01/09/2026
This weekend we've bid a fond farewell to Kev from our instructor rota, though worry not, he'll still be around for tug pilot duty!
Kev was kind enough to share the details of his journey into flying:
The secret life of an instructor
I’ve always had an interest in flying and despite being in the ATC (115 Sqdn) joined the Royal Navy in 1976.
My first instructional flight at PSGC was on 2 March 1985 whilst on leave with Norman Brown who was CFI at the time and managed to get me sufficiently hooked that I came back for more, eventually going solo 35 flights later on 20 July 1985. Learning on the Bocian, progressing to the Pirat and later on the mighty Sport Vega life was exciting!
Several years later the opportunity arose to become an Air Experience Instructor (AEI) and after a weekend at Tibenham with Woody (unforgettable character) qualified and spent the next few years conducting 194 flights which I thoroughly enjoyed, especially introducing my wife to the wonders of powerless flight in August 94 (she already had a PPL)
After a couple of years I was persuaded to become a half cat instructor when I literally bumped into Pete Stratton in the swimming pool at RAF Mount Pleasant (Falkland Islands). He was CFI at RAF Bicester and had a space available on a course the following year and if I could get back to the U.K. for March 95 I could do the 2 weeks course as part of my “adventurous training” (free in other words!). Fortunately I managed to get the time off and in April 95 became a Half Cat Instructor.
It wasn’t long before I was asked to consider a Full Cat qualification potentially as the CFI at the time Dave Crowhurst wanted to retire, so in July 96 after being put through my paces over a very long weekend I was ordained into the heady world of being a Full Cat and all that came with it!!
Now with responsibility and a bit of authority, a tug rating and experience in “adventurous training expeditions” I started to take groups of military personnel gliding, initially at Bicester but progressing to wave camps at Aboyne which were all very successful. It was over a beer in the clubhouse someone asked if I’d take PSGC to Aboyne and our first trip was planned for Oct 98, subsequently we went north every October until 2017. Aboyne is a long way and most people by now had Diamond Height, so we decided to split the 2 weeks by having a week in Aboyne for those still interested followed by a week at Milfield (Borders GC) which began in 2009 through to 2020. Again lots of great fun, great flying and experience of flying the ridges of the Cheviots (including wave).
Other gliding adventures include 3 trips to Australia (Darling Downs, Kingaroy and Narrowmine), Sisteron France, Bruggen Germany, Ocana and Cerdanya Spain plus places in the U.K. such as Port Moak, Denbigh and Talgarth. I also enjoyed my time with the RNGSA, they supported many of my adventures, such as taking a ships company gliding at Bicester, Inter Services competitions and the yearly (2 weeks) flying Naval personnel at RNAS Culdrose. So as you can see I’ve been around a bit!
Finally over 31 years (first 15 years I was at sea quite a lot) have conducted 2562 instructional flights (mainly aerotow) totalling 1102 hours 06 minutes, spent 9 years as CFI and despite some scary moments thoroughly enjoyed myself, even not managing to break anything! Not forgetting that in between all the instructing duties I’ve also been a tug pilot managing to squeeze in some 7146 aerotows and even taught Mike Newton to fly back in 2011!
Anyway, I feel that’s enough; hope this has been of interest to some, maybe even an inspiration for the younger members to progress through the system and become an instructor? The pleasure of teaching someone to fly, passing on your skill and knowledge to future pilots is undoubtedly a skill worth having, its hard work and at times frustrating, but overall very very satisfying!
Here's Kev Descending in Duo Discus KPE from a 20k flight - the view is incredible!
Thanks very much Kev, try not to let the golf course keep you away too much!
Gliding
