Background

George, originally from Lichfield, Staffordshire, was first introduced to aviation through the Air Training Corps  and was successful in securing an RAF Flying Scholarship whilst at school.  When going to university at Durham to study Software Engineering, he secured an RAF Bursary, completing his basic flying training alongside his studies.

On graduation he joined the RAF as a pilot, being streamed onto helicopters, specifically the Agusta Westland Merlin HC3, based at RAF Benson.

George served at RAF Benson for 9  years on 28 (AC) Sqn and 78 Sqn  with operational tours in Bosnia, Iraq and Afghanistan.  For his last tour on Merlin he attended the Central Flying School instructor course at RAF Shawbury to gain his Qualified Helicopter Instructor qualifcation.  His final tour was as the Deputy Flight Commander for the Operational Conversion Flight.  On completion of this tour he was selected to attend the No 50 Rotary Wing Test Pilot course at MoD Boscombe Down.

George flew a wide variety of types on the course with the final Preview exercise on the US Army Lakota helicopter.  He was then posted to Rotary Wing Test and Evaluation Squadron as an Experimental Test Pilot.  He completed a wide variety of trials on Merlin and Puma helicopters including:

George also instructed on the Merlin, converting other Test Pilots onto the type

Following his tour on RWTES, George was selected to be the Officer Commanding Air Warfare Centre Staneval, responsible for checking the flying skills of all military helicopter Test Pilots and for ensuring the standards of flight test across all fixed wing and rotary platforms across UK Defence.  George was current on 7 different types and instructing on 5 of them.  He upgraded to A2 QHI during the tour and was a Central Flying School agent.

On retirement from the RAF, George joined Babcock International as an Air Ambulance/HEMS pilot.  He became a Type Rating Instructor and Type Rating Examiner on EC135.  He also used his Test Pilot skills to complete flight trials for Babcock Design and Completions including:

George was a Flight Operations CVE for the Part 21J organisation.

George then moved to Wiltshire Air Ambulance to operate the Bell 429 in the Air Ambulance role.  He is a Type Rating Instructor and Examiner on the Bell 429.