An air ambulance's first female pilot is flying the helicopter - she helped design.

Hannah Nobbs studied aerospace engineering at Southampton University and landed a job at Augusta Westland, now Leonardo.

She was involved in the design of the AW169, the same aircraft she flies today - for Dorset and Somerset Air Ambulance (DSAA).

Hannah passed her pilot's license in 2005 but due to the significant cost of maintaining the license it took 15 years to reach her goal of becoming a commercial pilot.

During her time working in Yeovil, she started volunteering with DSAA - giving talks and presentations to interested groups and helping at events.

"I became more and more interested in the charity and how it was governed", she said. "Several years later, I started serving as a trustee.

"I continued this role when I left AgustaWestland to work for the RNLI in their Innovation Team on the future life-saving programme, exploring the use of drones for Search and Rescue."

advertisement

Hannah later saw a co-pilot role advertised at DSAA, and she applied.

"I was interviewed and then assessed in a simulator before finding out that all my efforts were worth it", she added. "I was offered one of the co-pilot roles, however it was conditional on the completion of the instrument course.

"Obviously, this was a massive motivation to finishing the course, but definitely added to the test nerves."

After a month of working in the role, Hannah said she's "loved every second".

"It has been a huge privilege to work with such an amazing crew and be able to serve the community of Dorset and Somerset that welcomed me many years ago.

"There are not many people that get the chance to fly an aircraft they have helped to develop, so it is extra special to me that Peggy [the charity's aircraft name] is now my colleague."