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Biographies

John Farley did his engineering training as a student apprentice at the Royal Aircraft Establishment Farnborough before joining the RAF for pilot training in 1955.

After flying Hunters with 4 Squadron based in Germany, he was a flying instructor at the RAF College Cranwell before joining the Empire Test Pilots' School course in 1963. Following a distinguished pass from ETPS he became a test pilot on the RAE Aerodynamics Research Flight at Bedford. During this tour he flew all the UK research aircraft then flying.

As RAE project pilot on the P1127 prototype in 1964, he started what was to become 19 years of Harrier programme test flying moving from the RAE to join Hawker Siddeley Aviation at Dunsfold from where he retired as Chief Test Pilot. As the Harrier programme progressed, he became increasingly involved in overseas ventures especially with the US and various navies.

John Farley has flown over 80 different aircraft types, both fixed and rotary wing. In 1990 he became the first western test pilot invited by the Russians to fly the Mig-29 and later participated with Lockheed as a JSF Red Team member. He retired from test piloting in 1999 but continues to consult on flight test programmes.

In 1995 he started summer school courses for 16 to 18 year old students to encourage them to become engineers in the aerospace business and today runs the Schools Aerospace Challenge and International Aerospace Summer School, both held at Cranfield University. He was elected President of the AAU in 2009.

Thurai Rahulan was born in Sri Lanka in 1958 and entered Salford University in 1976. He graduated with First Class Honours in Mechanical Engineering Science in 1979 and was awarded the degree of PhD in 1984. His first job involving the design of aircraft active control systems was funded by the British Ministry of Defence. He then spent a few years working on suspension systems at Jaguar Cars Limited in Coventry after which he returned to Salford University in 1990 to teach aeronautics.

Dr Rahulan has published and refereed many scientific papers in international journals. He liaises with universities, industry and the media in his capacity as an aerospace consultant and External Examiner. At present, he is the Chairman of the Association of Aerospace Universities, a Member of the Council of the Royal Aeronautical Society and serves in a number of other professional committees. He used to play water polo as a teenager but now mainly sticks to country walks. He lives in the hills north of Manchester with his wife Eileen who, being a librarian, keeps him constantly fed with reading material to keep him out of trouble.

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Although Paul only became the Treasurer of the AAU in 2010 he has been a lifelong aviation enthusiast. On leaving school his aim was to join the RAF but this was not to be and instead he followed a varied career taking in business, engineering and a variety of local government posts. His academic career began with posts at Birmingham, Cardiff and Derby. Following a survey of WW2 airfields in East Anglia, Paul undertook a review of UK airport provision and wrote a history of Airport Planning in Britain. During the course of his research he became involved with the Terminal 5 public Inquiry and he has subsequently been involved in recent White Papers on UK airport provision. Now based at London Metropolitan University where he is responsible for undergraduate aviation programmes, he is also the universities representative to the AAU.

Paul is very keen on historic aviation and he shares this with his other interest in historic motor racing. As such he is regular visitor to Goodwood and Le Mans where he can compete in his TriumphTR3S race car and fly vintage aircraft.

Began his career in the aircraft industry, working at Hawker Siddeley Dynamics, involved with missile and aircraft flight simulation particularly. Began PhD research on behalf of the company whilst at HSD and later moved into academia. Seconded to near full-time work on the UK wave energy research programme from 1975-91, only returning to full-time academic work when the government ceased funding wave energy. Became Head of Department of Sytems & Electronic Engineering at Coventry University (degree programmes in Electronics, Telecomms, ICT, Avionics, Aerospace Systems, Aerospace Technology) where he continued until retirement. Lectured in electronics & instrumentation on a range of courses and also orbital mechanics et al on final year aerospace courses. Was a co-founder of the AAU in 1997 and was AAU secretary and/or treasurer for 10 years over that period. Still active in the AAU and has just completed a second 3-year term as Treasurer.