Bob Berry, chairman and md of the Pilatus Centre UK, has chalked up 50 years in aviation. Having started his own business, he found himself stuck in traffic on a motorway in 1962.

"I knew then that I had to get above it all," recalls Berry, pictured above. Within two weeks he had purchased his own four-seat Cessna in which he learnt to fly.

After a long and varied career importing Commander and later Piper aircraft, Berry established the Pilatus centre at Bournemouth in 2005.

Looking to the future, he admits that he must follow his cardiac specialist's advice and take things a little slower, and concludes: "The reluctance of banks to lend has certainly slowed sales down.

"We sold six new and three pre-owned PC-12s in 2011, but could have doubled that number had potential customers had more support from the banks."