A Selection of the Team
Barry Cross – Managing Director
Barry flew as one of the RAF’s most capable fast jet pilots from 1982 until joining Pilotwise. Initially selected as a ‘creamie’ flying instructor on the Hawk aircraft, he followed this with an operational tour as a fighter pilot on the Phantom F4-J. Following a highly successful 3 year tour displaying with the Red Arrows, Barry went on to fly and instruct on the Tornado F3 and again on the Hawk, as a senior member of the RAF’s aggressor squadron providing operational training for frontline types. His final tour was in command of the Central Flying School’s basic fast jet instructor training squadron where he very successfully brought in numerous innovative training initiatives, including the introduction of neuro-linguistic instructional techniques. With over 5000 flying hours, Barry joined Pilotwise in 2007, quickly rising to become Managing Director and successfully leading the company through the global downturn to a position where the company has a solid financial base from which to grow further. He maintains flying instructional currency on the RAF’s Grob Tutor fleet.
Stuart Hatzel – Director of Marketing and Plans
An RAF Tornado ground attack navigator by origin, Stuart was also an instructor on the Tucano and Hawk aircraft before serving as a US E3-B mission director. He enjoyed an extensive and varied tour in RAF global accident investigation, gaining qualifications from Cranfield University and the University of Southern California before taking command of 76(R) Squadron. Here he undertook a comprehensive review of how RAF WSOs were taught and through active management increased the student pass rate from 52% to 93%, with all graduates reaching a frontline type. Author of a Central Flying School study into warfighter preparation, he made 14 recommendations to properly prepare students for a very high operational tempo. All were accepted by the Director of Flying Training. Selected to study on ACSC at the UK Defence Academy, Stuart was awarded the Best Air Student prize in addition to an MA with distinction in Defence Studies/International Relations from King’s College, London. He was chosen to become Military Assistant to the first Director General of the Military Aviation Authority, co-ordinating and facilitating the delivery and communication of Air Safety strategy and implementing the Haddon-Cave Nimrod Inquiry recommendations. Stuart joined Pilotwise as a Director in September 2011.
John Dignan – Company Secretary & Director
A former RAF C-130 pilot, flying instructor and training squadron commander, John was an extremely successful Director for Slingsby Aviation Ltd, also acting as the company production test pilot. During his tenure John devised and delivered a strategy that led to the supply of 113 Firefly T-3A aircraft to the USAF and a training programme for USAF test pilots, SMEs and the initial cadre of instructor pilots. For this achievement, John won the Queen’s Award for Export Achievement as well as two other major awards. During his time with Slingsby, he negotiated the sale of Firefly aircraft to 34 countries. He also presented a major cost saving initiative to UK MOD’s major aviation training stakeholders which led to the instigation of the Joint Elementary Flying Training Scheme (JEFTS). Following the sale of Slingsby, John moved to become the Head of Flight Operations at Hunting Contract Services, where he was instrumental in the expansion of JEFTS, providing first rate training to all 3 Services. John joined Pilotwise in 2001, where he has worked on numerous training support projects over the last decade, proving extremely adept at embedding with partners to act as an aviation training SME when required. Of note, John led the training and equipment analysis for the successful Serco Aerospace bid team. The outcome led to the provision of multi-engine pilot training on a fleet of new-build Super King Air B200 aircraft, simulators and training support.
Phil Dye AFC - Training Consultant (Test Pilot and QWI)
Phil initially flew the Jaguar in the ground attack and tactical maritime roles before instructing at the Operational Conversion Unit. After graduating from the Empire Test Pilot’s School (ETPS), he remained at Boscombe Down on the Fighter Test Squadron. After periods as the Jaguar and Tornado Project Pilot he became the Squadron Senior Pilot before returning to ETPS as a flying instructor and tutor. Phil left the RAF to join BAE Systems at Warton as an experimental test pilot, holding a variety of Projetc Pilot positions that included Production, Jaguar and Tornado as well being engaged in several research programmes. In 1988 he joined the Hawk programme, becoming Project Pilot in 1992 as well as becoming the Warton Deputy Chief Test Pilot. Phil left BAE Systems in 2002. He has just under 5000 hrs flying time on 90 types and marks of aircraft. With a BSc in Aeronautical Engineering, he is a qualified weapons instructor and was awarded a Queen’s Commendation and Air Force Cross while in the RAF. In 2000 he was awarded an MBE for services to the aircraft industry.
Polly Whitehead - General Manager
Polly started her career as an undergraduate engineering apprentice with British Aerospace and worked at Woodford and Chadderton for 13 years on Nimrod, Victor and Vulcan tankers, Airbus and various research programmes. During this time she also learned to fly with the Avro Gliding Club and was awarded a flying scholarship by the Chief Test Pilot. Polly is now an accomplished competition aerobatic pilot and, in addition to flying tail-draggers, enjoys being a gliding instructor. Having joined Pilotwise in 2005, Polly has been able to bring together her well-honed project management and technical authoring skills with her love of flying – a perfect match from a company perspective.
Helen Rough - Editorial Manager
Helen has enjoyed a varied career making full use of her qualification in Business Administration. She initially worked as a personal assistant within the Foreign and Commonwealth Office before moving to Rome where she spent 10 years with Foster Wheeler Italiana. Upon returning to the UK she ran her own small business before joining Pilotwise in 1995. She is renowned for ensuring the editorial quality of Pilotwise products before they are released to the customer and is a qualified auditor to BSI standards.
Michael Mok - Head of Graphics and Animation
Having undertaken 8 years of advanced study in art, design, and multimedia design and development, Michael is well qualified to lead the Pilotwise team that creates superior quality 2D and 3D graphics and animation, with or without voiceover when in electronic format, that perfectly complement our training and technical courseware. He joined Pilotwise in 2008 having been the Senior Multimedia Designer at Saville Creative and a freelance multimedia designer. He also led the introduction of SCORM at Pilotwise, making us fully inter-operable with the e-learning industry.
