Motorglide - CAA / EASA Flight Instructors

CAA/EASA Flight Instructors

All our flight instructors have many years of flight experience and are fully qualified instructors, approved by the CAA/EASA and the BGA.

Unlike some training organisations, our instructors are not here with low hours waiting for an airline job; all our instructors have thousands of hours on gliders, motorgliders and light aircraft.

Head of Training – Lee Ingram

EASA commercial pilot, Multi-IR
EASA/CAA Flight Examiner for SEP, TMG, Microlight
EASA/CAA Flight Instructor for TMG & SLMG
EASA Ground Examiner
BGA Flight Instructor, Examiner and Instructor Examiner
Aerotow Tug Instructor
4,000+ flying hours

Lee started gliding at the tender age of 17, becoming a flying instructor by the age of 19, and going on to gain his Private and then Commercial Pilot’s Licence. Flying is Lee’s biggest passion in life and there isn’t much he hasn’t flown. In a previous life, Lee was a TV director and worked with Roland Rat and Sooty and Sweep. One of the best flight experiences he’s ever had was flying his Duo Discus glider up to 16,000ft.

Chief Flying Instructor – Andy Sayers

EASA ATPL
EASA Flying Instructor for TMG & SEP

Andy first flew solo on his 16th birthday. His hobby changed into his profession after serving in Military Intelligence and the Black Watch. Having worked as a full-time civilian flying instructor teaching airline and military pilots, he went on to pursue an airline career, starting with small airliners and the fixed wing Air Ambulance across the Highlands and Islands of Scotland (he still gives talks about the Scottish Air Ambulance). He has an ATPL, and is a Fellow of the Royal Institute of Navigation and a Member of the Royal Aeronautical Society. Along with astronaut Buzz Aldrin and the team at Aerobility, he holds the Guinness World Record for the longest continuous flight simulator session: nine days and twenty minutes, covering 22,500 miles around the world in a PA28.

Flight Instructor – Dan Griffiths

Flight Instructor
Night Rating
Aerobatics
Instrument Rating (Restricted)
Formation Flying
1,000+ flying hours

During his time working in medicine for the RAF, Dan was lucky enough to get a scholarship to train on a Hawk – the same jet used by the Red Arrows. Having been part of a Jet Provost formation team flying airshows across the UK, he’s now passing his flying knowledge on to both TMG and SEP students. His most memorable flying moment was his first flight in a Hawk, and he says that at 420kts, his brain never caught up with him after leaving the threshold!

Flight Instructor/Examiner – Matt Lane

Chartered Aeronautical Engineer
EASA CPL
Flying Instructor
Flight Examiner for PPL, IR(R), SEP, tailwheel, aerobatic and all motorglider ratings

At work, Matt specialises in the management of maintenance and airworthiness in the military Air Transport and Air-to-Air Refuelling environment.

Like many, he started his flying career on Air Cadet Chipmunks and has now progressed to instructing and examining. Matt has extensive experience of managing flying training operations around the UK, and sits on the UK AOPA National Instructor Policy committee. He also instructs and examines for the Air Cadet Organisation and holds an RAF Central Flying School ‘A2*’ instructional category. Matt has also been fortunate enough to fly the Hawk and Tucano aircraft for an all too brief few sorties!

Flight Instructor – Jonathan May

Jonathan started gliding in 1985 at Bicester and now has over 2000 hrs and 4800 launches ranging from solo, instructing, flying comps and on expeditions to mountains in England and Europe. He is a cross country coach and has instructed at many Junior Nationals. Over the years he has had shares in various gliders from an LS4 to Nimbus 3 DT.

He added a PPL in 1995 and started instructing in motorgliders. He later had a share in a Robin DR400 and started aerotowing and touring in Europe to gain experience to support becoming an FI (SLMG), and in 2011 added a CRI rating to instruct in SEP, TMG and Microlights. In 2014 Jonathan took delivery of an Ikarus C42 microlight that is used for aerotowing and instructing microlight conversion as well as having fun with its short field performance.

Flight Instructor – Ian Atherton

EASA & UK ATPL
EASA & UK Class Rating Instructor SEP & TMG
FI SLMG Rating
BGA Full Rated Instructor + BGA SLMGIR
Aerotow Tug Pilot Instructor
Tailwheel Instructor
10,000+ Flying hours

In his day job, Ian is an airline captain flying for a short-haul airline. He started flying gliders at 18 whilst a student and learned to fly powered aircraft soon after graduating. He progressed to become a BGA Full Rated Instructor and Tug Pilot, and over the years Ian has held a number of gliding club posts, including both CFI and Tug Master. He has worked as a professional gliding instructor and built hours towing gliders towards gaining his commercial licence. Ian has a wealth of experience flying a wide variety of aircraft. Aside from gliding, Ian has a passion for vintage aircraft and has been fortunate to have flown a number of classic tail-dragger types. He also enjoys flying aerobatics in his Fournier RF-4D motorglider. Recently Ian had fun completing a floatplane course in Florida, during which a particular highlight was flying around the lakes at treetop height spotting alligators!

Flight Instructor – Mike Rogers

EASA Flight Instructor for gliders
BGA Motorglider Instructor

Mike studied Aerospace Engineering at Bristol University and now works as an avionics engineer designing the latest in-cockpit displays. Mike started to learn to fly at the Long Mynd Gliding Club before he could even drive.

Now he has over ten years of flight experience and can regularly be seen soaring gliders in Shropshire and flying motorgliders here in Warwickshire. One of his best flying experiences was flying in the Spanish Pyrenees for a week, with breathtaking scenery and phenomenal gliding conditions!

Introductory Flight Pilot – Nigel Clarke

LAPL – TMG & SEP
BGA Introductory Flight Pilot

Nigel got the flying bug aged 14 following a winch launch glider flight from Long Marston, later joining 492 Squadron of the Air Cadets. He started flying gliders in 2005 and he’s been airborne ever since.

Nigel’s most memorable flight to date was spread over three days, flying our Dimona G-WENN back from Austria with CFI Lee. His favourite memories of the flight include seeing the Blue Danube below leading them on into Germany, flying through the landscape as though a Dam Buster, then heading north-west via Munich into Belgium. The flight was punctuated by friendly, picturesque airfield stops en route. Nigel says that the Channel crossing was a particular highlight; the familiar welcoming white cliffs of Dover are one amazing sight from 3,000 feet!

Introductory Flight Pilot – Nigel Clarke

Operations Team Member - Ashleigh Duggan

Ashleigh looks after MotorGlide’s day to day events and is responsible for communications with members, aircraft maintenance, refuelling and office admin. Ashleigh is a freelance swim instructor and airfield maintenance assistant who started flying at the at the age of 16 in gliders.

Ashleigh is currently training for her PPL(A) SEP/TMG training with MotorGlide.

Introductory Flight Pilot – Nathan Jones

EASA PPL – SEP/SLMG/TMG
Qualified Gliding Instructor
MAA Gliding Authorisers Course

Nathan’s passion for flying begun aged 13 after his first ever flight in a conventional glider. This paved the way to completing a gliding scholarship and later on learning to fly powered aircraft. When the timing was right, he jumped at the chance to complete a Gliding Instructor course because he always wanted to help inspire the next generation of pilots. He’s now been instructing for nearly 10 years. He has many memorable flying moments and all for different reasons, but the one which stands out was flying a formation sortie in a T38 with the USAF over Texas and having his first ever bird strike!