On first getting airborne at age 14 in a Tiger Moth from a local farm strip, Tony switched from models to full-scale aviation. School was followed by 6 years at the Royal Aircraft Establishment, Farnborough and the RAF Institute of Aviation Medicine, specialising in instrumentation and homosapiens’ limitations. A sojourn in higher education led to research and a Doctorate in (nanometric) measurement and control and his career thereafter embraced posts at Reading, Surrey and Cranfield Universities in Mechanical/Manufacturing Engineering with sabbaticals in USA and Brazil.
Having commenced gliding at Farnborough, he is one of a select few who soloed and learnt pilotage skills in its hallowed air. With 4000hrs logged, mostly powerless, on ~120 types (of which ~70 had no second seat), type-conversion assessment issues are particular interests, including effects of scale, span, human performance limitations and pre/post stall handling.
He holds the Gliding Gold Cert., a Full Category Instructor Rating, is Safety Officer for an RAFGSA Club and a BGA Regional Safety Officer. He has served on the BGA Safety Committee, represents it on the GASCo Council, advises Brunel U Flight Safety Lab and is a member of Royal Aeronautical Society GA Committee.
Academic interests continue in astro-instrumentation as a Senior Research Associate in the Dept of Physics and Astronomy, University College London.