FLYING RUNS
IN THE FAMILY.

Photo: @harryahop_photography

Simon Wilson / Popham, September 2026

Simon Wilson

Simon first flew with his father aged six, went solo at 17—the legal minimum age at the time—and gained his pilot’s licence that same year. His father, an experienced microlight instructor, taught him and sent him solo in a Thruster T300, beginning an affection for the aircraft that continues today.

He grew up flying from farm strips in Northern Ireland, often less than 300 metres long, with approaches constrained by trees, high hedges and steep slopes. These small, rarely level fields were where he developed his short-field flying skills. The tailwheel Thruster demanded accurate handling and rewarded a pilot who learned its ways.

A career in naval aviation

Simon served in the Royal Navy’s Fleet Air Arm between 2002 and 2022, including his final four years as a reservist Wildcat instructor. In 2010, he was the Royal Navy’s Lynx Solo Display Pilot with 815 Naval Air Squadron.

He joined the Royal Navy Historic Flight in 2010, flew the Fairey Swordfish from 2011 to 2017, and served as its Lead Display Pilot from 2013 to 2017. Today, he also flies the Lynx and Sea King with Historic Helicopters.

A breadth of flying experience

Across more than 5,000 flying hours, Simon has flown over 150 aircraft types, spanning microlights, light aircraft, helicopters, warbirds and fast jets. His display experience includes the Piston Provost, Harvard, Stearman, Zlin 526F, Yak-50 and Yak-52.

Alongside his professional work instructing on the Super Lynx and AW159 Wildcat, he is a Light Aircraft Association coach and a fixed-wing instructor specialising in tailwheel flying.

Across the generations

His maternal grandmother flew gliders in Wales in the 1960s. His father was the first person to fly a fixed-wing microlight across the Irish Sea in 1987, and the first to fly a flexwing microlight across Canada from west to east in 1996. In 1999, he flew a flexwing from the Gulf of Mexico in Florida’s panhandle to Prudhoe Bay, Alaska—the first flexwing microlight to land there at the time.

His wife, Lauren, is an airline pilot, a former women’s aerobatic champion and an established aerobatic display pilot. She also co-owns their two-seat Thruster T300.

Back to the Thruster

Despite the variety of aircraft he has flown, the Thruster remains one of Simon’s favourites. Watching US National STOL events on YouTube and backcountry flying channels inspired him to take that familiar aircraft into competition.

His Popham debut in September 2026 brought second in Fixed Wing Microlight and seventh overall. STOLWORX and Slingshot build on that experience, with a clear first goal: winning the STOL UK season championship in the Fixed Wing Microlight category.