Happy 100th, Dad.
Happy 100th, Dad. Dad was never a fan of cricket, so the concept of reaching a century would certainly been alien to him. And yet, today would have marked 100 years since he was born into a farming life on Queensland’s Darling Downs. Little did …
Flight – Technology, Safety and Humanity
(Image: Simon Coates) Flight -Technology, Safety and Humanity. There is no disputing the enhancements in safety that technology has brought to aviation. One only has to consider the advent of Ground Proximity Warning Systems (GPWS) to appreciate the number of lives potentially saved by technology. …
Solo Flight
Solo Flight. i have spent the last two weeks training young pilots towards their first solo flight. The young girls and guys of the Australian Air Force Cadets never cease to impress me – both in the cockpit and on the ground. For all those …
Air Show Day is Family Day.
Air Show Day is Family Day. Last weekend RAAF Richmond air base celebrated its centenary with a sizeable air show. The base is home to the unit with which I serve as a Reservist, but the significance to our family lies much deeper. Kirrily’s father …
In Aviation – Check Your Ego.
In Aviation – Check Your Ego. I was told early in my aviation journey that when you think you know it all, you are dangerous. Flight itself is not inherently dangerous, but it can be brutally unforgiving and cracking the door open to complacency is …
Monsters. When a Father Dies.
“I’m not your son, you’re not my father We’re just two grown men saying goodbye” James Blunt – “Monsters” I don’t reflect on the small hours of July 31st, 1991. After 34 years it still seems too raw. I had seen my fair share …
Qantas Boeing 747 Farewell – 5 Years On.
The Qantas Boeing 747 Farewell – 5 Years On. It’s cliche…everybody says it…but where does the time go? Yet, on July 22nd it will be 5 years since we departed Sydney to fly the final Qantas Boeing 747 to its resting place in the Mojave …
Beyond a Woman at War.
A Woman at War. I am neck deep in my latest manuscript and as I alternate between research and writing, I seem to sink further into the story. Unbelievably, it is my mother’s story. When I began writing my father’s biography, “Without Precedent”, I …
We Never Stop Learning.
We Never Stop Learning. We never stop learning in aviation and the more I think about it, you never stop learning in life – or at least I think that you shouldn’t. My recent absence from posting any “Short Thoughts” has been due to undertaking …
Sixty Years On.
Sixty Years On. My late mother loved to recount how I was born at 8:30am in the midst of a violent thunderstorm. In my teenage years she blamed that storm on what she described as my belligerent traits – I prefer to think that I …
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