Britain's youngest airline pilot: meet the 20-year-old who flies holiday jets to the sun
By CHRIS BROOKE
At the age of 19, Ed Gardner wasn't old enough to drive a bus, and in most countries he would have been too young to hire a car.
Yet, despite his youth, he was cleared to take the controls of a Boeing 737 and for the past three months has been flying tourists off on their holidays.
Mr Gardner, who turned 20 in December, is thought to be the youngest passenger pilot in the country.
He received his commercial licence on October 5 while still a teenager. Within a day, he had started work with Stansted-based charter firm, Titan Airways.
Scroll down for more
Ed Gardner, 20, is the UK's youngest ever commercial pilot
Since then, he has been sharing the cockpit with his father, Bob, 55, who is an experienced airline captain.
Mr Gardner, who comes from Stebbing near Stansted in Essex and who started flying at 14, said: "My dad never pushed for me to become a pilot but as soon as I said I wanted to do it he was pleased.
"He put up the money to do it and I'm paying him back. He's been very helpful. I flew solo at 16 and got my private pilot's licence on my 17th birthday."
He has passed a number of exams including instrument training and
instruction on flying a Boeing 737, which holds up to 200 passengers.
Mr Gardner was so keen on flying, he was able to pilot a plane before he had even started learning to drive a car.
After studying A-levels at the Helena Romanes School in Dunmow, he went to the Metropolitan University in London for his air transport pilot's licence written exams, passing first time.
He then went on to Stapleford Flight Centre for instrument rating, another pilot's training course and then Boeing 737 training.
His first job with Titan Airways was flying mail between Stansted and Exeter. The first passenger flight he piloted was to Rostock in Germany.
Mr Gardner said: "I was excited but you don't really get to interact with the passengers.
"As first officer, you do pretty much the same as the captain except you can't taxi on the runway.
"Of course, the captain is in charge overall but if they fly to Malaga, you fly the plane back, for example."
He said he had not told his passengers how young he was.
Mr Gardner, who now flies regularly to Europe and Africa, said simply about the way his career had taken off: "I think I just came along at the right time." As for his father, he added: "I think he's very proud."
Rob Giles, 737 fleet manager for Titan Airways, said Mr Gardner was the youngest commercial pilot he had heard of.
"It is not without precedent at 21 or 22 but most people do something else and then come to flying so they tend to be older," he said.
"But there is no reason why a teenager shouldn't be able to do the job. Ed is a very competent pilot and ticked all the boxes. It's good getting youngsters into the company - we need some new blood."
A spokesman for the Civil Aviation Authority said that although it was possible for a 19-year-old to fly a passenger jet, they would not usually be given the chance to do so until they were a few years older.
The authority's records show that no teenagers were given the right to carry passengers in the years 2004 and 2005. Pilots need to be at least 18 to hold a commercial licence.
Home 