Saturday, January 31, 2009

Iain Young

Iain Young,Chief test pilot Marshall Aerospace
First flight of the TP400 Powwer plant on the Lockheed C-130K Test bed, flown by Iain Young and Mark Robinson.

The TP400 power-plant developed for the A400M by EuroProp International (EPI) took to the air for the first time on 17th December 2008 on the Lockheed C-130K flight test-bed. The TP400 is installed on the inner left engine mount of the C-130K which is otherwise powered by three of the usually four Allison T56 turbopropellers. The aircraft took off at 10h44 local time from Cambridge airfield (UK) where Marshall Aerospace, which is conducting the flight test-bed trials, is based, and touched down at 11 h59 local time. The flight lasted one hour and 15 minutes.

Iain Young graduated with a degree in electronics in 1968 and joined the Royal Air Force in 1972. He trained as a test pilot in 1981 at the Empire Test Pilots’ School,Boscombe Down where he subsequently served as Principal Tutor. He retired from the RAF in 1989 to join Pilatus Britten-Norman (PBN), manufacturers of the Islander series of aircraft, as Head of Flight Operations. Following a period as an Inspector of Air Accidents with the UK Air Accident Investigation Branch, he joined Marshall Aerospace as a test pilot and was appointed Chief Test Pilot in August 1999. He holds full civil and military test flying approvals but also has a keen interest in Light Aviation and is a Flight Instructorand Examiner. Iain is Managing Director of Marshall Executive Aviation, former Chair of the Royal Aeronautical Society Flight Test Group committee, Chair of the Society of British Aerospace Companies (SBAC) Flight Operations Committee, and member of the Farnborough International Airshow Flying Control Committee.