Sebastian Robert John Pooley - Membership Secretary & Treasurer

Sebastian was born on May 3rd, 1979 and educated at Shrewsbury School before going on to study a BA(Hons) in Business and Operations Management at university in Oxford.

At Oxford, he joined the Oxford University Air Squadron and trained on the Bulldog. Sebastian achieved his first solo at RAF Leeming in the summer of 1999 and that same year enjoyed a short vacation attachment with 216 Squadron at RAF Brize Norton during which he joined them on an amazing flight to Ascension Island in the South Atlantic.

Sebastian had his first flying lesson with Lancashire Aero Club based at Barton Aerodrome at the age of 6 – “I had to sit on a number of cushions and couldn’t reach the pedals but I loved the whole experience,” he recalls. He achieved his PPL(A) in November 2005 at Elstree Aerodrome and continues to fly Cessna 172s. His current project is a ballooning licence which he hopes to complete in the Spring of 2009.

Sebastian left university and joined his renowned family company, Pooleys Flight Equipment, taking over from his father Robert to become Managing Director. He is responsible for running the company and bringing new and innovative products to the aviation market both here in the UK and across the world. Amongst their most well known products is the Pooleys Flight Guide, an invaluable source of information and trusted by pilots for four decades.

Sebastian is a founding member of the GYM, a freeman of GAPAN, a member of the Royal Institute of Navigation and a Liveryman of the Company of Stationers’ and Newspaper Makers.

We asked Sebastian about his most memorable flight to-date...... “It has to be my first solo at Leeming,” he says. “I was asked to move into the short circuit and hold whilst three Tornado jets joined the main circuit around me, I then landed after them and taxied in amongst them – just a great experience.”