Trainee pilots on course after 100-hour tour across country

Two trainee fliers studying to become qualified airline pilots have completed an impressive cross-country trip as part of their qualifications.

Mairi Lewis and Scott Cruickshank are working towards their pilot’s licence degrees at the Dundee-based flight school Tayside Aviation.

The pair, who are both aged 21 and nearing the end of their studies, completed a 100-hour air-time trip across the UK.

Mairi said: “Hopping from one airport and B&B to the next and experiencing each city in between, we were definitely living the aviators’ dream.

“Ticking off a number of destinations on the way, from Blackpool to Newquay, we made it to the end of the road, so to speak, Land’s End.

“It was completely surreal and even to this day hard to believe.”

The BSc (Hons) Professional Aviation Pilot Practice programme is the first of its kind to be taught in Scotland and is run in partnership with Middlesex University and the Aviation Skills Partnership.

There are 30 students enrolled in the flight school, with the first set of graduates gearing up to graduate in autumn 2018.

Jim Watt, managing director of Tayside Aviation, said: “Typically, the degree students will travel 400 nautical miles to qualify.”

The degree pathway is designed to encourage students into the highly competitive aviation industry, as well as encouraging more female pilots.

Currently, only 10% of the UK’s commercial airline pilots are female.

Tayside Aviation hold regular open days for potential degree candidates.