Tom Porteous elected SETP Fellow


Tom Porteous elected SETP Fellow

Former BMAA Head of Flight Testing Tom Porteous has been elected as a Fellow of the Society of Experimental Test Pilots.

Tom began flying in 1954, graduating in 1959 as an RAF pilot and there followed a career including Hunters, Chipmunks and Piston Provosts before migrating to helicopters, developing and implementing safety programmes for, among others, British Airways. 

Tom then made use of his extraordinary skills for the benefit of microlighting, including acting as chief test pilot for Thruster Air Services, Reality Aircraft, the Dynamic and also the BMAA. 

As a Fellow of the Society, Tom sits alongside several other fast jet pilots as well as two Space Shuttle test pilots, one of whom commanded Challenger and made the first Shuttle night landing. 

(Tom also test-flew BMAA CEO Rob Hughes’ Escapade and the video can be found at https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=F7w5Z5P6zqM)

We warmly congratulate Tom on this honour and take this opportunity to thank him for his service to British Microlighting.