Background

Chris, a Fellow in the Society of Experimental Test Pilots (SETP) is now undoubtedly at the top of his Test Pilot profession having spent 10 years working for EASA and the UK CAA before becoming established as a succesful provider for 5 years of Cat 1 Flight Test services to the Aviation Industry.

Chris was born in Burnley in 1958; his father having served in WWII on numerous fighter squadrons had encouraged the idea of a career in aviation and through a scholarship with the Royal Navy he gained his Private Pilot’s Licence at the age of 17 at the now defunct flying school at Ipswich Airport.

He left school and gained a BSc in Electrical and Electronic Engineering at Aston University, Birmingham. During his first year of studies Chris joined the Royal Navy on a cadetship and completed much of his basic training during vacations. This included two detachments to Périgueux, France in the Grading Flight DHC Chipmunks based at Roborough, Plymouth. Following graduation and a further term at BRNC Dartmouth, Chris was specially selected to form part of the complement on HMS Monkton, a Hong Kong based Ton Class Patrol Boat.

A successful tour of duty which including rescuing hundreds of Chinese emigrants and recovering a damaged hovercraft from Chinese coastal waters led to a tour on HMS Newcastle cruising the Caribbean as the Belize Guard Ship. Further warfare training followed before Chris was appointed as the Gunnery Officer of an Island Class Fishery Protection Ship, HMS Alderney. Twelve months of policing the UK’s coastal waters included being kidnapped by French trawler men, along with gaining a Bridge Watch Keeping Certificate before navigating the trials ship HMS Londonderry on her final deployment.

Chris then completed his Royal Navy Flying Training using Chipmunks, Scottish Aviation Bulldogs and Aerospatiale Gazelles, being awarded "wings" in May 1983. As top of his class he was specially selected to fly the single pilot Westland Wasp HAS 1 completing his training at RNAS Portland which included ditching his aircraft during deck landing training following engine failure.

Now a member of the “Goldfish Club” he served as Flight Commander in HMS Plymouth, HMS Diomede and finally HMS Aurora before converting to the Westland Lynx HAS2 in 1996. Thereafter he became the Flight Commander of HMS Penelope and Squadron Aviation Officer for the 7^th Frigate Squadron. In 1988 he was selected to train as a Qualified Helicopter Instructor at RAF Shawbury which allowed him to return to 702 Naval Air Squadron, RNAS Portland as an A2 Instructor and display pilot on the Lynx. Following 2 years running the Simulator Training facility he was selected for test pilot training joining Boscombe Down in January 1994.

Chris completed test pilot training later that year graduating top of class and being awarded the coveted Westland Trophy. He then served for 2 years on the Experimental Flying Squadron supporting the research and development trials of RAE Bedford and Farnborough. There he became an expert in ship/helicopter dynamic interface testing and the use of low light TV/FLIR for piloting helicopters in all weathers. He flew Gazelle, Scout, Wessex, Sea King, Jaguar, Hunter, HS748 and BAC 1-11 aircraft before being appointed back to the Empire Test Pilots School as a tutor. Following a tour as Principal Rotary Wing Tutor he retired from the Royal Navy becoming Principal Tutor for Systems and Short Courses working for QinetiQ. After three successful years of providing bespoke flight test training packages to a wide variety of International students Chris left Boscombe Down to work as a test pilot for the UK Civil Aviation Authority.

Joining the CAA in 2004 Chris worked as an experimental test pilot initially responsible for fixed wing aircraft of all shapes and sizes from business jets down to single seat microlights. Within a year Chris was working for EASA under contract, subsequently taking on all types of rotorcraft from the biggest civil helicopters down to homebuilt autogyros. Chris completed 10 years as one of the 2 remaining test pilots being responsible to EASA for a number of key aircraft types including Sikorsky S92A, S76D, PZL SW4, S3A, Islander/Defender, and B200, B300 King Airs.

During his time in the CAA Chris was responsible for oversight of the continued airworthiness flight testing process, briefing hundreds of pilots in order to be able to conduct check flights on behalf of the CAA. He was also responsible for the CAFT testing of numerous military registered aircraft including AS350, AS365N3, Bell 212, Bell 412, AB139, Augusta 109E, King Air and Avenger.

In December of 2013 the new management within the CAA decided to dismantle the authority’s flight test capability and as a result Chris left to form his own company, Dovetail Aviation.

So far the company has proved to be very successful. Chris continued to "Line Fly" the MD902 and EC135 series helicopters for UK based Police and HEMS operators, and held the post of Fleet Captain and Line Training Captain for an EC135 operator. He continues to instruct on SEP and MEP aeroplanes and the Cabri G2, and B206 helicopters (recently providing training to AAIB Inspectors and CAA flight test experts). Holding Cat 1 Flight Test ratings for aeroplanes and helicopters he has been the contract/project test pilot for a number of major design changes and STCs on UK helicopters, flying numerous European registered aircraft on experimental permits. He has been a test pilot for the CAA and AAIB and assisted with the investigation into a number of recent accidents. As a Flight Test Instructor he has continued to provide flight test instruction both at home and abroad and works closely with the LAA to run an annual flight test course. When not in the cockpit he is a consultant for Leonardos(Agusta Westlands), the Norwegian Government, DE&S, the Gazelle, Puma and Chinook Project Teams and has provided support to ETPS, Boscombe Down to update the Test Pilot Course to be compliant with recent legislation. Overseas work has included testing a rescue A109SP over the Swiss Alps, testing of the P68R with the manufacturer in Italy and Austria, final validation tuning for the CAE S92A simulator in addition to flight testing a Light Sport Aircraft in South Africa and a Microlight(450Kg) helicopter in Italy. Chris remains a CVE for a UK Autogyro manufacturer and is Head of Flight Test and a Flight Test CVE for numerous Part 21 DOAs and aircraft manufacturers conducting both aeroplane and helicopter flight test for a wide variety of STCs. In September 2016 he was selected to be a Fellow of the Society of Experimental Test Pilots - there are less than a dozen Fellows resident in the UK. In 2018 he was appointed as Head of Flight Test for one of the last remaining UK aircraft manufacturers. In 2022 his first book 'Test Pilot' was published followed in 2023 by 'Experimental Test Pilot' and 'Naval Aviator'.