A New Perspective From An Airline Pilot

I have been a part of the aviation industry for just over 25 years. First learning to fly when I was 16 and moving through the industry from general aviation in outback Australia to regional airlines and then major airlines. My primary employment is an airline pilot for a major airline with a background in instructing. Then came COVID-19, the RPT portion of the industry was significantly impacted and, seemingly overnight, there was no longer enough work for airline pilots. I turned my attention to the RPAS sector of aviation, which did not appear to be as adversely affected by the pandemic. 

While investigating my options, I was contacted by Ross Anderson at Aviassist. Ross offered me the opportunity to join his team at Aviassist as an RPAS training specialist. At the time, I had a Remote Pilot Licence and a partnership with a friend casually conducting some RPAS operations. I wasn’t sure whether I was “specialist” material; however, Ross believed my industry experience was far more important than just time on the sticks. To quote Aviassist’s director, “flying the drone is the easy part, it’s just another aircraft; the hard part is appreciating what it means to be part of the aviation industry, and how to add value”.