Salisbury Rotary Club > Uncategorized > Ten lives

Ten lives

Councillor Chris Taylor with Salisbury Rotary President Alan Corkhill

FROM NAVAL AVIATOR TO TEST PILOT – A STORY OF TEN LIVES, FOUR COLLISIONS and a DITCHING

 

This was the title of Salisbury City and Wiltshire Councillor, Chris Taylor’s topic as guest speaker at Salisbury Rotary Club.

 

And, what a story it was – with Chris ending his talk by saying that he was still the most qualified Test pilot in Europe, having flown over 420 different types of planes and helicopters etc., and was still busy test flying.

It really was a story to tell of narrow escapes and escapades. And it all started with Chris , from an early age, always wanting to be a test pilot. He got his pilot’s licence at the age of 17, before later joining the Royal Navy while studying for a degree in electrical engineering.After serving as a navigation officer he went on to fly Wasp and Lynx helicopters and, was appointed to the ‘Empire Test Pilots’ School’ at Boscombe Down in 1994 to train to become a test pilot. Having served at Boscombe Down for ten years he joined the UK Civil Aviation Authority (CAA) as an aeroplane and rotorcraft test pilot. And subsequently, Chris worked for the UK Civil Aviation Authority for 10 years before setting up his own company offering test pilot flying services worldwide.

Chris added that he had ‘suffered numerous close shaves in that time’, including experiencing engine failure in a Hawk Jet and a Basset aeroplane and managing to crash a Westland Scout helicopter into the sea, after the engine died.  

He was also ‘kidnapped’  by a French trawler after a collision, whilst protecting the UK fishing zones; survived another crash in the Baltic with a German frigate in thick fog; and a collision with a Chinese gunboat off Hong Kong.

Chris was quite matter of fact about all these incidents  – having experienced plenty of engine failures and other problems.  The first aircraft he flew was a Cessna 150 while he admits his favourite was the “iconic” Sea Fury.  

On what it’s like to be a test pilot he explained: “We are trying to do very dangerous things, but in a very safe fashion. We are trying to achieve what we have to do, which is to test these aircraft to their extremes, and not come a cropper along the way.”

Being a test pilot, he says, is a “great privilege” and that “once it is in the bloodstream it is hard to shake it off”. And he is still busy Test flying aircraft today.

This really was a fascinating talk, with video clips, photos and so many tales to tell.

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