Becoming a Pilot in the UK

Capital Radio DJ and now official, published artist Will Manning joined the Hangar Lounge podcast to chat about his life away from music. Many people may not know that Will is a qualified pilot, and we spoke about all things aviation. We covered what it was like for him learning to fly, his favourite aircraft and some of the things he's found most difficult after gaining his licence.

Inspiring women to get into aviation is Katherine's mission. She's a director at TransAir Flight Equipment, down at Solent Airport on the UK's South Coast, and there she lives all things General Aviation. Katherine started out by flying helicopters, before taking the plunge and embarking on her PPL (A). She talks with us today about how she got into aviation, the challenges she's faced along the way and what her aspirations are for the future.

Growing a following on social media for sharing your passion with the world is a dream for so many people. Today's guest Annie (or 'Pilot Annie' as she's known on Instagram) has amassed over 33k followers as she showcases her aviation exploits out in Canada. She shares with us in this podcast episode how she came to where she is today, including some really touching stories about her early flights with some inspirational people.

For a change of pace on the podcast, we welcome aviation photographer Matt Mansell. He's built up a strong Instagram following as he showcases his talent of capturing incredible action shots of aircraft 'in the wild'. Hearing about aviation from a photographer's perspective highlights the variety it can bring and the places you may end up travelling to...

Today's guest, Chris, has spent most of his time in aviation around gliders. The core skill of piloting an aircraft without any propulsion is one that we all learn at some stage along our flying training, but for Chris it's his bread and butter. He's now taking this one step further, by undertaking his commercial licences and hoping to turn flying into his full-time job.

Becoming a pilot can be challenging. Not only is the practical element of learning to fly difficult, the other hurdles that you come across just add to that. Jo tackled the loss of a sponsored airline career training path, leading to her taking a new path in her flying training. She also tackled the coronavirus lockdown by starting a new hobby, which quickly turned into a great side hustle.

Have you ever wondered the route into becoming a pilot? You may have heard some of my guests talk about their path, and many more in the future will continue to do so, but here lies the general guide to getting your licence, including some tips for your journey.

Ever wondered what it's like behind the scenes at one of the UK's most popular general aviation airfields? Chris is the operations manager at Cotswold airport (aka Kemble) and talks to us about the day-to-day running, his own pilot ventures and how they built a GPS-based approach for the airfield.

Suzie always knew she wanted to travel the world and what better way than working in aviation?! After some time as cabin crew on a leading British airline provider, she took the leap into training to become a pilot. Her journey wasn't straightforward, and with some complications to her training sponsorship provider, Suzie had to quickly adapt and look to a different way to complete her commercial pilot training.

Today's guest, Adam, is a glider pilot with 644 Volunteer Glider Squadron, where he dedicates his weekends to taking Air Cadets for their first taste of aviation. Alongside gliding, he flies powered aircraft and works full-time in the Offshore Windfarm business; all aspects of Adam's life are immersed in aviation! We speak about how he got started, his journey to today and what the future looks like.