Page 14 - Cadet Review Spring 2021

Joint Service News
FROM AIR CADET
TO TORNADO PILOT
An exclusive interview with Flight Lieutenant (Retd) Mandy Hickson
Towards the end of last year, the Editor was looking for a book to read and chanced upon a title which intrigued him. Having studied the relevant notes and reviews the book was downloaded and read. If I were to mention that it took less than 48 hours to read you might gain an insight as to how interesting and gripping the story was. However, if you wish to know more, apart from the information below then you too will have to buy the book!
Having read the book my first thought was “If I can ask Mandy to write me a story for the Cadet Review it might just give another cadet the encouragement to try a similar endeavour”. Thus, believing that nothing ventured, nothing gained, I dropped Mandy a note and asked if she would be kind enough to help, so read on...
WHY DID YOU DECIDE TO BE A MILITARY PILOT?
I had my first flying lesson for my 13th birthday and I fell in love with flying then.
I joined the Air Training Corps so had the opportunity to take air experience flights from age 14. I was then awarded a flying scholarship which at the time granted me 30 hrs of flying tuition, from there
I gained my Private Pilot’s Licence (PPL). I love the freedom that it gave me, it felt like I was dancing with the clouds. It’s an incredibly challenging career, with no two flights being the same, and that’s what I loved.
WHY DID YOU WISH TO JOIN THE
ROYAL AIR FORCE?
My Grandpa was a pilot in WWII, and I grew up hearing his stories of flying, so the RAF was always a backdrop, it had started to flow through my veins at a young age. I enjoyed the ATC but was almost put off a career in the RAF by a few overpowering person- alities on my squadron. Once I joined the University Air Squadron, when I was at the University of Birmingham, I was sold! I absolutely loved everything about it, from the flying to the camaraderie and the leadership opportunities. That was the point at which I set my sights on flying fast-jets in the RAF.
WERE THERE ANY STEREOTYPES THAT YOU WERE A GIRL AND YOU SHOULDN'T DO IT?
I joined as the second female Tornado GR4 pilot, so there were bound to be people that believed that this was a job for a man, but whenever there is change, there will always be people that resist it; it was my job to prove them wrong!
WHAT WAS THE MOST TERRIFYING THING ABOUT YOUR MISSIONS/ AND THE MOST INTERESTING THING?
Once, on a low level flight in the Tornado GR4, I had a bird strike, where 3 large birds damaged the front of the aircraft and my left engine. We performed
an emergency landing under a “Mayday” call at Prestwick airport in Scotland. We made a jumbo jet go around as we were made a priority to land. It was
Once I joined the University Air Squadron, when I
was at the University of Birmingham, I was sold!
14 CADET REVIEW SPRING 2021