{{Short description|British airline pilot (born 1949)}} {{More citations needed|date=September 2025}} {{Use dmy dates|date=January 2018}} {{Use British English|date=January 2018}} {{Infobox aviator | name = Mike Bannister | image = Concorde Flight Deck2.jpg | alt = | caption =Bannister (left) in 2006 | birth_date = {{birth year and age|1949|5}} | known_for = Chief Pilot of British Airways' Concorde fleet }} '''Mike Bannister''' (born May 1949<ref>{{Cite web|title=Michael BANNISTER - Personal Appointments (free information from Companies House)|url=https://find-and-update.company-information.service.gov.uk/officers/hYJtYsfG9ymeEoFF3Dw_JsU8rMc/appointments|access-date=2020-10-16|website=find-and-update.company-information.service.gov.uk|language=en}}</ref>) is an airline pilot. He is best known as the Chief Pilot of British Airways' Concorde fleet,<ref>{{cite web |url=http://www.jeremyjosephs.com/concorde.htm |title=Concorde pilot Captain Mike Bannister head of BA Concorde fleet |publisher=Jeremyjosephs.com |accessdate=2010-05-09 |url-status=dead |archiveurl=https://web.archive.org/web/20110713102250/http://www.jeremyjosephs.com/concorde.htm |archivedate=13 July 2011 |df=dmy-all }}</ref><ref name="concorde is back">{{cite web|url=http://www.concordesst.com/returntoflight/relaunch.html|title=Concorde is Back!|date=7 November 2001|publisher=concordesst.com|accessdate=9 May 2010}}</ref> a post which he held from 1995 until its withdrawal from service in 2003.
== Education == Bannister graduated from the Ashton School, Dunstable, and the College of Air Training Hamble, having been awarded a Royal Air Force Flying Scholarship in 1966.<ref name=":0">{{Cite web|title=Mike Bannister - Biography #1|url=http://www.concordespeakers.com/our-speakers/11-general/25-mike-bannister-biography-1|access-date=2020-10-16|website=www.concordespeakers.com}}</ref>
== Career == Bannister joined BOAC (British Airways' predecessor) in 1969 as a pilot and flight navigator on the Vickers VC10 fleet.<ref name=":0" /> He joined the British Airways crew of Concorde in 1977 where he became its youngest pilot. In his Concorde career Bannister accumulated around 9,600 Concorde flight hours, almost 7,000 of which were supersonic. Bannister captained Concorde's retirement flight from New York to London on 24 October 2003.<ref>{{cite news |url = http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/uk/3211053.stm |title = End of an era for Concorde |publisher = BBC News |date = 24 October 2003}}</ref>
Since Concorde's retirement, Bannister has contributed significantly to the raising of over £350,000 for good causes{{clarify|date=September 2025}} by lectures, signings and personal contributions.{{cn|date=September 2025}} He holds voluntary roles including a Chair of School Governors of an independent school in Surrey, corporate non-executive directorships, lay chair of a parochial church council of the Anglican Church, and as a trustee of Brooklands Museum.{{cn|date=September 2025}}
He currently works for an aviation consultancy specialising in airline management and aircraft-related operational, safety, and security matters.{{cn|date=September 2025}}
He released a book, ''Concorde'', in 2022 in which he writes about his flying experiences especially his flying career on Concorde.{{cn|date=September 2025}}
==References== {{reflist}}
{{DEFAULTSORT:Bannister, Mike}} Category:1949 births Category:Living people Category:British aviators Category:Concorde pilots
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