In 1989, Douglas Cairns was a Royal Air Force jet pilot and instructor at the age of 25 when he was diagnosed with type 1 diabetes, and consequently lost his flying career. In 2000 he regained the freedom to fly in the USA as a licensed private pilot, and in 2003 Douglas went on to complete Diabetes World Flight, a round-the-world flight. Since 2009 Douglas has run “Flying With Diabetes”, an initiative to raise positive awareness for pilots with diabetes, by setting solo and group aviation world records including “Diabetes Polar Flight” in 2011 to the North Pole and landing on the polar ice. Douglas is a co-founder of “Pilots With Diabetes”, an aviation policy advocacy group for pilots with insulin-treated diabetes. Douglas is passionate about raising positive awareness of diabetes and gives regular talks to conferences and meetings, highlighting that diabetes need not limit the scope of people’s dreams and ambitions.
