Long service recognition for our Qualified Instructors

Three of our Qualified Instructors at RAF Shawbury have recently completed 25 years as civilian training instructors following full military service careers. We are proud to recognise the incredible contributions they have made to military flying and the training of past, current and future aircrew.

Mr Bom Sokhi joined the Royal Artillery in 1973 and served as a gunner until transferring to the AAC as an aircrewman in 1980. Mr Sokhi attended the Army pilots’ course and graduated with wings in 1987. He subsequently gained his A2 qualification in 1993. In 2012, he became a full-time civilian instructor at RAF Shawbury.
During his flying career Mr Sokhi has amassed over 10000 flying hours (over 7000 instructional hours), Today, he is employed as a QI within ground-school.
He is the first person of Indian heritage to qualify as an Army QHI and subsequently gain the A2 qualification, a fact that he is rightly very proud of.

Mr Alastair Reid joined the Royal Navy in 1981 and having graduated the Royal Naval flying course, he flew the Sea-king in the Anti-Submarine warfare (ASW) role. Following completion of the QHI course, Mr Reid went on to serve with 810 Sqn before being deployed to 820 Sqn on HMS Ark Royal during Gulf War one.
Mr Reid is also a fluent German speaker and completed an exchange to the German Navy, where he conducted Search and Rescue and operations around the Baltic and North Sea, before attending the German QHI course. Mr Reid left the Royal Navy in 1997 to become a fulltime civilian instructor at RAF Shawbury, until he retired from flying in 2015. He then joined ground-school as a QI.
Mr Reid is a recognised author who has published over 30 books that revolve around flying instruction, and technical manuals. He has received 2 AOC Commendations and was also awarded the GAPAN (Guild of Air Pilots and Navigators) Master Air Pilot award.

Mr Tim Nicholas joined the Royal Navy in 1980. During his Naval flying career, Mr Nicholas conducted Anti-Submarine Warfare operations on the Sea-king, mainly serving around the Artic and North Atlantic. Mr Nicholas was also fortunate enough to complete a 3 year exchange to the Australian Navy, before returning the UK to teach at CFS.
Mr Nicholas joined FB Heliservices at RAF Shawbury in 1997 as a civilian QHI. He spent the next 21 years flying the Bell, teaching mainly trainee pilots during their twin-engine conversion and the intricacies of Support Helicopter operations. Mr Nicholas joined Ascent in 2018 and has continued to instruct trainees on the Juno, before finally retiring from flying in 2019, at which point he became QI within ground-school. He has amassed over 11000 flying hours (8000 Instructional). He is now instrumental in the delivery of synthetic training for both staff and trainees.
Mr Nicholas has received an AOC 22 Group commendation, and was also awarded the GAPAN (Guild of Air Pilots and Navigators) Master Air Pilot award.