Meet Jonny Penn who started his flying career at Goodwood in 2008 before becoming Senior First Officer with Norwegian.
MAY 08th 2018
Where are they now...
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My aviation journey started at Goodwood back in 2008 when I had a trial flight. I knew just from the 30 minutes, this is what I wanted to do as a career.
Soon after that, I signed up to begin my PPL training. Being able to fly so close to home every day was amazing, and to be flying in and out of Goodwood was a blast, with the grass runways, the racetrack and the heritage. From the start the training and support at the flying school were great. Before I knew it, my instructor, Mike Norman calmly said 'ok just let me out here, off you go!'. That was the start of my first solo flight which is a time every pilot won’t forget!
After gaining my PPL, I went on to Commercial aviation training, with PTC (Pilot Training College of Ireland) I flew both in the USA and Ireland to gain my ATPL exams, CPL/MEIR.
After getting my necessary qualifications I then went over to Indonesia and flew with Lion Air, based in Jakarta flying the Boeing 737-900ER. This was a fantastic experience flying domestic and internationally to Singapore and Vietnam. I learnt a lot and built up the necessary hours to get back to Europe where I gained a position with Ryanair as a First Officer based in Madrid.
After a year or so, I had my eyes on getting back to the UK and that's when Norwegian were recruiting for a London Gatwick base. I was successful and have been working for them now for two years as a Senior First Officer and also a part of the 737/787 pilot recruitment team. I have been fortunate enough to be involved with the US/ ETOPS operations on their 737MAX aircraft flying to and from the USA from the UK and Ireland.
This is my story so far, where it all began at Goodwood Flying School and I am very thankful to them. I live close to the Aerodrome and still take the Cessna out every now and then as solo hire. I would love to fly the School’s Piper Cub one day.
Good Luck to all the current and potential students at the school!