Airline pilot swaps cockpit career for funeral business
A DERBYSHIRE pilot has swapped his job flying commercial aircraft to become a funeral director.
William Barron, from Ilkeston, had been piloting long-haul flights for Virgin Atlantic when he was made redundant earlier this year because of the coronavirus pandemic.
It was the third time he had lost his job as a pilot in three years, after his previous employers Monarch Airlines and WOW air went bust, leaving the 40-year-old pondering his future.
Now William, along with a fellow pilot, has set up a funeral home in an effort to forge a new career away from the skies.
With his business partner Christopher Hudson, the two have set up Bespoke Funeral Care in Ilkeston.
It is the last thing William would have expected to do at the start of the year, but he says he was left with few other options.
“My last flight was from Johannesburg to Heathrow, and then I was furloughed in March along with 700 other pilots,” he said.
“It was okay at first, we were getting almost fully paid and we thought it would be over in four weeks. But then April turned into May, and I was notified I was at risk of being made redundant. It was based on length of service and other factors and the day after the 45-day consultation they said id I’d be made redundant.”
William says he would have tried to get another job as a pilot, but it simply was not possible.
“Virgin are a fantastic employer, it’s just the industry has been badly affected – long haul-routes have been decimated,” he said.
“Unlike the previous two times I lost my job, the entire industry has been affected. There’s no second option. I realised there were not going to be any more jobs obs as pilots any- where.
“There I was at the age of 39 having to seriously think about a complete change of career.”
So William am decided to fall back on the only thing g he had any experience in that was not aviation-related – funeral care.
“There wasn’t much opportunity to do a new degree,” he said.
“I used to be a pallbearer in Ireland when I was young and I enjoy giving people empathy and being there in their hour of need.
“Being made redundant was the push I needed to take that jump – all things being normal I wouldn’t be a funeral director.”
Since June William and Christopher have been directing funerals with the help of a dedicated team who are able bl td to do some of f th the tasks they cannot.
“We’re employing two very experienced ladies who have worked at the Co-op Funeral Care,” William said. “I wanted to do the embalming myself but the course to learn how to do it has been suspended because of coronavirus.
“So we have these ladies coming in, helping with that.
“We’ve made a huge investment with a mortuary that can hol hold the deceased, leasi leasing the hearses, and we have so many wonderful suppliers for things such as flowers and c coffins.”
William says on one of the most im important things sb s being able to make s sure everything runs smoo smoothly.
“The challenge is getting people to trust us,” he said. “You’ve got to manage everything on the day – from the music they want to the cars and the flowers.
“You’ve got to give empathy and allow for their grief and help them with their difficult decisions – you never expect to have to organise a funeral. If the hearse breaks down there must be a backup, if the flowers don’t arrive you can’t just say they aren’t there. You cannot afford to get something wrong, and it’s the same in aviation.”
I used to be a pallbearer in Ireland when I was young and I enjoy giving people empathy and being there in their hour of need. William Barron