Opinion: The Road to Racing and Aerobatics

Sometimes I look back at where I was and can’t believe the opportunities and experiences that have come my way so far.

Ambition

While I was getting my hours up for my commercial licence, I went to our local air show, the Old Station Fly In at Raglan, and saw Matt Hall putting his Extra through its paces in his high energy display. I told my dad that I wanted to do that one day. He knew Matt, so organised a quick chat with him. I listened. When I achieved my commercial licence, I traded my life as I knew it and headed to Victoria from Rockhampton for my first job: flying a tourism Ag Cat at the 12 Apostles, working on a commission-based pay scheme. It taught me the tight margins of aviation and to appreciate the reward of flying more than the award of pay. I continued to work on my experience and licences with the belief that you need to be ready for opportunity and that being prepared is a result of continuous improvement.

Opportunity

It was in this cycle of preparedness when my biggest opportunity presented itself. I was doing my IFR course when one of my fellow students, a friend of Matt’s, mentioned that Matt Hall Racing (MHR) was in the market for a new pilot to assist in the business. My first reaction was there was no point in applying because I was too junior, inexperienced, and because I just wasn’t good enough. But I caught myself and decided it would be an opportunity gone begging if I didn’t have that conversation … you never know unless you try.

The job offer turned out to be a little different — ground support and office management. But it would involve some flying, helping the team move between events ,and being able to pick people up in the company twin Comanche. While it wasn’t exactly what I was looking for, Matt seemed happy enough with my experience. I knew that if I turned it down, I would regret it for the rest of my life. So off I went to beautiful Lake Macquarie.

The job quickly became a full-time flying job due to the workload within the company. My office management job was filled by a full-time person, and I was off every day in the Twin Comanche and the Cessna 303 Crusader. Matt then gave me a conversion onto the Extra and allowed me to commence aerobatic joy flight operations with customers.

When Matt purchased his B200 King Air, he told me I could sit in on the conversion course with him, though it wouldn’t guarantee I would get a rating. Taking the opportunity with both hands, I studied harder than I ever had and was able to pass the course and go on to become the head of operations on fleet at MHR, including the MXS race plane.

Motivation

My motivation was fuelled further by the opportunity to train with Matt for race operations, which put me on a path to gaining selection for the new Air Race series academy. I went to the United Kingdom in 2021 and successfully qualified as one of eight race pilots in the world. This is huge for me and, deep down, my ultimate ambition in aviation is to race.

Finally, this year, I was able to fulfil my long-term goal of displaying at an air show, which happened to be my home show at The Old Station Fly In at Raglan with my family watching and Matt on my wing. As always, there is more training and learning ahead of me, but I aim to do a lot more of this work in the future.

The reason I write all this is to show everyone that where there is ambition, motivation, opportunity and a tonne of grit, anything is possible. It’s too easy to doubt yourself; to make excuses that you aren’t good enough and not try; to avoid failure by not committing rather than by hard work. Don’t let people tell you what you can’t do — decide for yourself and have a crack. The sky is not the limit.