Our founder doesn't describe himself as a pilot, even though he flew professionally for 37 years. He describes himself as an engineer. That distinction matters.

 

It started at 17, when — he secured an apprenticeship with Britannia Airways. Not a narrow trade apprenticeship, but a thorough grounding in everything: manufacturing, avionics, airframes, systems. The kind of foundation that, as he puts it, became the basis of everything since.

 

From there, the career moved quickly — and unusually.

 

A job with Saudi Arabian Airlines at 21 and a chance interview that led to flying training in Australia. Nine years as a volunteer pilot-engineer in the Australian outback and Papua New Guinea — where if something broke, you fixed it yourself, in the field, with what you had. Rebuilt engines. Rebuilt wings. Rebuilt fuselages. The kind of engineering experience you cannot learn in a classroom.

 

He then worked for British Airways, where he spent the next quarter century -- finishing his career as a 777 captain.

 

Throughout all of it, the engineering never stopped. Classic cars, motorcycles, restorations — always something being taken apart and put back together, properly. In the years before retirement from flying, he was already importing and restoring Land Rover Defenders and selling them. The EV conversion business wasn't a pivot. It was the next logical step.