Centurion

And while we’re not as old as some, we’ve been around long enough to have seen significant changes in the way pilots are trained and the way their careers unfold, even though the fundamentals remain the same.

Looking back on a pilot’s career (so far)

In our day it was Macchis for Intro Fighter Course then F/A-18A or F-111, DHC-4 Caribou, C-130E/H Hercules, P-3C Orions and Squirrels, Seahawks and Sea Kings. Now it’s Hawk 127 for Intro Fighter Course then Super Hornets/Growlers (and F-35 in the not too distant future), C-27J Spartan, C-130J Hercules, C-17 Globemaster, KC‑30 MRTT, P-8 Poseidon, MH‑60R and MRH-90. The difference in operational capabilities between the two eras is almost beyond comprehension.

The majority of No 151 Pilots Course students came together as the first course to complete their degrees at the Australian Defence Force Academy, between 1986 to 1988 (our 30-year reunion is coming up at the end of the year!).

A number of direct entry pilot trainees joined the group in early 1989 at RAAF Base Point Cook where we learned to love strapping in to the CT-4 ‘Plastic Parrot’. Not everyone went solo, and a couple didn’t graduate from No 1 Flying Training School.

(Not long after the pilots’ dispute in late 1989 meant there were a lot of pilots looking for a job.)

Our course was the first to train on the PC-9/A. Most flew the Macchi, but a small group of trial trainees – we called them ‘the Cotton Wool Club’ – tested out the new aircraft and syllabus which are still in use today (but about to undergo another generational change with the introduction of the PC-21).

Back then we watched training videos on VCRs, not YouTube, and slides on the overhead projector, not Powerpoint. There were no computers, and ‘soft copy’ wasn’t a thing – everything was written or printed on paper.

“You’ll learn a lot” and “you can always re-role if you prove yourself”. So I set about to do both

Most of the students who started No 151 Pilots Course graduated on July 7 1990. I turned 21 while at No 2FTS, and to my great disappointment, as I wanted to fly F-111s, I was posted to fly Caribous with 38 Squadron at RAAF Base Richmond. People said “you’ll learn a lot” and “you can always re-role if you prove yourself”. So I set about to do both.

I had a great time flying the Caribou around Australia, New Zealand and Papua New Guinea, and learnt a lot about flying as well. I remember flying to New Zealand and using the drift sight to work out our ground speed, and taking one of the first portable GPS receivers on a trip to PNG and not being able to find some airstrips because the maps were so inaccurate (compared with the GPS). The potential for geographic embarrassment changed forever with GPS. In terms of flightplanning, the only way to get weather and NOTAMs and file a flightplan back then was via a fax or on the phone (remember DECTALK?).

There were numerous highlights, but some very deep lows as well. In the early ’90s, the Australian Defence Force experienced a number of fatal aircraft accidents, including an F-111 at Guyra. I flew a Caribou into a nearby airstrip with people on board who were tasked with searching the site for the remains of our friends. I will never forget the sight or the smell of the accident site.

After a couple of short ground jobs, I eventually convinced the ‘powers that be’ to let me try to be a fighter pilot, so I learned to fly the Macchi again and went to Introductory Fighter Course. I’ll never forget being told after one fairly ordinary flight, “I think we can save you” – from being suspended from the course. There’s nothing like the pressure of having to avoid two fail rides in a row to keep you focused!

During this time, emails, the internet (dial-up!) and (analog) mobile phones changed the way we communicated.

After a few months flying fleet support from RAAF Base Pearce in Macchis, I finally achieved my ambition of flying the F-111. Our course was the first to learn to fly on aircraft that had upgraded under the Avionics Update Program (AUP). This program, among other things, gave us the use of more than one waypoint at a time. Yes, the ‘Classic’ F-111 had one waypoint, and an INS that drifted a lot! We also got multifunction displays, mission computers, electronic flight planning systems and all sorts of ‘modern’ upgrades to make our job easier.

I was lucky enough to fly all variants of the F-111C, drop bombs on America (under exercise conditions of course), and fly at 2.2 times the speed of sound at 50,000ft.

In my last job as standards officer for the F-111 Wing, I was the F-111 subject matter expert for the Aviation Risk Management Project, which was aimed at embedding formal risk management into decision-making for all Defence flying operations – a good idea given the number of fatal accidents that had happened in the ’90s. I was also involved in facilitating human factors (crew resource management) training, which was interesting given the attitudes of some towards involving crew members of lower experience or rank in decisionmaking processes. It’s always a challenge to be the captain of an aircraft and have a superior officer as your co-pilot/crew member.

‘Yes, the ‘Classic’ F-111 had one waypoint, and an INS that drifted a lot!’

Eventually the prospect of having to move into more desk-bound roles led to a successful application to Qantas. I had spent 15 years in the military preparing for active service but never did it for real.

Virgin Blue had started up in November 1999. Ansett, which enjoyed a reputation as a great place to work, offered me a position on its second officer hold file just after I started with Qantas, which, luckily, I didn’t accept. In early 2001 I learned to be a Boeing 747-200/300 second officer and operate the nightmare of old-fashioned dials and switches called the flight engineer’s panel.

In September 2001 Ansett parked all its aircraft and a lot of pilots found themselves looking for jobs.

After a couple of privileged years getting to know Rome, Frankfurt, a number of Japanese cities, Hawaii, Singapore and Bangkok among others, a promotion to fly Boeing 737-300/400s and eventually the -800 beckoned. This job moved from practising night circling approaches from non-runway aligned approaches to highly accurate RNAV (RNP) approaches in Australia and the nearby region. The simulator for the newer aircraft was a quantum leap from the old ones.

Qantas started Jetstar in 2003 as an opportunity to move towards a new business model. This is the time when datal seniority for promotion became a thing of the past, along with being paid while gaining an endorsement on an aircraft.

Even so, in the last decade, SkyAirWorld, OzJet, Strategic, Macair, JetGo and numerous other airlines stopped operating after promising starts. In 2009, after the GFC, there simply wasn’t enough flying for everyone and the airlines that survived were offering surplus pilots leave without pay.

So, with a desire to solve complex problems and be in charge of my own schedule, I took some leave and set about establishing my own consulting firm. Aviation Projects has grown from a desk in the laundry of my house to a highly specialised group of experts providing advice about airport planning, operations and management and aviation safety across Australia and the region.

My role as a consultant allows me to apply my knowledge of flying operations to the broader objectives of safe, secure, efficient and sustainable development of the aviation industry as a whole. The decision to leave flying was financially easy but emotionally quite difficult. I’m working on a plan to start flying again, privately and for fun – I miss going upside down. Now I’ll need to work out how to use an EFB for flightplanning and viewing charts on a screen rather than old fashioned paper.

Only in the last year or so has airline pilot recruiting recommenced, and there is a now a serious worldwide pilot shortage. It’s a good time for young enthusiastic men and women to start their journeys in aviation.

A lot has changed, but the fundamentals have stayed the same.

At gatherings of pilots around the world, there will be no shortage of things that could be improved. Things are never as good as they were in the old days or could be if only [insert problem from drop down list] was sorted out. There is still the same spirit of adventure, of hard work and commitment, a desire to learn, the innate sense of self-preservation, pilot recruitment cycles, and seemingly constant change.

And although you don’t always get what you want, I’ve learnt that one thing leads to another, and if you want something enough and do the work, you’ll achieve it.