Tim Below CV question answers ahead of RIAT 2024
- 17th Jul 2024
What was your earliest memory with regards to aviation?
When I was 11½ years old my Godfather was living and working in Africa, and he proposed that I travel out to spend a summer with his family (his eldest son being a little younger than I). It being the last year I could travel on a child airline fare, my parents agreed, and I was set to go there alone. Aviation for the general public wasn’t as common as it is today, and low cost airlines certainly hadn’t taken off as they have today. I’d never travelled on an aircraft before, so it was a BIG adventure to travel to Africa on my own, and I remember approaching Heathrow airport in the family car driving past all the lines of aircraft parked up near the Terminal, and having a thought of “Wow, look at all of those. I’m really going to go flying on one!”
When did you know you wanted to become a pilot?
Certainly by the age of 12 I knew that I wanted to fly as a pilot. But there was no internet in those days, and I didn’t know much about how to become one, except to fly with British Airways or in the Royal Air Force (RAF). I was a Scout, and participated in a small Air Scout group with two schoolfriends and an aviation-minded schoolmaster. There were just 3 of us, but we met up together with him every week for about 5 years, to learn a little about flying and aviation, including going gliding one day at North Weald airfield. I’d never linked recognition of my wish to be a pilot at the age of 12 with my first flight aged 11½, but I guess that the two were very much connected.
How did you get involved in aviation professionally?
When I left school the British Airways Pilot School (then at Hamble) was not taking any new entrants, and I with no family history in any of the Armed Forces, I wasn’t sure if I wanted to join a military Service or not, but didn’t know any other way to become a pilot back then. So when I decided to study Engineering at university (I didn’t want to spend 3 years studying any of the subjects I had studied at school) I chose a location which had a University Air Squadron, and made it my business to apply to join it as an Officer Cadet at the “Freshers’ Fair,” which was on my second day at university. I learned to fly on the Bulldog trainer aircraft built by Scottish Aviation, flew solo, and eventually amassed about 100 hours of flying in my 3 years at university. From there the path to professional piloting was a natural progression from the Air Squadron to joining the RAF and the rest, as they say, is history.
What has been a career highlight?
A career in aviation is an wonderful thing. My operational flying on the C-130 Hercules took me all over the world, with too many amazing memories to begin to count. But leading a 17-strong transport aircraft formation (15 RAF C-130s and 2 French Air Force C-160s) over Arnhem for the largest single parachutist drop since the Second World War to mark the 50th anniversary of Operational Market Garden in 1994 was a fantastic experience. The next phase of my career was as an experimental test pilot, spending the best part of the next 13 years in flight test. My time as the UK Ministry of Defence’s Chief Test Pilot was as fantastic as it was challenging, but being involved at the heart of every aspect of military aviation was an extraordinary opportunity, and I loved every moment of it. Certainly my year-long secondment to Lockheed Martin for the final prototyping phase of the then new C-130J Hercules in 1998 ahead of its world debut into service with the RAF was an exceptional time, as was returning to the UK to expand its operational capabilities including aerial delivery and air-to-air refuelling.
How did working for BAS come about?
As my RAF career drew to a close, the British Antarctic Survey was recruiting for a project pilot to introduce a replacement medium-range aircraft into service to fulfil its needs supporting the UK’s scientific activities in the Antarctic. Sounding very similar to the C-130J role I had fulfilled nearly 25 years earlier, and involving flying in the Antarctic, it was a unique opportunity, and presented a new aviation challenge that I couldn’t resist.
What has that experience been like?
Flying in the Antarctic is like no other flying I have done. While the strategic airlift role is met by a multi-crew medium range aircraft, the in-theatre flying is more tactical, and conducted using the British Antarctic Survey’s fleet of 4 DHC-6-300 Twin Otters. Flying as single pilot was a return to delights long forgotten in my heavy airlifter and flight test experiences in the RAF, and flying in the breathtaking environment of the Antarctic, and landing on skis or on glacier ice runways are all experiences like no other. But it comes at a price: the Antarctic is an unforgiving mistress for the unwary aviator. Some days see the Twin Otters operating near their effective limits, the weather is unpredictable, the aircraft are heavy, and the days can be long. Moreover, in the Antarctic, we are not only pilots, but also planners, loaders, refuellers, campers, and diggers – digging out fuel depots that have become buried under the snow is a routine pastime for the Antarctic pilot. But the flying is as satisfying as it is challenging, and knowing that what we are doing each day is contributing directly to our understanding of our planet and of humankind’s influence on it brings its own very special feeling of contribution to the greater good.
What would you say to anyone considering a career in aviation?
Aviation is not just a job, it’s a way of life. But it is the best job in the world, and a fantastic way of life. There have been times when I’ve been having so much fun, even in my most stressful and demanding roles, that I would have continued to have done it even if I’d stopped being paid for it. How many people can say that or their job? If you want to explore new boundaries, find out about yourself, work as a team with others, and have the experiences of a lifetime that others can only dream about, then aviation is for you. I wouldn’t have done anything different in all the years I’ve been in aviation, except that I regret never quite crossing the boundary between air and space, and becoming an astronaut.