John’s love of aviation started at the age of 8 when his family got involved in hot air ballooning. He started his aviation career in the RAF, where he trained as an aircraft technician on airframes and propulsion. He worked as a technician on the Nimrod maritime patrol aircraft and saw service in the Balkan conflict. He was then commissioned as an Engineering Officer and served on a Tornado GR4 fast-jet squadron before leading the base maintenance for the Tornado F3 fighter. He then became the UK Defence FOD Prevention Officer and following that was responsible for maintenance safety across all RAF aircraft and helicopters.
He spent the last 6 years of his RAF career in the Military Aviation Authority and its predecessor organisations, where he was responsible for the initial development and implementation of the Aviation Safety Information Management System for occurrence reporting and safety investigation. In 2006, John was awarded an MBE for his work in the field of Military Aviation Safety. After leaving the RAF, he joined EASA as Safety Analysis Coordinator and later became Head of the Safety Analysis and Performance, providing safety intelligence to support the European Safety Plan and leads collaborative safety risk management with NAAs and industry. Most recently, he moved to become EASA’s Head of Safety Actions where he now leads the Agency’s Safety Promotion activity and support the strategic coordination of Safety Intelligence activities.
