Tayside Aviation was founded on February 28th, 1968 by pilot and aviation enthusiast Lovat Fraser, who retired as Managing Director in 2007.
Still a regular flight instructor at the Dundee flight school, Lovat was invited back to mark the special date and reminisce on Tayside Aviation’s journey.
Lovat remains immensely proud of the company which has continued to grow and train thousands of pilots over the decades. Lovat said: “It is a great source of satisfaction to me to know that many of the people who trained with Tayside Aviation pursued successful flying careers in the military and/or civil commercial aviation.”
A key moment for Tayside Aviation was in 1978 when the flight school was awarded the first RAF Flying Scholarship contract and in 1994 became the sole UK contractor for the Flying Scholarship Scheme training over 500 cadets per year with the support of seven sub-contractors throughout the UK.
Lovat Fraser and wife
Lovat believes much of this success is down to the people behind the planes. He added:
“The strength of Tayside Aviation has always been in the high quality of its staff. This is exemplified by Marjan Bledowski who I taught to be a flying instructor when I was first approved by the CAA to conduct flight instructor training. In fact, Marjan was on my very first Flying Instructor Course and is still employed by the company today.”
As well as Marjan, two aircraft engineers, John Anton and Ian Fraser, have been with Tayside Aviation for over 40 years, joining when the current aircraft hangar was built in 1982.
To find out more about Tayside Aviation go to www.taysideaviation.com.
