Earlier today, Harry Clarke, 12, who lives on St Mary’s, got the chance to do something many would dream of – to travel beside the pilot in the cockpit of a plane.
Having been a big fan of planes, from owning his own flight simulator in his bedroom to living right under St Mary’s Airport, Harry dreams of becoming a pilot. He wishes to first become a military pilot before becoming one of our very own Skybus pilots.
This love for planes, pilots, and flying led to him writing a letter in 2020 to the Isles of Scilly Steamship Group asking if he could see in real life the cockpit of a Skybus plane and meet the pilot, wishing to experience the behind-the-scenes of flying a plane. We are thrilled to have been able to be a part of making this happen.
Harry flew into Land’s End this morning in a freighter (the Britten-Norman BN-2 Islander), in the cockpit of the plane beside Chief Pilot Ben Woodward. As he disembarked off the plane he grinned, sharing “that was so much fun!”
Harry with his dad outside the freighter
The freighter was then filled with post and parcels ready to be taken to the Isles of Scilly, and Harry and his Dad Dale were given a private tour of Land’s End Airport by Skybus Operations Manager, Cath Rapsey. The tour featured everything from meeting the Land’s End Airport team to visiting Air Traffic Control.
At the end of their tour, Harry’s dad Dale said: “This has been a dream of Harry’s for such a long time, when we get home, he won’t stop talking about it. Thank you so much – it has been amazing to see all the behind-the-scenes of everything that goes on and all the work that happens here.”