Working in a warehouse was a blow... but I believe one day I’ll be flying again
FLYBE was in financial trouble months before the pandemic hit Britain. Covid proved the final nail in the coffin for the airline and Mr Jones was one of 2,000 staff laid off.
That was the depressing conclusion to a career which had begun 13 years earlier with his first flying lesson.
His journey into the cockpits of the air-line’s Bombardier Dash 8 Q400 fleet had taken nine years, including university and several jobs on the side to help finance his training. During that time, he obtained a private pilot’s licence and built up his hours in the sky to qualify for a com-mercial licence.
To keep his options open, he managed to get a flight instructor rating, too, and spent four years as a tutor before joining Flybe in 2017. Flying mainly domestic routes out of Edinburgh, he became one of the airline’s most highly regarded first officers and, by July last year, was expected to be promoted to captain. instead, that month found the Essex-born pilot working in the deliveries section of the Amazon ware-house in Dunfermline, Fife.
‘it was heartbreaking, really,’ said Mr Jones, who has been based in Bathgate, West Lothian, for the past four years.
‘years and years ago, when i was at university, i worked nights for royal Mail in a warehouse. To go back and work nights in a warehouse after all these years was a blow. Becoming a captain would have been really something for me. i’d have been really proud of myself.
‘But it was like i was about to get my hand on the ledge and just fell. it’s heart-breaking to have worked so hard and then just have it hauled away from below you.’
However, he was grateful for the oppor-tunity to work at all – as were many of his colleagues at Amazon, who had lost their jobs in other industries and found employ-ment with one of the few outfits which could turn a healthy profit in lockdown. Mr Jones remained at the firm until november, earn-ing enough money to revali-date his instruc-tor and his Dash 8 licences.
now he is con-templating yet another licence – one that allows him to drive heavy goods vehicles.
‘That’s an idea i’ve had over the last few weeks,’ he said. ‘i’m phoning around companies to see if there is legitimacy to this idea. i’ve heard they’re looking for HgV drivers. i’ll do whatever i can.’
He believes it could be another 18 months before his former industry begins to recover. But wherever his career change takes him in the meantime, he has little doubt he will fly again one day.
He said that because an airline would probably want him to do a refresher course, he is glad he became an instructor ‘because i can now at least go and fly small aircraft – and that’s something’.