We have a large group of friendly instructors for NPPL(A), PPL(A), Night and IMC Ratings. Our instructors have thousands of hours experience teaching people like you to fly.
Instructor |
NPPL (A) |
PPL (A) |
Night Rating |
IMC Rating |
Tony Partakis (Head of Training) |
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Phil Dobson (Deputy Head of Training) |
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Mark Craine |
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Kate Reid |
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John Cheetham |
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Ian Hoolahan |
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Jim McBrinn |
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Cooky Amin |
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Richard Mawby |
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Jack Shaw |
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Steve Bell |
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Malcolm Smith |
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Kate Evans |
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Primo Lonzardi |
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Paul Kuiper |
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Oliver Gallimore |
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David Winterbottom |
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Alistair Feakin |
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Sean Shannon |
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Harry Manley |
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Ian Garratt |
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Vik Patel |
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John Maxwell |
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Tony absolutely loves flying and has been instructing now for many years with over 12,000 hours in light aircraft.
Tony used to parachute jump in his spare time when he was younger. He enjoys chess and used to work in HR for the prison service so don’t surprised if uses them as navigational points of interest in your lessons! |
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While still at school as an RAF cadet Phil obtained his glider pilot license and flew several times in Chipmunks.
Phil began instructing in August 2018. His other interests include walking, cycling, playing the piano and organ also singing with the Halle Choir where he recently got his 20 year service award. |
John CheethamInstructor & Examiner |
John has toured Europe in light aircraft many times including trips to Tenerife and Crete.
He has over 7000 hours flight time and been instructing for over 10 years at Barton. He’s also a CAA Examiner for the PPL(A). |
Kate ReidInstructor |
Kate started at the flying school when she was only 15, in between university at Sheffield and a job in audiology and she’s still with us today! Kate has a 4 year old little boy, Leo and enjoys taking her dog Murphy out for walks (or he takes her these days). Kate is one of our full time instructors. |
Jim McBrinnInstructor |
With over 23,000 hours experience, Jim learnt to fly at Southampton in 1980, going on to instruct and gain his commercial license, ultimately retiring from Qatar Airways as a B777 captain. Recently mixing flying DHL B777s with LAC instructing, he now dedicates his time to his first love – light aircraft. |
Paul KuiperInstructor |
Paul began flying in Holland in 1992 before completing his ATPL at Oxford in 1994. With over 28 years of experience and 15,000 flight hours as a commercial pilot, his career includes turboprops, regional jets, B747 Classic, both B747-400/-8, B777, B787 Dreamliner and B767, for airlines including British Regional Airlines, Cathay Pacific, Etihad, Dragon Air (Hong Kong) and All Nippon, before returning to the UK in 2020. Paul now serves as a Line Training Captain on the B777 for DHL Air UK and recently began mixing his commercial activities with instructing here at LAC. |
More instructor profiles coming soon.



John Cheetham
Kate Reid
Paul Kuiper