FOUNDERS
Captain Tristan Loraine BCAi
Tristan learnt to fly at the age of 17 whilst studying in Northern Ireland. He continued his pilot training in California at the Sierra Academy of Aeronautics and graduated as a commercial pilot. Tristan flew for over 10,000 hours on a variety of commercial jet airliners such as the Lockheed L-1011 TriStar, Boeing 737, 757 and 767.
At the age of 44, Tristan was ill-health retired as an airline captain with British Airways after repeated exposures to chemicals in the aircraft he flew. This was a year after completing his first Ironman triathlon event in Dorset, England.
Tristan was a union and Health & Safety representative for the British Airline pilots’ Association (BALPA) from 1998 to 2006. In 2006, Tristan started Fact Not Fiction Films Ltd and also became a founding Co-Chairman of the Global Cabin Air Quality Executive (GCAQE).
He was previously a Chairman of a World Wide Fund for Nature (WWF) Supporters Group and is currently a trustee for the Lucy Rayner Foundation.
He was awarded a British Citizen Award for Services to Industry (BCAi) at the inaugural BCA awards in 2015.
Dr Susan Michaelis (1962-2025)
Dr Susan Michaelis is a former Australian flight instructor and airline transport (ATPL) pilot with over 5,000 flying hours. She was recognised as a leading and uniquely qualified global aviation health and safety consultant and PhD researcher in the field of safety in the workplace - aircraft contaminated air supplies and hazardous substances.
Susan was ill health retired from exposure to chemicals aged 34 and diagnosed with lobular breast cancer in 2013, aged 51.
She was UK based and held an MSc in Air Safety and Accident Investigation and was a qualified Air Accident Investigator. She widely briefed industry, governments, military, regulators, academics, scientists, doctors, experts, lawyers and unions on the contaminated bleed air topic.
Dr Michaelis was awarded the top MSc academic award in 2017 for her work on how oil leaks past seals in turbine engines. She holds NEBOSH and COSHH qualifications in health and safety and the use of hazardous substances and is a member of IOSH and the International Institute of Risk and Safety Management (IIRSM).
She was awarded a British Citizen Award BCA(hon) in January 2023 in the House of Lords. The first Australian to receive the award and founded with her husband, the Lobular Moon Shot Project in May 2023.
​
A rose launched at the Chelsea flower show by Harkness Roses is named after her. The Dr Susan Michaelis rose and she is portrayed in many films and documentaries.