Questions and Answers

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Where are you from?
I was born and grew up in Sheffield, a fairly sizable city in South Yorkshire famed for its hills, trees (it has more trees per person than any other city in Europe!) and musical exports that include the Arctic Monkeys, Def Leopard and Pulp.

Where are you currently based?
Just up the road from Sheffield in Leeds. Although I haven’t always lived in God’s Own Country. I attended university in London and Seoul and undertook a six-month stint working in Paris, before returning to London to complete my master’s and starting work there. Becoming disgruntled with life in the big smoke, aged 26 I couldn’t resist the lure of the homeland and moved back up to Yorkshire to start a new job.

What did you study?
BA Korean and MA Korean Studies at SOAS – a constituent college of the University of London. The former included a year studying abroad at Sogang University in Seoul.

How much do you make from this blog?
£0

What do you do for work?
I work in the sphere of aviation, specialising in aviation safety.

What was your first-ever flight?
London Gatwick to Miami on G-VMIA, a Virgin Atlantic Boeing 747-100. Given the rarity of the aircraft, I wish I could remember the experience, but sadly, I was fifteen months old at the time!

Have you always loved flying?
Strangely, no! Until the age of 9, I was terrified of flying! For some reason, upon taking a family trip to New York in February 2006, flying with British Airways from Manchester via Heathrow and back, something just clicked and I found the experience of flying both fun and fascinating. Since then, I have been hooked!

Do you come from an aviation background?
Sort of. My grandfather was a navigator in the Royal Air Force during the Second World War and flew the Bristol Beaufighter on missions across Southeast Asia. Eventually transitioning to the civilian world, he became a navigator with BOAC (the predecessor of British Airways), flying types including the Avro Lancastrian, Boeing 707, Boeing Stratocruiser, Bristol Britannia, de Havilland Comet, Douglas DC-7, Lockheed Constellation, and Vickers VC-10. When computers meant that navigators were no longer required, he then worked in ticketing for British Airways before retiring to the Cornish countryside.

Have you piloted a plane by yourself?
Yes – in my youth I was an Air Cadet and undertook a scholarship learning to fly the Grob Vigilant motor glider with 613 VGS at RAF Halton, culminating in my first solo flight. This was one of the most fantastic things I have ever done!

Would you ever become a pilot?
I would love to, but sadly, my wallet doesn’t agree!

What’s the rarest aircraft you’ve ever flown?
Probably the world’s only verifiably active Lisunov Li-2. This is essentially a Douglas DC-3 that was produced under licence in the Soviet Union between 1939 and 1952. It is thought that just under five thousand were manufactured, however of these, only one is verifiably active. This is operated by the Hungarian organisation, the Goldtimer Foundation and is based near Budapest, and you book joyrides on this aircraft during the summer months.

However, if we are talking about scheduled airliners then the Antonov An-24, the Comac C909 (ARJ21), Yakovlev Yak-40 and Xi’an MA60 are all contenders.

Has any airline surprised you?
Saudia. I flew with them from Dubai to Paris CDG via Jeddah back in March 2020 on an Airbus A320 and Boeing 787-9 Dreamliner. I wasn’t expecting fantastic things from them but I ended up being positively taken aback by just how friendly the crew were – even though the cabins of both aircraft were not quite in tip-stop shape!