6 Foot Hole – 8 Foot Ladder.
Six-Foot Hole – Eight-Foot Ladder. If we have two things in common, it’s that we are all human and we all make mistakes. As the saying goes, nobody’s perfect. If there is one thing that I have noticed since becoming a simulator instructor, it is …
Congratulations!
Congratulations! I celebrated my wife’s 30 years as an airline pilot earlier in 2026 in the post titled, “Credit Where Credit’s Due”. In that post I detailed the sacrifices that she’d made along her career path and all that she had achieved both in and …
QF7474. Farewell to the Qantas Queen of the Skies. (Part 2)
QF7474. Farewell to the Qantas Queen of the Skies. (Part 2) BEST LAID PLANS The retirement of the Boeing 747 from the QANTAS ranks was inevitable. While it was still loved by the travelling public and its crews alike, its generation was being replaced by …
QF7474. Farewell to the Qantas Queen of the Skies. (Part 1)
QF7474. Farewell to the Qantas Queen of the Skies. (Part 1) A hallmark of the aerospace industry is its dynamic and ever-evolving nature. A little over a century has passed since the Wright Brothers made their momentous flights at Kitty Hawk in frail machines of …
Returning to Ground Zero – The 9/11 Memorial.
Returning to Ground Zero – The 9/11 Memorial. In 2001, life was very different. Kirrily and I had only been married for four years, our children were yet to be born and I was flying Boeing 737s for Ansett Australia. To this backstory we stood …
It’s All Relative.
It’s All Relative. It’s midnight in Sydney and 7am in San Francisco. 13 hours of flight time and 6512 nautical miles separate them. The world outside the flight deck is black, void of our friend the moon, who unknowingly illuminates the towering clouds for us …
Flight Simulators – Friend or Foe?
Flight Simulators – Friend or Foe? They represent an incredible asset in the world of flight training and safety – and yet they can simultaneously be the device that pilots love to hate. I was ten years old when I had my first brush with …
In Reserve.
In Reserve. Sometimes anniversaries can slip by unnoticed. Sometimes this is not a good thing but at other times it is because you are so engrossed with the activity, that the day passes by without recognition. So it was for the day that marked …
You Get Out What You Put In.
You Get Out What You Put In. It was January in Sydney and I was sweltering in my suit with a tie that was doing its best to choke me. I was just one lad in rows of grey uniforms sitting in the Centenary Hall …
If These Walls Could Speak.
If These Walls Could Speak. This week marked 98 years since Kingsford Smith and his crew crossed the Pacific Ocean. It was an epic undertaking that left an even greater mark upon me when I was able to sit in the Southern Cross and appreciate …
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