THE NEW RAAUS ASSISTANT HEAD OF FLIGHT OPERATIONS
My first memories of aviation go back to me as a young boy under the age of eight watching my father and brother playing with control line model aircraft on our family property, about 10 kilometres outside of a little town called Jindera, in NSW. The idea of going round and round did my head and stomach in.
On my 13th birthday, I received my first model aircraft project, a kit-built NOT ARF (Almost Ready to Fly) “Hustler Mark 3” box of balsa. Excited was an understatement, the idea of flying this aircraft and the adventures this 13-year-old kid was going to have. After a two-year pause, I finally found a place to build it. Over the coming weekends, my father and I built the table that would be the stage for building and repairing many models to come. After the aircraft was built it took another two years to obtain the engine and radio (more birthday presents).
Then it was time to learn how to fly this magical bit of gear, with an old school instructor. Handing over, taking over, literally handing the radio control unit back and forth. This is where my real love for aviation began.
About five years later I visited the gliding club in Corowa NSW and started gliding training but my stomach was still ruling my head and after around ten flights (with the longest about three minutes long), I decided I preferred an engine out the front.
Life got in the way, as is often the case. It wasn’t until I was about 24 years old that I started to learn to fly fixed wing aircraft at Albury NSW, and obtained my Private Pilot Licence (PPL). I furthered my aviation training at Wangaratta VIC, adding tailwheel and constant speed propeller endorsements and dabbling with basic aerobatics. Again however, my stomach decided aerobatics wasn’t for me.
By this time, I was married and living on the Central Coast with the opportunity of a lifetime in the aviation world, working for a charter company. This included the usual tasks, washing cars and planes, and over the next 12 years this company provided me with the privilege of travelling Australia, meeting and working with some amazing, fascinating people and gaining my Commercial Pilot Licence (CPL) with multi-engine, IFR, turbine and instructor rating.
COVID changed the course of my life again, and in 2020 I joined the Paul Bennet Airshows team, working with Aerohunter Flight Training in Cessnock NSW, a new flight training school. By the end of 2020 I was the RAAus CFI with one training aircraft, and by the start of 2023 we were operating four aircraft. I was working towards a waterborne endorsement, as the concept of flying and operating on water fascinates me.
I’m now close to six months working with RAAus in my new role and I’m absolutely loving life. I’m looking forward to the opportunities to learn new things, travel to new places and meet our members. I’m looking forward to giving back, not only to RAAus as an organisation but also to our members. So, if you see me at an airport
somewhere, give me a wave and let’s catch up!
