A commercial airline pilot who found himself unemployed as a result of the pandemic is now helping to fight Covid by working at one of the Scottish Ambulance Service’s Mobile Testing Units (MTUs).
Marcus Spinks, who has twenty-five years experience as a pilot and over 10,000 flying hours, is a Senior Operative at the Mobile Testing Unit at Altens in Aberdeen, one of 42 units run by the Service to ensure communities across Scotland have access to testing.
Marcus says: “I was introduced to the idea of the MTUs by a former colleague who knew I was looking for employment. After looking into the role, I thought by joining the MTUs I would be able to use my transferable skills in a positive way. This would give me the opportunity to do my part in the fight against the pandemic.”
After completing his pilot training in 1995, Marcus flew as a commercial pilot on Highland and Islands and UK domestic routes, and then across Europe – following in the footsteps of father, who was also a pilot.
Marcus qualified as a Captain in 2008, and in 2013 he switched to fly within the Oil and Gas industry for Eastern Airways from Aberdeen.

In 2019, Marcus relocated to Dublin to work as a commercial pilot again, where he flew across UK and Europe for Cityjet.
But in March 2020, when travel was halted around the globe following the pandemic, Marcus found himself grounded.
“Unfortunately, due to the dramatic downturn in aviation travel, the company I was employed with made the entire base redundant. This was a great shame as I was really enjoying the new opportunity I had been given by moving to Dublin.”
While he was forced to give up his dream job, Marcus has found that working at the MTU provides different challenges and job satisfaction.
“It’s great to see when you have made a different to someone’s day. Some people do arrive feeling apprehensive, nervous and distressed to a certain level. It’s great to be able to help them with their test by making them feel at ease and reassured they have nothing to worry about and they leave the MTU feeling much happier. The good comradeship with my fellow team members as it has brought people from many different environments together.”
While Marcus enjoys the challenges of working for the MTUs, he still hopes that he will be able to fly again, once the travel industry is on track for recovery.
He says: “Aviation has given me some fantastic experiences, I’ve worked within great teams and made good friends in many countries. I’ve been very lucky to see some spectacular views from my office window.”
Find out more about SAS’s Mobile Testing Units here.
Before you go...
We need your help. As former emergency services & armed forces personnel, we pride ourselves on bringing you important, fast-moving and breaking news stories & videos which are free from the negative bias which is often directed at the emergency services & NHS by some sections of the mainstream media.
One of the reasons we started 'Emergency Services News' back in 2018 was because we became tired of reading badly informed stories about the emergency services & NHS which seemed only ever to highlight negative aspects of the job.
We want to be the unheard voice of the remarkable men and women who serve in the emergency services, NHS and armed forces. And with around 500k page views each month, we are getting there!
As income from ads, the mainstay source of income for most publishers, continues to decline; we need the help of you, our readers.
You can support emergency services news from as little as £1. It only takes a minute. Every contribution, however big or small, is vital for our future.
Please help us to continue to highlight the life-saving work of the emergency services, NHS and armed forces by becoming a supporter.