Meet the Team

Nigel Willson

Nigel learnt to fly in 1985 with Horizon Flying at Ipswich Airport. He is a CAA flight instructor/examiner and ground instructor/examiner for initial licences and advanced ratings, Head of Training for an Approved Training Organisation, and Chief Pilot for Anglian War Birds. He also holds a Commercial Pilots Licence, Instrument, Night and Aerobatic Instructor Ratings, and teaches on all types of aircraft from open-cockpit tail-draggers to glass-cockpit rocket-ships. Nigel is an AOPA member and is on the AOPA Training & Education Working Group.

Being the designer and author of all of our courses (and this web site), Nigel produces these to a high professional standard that emphasises best practices, and great tips and techniques, as well as the required theoretical knowledge. Similarly, he produces and instructs his own additional flight training such as the Advanced PPL, Formation, and Short Strip courses as well as others. He is also an active aerobatic display pilot and air display organiser, so you may well see him on the air show scene.

He has over 8000 hours (including over 6000 instructional hours) on a wide variety of aircraft including all of the major manufacturer families of aircraft (nose-wheel and tail-wheel), vintage aircraft and warbirds (including Tiger Moths and Harvards), and some rare types such as Wassmer, Air Coupe, Staggerwing, Navion, Spitfire, ME108 and Yak52. Most of these are also displayed by Nigel.

Nigel is the users champion, and is responsible for the user journey experience of the site; usability and understandability (he assures us that is a real word) are key, so Nigel designs and writes the user interface to our Ground School System here.

Lee Merritt

The technology wizard behind Easy PPL Ground School, Lee has over 20 years' experience building dynamic system solutions on the internet.

He learnt to fly with John Pickering at Earls Colne in 2000 and has since flown extensively throughout the UK and Europe in his own PA28 Cherokee. He studied ATPL theoretical knowledge in-house at CAE Oxford Aviation Academy in Oxford and holds a Commercial Pilot's License.

Lee is a full-time professional flight instructor and CAA Examiner for initial licenses and advanced ratings, qualified as a PPL examiner, IR(R) examiner, TMG examiner, RT examiner and ground examiner. He is also a qualified night instructor and Instrument Rating instructor and holds both single and multi-engine piston ratings, IR(R) rating, FI(A) rating, CRI rating, IRI rating, FE rating, TMG rating, EASA aerobatics rating and night rating. When instructing, Lee always emphasises the need for all pilots to develop a high degree of situational awareness with an acute attitude towards safety from the very first lesson in the cockpit.

In his spare time, Lee enjoys solving puzzles and is interested in all things mathematical and musical.

Zoe Napier

Marketing genius behind not only her own business but also EasyPPLGroundSchool.com as well. Zoe's flair for her role is the envy of many in her business community. And to top it all, she's a pilot as well!

When not airborne, you'll find her in the driving seat of her horse - saddle or carriage, enjoying the countryside.