A DAD arrived at his daughters’ school in spectacular style to teach youngsters about the life of a pilot.

Lt Cmdr Simon Bratby landed a Royal Navy Lynx helicopter in the field of Milborne St Andrew First School and gave pupils a chance to have a look inside.

The excited youngsters had a go at sitting in the pilot’s seat of the impressive machine and were given a talk by Lt Cmdr Bratby and his colleague Lt Chris Chambers.

Lt Cmdr Bratby told the youngsters that the helicopter costs £7 million and £4,000 an hour to fly.

He told the children: “It’s harder to start out flying a helicopter than it is with a plane because flying it is like juggling balls.”

The twin jet engine helicopter belongs to the Fleet Air Arm 702 squadron based at Yeovilton.

Lt Cmdr Bratby said: “A lot of these helicopters are out in Afghanistan at the moment.

“It’s less common these days to be able to take them to schools, although sometimes we take them to secondary schools for recruitment purposes.”

His proud daughters Louisa, six, and Helena, five, cheered their dad when he touched down in the field.

Deputy head teacher Audrey Andrews said the school’s parents’ days have been a roaring success – but this one was most likely to stick in their memories.

“They will be writing about the experience in class and we are expecting some good accounts of the helicopter, because this has all been so real for them,” she said.

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