About me

My name is Mike.
I spent ten years in the RAF — from 1980 to 1990 — and then another thirty in air traffic control, retiring in 2020. That’s four decades at the sharp end of aviation, in one form or another.
I’ve been lucky enough to see things most people never get close to. Some of it was extraordinary. Some of it was mundane in the way that only people who’ve actually done the job would understand. All of it stayed with me.
This site is where I’m putting it down. Properly. While it’s still clear.

Why Now?

Retirement has a way of giving you time to think. And thinking has a way of making you realise how much is still sitting in your own head, unrecorded.
In 2025 I was diagnosed with advanced prostate cancer. That changes your relationship with time. It doesn’t frighten me — not exactly — but it does focus the mind. There are stories here that deserve to outlast me, and I intend to make sure they do.
So I write. A few times a week, when I’m up to it. No exaggeration, no dressing things up. Just how it was.

What You’ll Find Here

Stories from the RAF. Stories from thirty years in ATC. The people who made it memorable. The moments — funny, strange, sometimes difficult — that never quite left me.
And occasionally, something about life now. Because the world doesn’t stop when you retire, and I’ve never been one to pretend otherwise.

If you’d like to follow along, there’s an email sign-up below. New stories land a few times a month. No spam — just the next chapter.