29 Nov 2023
A Stirlingshire teenager has taken his dream of becoming a pilot to new heights thanks to a week of work experience with Scotland’s airline, Loganair.
Plane spotter and aviation enthusiast, Rory Mackinlay, enjoyed a dream day of flying with the airline this weekend after completing work experience at Loganair’s Glasgow Hanger earlier this summer.
The 14-year-old, from the outskirts of Stirling, spent five days with Loganair where he shadowed an apprentice engineer working on an ATR aircraft and helped change a wheel strut on one of the Saab aircraft before it retired from the network.
Rory has been obsessed with aviation since he was three years old and has even created his own dedicated aviation Instagram and YouTube accounts as his passion for the industry has developed. He has a particular interest in Loganair’s Saab 340 aircraft as it regularly flew over his home on route to the Islands, and he’s always dreamt of being a passenger onboard.
Loganair is in the process of retiring its remaining Saab aircraft as it welcomes more ATR next-generation turboprops into service but, as a reward for Rory’s hard work, the airline arranged for him to experience a flight on one of the last remaining Saabs in the airline’s fleet.
Rory said: “This was a dream come true. I’ve been watching planes fly over the village for as long as I can remember so to have the chance to work with the engineers on the Saab and ATR and then take a flight onboard was fantastic.
“When I leave school, my dream is to be a pilot or an aircraft engineer, but one way or another I’ll work in aviation. Loganair has been so friendly, I can’t thank them enough for this amazing experience.”
Steven Reid, Engineering Maintenance Manager at Loganair, added: “It was great to welcome Rory as part of our team during work experience and learn about his ambitions to work in the industry. We were so impressed with his work ethic, his knowledge of our fleet, and the wider aviation industry in general. It’s always great to meet others with a shared enthusiasm for aviation and we can’t wait to see what he ends up doing in the future.”
Picture: Aviation enthusiast Rory Mackinlay in the flight deck with Loganair Captain Nigel Pybus
