Chris Rawlings - Communications

An ambition to fly led Chris into the RAF in 1991, but at the time, the UK entered the first Gulf war and had just halved the size of the RAF manpower. After 3 years training it was decided that places were very limited and he was released from the RAF.

Moving into civilian aviation Chris' first real job was with FR Aviation. It is a special missions company contracted to the RAF, RN and NATO to provide Electronic warfare training by jamming radars, radios and interfering with electronic surveillance. This gave him the perfect opportunity to fly in a military style amongst the fighters, tankers and AWACS. It also gave him the opportunity to travel. I saw parts of Scotland at 500' that are inaccessible; flew up Norwegian fjords and landed in the Arctic snow.

Hooked by the travel bug and never one to pass up an opportunity he moved into VIP and corporate flying. Clients included Brian Adams to meet the pope, the BP chairman to meet Russia's President Putin, flown all sorts of pop stars and actors to all sorts of places. This also included a 3 year stint in Egypt where he developd his desert drivng skills.

In 2000 he joined Mac in setting a new record for driving the full-length of Europe non-stop. and in 2007 took part in the Xtreme Everest medical research expedition looking into a cure for hypoxia amongst the critically ill patients within intensive care units.

The next exciting adventure is just around the corner - London to Cape Town. An unrivalled challenge with extremes of temperature, road conditions, people and religion. There is so much that can go wrong but what an achievement if we can make it go right!

Blogs by Mac Mackenney