F/O on a 737 at just 19
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F/O on a 737 at just 19
Is this a record? Can't be many 19 year old who made it to the flight deck of a 737!
From the UK Daily Mail
Britain's teenage airline pilot: Meet the 19-year-old who flies holiday jets to the sun
At the age of 19, Ed Gardner wasn't old enough to drive a bus, and in most countries he would have been too young to hire a car.
Yet, despite his youth, he was cleared to take the controls of a Boeing 737 and for the past three months has been flying tourists off on their holidays.
Mr Gardner, who turned 20 in December, is thought to be the youngest passenger pilot in the country.
He received his commercial licence on October 5 while still a teenager. Within a day he had started work with Stansted-based charter firm, Titan Airways.
Since then he has been sharing the cockpit with his father, Bob, 55, who is an experienced airline captain.
Mr Gardner, who comes from Stebbing near Stansted in Essex and who started flying at 14, said: "My dad never pushed for me to become a pilot but as soon as I said I wanted to do it he was pleased.
"He put up the money to do it and I'm paying him back. He's been very helpful. I flew solo at 16 and got my private pilot's licence on my 17th birthday."
He has passed a number of exams including instrument training and instruction on flying a Boeing 737, which holds up to 200 passengers.
Mr Gardner was so keen on flying he was able to pilot a plane before he had even started learning to drive a car.
After studying A-levels at the Helena Romanes School in Dunmow he went to the Metropolitan University in London for his air transport pilot's licence written exams, passing first time.
He then went on to Stapleford Flight Centre for instrument rating, another pilot's training course and then Boeing 737 training.
His first job with Titan Airways was flying mail between Stansted and Exeter. The first passenger flight he piloted was to Rostock in Germany.
Mr Gardner said: "I was excited but you don't really get to interact with the passengers.
"As first officer you do pretty much the same as the captain except you can't taxi on the runway.
"Of course the captain is in charge overall but if they fly to Malaga, you fly the plane back, for example."
He said he had not told his passengers how young he was.
Mr Gardner, who now flies regularly to Europe and Africa, said simply about the way his career had taken off: "I think I just came along at the right time." As for his father, he added: "I think he's very proud."
Rob Giles, 737 fleet manager for Titan Airways, said Mr Gardner was the youngest commercial pilot he had hear of.
"It is not without precedent at 21 or 22 but most people do something else and then come to flying so they tend to be older," he said.
"But there is no reason why a teenager shouldn't be able to do the job. Ed is a very competent pilot and ticked all the boxes. It's good getting youngsters into the company - we need some new blood."
A spokesman for the Civil Aviation Authority said that although it was possible for a 19-year-old to fly a passenger jet, they would not usually be given the chance to do so until they were a few years older.
The authority's records show that no teenagers were given the right to carry passengers in the years 2004 and 2005. Pilots need to be at least 18 to hold a commercial licence.
From the UK Daily Mail
Britain's teenage airline pilot: Meet the 19-year-old who flies holiday jets to the sun
At the age of 19, Ed Gardner wasn't old enough to drive a bus, and in most countries he would have been too young to hire a car.
Yet, despite his youth, he was cleared to take the controls of a Boeing 737 and for the past three months has been flying tourists off on their holidays.
Mr Gardner, who turned 20 in December, is thought to be the youngest passenger pilot in the country.
He received his commercial licence on October 5 while still a teenager. Within a day he had started work with Stansted-based charter firm, Titan Airways.
Since then he has been sharing the cockpit with his father, Bob, 55, who is an experienced airline captain.
Mr Gardner, who comes from Stebbing near Stansted in Essex and who started flying at 14, said: "My dad never pushed for me to become a pilot but as soon as I said I wanted to do it he was pleased.
"He put up the money to do it and I'm paying him back. He's been very helpful. I flew solo at 16 and got my private pilot's licence on my 17th birthday."
He has passed a number of exams including instrument training and instruction on flying a Boeing 737, which holds up to 200 passengers.
Mr Gardner was so keen on flying he was able to pilot a plane before he had even started learning to drive a car.
After studying A-levels at the Helena Romanes School in Dunmow he went to the Metropolitan University in London for his air transport pilot's licence written exams, passing first time.
He then went on to Stapleford Flight Centre for instrument rating, another pilot's training course and then Boeing 737 training.
His first job with Titan Airways was flying mail between Stansted and Exeter. The first passenger flight he piloted was to Rostock in Germany.
Mr Gardner said: "I was excited but you don't really get to interact with the passengers.
"As first officer you do pretty much the same as the captain except you can't taxi on the runway.
"Of course the captain is in charge overall but if they fly to Malaga, you fly the plane back, for example."
He said he had not told his passengers how young he was.
Mr Gardner, who now flies regularly to Europe and Africa, said simply about the way his career had taken off: "I think I just came along at the right time." As for his father, he added: "I think he's very proud."
Rob Giles, 737 fleet manager for Titan Airways, said Mr Gardner was the youngest commercial pilot he had hear of.
"It is not without precedent at 21 or 22 but most people do something else and then come to flying so they tend to be older," he said.
"But there is no reason why a teenager shouldn't be able to do the job. Ed is a very competent pilot and ticked all the boxes. It's good getting youngsters into the company - we need some new blood."
A spokesman for the Civil Aviation Authority said that although it was possible for a 19-year-old to fly a passenger jet, they would not usually be given the chance to do so until they were a few years older.
The authority's records show that no teenagers were given the right to carry passengers in the years 2004 and 2005. Pilots need to be at least 18 to hold a commercial licence.
Last edited by Phil Space; 14th Jan 2008 at 12:39.
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B757 at 19
I know somebody who flew B757 at 19 a few years ago!! His old war story was that he flew to MCO as F/O and was not allowed to the bar for beers with the crew so the girls left him in the car park with a bottle of coke and a packet of ready salted!!!
Well done to Ed, keep up the good work.
elac2
Well done to Ed, keep up the good work.
elac2
A commendable achievement. I flew with a guy who had been an FO with Monarch at nineteen. The only problem with this is the risk of getting bored with the job early on. Imagine flying commercially for 46 years!
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First Officer at 19 - well done!
However, without wishing to detract at all from his magnificent performance one of my former Royal Air Force colleagues flew Lancasters in the last war - you know 600 miles out and 600 back at night being shot at from the ground and shot at by night fighters , night after night- and suddenly realised that the average age of his crew was 19 yrs 5 months! He was 20 yrs 6 months as pilot in command - and the Lanc only had one pilot. Ah well - thank goodness those days are over.
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The comparison with Lancasters is interesting but they were expected to get shot down and/or killed every handful of flights. In the airline business, that tends to disrupt schedules.
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Just a q's out of the blue...
Does Titan hire 0 (zero) TT on type? If anyone has the knowledge he/she should be given the chance, but having dad on the LHS helps a lot...
Still, congrats Ed!
DK
Does Titan hire 0 (zero) TT on type? If anyone has the knowledge he/she should be given the chance, but having dad on the LHS helps a lot...
Still, congrats Ed!
DK
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"As first officer you do pretty much the same as the captain except you can't taxi on the runway". (quoting Phil)
Sh!t at 19 he's already one of these guys thinking there's not much differences between left and right seat!!
...hope experience and white hairs will bring wisdom!
Sh!t at 19 he's already one of these guys thinking there's not much differences between left and right seat!!
...hope experience and white hairs will bring wisdom!
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I can't congratulate him as he has only done what the rest of us have done, except that his father has funded it all and got him a job - yes that quite an achievement!!!!
BTW Ed - congratulations.
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I always query the motive of people that go to press about their achievements in this fashion.
I along with a handful of other people have been airline pilots on jets since 19, yet have not had the compulsion or desire to chase after the newspapers to tell my story. It's all circumstantial to whether you start your training at 17 or 40. I luckily had support from my parents to help back up loans etc...but why is that any greater achievement than working for 10years, funding your own training, as the financial backing, and in this case contacts (daddy fleet manager) weren't there.
It all strikes me as a bit desperate.
I along with a handful of other people have been airline pilots on jets since 19, yet have not had the compulsion or desire to chase after the newspapers to tell my story. It's all circumstantial to whether you start your training at 17 or 40. I luckily had support from my parents to help back up loans etc...but why is that any greater achievement than working for 10years, funding your own training, as the financial backing, and in this case contacts (daddy fleet manager) weren't there.
It all strikes me as a bit desperate.
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Not sure if this should be copied to the military forum. A colleague of mine in the 1980's made it to First Officer on the VC10 at Brize Norton as a 19 year old Pilot Officer. Last heard of as station commander at RAF Lyneham. Way to go Piggy!
If I am not mistaken, BA (or even BEA) years ago, when they used to do all the training themselves, would take cadets at age 18, and there were therefore a number of FOs on the old fleet then who were FOs on Viscounts, One-Elevens etc by age 19.