Alan Kilbride

28.10.55 – 14.11.21

Alan Kilbride tragically perished in a flying accident in November 2021, aged 66. He was well known among the LAA and further afield. He turned to powered flying after having previous hobbies including grass track racing, gliding and sailing.

He was a natural organiser with an instinct to pull people together in a common cause. While Alan was passionate about flying, he also gained enormous satisfaction from seeing other pilots develop their skills and expand their aviation horizons. In everything he did, he made flying a fun experience for everyone involved.

He was encouraged by the LAA to become a Pilot Coach and Class Rating Instructor. This put him in an ideal position to be able to judge people’s capabilities, to know when they needed to develop, to coax, persuade and encourage them to move forward and, most importantly, to enjoy themselves.

Building on his own positive experience of owning an aircraft under the LAA, Alan encouraged others into aircraft ownership, and with his can-do attitude provided the support necessary to help everyone achieve greater things.

He was a stalwart of the Vale of York Strut, and organised events, seminars and training sessions to support and develop the skills that helped new and old pilots alike. If you had any interest in developing as a pilot, Alan’s help and encouragement gave all the confidence you needed. Most of all the whole package was presented to make flying fun!

There were many examples of this in action. Fairly regular dress-up fly outs to local Yorkshire and North Lincolnshire airfields; excursions across the Channel to St Omer in France, Traben-Trarbach in Germany and the EFLEVA expo at Leopoldsburg in Belgium; the World Tour of Yorkshire fly-out; and the ‘We All Fly’ fly-in at Rufforth East. All these were planned and developed by Alan, with the support of others, and provided those who took part with an experience, a challenge – but most of all enjoyment!

In 2019 Alan received the LAA’s Faulkner-Bryant Shield in recognition of ‘the most active person within the Strut System’ – a fitting recognition of all his efforts over the years which certainly gave him back some of the reward and encouragement that he so selflessly gave to others.

Alan’s expeditions across the UK and to foreign parts made him lasting friendships wherever he went. His Jodel 117 G-BJOT was a familiar sight to many people. He epitomised the ethos of the LAA, making dreams fly… by making flying fun.

He will be sadly missed but fondly remembered by everyone who knew him.

Chris Holliday and Andy Stocks