Joe Hadley
Joe is a graduand of Solihull College and University Centre in Aircraft Maintenance Engineering BSc and having only completed his studies in June finds himself thrust into the engineering team at Turweston HQ.
His passion for all thing’s aviation stems from his time as a CCF air cadet and he recounts an emetic aerobatic sortie in an RAF tutor with a former harrier pilot. It didn’t put him off flying though, as he now holds a LAPL(A) TMG/SEP license which he completed whilst at university funded by a part time job in a charity shop.
Joe now spends most weekends at Enstone airfield flying introductory flights with Motorglide or fiddling with the aircraft fleet if the weather doesn’t permit flying. He proudly wears his LAA Bronze Wings award and has also been awarded a bursary by the Air League to undertake some advanced flying training. An aerobatic rating perhaps?
Summer is his favorite time of the year and the long days allowed him to get into the air at 0415 this solstice and pester the controllers at Birmingham airport to fly over his house. The abundance of airshows to visit also occupy many of his weekends, a highlight of his being the Red Arrows RAF100 display at RIAT 2018.
When pressed for his favorite aircraft type he couldn’t give a just one answer. It lies somewhere between the de Havilland Vampire, Sukhoi Su-35, and the Rutan LongEz, one of which he would quite like to own.
Aside from hanging around airfields Joe’s other hobbies are skiing, mountaineering and returning to his cadet squadron as a civilian instructor. He lives at home in Coventry with his parents and black cat Maggie.
July 2019
