripe old age of fourteen and obtained his commercial licence as soon as it was legal. He has since amassed many thousands of hours as a qualified Flight Instructor and is very enthusiastic about anything that flies. As a result, Paul maintains excellent flight training and teaching standards with many of his former students going on to secure professional careers with major airlines and the Royal Air Force. In his spare time he is involved in designing and building unmanned air vehicles.

Asher previously enjoyed a successful sales career with Vauxhall, in his role as a National Account Manager it was on a corporate hospitality day in '95, where his customers were taken flying, that he had his first taste of hands on flying: by the end of the day he was convinced that he wanted a career in aviation. PPL followed quickly, then Asher studied part time for his commercial licence. By 2004 Asher had his first commercial flying job on a Saab 2000. Now he flies for DHL, both long and short haul, on 757/767's as First Officer. For fun he instructs at Henlow Flying Club.

Bikes and planes are woven inextricably into the fabric of Joe's career. Whilst competing in the Transafrica bike race he met up with a pal with a keen interest in aviation, so began Joe's love of flying in '71 learning to fly in Botswana. Back in the UK, Joe had returned to his first love of motorcycle racing when a pilot bought a bike from him in '76, this particular pilot was a member of the British Aerobatic Team and Joe was back into flying again. Joe completed his commercial licence in the UK and through yet another pal found himself at Henlow. Joe instructs (including tail draggers) and examines. His passion alongside vintage motorcycles and aircraft is his canal boat.

Andy has been instructing for in excess of 30 years and also examines. Even his day job (computers) has an aviation connection: Andy was involved in the computing necessary for the design of the airbus wings. Andy has a share in a 1964 Cessna 150 which is kept at Henlow.

Pete is a retired RAF Intelligence Officer now working for a defence consultancy company.

He has held a PPL for 24 years and having qualified as an instructor in 2009 is available to instruct evenings and weekends. Pete is a shareholder in a 'taildragger' that is kept at Henlow and has a particular interest in tail wheel aircraft.

John started flying at 17 years of age, firstly as a private pilot, enjoyed it so much he decided to give up a banking career to train as a commercial pilot. He has a wealth of flight training experience (as well as some interesting stories) and maintains very high standards of flight training with many of his former students flying for major airlines. He is renowned for great patience and has led many students, who experience difficulties with an area of their training, to success.

Eric got into helicopter flying as an antidote to working full time as an office systems consultant for a local authority, a job he still does part time when not flying. Having qualified as an instructor in 1997 he has worked freelance for Cabair, Sloane Helicopters, HeliAir and East Herts Flying school at Panshanger. He really enjoys the challenge of helping people to master the tricky but rewarding art of helicopter flying and get their PPL(H) but does also occasionally fantasize about a life doing helicopter pleasure flights around the Hawaiian Islands.

Les had a successful 30 year career in the fire service retiring in 2004. A memorable date for him was July 22 1993 (his birthday) when his wife bought him a Trial Lesson at Luton Flight Training - that was it! at the time a heavy smoker he vowed to quit to be able to afford to fly - he has never smoked since. Working in ops at Luton Flight Training until their closure in '96 Les joined Henlow Flying Club and upon retirement from the fire service has been on ops duty several days a week. As well as fire cover, ops, first aid, health and safety Les is a key player in the Hurricanes our very own Henlow Flying Club rock band. Les is happy to take the right seat nowadays and is now fit and well having had both knees replaced in 2009.

The youngest member of the ops team, Chris has been with us for 18 months and his desire is to be an Air Traffic Controller. He has been recommended for training and is hopeful to pursue his chosen career in the not too distant future.

Peter began flight training in 2002 following the lead of his (now) wife who already had her PPL. An earlier flight to Le Touquet in the rear of G DRBG provided added impetus.

Circumstances at the time prevented him completing his PPL which is something he hopes to rectify this year. Peter has been a member of the Ops team since 2004 following his (early) retirement.

Simon has been keen on aviation since childhood but it wasn’t until his mid thirties that he began to learn to fly. Back in 2000, whilst working as a publican locally he noticed low flying aircraft, curiosity got the better and the rest is history. He is a member of the “NODDY GROUP” (C150 Aerobat) & nowadays when not working ops part-time, he can be seen in the guardroom handing out passes rather than pulling pints.