Interview with the Royal Aeronautical Society’s Tim Robinson
So many of us involved in aviation have come to rely on your various articles and interviews and a highlight of the month for many RAeS members is when AEROSPACE arrives through the letterbox. How did you get into aviation journalism in the first place and what sparked your enthusiasm for aviation and aerospace?
Hopefully AEROSPACE does a decent job every month of trying to keep people abreast of what's happening in the diverse and fast-moving world of aviation, aerospace and spaceflight. My love of aviation and aerospace was probably sparked off my dad, who with plastic Airfix kits, balsa gliders and visits to Shuttleworth got me hooked on the Class-A drug that is flight. Unfortunately, I read too much Biggles' books under the bed covers at night, so my eyesight was never going to be up to scratch to be a real life 'Top Gun'. However, aviation journalism is probably the next best thing for someone interested in aviation and who enjoys writing. There's no set career path into aviation journalism so I kind of fell into it by being at the right place at the right time when the Royal Aeronautical Society was looking for a News Editor in 2000. The rest as they say, is history!
You’ve interviewed countless people involved in aviation and aerospace. Who has been the most interesting person you’ve interviewed to date?
This has to be RAeS past-President and test pilot aviation legend Captain Eric 'Winkle' Brown - the record holder for the absolute number of different types flown - 487 which will probably never be beaten. Despite his obvious flying skills and amazing experience, Eric was highly approachable to a young reporter asking him about events or handling charatersistics of rare aircraft from 70 years ago. He had a razor-sharp mind, nerves of steel and was humble in sharing his immense knowledge about flying with a wider audience. It didn't matter whether you were a duke or a dustman, if you were interested in aeroplanes, Eric had time for you!
You’ve got a unique view of all that is happening in aviation and aerospace given your role as Editor of AEROSPACE magazine. What would you say are the top three issues affecting the industry at the moment?
Top three issues for me are: post-Covid recovery, climate change and the shift in geopolitical axis to Asia-Pacific. First is the (civil) aerospace industry recovering from the worst crisis in its history and the knock-on effects from this - which has accelerated some trends such as the decline of four engine airliners. Even when air travel comes back, will we see airports redesigned to include 'biosecurity' measures similar to how we take for granted post 9/11 security? Longer term there is the climate change challenge which essentially boils down to: how can aviation continue to grow responsibly without adding to the carbon footprint of the planet? Electrification, sustainable aviation fuels, hydrogen are all ideas - but this is the biggest long-term challenge the sector is facing. Finally, there is the spectre of a growing 'Cold War' between China and the US as centre of gravity for world economy shifts to the East. This has implications for air power, military space, but also the way in which the Chinese aerospace industry has accelerated progress in the past 20 years and how the West partners or competes with this rising superpower.
As Editor, you must have had some good ‘jollys’ in your time – what have been some of the best!?
I'm really lucky sometimes to be hosted by companies or organisations that are keen to show off their factory, hangars or on rare occasion(!) put me in an aircraft. Personal highlights have been going supersonic in the back seat of a MiG-29UB in Russia, courtesy of MiG themselves, and an unforgettable demo flight in Boeing F/A-18F Super Hornet on the Friday of the Farnborough Air Show courtesy of Boeing. I've also had the pleasure personal tours around The Fighter Collection and ARCos warbird collections at Duxford. Yet to get flights in the back seat of a Spitfire or a Eurofighter Typhoon thou!
Any plans for the future you’d like to mention – for the Aero Society, the magazine or your own ventures?
We obviously aim to maintain and improve the magazine on an ongoing basis - and continue to raise the profile of it and the RAeS. We are a small, but dedicated team so it is difficult to do all we'd like to do straight away - but there are exciting plans in the future!
Lastly, favourite aircraft and why… (can you even narrow it down!?)
So has to be either the Lockheed SR-71 or as second choice, Supermarine Spitfire. Obvious selection, you might say, but when you think the Mach 3 SR-71 was designed in an era of slide-rules, where only 20 years earlier the most advanced aircraft was the P-51 or Tempest it is utterly incredible. It would be like us designing a spacecraft with warp drive 20 years from today. Joint favourite is the Spitfire. It's gone beyond an aeroplane now and to an international symbol of enduring defiance, hope and freedom that is somehow still gets people to look up and point at the sky some 85 years after it first flew.