Philippe Delbecq was born in 1951, the son of an aviator and former WWII RAF Spitfire pilot.

Taken by the aviation bug and deeply immersed in the aviation ambiance of the 1950s, Philippe held his first 'stick' aged 17 on his father's own Beechcraft 18 in the Belgian Congo where the family was established.

After obtaining his wings at the Red Baron Flight Academy in Fort Worth Texas in 1971, Philippe returned to Africa where he flew notably for Air Zaire, his career taking off as an F/O on DC-4s. With the arrival of the Boeing 737-200, Philippe seized the opportunity to move to jets and flew several hundred hours as an F/O on that aircraft, across the Congo/Zaire and Africa.

The acquisition by Air Zaire of additional Fokker-27s presented another opportunity for Philippe who quickly obtained his first captainship on that aircraft. The war in Angola saw Philippe fly a number of covert missions for the CIA-backed FNLA of Holden Roberto. The ensuing victory of the communist-backed MPLA marked Philippe (who rarely mentioned the war) and made him 'persona non grata' in Angola until the end of his life. Philippe's career continued to expand however and he accumulated several thousand hours flying Fokker-27s throughout Zaire, often landing in such remote places as Bunia, Isiro, Butembo and other bush runways. With the collapse of the Zaire economy Philippe briefly moved his family to Luxembourg (flying Metro IIIs) but the call of Africa proved too strong and the family returned to Kinshasa in 1989 where Philippe rejoined Air Zaire. The riots of 1991 saw the family leave for good, and Philippe obtained a new position flying 737-200s for the expanding Gulf Air in Bahrain.

The following years saw Philippe grow his career from 737-200s to the new Airbus 320s, taking on growing training responsibilities in the process. In 1998 Philippe moved to Air Mauritius out of Port Louis, taking on Instructor duties on the newly acquired A340 aircraft, eventually reaching a great deal of responsibility within the airline. A new opportunity came along when Etihad Airways approached Philippe in 2002 asking him to help with the establishment of the new national carrier of the United Arab Emirates. Putting aside various personal tragedies, Philippe contributed enormously to the development of Etihad Airway's high-flying standards, reaching industry-wide notoriety as a champion of consistency in aviation practices and ethics in a transitional era for aviation as a whole. In a career which spanned from piston engines to fly-by-wire technology, Philippe marvelled at the ingenuity of Man and deeply admired American pioneers in the industry such as the Wright Brothers, Neil Armstrong, Michael Collins and others.

Philippe contracted lymphoma in 2018 and after a fierce battle against the disease, passed away surrounded by his family on 12 November 2019. Deeply mourned by friends and colleagues across the globe, he was remembered as one of the last 'gentlemen pilots', a highly experienced bush and long-haul aviator, and a leading figure in the development of flying standards and ethics.