I haven't always known that I wanted to be a helicopter pilot. In hindsight there were many signs along the way and I thought I'd take a moment to reflect on the journey that has lead me onwards and upwards. When I was a wee lad I didn't have much skill in drawing (not that this has changed!) but I always loved to draw a simple helicopter for people as a gift. One of my aunties cottoned on to my passion and knitted me a nice warm jumper when I was about five years old with a helicopter knitted on the front.
It wasn't until after I finished high school that I even began asking myself what I wanted to do with my life. I undertook a year of Engineering at University but quickly established that this wasn't the career for me. The following Summer during a family holiday at Mallacoota (in the northeast of Victoria) an intense electrical storm developed whilst I was sitting on the balcony of the holiday home. I'd always enjoyed a good storm so I was in my state of awe for mother nature and it was as if the literal shock of the lightning bolts ignited the light globe hovering over my head. This storm had awoken my dormant passion for the skies. Since I was on the search for my future I did a bit of research and found that the University that I had been attending just so happened to offered a stream of science called "Atmospheric Science". I changed courses immediately.
It was around the same time that my folks also gave me a TIF (trial introductory flight) in a fixed-wing aircraft at Tooradin, a small country town north and east of my home town of Balnarring. I remember the feeling that took over me, the feeling one gets when flying in the front seat of an aircraft for the first time. Before me lay all these cool instruments, buttons, gadgets and switches and the view beyond the cockpit continued to expand with the features of the Earth rapidly getting smaller. Once airborne and straight and level I took control of the ship and gave it a bit of a workout before the instructor brought me safely back to earth.
That was it, I'd caught the bug and the dream had been awoken deep within. From then on I began to save and researched about getting my license. I wasn't sure if I wanted to fly commercially and was still enjoying my studies in science so I balanced saving my coin, flying towards a private license (when I could afford it) and completing my degree. There was one point where I took a semester off from my studies so that I could complete the training and in 2007 I passed the test and received my "wings" (private pilots license aeroplane (PPL-A)).
I took a number of passengers up including family and some friends. One of the most memorable passengers and someone who has been very encouraging throughout my aviation endeavours was my Grandad. I remember us both clambering into the small aircraft on a warm day and igniting the engine. Grandad was obviously excited and if there were nerves regarding flying with his low-hour grandson he hid them well. We took off from Moorabin airport and flew around the training area. Upon returning to the airfield we made the final approach with not a word said between us, the tension felt high for this final maneuver. It was immediately after a very smooth touchdown on the runway that Grandad let out a "beautiful landing Jonno!" with a hint of a relief in his tone.
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| The day I took Grandad up at Moorabin airport
(Grandad tried finding a photo of the two of us but it's been buried in
the labarynth of family photos, thanks for this one Grandad!) |
The following photos were taken on the day I took my aunty and cousin up from Tyabb. I remember it being a fairly warm day and there was much excitement as I took them on the "Peninsula tour" (one that became a popular route with a lot of my passengers). Thanks Belinda and Helena for digging these out of the archives!
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| The Cessna 172 was hand towed; |
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| hand fuelled; |
I went on another flight in a helicopter with my little bro, Cabs. This time it was a scenic flight over some vineyards in the Yarra valley northeast of Melbourne and a beautiful memory with my youngest sibling.
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| Cabs and I on our flight over the Yarra valley |
I began looking into the costs to become a commercial helicopter pilot and was disheartened when I realised just how much money I was going to need to fund this ambition. There are two avenues to become a helicopter pilot; you can either join the forces and become a helicopter pilot in the defence sector or you can pay for it yourself. I did think long and hard about this decision since getting all that training whilst getting paid for it was very enticing but whenever I imagined myself in the forces it just rubbed against me the wrong way. So, as a personal preference, I decided to put coin after hard-earned coin into the piggy bank and take the longer and more expensive road to the sky.
Once I completed my studies I was lucky enough to have finished with a degree that could land me an interesting, enjoyable, challenging and well-paid job without further studies. The Bureau of Meteorology takes on a handful (well in my year there were 25 of us) of "metlets" (meteorologists in training) each year who then undertake the year-long diploma of meteorology at the Bureau of Met training school. This was a really interesting year, applying all of my studies to date into the worthwhile field of meteorology which has a direct impact on the community. At the end of the course I was shipped off to Perth to enter the forecasting sphere and have been here ever since. The Perth regional office provides all forecast and warning services to the state of Western Australia, the largest State (1/3 of Australia) resulting in a very diverse range of weather systems (tropical cyclones up north to cold fronts down south) and hence a very interesting part of the world to forecast for.
Working as meteorologist has gone hand in hand with some of my aviation theory (I write the aviation forecasts and warnings), it has paid for the flight training and has been an enjoyable and rewarding experience. Whether or not I continue on as a meteorologist is still to be decided but I certainly have some pretty strong desires of following the rotating disk into the sky as frequently as I can! :) At the moment it's a matter of continuing in my current role until my debts are paid. Meanwhile I'll be probing the industry for jobs for low-hour pilots, most likely in the tourism sector.
Bringing things back to the present, my old man is visiting from Melbourne and it was only two days since I'd passed my test that he became the lucky (and brave!) first passenger. We flew from Jandakot to Fremantle, then did a loop around the Perth CBD before tracking directly for Rottnest Island. The water was a beautiful crystal blue and this was my first flight over water in a helicopter. We landed at Rottnest for a quick drink before making the return journey home.
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| The happy camper after his first ride in a chopper |
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| Mid-flight between Rottnest island and Fremantle |
