A father and son from Bishop’s Stortford with a passion for aviation are hoping their new business venture takes off.
Former commercial pilot Jonathan Grose, 66, and his 21-year-old son Harrison have set up Stansted Flight Simulator to give people the chance to discover what really goes on in the flight deck of a modern jet airliner.
The duo have created the immersive experience, which is based on a replica Boeing 737-800 flight deck, using wraparound visuals to create a genuine feeling of flight.
They spent three years constructing the simulator in the garage of Jonathan’s St Michael’s Hurst home and it even has the facility to add air traffic control communications via the Vatsim app.
Born into a family of hoteliers in Devon, Jonathan moved to the south east of England in 1983 to become a flying instructor at Biggin Hill before progressing to his first airline job at London City airport in 1987.
Subsequent airline moves led to him being based at Stansted Airport in the early 1990s and he has lived in and around Stortford ever since.
Jonathan – whose partner Sarah Jones is a former product director at Thompson Reuters and is also presently setting up her own business, Herts and Essex Nordic Walking – was employed by Titan Airways at the Uttlesford hub while simultaneously working part-time as a self-employed videographer. He also briefly chaired the networking group Bishop’s Stortford Business Connections in 2015.
Having now passed the retirement age for commercial flying, he is currently employed by Greater Anglia at Stortford as a train driver on a job-share basis. He still owns a two-seater Aircoupe light aircraft which he flies for fun from Duxford aerodrome.
As well as his passion for flying, Jonathan was inspired to set up the new business by an appreciation of high-tech gadgetry combined with a love of imparting knowledge in a way that can inform and entertain others, plus the thrill of starting a father-and-son family venture.
Harrison is presently completing a private pilot’s course at North Weald aerodrome with one eye on a possible future career in air traffic control.
The former Hockerill Anglo-European College student featured in the Indie in 2019 after he saved his own life by calling an ambulance while having an asthma attack.
To find out more, visit www.stanstedflightsimulator.co.uk or email info@stanstedflightsimulator.co.uk. You can also search for ‘Stansted Flight Simulator’ on Facebook.
