A Pilot’s Career – The Spirit Airlines Collapse.
Image: Spirit Airlines. A Pilot’s Career – The Spirit Airlines Collapse. To some outsiders, the career of an airline pilot can seem like a linear pathway – learn to fly and get a job flying a jet. While some have that express path, for the …
Silent Witnesses.
Beaufort A9-557. (Image: AWM) Silent Witnesses. In their prime these two aircraft filled the air with the sound of their engines. Now, they are silent witnesses to past battles and the stories of those men that flew them. As I delve deeper into the research …
Why I Write.
Why I Write. To try and describe why I write in a “Short Thoughts” post seems counterintuitive. There are so many reasons, and a few hundred words seem at odds with providing adequate reasoning. However, I shall endeavour to make some sense of it all. …
More Than a Flight. The Air Mail Centenary.
More Than a Flight. The Air Mail Centenary In 2014 I was honoured to lead a flight to commemorate the centenary of air mail in Australia. Here are some words I wrote about a flight that will long live in my memory and served to …
From Apollo to Artemis.
From Apollo to Artemis. (Image from video. NASA) It’s 1969 and it’s a grainy memory. In fact, the strongest memory is that my brother was allowed to stay home from school. Like millions around the world, I was watching a grainy image on our black …
A Veteran’s Story.
A Veteran’s Story. (Image: Defence) In working with the RAAF History and Heritage branch, I was asked to compile this story for Defence from recollections captured by Monte Wilson. I have reproduced the article here but the link to the Defence website with additional images …
Living and Learning.
Living and Learning. I am often contacted by the parents of children with a passion for aviation and seek to pursue a career among the clouds. Without attempting to dampen that passion, I remind them that it is a vocation in which you never stop …
Credit Where Credit’s Due.
(Left Image Credit: Aussiepom) Credit Where Credit’s Due. My wife, Kirrily, recently passed 30 years service with the airline for which she flies. She was presented with a pin and some words printed on paper but they hardly captured what she had achieved in that …
On this Day…
On this Day… It’s just another day. February 6th comes and goes just as any other day would. However, for me, it will always hold special significance. For it was on this day in 1952 that my father came close to meeting his end over …
More than a Model.
More than a Model. It still holds pride of place in a display cabinet, more than half a century later. It is a tiny model of a Hawker Hurricane – nothing special to look at – but there hasn’t been a cabinet large enough ever …
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