{"id":26,"date":"2019-01-07T22:48:06","date_gmt":"2019-01-07T22:48:06","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/katamarino.co.uk\/?page_id=26"},"modified":"2026-06-01T11:17:47","modified_gmt":"2026-06-01T11:17:47","slug":"about-the-pilot","status":"publish","type":"page","link":"https:\/\/katamarino.co.uk\/index.php\/about-the-pilot\/","title":{"rendered":"Pilot"},"content":{"rendered":"\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\"> I first started flying in 2005. Finding myself with a few months free from University, I went to European Flight Training in Fort Pierce, Florida, for a 6 week Private Pilot course. Returning to the UK, I spent two years flying with the Cambridge University Air Squadron (as well as the flying club based at the same airfield, RAF Wyton), and also a motor glider at a local gliding club. Leaving University I decided to try out some more adventurous flying, and the&nbsp;USA &#8211; Coast to Coast trip was born. <\/p>\n\n\n<div class=\"wp-block-image\">\n<figure class=\"aligncenter\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" width=\"1920\" height=\"1440\" src=\"https:\/\/katamarino.co.uk\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/08\/2019-07-21-11.09.38.jpg\" alt=\"Over southern Thailand in 2019\" class=\"wp-image-9361\" srcset=\"https:\/\/katamarino.co.uk\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/08\/2019-07-21-11.09.38.jpg 1920w, https:\/\/katamarino.co.uk\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/08\/2019-07-21-11.09.38-1024x768.jpg 1024w, https:\/\/katamarino.co.uk\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/08\/2019-07-21-11.09.38-768x576.jpg 768w, https:\/\/katamarino.co.uk\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/08\/2019-07-21-11.09.38-360x270.jpg 360w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 1920px) 100vw, 1920px\" \/><figcaption class=\"wp-element-caption\">Over southern Thailand in 2019<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n<\/div>\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">USA &#8211; Coast to Coast proved that this kind of trip was entirely achievable, as well as great fun, and this quickly led on to&nbsp;further trips across the USA, Europe, Africa and ultimately a full circumnavigation of the globe.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">Since qualifying for my PPL I have added commercial and instrument ratings and amassed more than 3,800 flight hours across 80+ countries and more than 1,800 airports, all privately or for charities such as Angel Flight, and Flight for Every Mother.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">The map below shows every airport I have been lucky enough to fly myself to (blue icons) as well as land and camp overnight at (orange icons) in my flying career.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<figure><iframe loading=\"lazy\" src=\"https:\/\/www.google.com\/maps\/d\/embed?mid=1ylHdxqdIg08bwZRDKNDgwo5ZqZ8\" width=\"1280\" height=\"550\"><\/iframe><\/figure>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>I first started flying in 2005. Finding myself with a few months free from University, I went to European Flight Training in Fort Pierce, Florida, for a 6 week Private Pilot course. Returning to the UK, I spent two years flying with the Cambridge University Air Squadron (as well as the flying club based at the same airfield, RAF Wyton), and also a motor glider at a local gliding club. Leaving University I decided to try out some more adventurous&#8230;<\/p>\n<p class=\"read-more\"><a class=\"btn btn-default\" href=\"https:\/\/katamarino.co.uk\/index.php\/about-the-pilot\/\"> Read More<span class=\"screen-reader-text\">  Read More<\/span><\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"parent":0,"menu_order":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","template":"","meta":{"footnotes":""},"class_list":["post-26","page","type-page","status-publish","hentry"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/katamarino.co.uk\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/pages\/26","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/katamarino.co.uk\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/pages"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/katamarino.co.uk\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/page"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/katamarino.co.uk\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/katamarino.co.uk\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=26"}],"version-history":[{"count":30,"href":"https:\/\/katamarino.co.uk\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/pages\/26\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":28555,"href":"https:\/\/katamarino.co.uk\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/pages\/26\/revisions\/28555"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/katamarino.co.uk\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=26"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}