Aviation SW Owner Found Guilty of Child Pornography Charges
 

Long since retired from instructing but disgusted to read what's been going on at Aviation South West at Exeter. One only hopes that nothing inappropriate has been going on with minors taking lessons.


Top flying instructor Richard Bristowe faces jail after child abuse images found following Exeter Airport office raid | Exeter Express and Echo

I don't know the chap, and yes his behaviour is disgusting.

But to be fair, this wasn't happening so far as can be seen at Aviation South West - he just happens to be involved with the business. His misbehaviour does at-least seem to have been in his own time.

G

Hey Exeter, that was quite some first post you made there.:eek:

Wow !

As an established Very senior Flying instructor and CAA Examiner
I wonder why no comments so far ?? Guys in the SW what say ye ?

Wow !

As he was a very established senior Flying instructor and CAA Examiner
I wonder why no comments so far?

It's eerily quiet on the western front

Having met the man in question almost daily in late 2013, I found him to be a rather 'funny fish'. One can only hope that he receives a suitable sentence for this disgusting behaviour. Hopefully this won't hurt the other lovely people working at ASW and I pray they don't stumble across anymore of this dreadful material too!

Oh, you mean like all the very established people in the entertainment industry, government and royal family..?!

Shocking behaviour and one only hopes that GA/CPL Instruction and PPL hire at EGTE will continue in some form or another was in ASW on Friday and Today to get my SEP reval signed and it was VERY quiet


As others mentioned there are a lot of excellent other people that work there so fingers crossed for them all going forward.

Sapperkeno

That is the point , we all know about Royal family members and there is lots of debate and opinion

Seems like not much commentary on this one

How long have they known about charges?

Did he have a reputation as an odd fish?

Does anyone in. Devon have any info to add?

After all it is a rumour network !!

Whiskey Bravo sums it up perfectly. I thought I knew the man.....after 16 years, I realise I didn't!

He was a well respected instructor/examiner locally. Such a shame.

I just wish everyone at ASW the very best going forward. There are some great people there! :ok: ExeterFlyer, please don't tarnish ASW, when one man, alone, is to blame. If anything untoward had gone on flying-wise, it would have appeared before now. However as his interest seems to be of the far-east type, I doubt he would of found much in Exeter.

belowradar, if you wish to ****-stir and generate unhelpful "rumours" on here, then bully for you. := The most people I find posting on here are interested in the truth. If you want to find out some more, try google :ugh:

Obviously hit a raw nerve with you Steakandkidney

The fact that he was well respected locally probably explains the minimal commentary

Don't worry I have googled the facts !

More likely sums you up old boy, rather than a raw nerve. I don't have much time for idiots, and I am fed up with dealing with rumour-mongers on here.

If you've googled, then you'll find out as much as you are going to find out.

Whats the point of pursuing it an aviation forum? He might have been a pilot but thats little relevance to him being a scum sucking paedo?

He has got his just deserts and may he rot in solitary but that should not mean the other members of staff of the school should be tarred with the same sick brush? Or are you suggesting that as he was a pilot and we are pilots we are all paedo's as well? Personally I find the insinuation a little sickening.

BOSEX

You are off on one of your random tangents again

Nothing insinuated at all merely surprised at the lack of comment generally :=

Not a tangent. Just can't see the point of discussing it. It's aviation links are limited and to be honest its a dull and pointless topic. Clearly the lack of comment means that I am not alone.

Only seems to be you gnawing at it like a dog with a bone...... Even the OP lost interest!!

Bose-X,

I couldn't agree more with all of your sentiments.

Well said :D:D:D:D

What he has been found guilty of is appalling and shocking.

I note from the press that the judge has deferred sentencing until he has looked at character references. For that reason isn't it dangerous to comment at all ?

For those that have a comment to make on the case or the individual isn't it best to wait until after the sentencing ? I would hate to see sentencing influenced by comments anyone might make on here - good or bad.

To be honest most of the senior examiners I have met seem to be a little bit "funny" ;)

Sounds like you are enjoying the 'free speech' on here then

Who was it that said, "Those who cant fly teach and those who cant fly or teach become examiners or heads of training"?

:):):):):):):):):):):):):)

I used to think that was true until I saw an airline captain with 000's of hours trying to get to grips with SEP GH and circuits! I also have seen examiners who can literally think the aircraft where they want it.

Back on thread.... Little reason to discuss this here. You get all sorts in every walk of life and the unfortunate thing is you can usually never tell. For his crime, he deserves the full penalty of law.

Hopefully we will never see this degenerate ever again, and will be held for a few years in one of her majesty establishments.

His real punishment will be given in the corridors when the warders are not watching.

My heart goes out to the staff at ASW as they are a great bunch, but it is quite obvious that Exeter airport wants the whole of ASW out and PDQ.

ASW was very quiet this week and I understand sentencing is Friday 13 Feb, not sure what will happen going forward, general vibe is that Exeter Airport don't want him around, ASW has some excellent instructors and hopefully something will continue in some form or another going forwards. It would be a great shame if PPL training/private hire ceased at EGTE

I was told today that the staff have resigned. So i'm guessing the place will be closing down. I'm guessing Aeros will appear for a bid to continue training.....

Sounds odd. Why resign and not wait for the closure?

Or is there a proposal that they don't like the sound of?

Exeter airport is a prime location, and would benefit from a professional organization coming in and investing in some quality FBO facilities.

I am sure that with a proper management setup, along with suitable investment an FBO here could dominate all of the south west.

Only if the airport management want them there.

For years Exeter have been anti-GA and I haven't seen much change. Perhaps when they stop calling themselves 'International' and cut landing fees for light GA things will start to change.

Did no-one hear or suspect anything,apart from the Police, since they found all the evidence in Dec 2012?

If so, I guess we have to give the Police credit for not leaking it in the usual way.

I don't imagine that there was much danger of him carrying on after the Police had caught him.

But why the 2-year delay? Or did I miss something? After all, "Miss Emily Pitts, defending, said Bristowe did not try to thwart the police investigation by withholding passwords".

I heard there is already a plan to remove all of the buildings between the terminal and the car park, in order to get a more manageable traffic system in place. Some of these are where ASW are at the moment. The old flying club building is now the executive terminal, it is hard to see where they could set up again if the airport go ahead with this plan.

If they do close it will be a shame; I flew with some decent people there.

Plans to remove all those wwII buildings have been around and put off since the early 1980s; I wonder if it will happen this time?

The current buildings are an absolute disgrace, and from what I can remember from visiting a couple of times, there are no toilets or running water.

Not quite the premium facilities that you would expect from a commercial flight school?

As mentioned earlier, there is a potential investment opportunity when ASW disappears, but wether ROI is achievable in a timely fashion, who knows?

Obviously any serious investor would want to work hand in hand with the airport management. as I am sure a serious operator would be beneficial for the airport.

The story broke last June in the local press following his first court appearance, but during all this time the now convicted pedophile was claiming that he was innocent and he would clear his name.

It was only on the day of the trial, presumably after some strong advice from his lawyer did he suddenly change his plea to guilty one.

So two years of lies and fabrication and this sex offender is roaming freely around in the community.

Whilst all this is going on, and assuming that nobody else is implicated in this misbehaviour inckuding the rest of the staff at ASW. Who do you get handled by now if you want to take a light aeroplane into Exeter?

G

ASW were still doing it when I was in there last (end of December) but I see from a post somewhere that the corporate lot are doing it now, they are just across the street next to AFT

The same day as the guilty verdict, flight briefing was removed from ASW and given to Exeter corporate aviation,and all references to ASW were removed from the airport website.

It was quite obvious that this had been planned some time in advance.

A bit vindictive against all the other people who work there one might say.

So far as I know, I've never met the known criminal, but I've certainly met a lot of very helpful people who worked as ASW when I was visiting Exeter.


I recall a similarish event in the USA where a well known school owner was sent to prison for tax fraud. The major customers (they were doing a lot of government training) made it clear that he had to go, and under pressure he sold up and did - but the business stayed running and the rest of them (with some significant adjustment) were able to keep their jobs.

G

My understanding of things are that the Exeter Airport owners are very keen for GA training to have a strong presence at Exeter, as much as anything they need the movements that GA provides and I believe they will work with any new organisation that wants to set up a facility quite proactively.


As some have mentioned the current ASW portacabins are not a good building for this and I do believe they will be demolished/removed sometime this year with a revamp to the south-side of the airfield, the old Exeter Flying Club building is now occupied by Executive handling who are for the moment handling the fight briefing for the airfield and going by my experience booking out yesterday are a nice bunch.


Realistically I think any new training organisation would have to be situated on the North Side of the airfield and one would hope that it could be located in such a position as to facilitate public access easily.

Well as my last post has vanished....conveniently.....I only hope that the RIGHT people continue instructing at Exeter, and that a happy solution to Exeter training appears quickly.

The Exeter Flying Club discussed this back in the mid-1990s.

The south side is congested and the airport really want to do other things there. The problem is that although there is space on the north side, it is not user friendly. There is no way the public get onto the airfield through the northside gate without an expensive annual pass.

The Robin Group are in an almost perfect location but without much car parking and a long way from the entrance gate. The Master Plan still shows a north side terminal which would make access to the northside even more problematic