Features | 11
get on to fly and then again as we exit. Seb smiled as he went on to say, “you might think this a little quirky but on the day of the fire, we obviously had to get out quickly and through different exits so none of us had chance to touch the plaque. I had to go back the next day and do the honours as it just hadn’t felt right not to do.”
Down-time
This year has been particularly busy, but with all this in mind, each aircraft still only has a maximum set of hours it can fly each
year and that includes training flights so we have to be very smart with our planning. The Lancaster for example can only fly 104 hours per year whilst trying to squeeze in upwards of 1000 airshow appearances.
We all have various other PR duties as well and so there is plenty to keep the crews busy; particularly this year but we are allowed time off! Encouraged in fact.
I managed a week off on a road trip to the French Alps at the end of
August with a group of like-minded Jaguar owners. The group organiser just tells us which port to turn up at and he organises the rest – it’s like a bit of a mystery tour and great to get away and do something completely different!
I ski too but to be honest, that’s been less of an activity whilst I’ve been on BBMF but I’ll get back to it more seriously again in time to come.
Seb’s Biography
Hailing originally from Formby on Merseyside, Seb studied Aerospace Systems Engineering at The University of Southampton, graduating in 1998.
He completed RAF Initial Officer Training at RAFC Cranwell in 1999 and after Elementary Flying Training (which he started while a member of Southampton University Air Squadron) and Multi-Engine Pilot Training in 2001, he was posted as the first ab-initio pilot to the Hercules C-130J at RAF Lyneham.
Following a three year tour as a co-pilot, Seb was selected for C-130J captaincy and completed a further three year tour as a Tactical Air Transport captain supporting, among other tasks, the Pakistan earthquake humanitarian effort and worldwide Air Transport operations.
On completion of this tour, Seb was selected to be an instructor of the Tactical Air Transport Course, again on the C-130J. Following this subsequent three year tour, and nine years exclusively as a member of No 30 Sqn, Seb was posted in November 2011 to the role of C-130J Tactical Flight Instructor for No 47 Sqn at RAF Brize Norton until August 2014, completing 13 and a half years on the C-130J.
In September 2014, Seb was selected to become one of the RAF’s first Airbus A400M Atlas pilots. He completed the conversion to type in January 2015 and is now a pilot instructor on the newest Air Transport aircraft in the RAF’s inventory whilst also flying the oldest (the Dakota). In March 2017, he qualified as one of the very first A400M Airdrop and Tactical Air Transport pilots.
Connect with BBMF Follow
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BBMF.Official Twitter @RAFBBMF or @Seb_Lanc99 Instagram/raf_bbmf_official
Completing walk around checks on the BBMF Dakota.
raf-ff.org.uk | Winter 2018 | ENVOY
© Lisa Harding Props & Portraits.
© Crown Copyright.
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