Christopher Roberts (born 1945) is a former British test pilot.

Career

Royal Air Force

Gloucestershire Gloucestershire ( , ; abbreviated Glos.) is a Ceremonial counties of England, ceremonial county in South West England. It is bordered by Herefordshire to the north-west, Worcestershire to the north, Warwickshire to the north-east, Oxfordshire ...

, and RAF Syerston in

Nottinghamshire Nottinghamshire (; abbreviated ''Notts.'') is a ceremonial county in the East Midlands of England. The county is bordered by South Yorkshire to the north-west, Lincolnshire to the east, Leicestershire to the south, and Derbyshire to the west. Th ...

and completed it at RAF Valley in Anglesey North Wales. He flew with the

Royal Air Force The Royal Air Force (RAF) is the Air force, air and space force of the United Kingdom, British Overseas Territories and Crown Dependencies. It was formed towards the end of the World War I, First World War on 1 April 1918, on the merger of t ...

, beginning with 20 Squadron on the Hawker Hunter at RAF Tengah in Singapore from 1966 to 1969. He then returned to RAF Valley as a flying instructor on the Hawker Hunter. He became a member of the Red Arrows, as Red 2, from 1971 to 1972. He had flown the Harrier with the RAF, starting with the Harrier Operational Conversion Unit, at RAF Chivenor, from early 1973. He attended the

Empire Test Pilots' School The Empire Test Pilots' School (ETPS) is a British training school for test pilots and flight test engineers of fixed-wing and rotary-wing aircraft at MoD Boscombe Down in Wiltshire, England. It was established in 1943, the first of its type. ...

and flew with the

Aeroplane and Armament Experimental Establishment The Aeroplane and Armament Experimental Establishment (A&AEE) was a research facility for British military aviation from 1918 to 1992. Established at Martlesham Heath, Suffolk, the unit moved in 1939 to Boscombe Down, Wiltshire, where its wo ...

Boscombe Down in

Wiltshire Wiltshire (; abbreviated to Wilts) is a ceremonial county in South West England. It borders Gloucestershire to the north, Oxfordshire to the north-east, Berkshire to the east, Hampshire to the south-east, Dorset to the south, and Somerset to ...

British Aerospace

He joined

British Aerospace British Aerospace plc (BAe) was a British aircraft manufacturer, aircraft, munitions and defence-systems manufacturer that was formed in 1977. Its head office was at Warwick House in the Farnborough Aerospace Centre in Farnborough, Hampshire. ...

as a test pilot in 1979, becoming deputy chief test pilot in 1987. On 24 April 1987 he flew the second prototype ''ZH200'' of the Hawk 200, the single-seat version, being the project test pilot; the aircraft would make its public debut at the 1987

Paris Air Show The Paris Air Show (, ''Salon du Bourget'') is a trade fair and air show held in odd years at Paris–Le Bourget Airport in France. Organized by the French aerospace industry's primary representative body, the ''Groupement des industries frança ...

in June 1987. He flew Hawk ''XX159'' with Mike Snelling. He became Chief Test Pilot for the Harrier in February 1990.''Flight International'' February 1990
/ref> Most of his flight testing, as chief test pilot, was with the Harrier GR7. In 1991 he became a Fellow of the

Royal Aeronautical Society The Royal Aeronautical Society, also known as the RAeS, is a British multi-disciplinary professional institution dedicated to the global aerospace community. Founded in 1866, it is the oldest Aeronautics, aeronautical society in the world. Memb ...

Airline pilot

He became an airline pilot with

Airtours MyTravel Group plc was a British, global travel group headquartered in Rochdale, England. It was founded in 1972 as Airtours Group. The group included two in-house airlines, MyTravel Airways UK and MyTravel Airways Scandinavia, and various to ...

, flying the MD83 at

Gatwick Airport Gatwick Airport , also known as London Gatwick Airport (), is the Airports of London, secondary international airport serving London, West Sussex and Surrey. It is located near Crawley in West Sussex, south of Central London. In 2024, Gatwic ...

. He left Airtours in May 2003. After flying, he is now on the UK Airprox Board, and has been on the Air Safety Group of the

Parliamentary Advisory Council for Transport Safety The Parliamentary Advisory Council for Transport Safety (PACTS) is a registered charity. For much of its history, it was also an All-party parliamentary group of the UK parliament The Parliament of the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Nort ...

Personal life

References

External links

Biography
{{DEFAULTSORT:Roberts, Chris 1945 births BAE Systems Hawk British test pilots Fellows of the Royal Aeronautical Society Harrier Jump Jet Red Arrows Royal Air Force officers Living people