blind pew
21st Mar 2020, 10:32
A CONCORDE IN MY TOY BOX ISBN 9781861519511
Mike was my trainer on the VC10 in 78. A little bloke, quiet with a dry sense of humour who wouldn't be out of place running a village post office. A Clark Kent rather than superman one would think and many have made that mistake.
Whilst playing real tennis at base training he said he had flown several circuits in the Trident 1 handling his own throttles...I frankly thought he was spinning a line as BEA taught it was impossible for supermen let alone a little bloke. He phoned the fire brigade from a tower as an aircraft was about to crash, when they turned up they treated him with derision..it was the infamous Zlin flying around inverted after a wing had started folding upwards.
I next heard of him from an archivist at RAF Hendon museum .."do you know Mike Riley? had this little bloke whom I thought was a Walter Mitty (there are hundreds in avaition)..checked up and invited him back to record his history for the museum".
I tracked him down in 2015 living in Interlaken and flying paragliders with the world champion in his mid 70s...still a little bloke..softly spoken, modest but if you can get him talking.
World class aerobatic pilot and Judge..one of the few who trained on Concorde and unique in that he brought his instructor abilities into airline training. His criticism of the latter system will no doubt disturb many of his onetime colleagues - justifiably.
Self depreciating..how many other pilots confess their misdemeanours and crashes?
Spread the word.
Mike was my trainer on the VC10 in 78. A little bloke, quiet with a dry sense of humour who wouldn't be out of place running a village post office. A Clark Kent rather than superman one would think and many have made that mistake.
Whilst playing real tennis at base training he said he had flown several circuits in the Trident 1 handling his own throttles...I frankly thought he was spinning a line as BEA taught it was impossible for supermen let alone a little bloke. He phoned the fire brigade from a tower as an aircraft was about to crash, when they turned up they treated him with derision..it was the infamous Zlin flying around inverted after a wing had started folding upwards.
I next heard of him from an archivist at RAF Hendon museum .."do you know Mike Riley? had this little bloke whom I thought was a Walter Mitty (there are hundreds in avaition)..checked up and invited him back to record his history for the museum".
I tracked him down in 2015 living in Interlaken and flying paragliders with the world champion in his mid 70s...still a little bloke..softly spoken, modest but if you can get him talking.
World class aerobatic pilot and Judge..one of the few who trained on Concorde and unique in that he brought his instructor abilities into airline training. His criticism of the latter system will no doubt disturb many of his onetime colleagues - justifiably.
Self depreciating..how many other pilots confess their misdemeanours and crashes?
Spread the word.