Helen Seymour

Trailblazer Helen was the first female Typhoon pilot and went on to serve as a fighter pilot for over 20 years. Her journey to becoming a pilot was unconventional and not without setback! She failed the first series of pilot tests, but despite this her resilience shone through and she went onto pass the tests, give up her medical training and follow her dream of being a pilot. So, she embarked on her career, first as a front-line Tornado F3 pilot before transferring to the Typhoon. She has been involved in delivering air defence in the form of Quick Reaction Alert to the UK, the Falkland Islands and for NATO in the Baltic states; on standby to get airborne to intercept any airborne threats. Over the years she has served on operations as part of the liberation of Libya and has taken part, and held the role of Mission Commander, in many multi-national exercises world-wide.

Helen was a Typhoon Simulator Instructor before becoming a Qualified Flying Instructor and Flight Commander on the Typhoon Operational Conversion Unit. She has held the position of Standards and Evaluation, responsible for all flying standards within the Typhoon Force.

In her final role in the RAF, she was an Evaluator Pilot on the Typhoon Test Sqn; responsible for the safe and effective introduction of new equipment and capability to the warfighter on the Typhoon Force. This included missile firing, weapon dropping and many complex and highly pressured radar, avionic and test profiles. She was the lead pilot for the Typhoon defensive aids system.

Helen recently left the RAF and now holds a training consultant role with a major defence contracting company. Her experience and qualifications are now used to plan and run the capstone exercises which the RAF utilises to train its best/leading warfighters of the future.