WORLD PILOTS’ DAY – EX-STUDENT PIPPA RIDDELL’S INSPIRING STORY

Today (April 26th) marks World Pilots’ Day. This day recognises the many contributions of pilots who safely connect millions of passengers and tonnes of cargo around the world every year. The day was first marked in 2014 by the IFALPA – The International Federation of Air Line Pilots’ Associations. April 26th was chosen to celebrate the first flight of a young Turkish pilot, Fesa Evrensev, in 1912!

To raise awareness of World Pilots’ Day we are revisiting an article written by Jill Lundberg, Team Administrator for local charity Foundation Richmond, celebrating the achievements of ex-student and current helicopter pilot, Pippa Riddell. The article previously appeared as an ‘Inspiring Inclusivity’ piece to celebrate International Women’s Day, back in March.

Pippa is currently undergoing intensive training for her new role in Aberdeen, but we hope to catch up with her later on in the year for a more in-depth profile – watch this space!

Thank you to Jill for the article below: 

Today our spotlight is on Pippa Riddell, one of the UK’s youngest female commercial helicopter pilots in a sector where fewer than 5% of pilots are women.

Flying is in Pippa’s blood. Her grandpa was a commercial airline pilot, and 25-year-old Pippa considered several career options, including being an Observer in the Royal Navy, before embarking on her helicopter training.

To become a helicopter pilot demands a vast amount of studying, with exams on all aspects of flying including instrumentation, meteorology, air law and navigation. You must also fly at least 45 hours to first achieve a private pilot’s licence and then a further 140 hours to become a qualified commercial helicopter pilot. The costs are immense so to help fund her training, from January 2020 Pippa spent two years working two jobs as a waitress at the Station Café in Richmond and as a cleaner at Together Travel, to save as much money as possible. In January 2022, she made the decision to train full time and was delighted to qualify and gain her ‘flying wings’ at the end of 2023.

After getting her commercial licence she decided to undertake further training to obtain an Instrument Rating which equips you to fly in unexpected adverse weather conditions where visibility is very poor, navigate through turbulence, safely conduct precision approaches and landings and solely navigate using ground-based radio aids. Achieving this qualification opens more doors in the world of aviation for Pippa.  

Additional training for these licences, on top of the initial 185 hours, included multiple hours of night flying, both with an instructor and solo, 50 hours of flying in a simulator and 20 hours in a twin turbine helicopter. The flying has taken her over many counties in England and Wales, over London and along the South Coast where she got to take her family and friends up in the air with her. Simultaneously whilst flying to build hours and hone competencies to pass her skills tests, she was required to pass a total of 22 exams which took months of studying, attend 2 ground schools for the different helicopters and spend many days flying.

Following her achievements she recently got a job offer working for an offshore company up in Aberdeen. Her job will include taking crew to and from rigs and boats, picking up injured or stranded persons which can one day open doors into Air Ambulance and Search and Rescue.

Pippa, an alumna of Richmond School and Sixth Form College, said: “I am so proud to have qualified as a commercial helicopter pilot. At times, when I was working pretty much every day of every week, it seemed almost out of reach, but it shows that if you really set your mind to something and focus on the end goal then so much can be achieved.  For anyone who feels their dream may never become a reality, then my advice would be to try their hardest to reach it, with determination and drive so much is possible.

“I hope that more women will consider career aspirations in the world of aviation, or in other professions that are often associated with male gender stereotypes. It can be daunting stepping into a male-dominated field, such as aviation, but little by little more women are succeeding and by encouraging more diversity and inclusivity it would be great to think that there is a greater representation of females.”