16 May 2014
Employees from across NATS, the UK based air traffic management company, were among those honoured by the Royal Aero Club as part of their annual awards.
Club President, The Duke of York, presented awards to those in the aviation industry who have challenged and redefined the “art of the impossible”.
Richard Deakin, NATS Chief Executive, alongside Paul Winstanley and Chris Edwards from the air traffic control branch of the trade union Prospect, received the Certificate of Appreciation having been nominated by Aerobility, the charity that helps disabled people learn to fly. Since 2011, NATS employees have raised a total of £180,000 for the Blackbushe based charity, including donating a specially modified Tecnam aircraft.
On receiving the award, Richard said, “This is recognition of the enormous effort that people from across NATS have made to support Aerobility. The charity does amazing work that genuinely helps change people’s lives and challenge perceptions around disability.”
The NATS team jointly behind the hugely successful Airbox Aware, which helps pilots avoid infringing controlled airspace, was also recognised having been nominated by the Light Aircraft Association. Jonathan Smith, Kathy McColl and Mark Watson collected the Certificate of Merit.
Nine individual members of the Light Aircraft Association were also honoured at the annual presentation.
This year’s LAA Royal Aero Club Award recipients (pictured) were:
Mark Albery, Stan Dauncey, David and Susan Dunn, Stewart Jackson, Robin Morton, Arthur W J G Ord-Hume, Barry Plumb and Ian Rickard.
Also receiving achievement awards were school students Naomi Green and Nathan Burroughs for their work on an LAA Youth Education Build-a-Plane project which is one of eight aircraft being built by students around the UK.
