4 Dec 2025
We are pleased to welcome Gary Priestley as a new LAA Inspector, having attended an LAA Inspector Assessment Day at Turweston.
Gary started at BAe Filton as an Aeronautical Engineering Apprentice in 1978. His first day out of the training bay was spent working on the test and development Concorde 002. During his apprenticeship he worked on the VC10's air-to-air refuelling conversion and on test and development for Airbus on the fly-by-wire BAC 1-11.
After his apprenticeship he became an Inspector on the F1-11s, with his main role involving pre- and post-inspection of the Cold Soak, where the aircraft were frozen and bent to re-life them.
He transferred to Warton for the Al-Yamama project, working on Tornado ADVs and IDS aircraft in Saudi Arabia.
Gary returned in 1990 and was recruited as a technical instructor at British Aerospace Filton, teaching the following:
Concorde pilots and flight engineers, utilising the simulator to help them pass their ground school type rating.
Aircraft fitters working toward their B2 and B1 licences, as well as type courses on the A300 B4 and A300-600, where the aircraft were being converted to freighters.
The BAC 1-11 refresher course for the Sultan of Oman Air Force pilots.
Type rating for British Airways Concorde engineers at Heathrow.
Apprentices studying for their City and Guilds.
Night-school City and Guilds for non-skilled fitters.
While carrying out this training, he repaired a Robin HR 200 with the help of the apprentices and studied for his Commercial and subsequently his Airline Transport Pilot’s Licence.
Gary left BAe in 1999 to fly the BAe 146 for CityJet in Dublin, before being asked, through CityJet, if he would like to transfer to British Midland to fly the BAe 146 for Lufthansa. A few years later he was made redundant, gained his Helicopter Commercial Pilot’s Licence, but was then asked to join Flightline on the BAe 146, flying oil-rig workers from Aberdeen to Scatsta and later working out of Manchester for British Airways.
An opportunity arose to fly with Titan Airways in Stansted, flying ad-hoc standby for British Airways, easyJet, and others. Several years later he completed a type-rating course on the Boeing 737 to fly from Exeter. He took voluntary redundancy in 2013.
By chance, after buying a prestigious car from someone who owned an aircraft at Middlezoy, Gary made the connection that brought him into affiliation with Middlezoy Aerodrome, where he now has a share in Louis, the Taylorcraft type D, and is 50% owner of the Isaac Fury.