Chief Executive
Neville Munro
Neville has been an aviation enthusiast for as long as he can remember. He was in the ATC first as a Cadet, then as an Officer for 12 years, ending with his own Squadron. After retirement he became a Civilian Instructor, covering most aviation subjects as well as Flight Sim training. He held a PPL from 1990 to 2009 with nearly 180 hrs in the logbook and is a qualified Amateur Radio Operator. His first Flight Sim was FS98. He has been a member of VATSIM since 2012 and CIX VFR Club since 2013. He has VATSIM P1 and P2 Pilot Ratings, and is a VATSIM S2 (Tower) Controller. His training responsibility with the Club is to instruct and assist student pilots in all aspects of radio procedures and he manages the Club AFISO Training Facility.
Director of Operations
Dan Cooper
Dan was born an aviation enthusiast when he popped out in
Southampton, with the Solent being home to the Spitfire. Biggles
had no chance when Maverick hit the screen 10 years later,
but by then - "the pattern was full"! An Air Cadet,
with an AES at Hurn and the Farnborough Air Show down the road,
it was no surprise that by the time he left education, he had
flown both Chipmunks and Bulldogs, had completed his Advanced
Glider Training at Portmoak, and was a member of an active
Volunteer Gliding School. He successfully started his Flying
Scholarship application and had passed OASC at Cranwell before
life took a twist with the advent of defence cuts! Now an electrical
engineering manager, in 2012 he discovered FSX. In 2015
he discovered CIX VFR Club and, in no small part due the help
of its members, this truly re-kindled his passion for flight.
He is a VATSIM P3 Pilot, Club AFISO/AGO and Club QFI.
Membership Secretary
Dennis Hardy
Dennis has been an aviation enthusiast since getting his first
Biggles book for Christmas at the age of 10 (which he still
has on his bookcase!). Although not a qualified pilot, over
the years he has flown in a multitude of different light aircraft
from weight shift microlights to gliders and general aviation
aircraft. His most memorable experience was in a C150 aerobat
as the pilot was practicing his aerobatic routine. A flight
simmer since the mid 90s and a long time R/C modeller, he has
experience flying both R/C fixed wing and helicopters. He is
now retired from a career as a Quality Manager and Health & Safety
Officer in the pharmaceutical and packaging industries. Since
retiring he has built his own "simpit" - simulated cockpit
- based round 2 networked pcs. He joined the CIX VFR Club in
2011 and obtained the VATSIM P1 pilot rating shortly afterwards.
He obtained the VATSIM P2 Rating in 2012 and more recently
the P3 rating. His long experience has enabled him to carry
out the VATSIM P1, P2 & P3 training for the club.
Forum Manager
Pete Allnutt
Pete is a founder member of the club who has been flight simming since the mid 1980s starting with "Aviator", the flight sim programme for the BBC Micro, with its wire frame graphics. He didn´t take it too seriously until the formation of the CIX VFR club and his discovery of VATSIM. He is also a virtual (car) racing driver as well as flight simmer. As well as his "official" duties above, Pete also manages the Club´s TeamSpeak server and designed the club´s PIREP flight reporting system. He is quite happy to be called Pete!
Chief Flying Instructor
Max Symons
Max started small. He used to design (including stress calculations),
build, fly and perform crash investigations on fixed wing Radio
Controlled aeroplanes up to about 5ft wingspan. He has flown
a number of times with a colleague in a microlight Zenair Zodiac
601UL. When he discovered a 601XL for FS9 on Zenithair’s WEB
site, he converted it for FSX, and made it resemble the 601UL,
and uploaded it to the AVSIM site as a "Zenair Zodiac 601".
He was an active member of the 2-4-CIX Display Team from October
2010 until 2015. He has reformed and again flies with the 2-4-CIX
Tiger Moth Team. Having had a professional career in education,
finishing as a "Course Design Manager" he is now looking after
the club's in-house training.
Manager CIX Air Traffic Services
Neville Munro
Neville has been an aviation enthusiast for as long as he can remember. He was in the ATC first as a Cadet, then as an Officer for 12 years, ending with his own Squadron. After retirement he became a Civilian Instructor, covering most aviation subjects as well as Flight Sim training. He held a PPL from 1990 to 2009 with nearly 180 hrs in the logbook and is a qualified Amateur Radio Operator. His first Flight Sim was FS98. He has been a member of VATSIM since 2012 and CIX VFR Club since 2013. He has VATSIM P1 and P2 Pilot Ratings, and is a VATSIM S2 (Tower) Controller. His training responsibility with the Club is to instruct and assist student pilots in all aspects of radio procedures and he manages the Club AFISO Training Facility.
Webmaster
Peter Dodds
A founder member of the Club and Chief Executive until July 2021, Peter has been a flight simulator enthusiast
since 1991, discovering VATSIM in 2003. He was a real world PPL with some
400 hours, retiring from flying in 2010. Peter worked enthusiastically from the
Club's formation to maintain the Club's ethos as a unique "Flying
Club" environment, for General Aviation Simulation enthusiasts, mimicing real world flying clubs in many ways. A member of the Gemini
Simulations team which pioneered UK VFR scenery for FS4, he
has dabbled in many aspects of FS including aircraft panel
building, gauge design and aircraft painting. He was the Club's
Chief Flying Instructor until February 2014. Peter created
the first club web site and and was Webmaster until September
2008, when fellow founder member Tony Driver took over. Tony
used his experience as a computer specialist to enhance the
site and added many features which expanded and enhanced
the site significantly. On Tony's retirement from the Club,
Peter resumed the role of Webmaster in January 2018 and with
help from Pete Allnutt and Ingar Lenning built a new website
for the Club, which was completed in June 2019. A retired Technical
Author, for some years he wrote regularly for Computer Pilot
magazine. He produces most of the Club´s
documentation and training material. He continues to
assist with instructing.
Without Portfolio
John Lygo
John is now retired having spent 22 years in the Royal Air
Force as a Photographer/Photographic Technician, leaving with
the rank of Sergeant at the age of 47. He then had a similar
post in the University of Cambridge which he held until retirement
at the age of 65. It wasn't until 1995 that Flight Sim got
his interest, although at that time, not greatly. Things changed
when he bought FS98 in about 1998 and played around with that
for a few years, managing to take off, but failing to land!
It was about 2002 that he got more seriously interested, joined
a Virtual Airline (VA) and flew for them until 2009, amassing
some 1000 hours. It was all 'Big Tin' stuff but the VA finally
died in 2009. Before that he was beginning to tire of the jet
stuff and was looking for something different when he was informed
of a low 'n' slow flying club. So it was that in 2008 he joined
the CIX VFR Club. Although initially somewhat reticent, he
soon discovered that the Club members were all very friendly
and helpful, and he started to learn the art of VFR flying.
Eight years later and he's still learning, hoping to pass on
some of that knowledge to his students.
John Crockatt
John held a PPL from 1961 to 1986 and finished with just under
1000 hours in his logbook. In fact he flew about 400 more hours
as co-pilot, but, as light twins are certified for single pilot
operation, nobody except the man in the left hand seat is allowed
to log it, even though a pair of pilots operate the plane as
two crew. John started as a club flier, and began to use the
club plane on business. He gained UK Instrument Rating and
Multi-engine Rating in 1966, and for the next 20 years he flew
a series of Cessna twins on business in the UK and sometimes
in Europe. In 1991 he bought his first computer (really to
keep up with his grandchildren) and discovered MS FlightSim.
Flew big tin with various VA's until 2006 when he
was introduced to the Club. He has been a sailor all his life,
including service throughout WW2 as a Radio Officer in the
Merchant Navy.
