September 11, 2025 • 14 mins
Flying small planes in regional areas isn’t just about freedom and breathtaking views - it’s about responsibility, ongoing training, and staying sharp to prevent serious accidents. This week we hear from a Uni SA aviation tutor and a commercial pilot who has been in the skies for 6 decades.
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Speaker 1 (00:01):
My Heart Essay.
Speaker 2 (00:03):
Hi, I'm Jackie Limb with iHeart Essay. Today we're taking
to the skies. Flying small planes in regional areas isn't
just about freedom and breathtaking views. It's about responsibility, ongoing
(00:23):
training and staying sharp to prevent serious accidents. So buckle
up as we take a closer look at the risks
pilot's face and what's being done to keep our country
skies safe. Plus, I have a chat with a legend
of aviation in essay, a man who's spent six decades
in the cockpit. At eighty three years old, he's just
hung up his headset after flying for sixty years and
(00:46):
his stories are remarkable to say the least. But first,
a new report into aviation training and the factors that
lead to serious accidents has recently been released. It comes
as a young man was killed this week after crashing
in the Air Peninsula while flying a crop spraying plane
Port Lincoln. Father Jared Waite was only thirty six years
old when the Red Air Tractor aircraft he was flying
(01:08):
crashed north of Cummons. The Australian Transport Safety Bureau has
launched an investigation examining the wreckage flight data and weather conditions.
Our reporter Chris Gascott, spoke to lead researcher and aviation
professor from UNISA, Emma Sheffield, who explains where they're up
to with the findings of the report and what recommendations
(01:29):
will be laid out to keep pilots safe into the future.
Speaker 3 (01:32):
Commercial aviation, particularly the airlines, does get a lot of
research attention. General aviation does tend to be under explored,
so being aware of the accident rate, I was really
interested in starting to understand and try and unpack what
are the factors that lead to these accidents, so we
can use that knowledge to understand where we need to
look in the future and how we can address some
(01:53):
of these factors as well.
Speaker 1 (01:54):
So within this you mentioned that human factors do play
a significant part, as you might have managed for pilots
who are a little bit more inexperienced. I'd say that
probably wouldn't be surprised from your background.
Speaker 3 (02:04):
The human factors were cited in more than half of
the studies that we reviewed, so it is a common thread.
This was particular in cases like pilot error, poor decision making,
reduced situational awareness, and these were exaggerated in situations of
poor weather and we're flying at night as well.
Speaker 1 (02:21):
The main crux of the conversation around this is then
how do we address this, So what have you seen
within this to say, well, if we do X, y
and z, this will be able to make pilots safer
and we'll be able to hopefully reduce some of the
injuries and fatalities.
Speaker 3 (02:36):
So one common thread that came out as well was
particularly for private pilots, they may fly in frequently, particularly
if aviation is just a hobby. If you're not flying
very often, studies have found that your skills will decline
very rapidly after breaks from flying. So one really important
takeaway from our studies is that private pilots are making
efforts to try and stay current, so even if they're
(02:58):
not able to necessarily fly in the air because that
can be costly, things like trying to access flight simulators
which are a lower cost option, using online training to
try and gain some more knowledge in the field, attending
industry seminars, but really just making proactive efforts to try
and stay on top of your aviation knowledge and skills
(03:18):
as a private pilot was really important.
Speaker 1 (03:20):
Are you able to fill me in on what the
bare minimum is for you to continue to have a license.
Is it once you get your license that will continue
to be ongoing or there or certain things you need
to hit criteria before you can continue to fly.
Speaker 3 (03:32):
So for private activities, once they get their license, they
are required to do a light review to maintain their license,
But between the actual initial issue of the license and
the flight review, depending on the activities they're undertaking, generally
there's no requirement.
Speaker 1 (03:47):
So do we need to mandate to have more activity
put within the middle there to be able to have
people be forced to be current At the moment, it's more.
Speaker 3 (03:57):
Trying to really encourage pilots to proactively those efforts themselves
because flying can be quite costly. So depends on the
resources available to the pilots to whether or not they
can get more AIRSIGME. So it is not necessarily a
question of changing the regulation, more so disencouraging pilots to
be proactive.
Speaker 1 (04:15):
Okay, do you think there are enough workshops around the
place for people, let's say, especially out in regional areas.
Are there enough tools in place for people to utilize that? Now?
Do you think we'd need to increase those to be
able to incentivize people to do it more.
Speaker 3 (04:28):
Yeah, I definitely do think we do need to investigate
different methods of delivering training. So there are sort of
some workshops that you can participate in online which removes
the barrier for regional pilots. But I do think that
we do need to be looking at different methods of
delivering training to try and make it more accessible, particularly
for those regional What that is at the moment we
need to look into further, but it is definitely a
(04:50):
gap that does need to be addressed.
Speaker 2 (04:52):
We'll have more coming up after the break.
Speaker 4 (04:56):
Essay Essay Welcome back.
Speaker 2 (05:02):
This week, we're talking about the importance of staying sharp
in the skies, especially for regional pilots where the flying
can be as unpredictable as the weather. Pilot. Kevin Warren
has spent sixty years flying and has done everything from
crop dusting to charter flights. At eighty three, keV, who
was the owner operator of Lincoln Air Charter, has just
retired from commercial flying and I was lucky enough to
(05:24):
have a chat with him to reflect on a lifetime
in the cockpit.
Speaker 4 (05:27):
I was born and lived in Renmark until I came
over here in nineteen sixty nine I came to Port Lincoln.
Renmark was only a few miles relatively by air from Mildura,
which was quite a largeaf aircraft training base for pilots
(05:48):
transitioning to fighter aircraft and going on up into New
Guinea and into the Pacific. During the war in nineteen
forty two, forty three and so on, they used to
use ren Mark regularly is a bit of a practice,
and beat the town up quite a bit. Initially, as
a very young child, I was terrified. They were very
noisy and he had very threatening to me, as I recall.
(06:12):
But then at the end of the war, which would
have been in nineteen forty five, when I was about three,
there was an occasion when there were lots of aeroplanes
flying around outside. The sky sind me full of aeroplanes.
I can only imagine it was celebrations for the end
of the World War II in the Pacific. Dad was
home and he put me on his shoulders and we
(06:33):
walked out to the front of the house on the
front lawn. For the first time in my life, I
was just all struck by these aeroplanes all flying around.
There was something clicked in my brain then that that's
where my destiny is up there. I want to be there,
and I sort of spent the rest of my life
sort of chasing that along until I was able to
gain the dream in nineteen sixty five and it's all
(06:55):
gone on from there.
Speaker 2 (06:56):
Not many people know what they want to do that
young at an age, so that's pretty amazing that you
were able to follow through.
Speaker 1 (07:03):
Yeah.
Speaker 2 (07:03):
Wow. So how old were you when you first got
behind the controls of a plane.
Speaker 4 (07:08):
If you like, twenty four?
Speaker 2 (07:09):
Twenty four? Wow? Wow? And so since then you've done
all sorts and you know, you've helped spot bushfires and
you've flown tourists. What's some of your highlights?
Speaker 4 (07:20):
Crraky, There's a lot of highlights in sixty years of flying.
But I've been very fortunate to have a career which
has touched so many bases. I mean, I've been involved
in the tuna spotting industry to what I initially came
to Port Lincoln for. In the early years. When I
first came to Port Lincoln, the company that I worked for,
Commodore Aviation, had the contract to fly patients to Adelaide
(07:45):
when we had medical emergencies. This is in the days
before the Flying Doctor was based down in these southern areas,
so we used to fly patients back and forth to Adelaide,
maybe two adelaid rather than coming back, and I enjoyed that.
We've got frequently called out at all hours of the
day and night to take people over. And then we
(08:09):
went into the agricultural flying business and my wife and
I started the business and we worked up to Cummings
for a few years and built our big base up there.
That was very rewarding flying too, and I really enjoyed.
There was lots of challenges in it. We had our
share of incidents, and in saying that now, I've just
(08:29):
got emotional here because we just had an accident which
when a compatriots was killed in that industry, which is
just a terrible, terrible shame.
Speaker 2 (08:37):
It definitely is. Yes, I was going to ask you
about that as well, whether you knew of that young
man who passed away. So yeah, obviously things can go
wrong pretty quickly when.
Speaker 4 (08:46):
You're up there, it certainly can, and that's yeah. I
mean you're down and dirty. I mean you're down amongst
all the things that can kill you, power lines and trees,
and when it gets very rough, there's a hell a
lot to think about. And when you're going that far,
so close to the ground, you know, it's things can
just jump out at you and there is no time
to react. And I had a few accidents in my
(09:09):
time in that industry toute, but for some reason, I
walked away from all of them with barely a scratch,
even though I I wrecked a few aeroplanes. So, yeah,
this has sort of rents things around a bit again.
Speaker 2 (09:20):
Absolutely, Yeah, Yeah, it's kind of a bit of a
brings you back down to earth sort of thing.
Speaker 4 (09:25):
It certainly does.
Speaker 2 (09:26):
Yeah, what about training wise for yourself getting started sixty
years ago versus now, do you find that, you know,
maybe people are going through different training, maybe people aren't being.
Speaker 4 (09:36):
I've noticed the emphasis that appears to have been placed
on aviation training over the years since I did mine
seems to have been more of these days on knowing
all the rules and regulations as against physically flying aeroplanes.
I've noticed that the amount of regulation that we've had
to contend with to run out various businesses, and and
(10:00):
now with our charter business that we've got, the amount
of regulation that we come under is just horrific. And
yet I've had numerous young pilots come across aspiring to
start a flying job in the same way that I did.
They've got to start somewhere, so they come to operators
like myself. We give them a go. I take them
out and let them fly the airplane and see how
(10:21):
they're going. And some of the flying standards have been terrible,
which is really very sad.
Speaker 2 (10:26):
You did mention that you had a few close calls
and or you know, a few crashes. So how did
you handle that and not get in your heads and
stress about going up again?
Speaker 4 (10:35):
A bit more emotional. I've got older because I realized
my responsibility and that when I was younger, you handle
this sort of but it never ever bothered me when
I was younger anyway. I mean, in the same way
as people have a car accident, and it rarely stops
people from getting back and driving their car again. We'll
flying the airplane. It's no worse. But yeah, the one
that probably should have killed me. I hit a wire
(10:57):
up in the hills out from Tumby Bay, quite high.
I was slung across a big gully. I misjudged it
and as I pulled up to because I thought I'd
gone past. As I pulled up to make the turn,
I flew into the wire and hooked it across from
a left hand wing and over the front of the windscreen,
and that sort of turned me over to the left
(11:18):
and I was coming straight down at the ground. I
still remember seeing all the windscreen full of rocks, everything
blow and I thought of myself, this is going to hurt.
And there we was just you know, one big thump bang.
Everything came to stop and I ate my eyes up
and I was okay. But the aeroplane was on fire.
It was fire all around my feet. But luckily I
was able to get out the other side and walked
(11:40):
away from it and looked back at my airplane as
it burnt to destruction.
Speaker 2 (11:44):
Jeez, that's a close caol I've ever heard one, really,
my goodness. And here you are so many years later,
you know, turning eighty.
Speaker 4 (11:51):
Three yep, yeah, that's right, and still flying. Yeah. And
like I say, it makes me wonder sometime, you know why.
I mean, fate works in funny ways, doesn't it. I
Mean I've seen so many times, not just around here,
but my other compatriots and that who are in the industry,
and that who have had accidents to a much lesser
(12:11):
degree and they've died as a result of and you think, well,
you know, why did I not? What saved me out
of it? Was it skill or luck? I like to
think it's probably a combination of both.
Speaker 2 (12:21):
But what are your plans, you know, following your retirement.
Obviously you're going to miss it. It's been part of
your life for so long. So is there going to
be a way that you're still involved. Are you going
to be mentoring some up and comers.
Speaker 4 (12:32):
Or oh yeah, well my plan is to mentor whoever
decides to buy the business, or you know, we'll certainly
have to stay involved for a little while to show
them the rope sort of thing. And I intend to
keep my private license for as long as I can,
which means I'll still be able to fly myself for
you know friends in that around. It just means that
(12:52):
my commercial flying days are over.
Speaker 2 (12:55):
Obviously, over your career you would have witnessed some enormous
changes in technology for planes as well. So what stands
out the most in your time and how things have evolved,
what's kind of changed and what's your advice for pilots
moving forward?
Speaker 4 (13:10):
I think the biggest change that we've seen that's been
most beneficial for people in my position, like flying smaller aircraft,
probably right across the whole board, is the advent of
global positioning systems in the airplane. When where I started,
in order to go somewhere, you'd have to pull out
a whole heap of maps and everything and draw lines
(13:31):
on them and measure the angles and measure the distances
and so on and so forth. But now you can
take out your iPad and put your finger on Port
Lincoln and wherever else you want to go, there's your
course and there's your distance, and then way you go
find do you.
Speaker 2 (13:46):
Find that maybe young young pilots rely on that too
heavily and don't rely on their skill. As you mentioned.
Speaker 4 (13:51):
Before, they are still as part of their training until
they get their license, they they're not allowed to use
a GPS for their navigation flight training, so they have
to still do it by the old method, if you like.
But of course once they get away from that, they
all fall back to using their GPS. The only problem
(14:11):
about that is to make sure you've got a GPS
signal which is reliable.
Speaker 2 (14:15):
Very happy eighty third birthday, to you.
Speaker 4 (14:17):
I'm just spit overcome by the interest that come about
as this has gone on over the last week.
Speaker 2 (14:24):
That's it for this week. Don't forget you can hear
I Heart Essay and the iHeart app or wherever you
get your podcasts. I'm Jackie Lim. Join us again next
week for more of the stories you want to hear.
I Heart Essay, The Voice of South Australia. I Heart Essay,
My Heart Essay.
Speaker 2 (00:03):
Hi, I'm Jackie Limb with iHeart Essay. Today we're taking
to the skies. Flying small planes in regional areas isn't
just about freedom and breathtaking views. It's about responsibility, ongoing
(00:23):
training and staying sharp to prevent serious accidents. So buckle
up as we take a closer look at the risks
pilot's face and what's being done to keep our country
skies safe. Plus, I have a chat with a legend
of aviation in essay, a man who's spent six decades
in the cockpit. At eighty three years old, he's just
hung up his headset after flying for sixty years and
(00:46):
his stories are remarkable to say the least. But first,
a new report into aviation training and the factors that
lead to serious accidents has recently been released. It comes
as a young man was killed this week after crashing
in the Air Peninsula while flying a crop spraying plane
Port Lincoln. Father Jared Waite was only thirty six years
old when the Red Air Tractor aircraft he was flying
(01:08):
crashed north of Cummons. The Australian Transport Safety Bureau has
launched an investigation examining the wreckage flight data and weather conditions.
Our reporter Chris Gascott, spoke to lead researcher and aviation
professor from UNISA, Emma Sheffield, who explains where they're up
to with the findings of the report and what recommendations
(01:29):
will be laid out to keep pilots safe into the future.
Speaker 3 (01:32):
Commercial aviation, particularly the airlines, does get a lot of
research attention. General aviation does tend to be under explored,
so being aware of the accident rate, I was really
interested in starting to understand and try and unpack what
are the factors that lead to these accidents, so we
can use that knowledge to understand where we need to
look in the future and how we can address some
(01:53):
of these factors as well.
Speaker 1 (01:54):
So within this you mentioned that human factors do play
a significant part, as you might have managed for pilots
who are a little bit more inexperienced. I'd say that
probably wouldn't be surprised from your background.
Speaker 3 (02:04):
The human factors were cited in more than half of
the studies that we reviewed, so it is a common thread.
This was particular in cases like pilot error, poor decision making,
reduced situational awareness, and these were exaggerated in situations of
poor weather and we're flying at night as well.
Speaker 1 (02:21):
The main crux of the conversation around this is then
how do we address this, So what have you seen
within this to say, well, if we do X, y
and z, this will be able to make pilots safer
and we'll be able to hopefully reduce some of the
injuries and fatalities.
Speaker 3 (02:36):
So one common thread that came out as well was
particularly for private pilots, they may fly in frequently, particularly
if aviation is just a hobby. If you're not flying
very often, studies have found that your skills will decline
very rapidly after breaks from flying. So one really important
takeaway from our studies is that private pilots are making
efforts to try and stay current, so even if they're
(02:58):
not able to necessarily fly in the air because that
can be costly, things like trying to access flight simulators
which are a lower cost option, using online training to
try and gain some more knowledge in the field, attending
industry seminars, but really just making proactive efforts to try
and stay on top of your aviation knowledge and skills
(03:18):
as a private pilot was really important.
Speaker 1 (03:20):
Are you able to fill me in on what the
bare minimum is for you to continue to have a license.
Is it once you get your license that will continue
to be ongoing or there or certain things you need
to hit criteria before you can continue to fly.
Speaker 3 (03:32):
So for private activities, once they get their license, they
are required to do a light review to maintain their license,
But between the actual initial issue of the license and
the flight review, depending on the activities they're undertaking, generally
there's no requirement.
Speaker 1 (03:47):
So do we need to mandate to have more activity
put within the middle there to be able to have
people be forced to be current At the moment, it's more.
Speaker 3 (03:57):
Trying to really encourage pilots to proactively those efforts themselves
because flying can be quite costly. So depends on the
resources available to the pilots to whether or not they
can get more AIRSIGME. So it is not necessarily a
question of changing the regulation, more so disencouraging pilots to
be proactive.
Speaker 1 (04:15):
Okay, do you think there are enough workshops around the
place for people, let's say, especially out in regional areas.
Are there enough tools in place for people to utilize that? Now?
Do you think we'd need to increase those to be
able to incentivize people to do it more.
Speaker 3 (04:28):
Yeah, I definitely do think we do need to investigate
different methods of delivering training. So there are sort of
some workshops that you can participate in online which removes
the barrier for regional pilots. But I do think that
we do need to be looking at different methods of
delivering training to try and make it more accessible, particularly
for those regional What that is at the moment we
need to look into further, but it is definitely a
(04:50):
gap that does need to be addressed.
Speaker 2 (04:52):
We'll have more coming up after the break.
Speaker 4 (04:56):
Essay Essay Welcome back.
Speaker 2 (05:02):
This week, we're talking about the importance of staying sharp
in the skies, especially for regional pilots where the flying
can be as unpredictable as the weather. Pilot. Kevin Warren
has spent sixty years flying and has done everything from
crop dusting to charter flights. At eighty three, keV, who
was the owner operator of Lincoln Air Charter, has just
retired from commercial flying and I was lucky enough to
(05:24):
have a chat with him to reflect on a lifetime
in the cockpit.
Speaker 4 (05:27):
I was born and lived in Renmark until I came
over here in nineteen sixty nine I came to Port Lincoln.
Renmark was only a few miles relatively by air from Mildura,
which was quite a largeaf aircraft training base for pilots
(05:48):
transitioning to fighter aircraft and going on up into New
Guinea and into the Pacific. During the war in nineteen
forty two, forty three and so on, they used to
use ren Mark regularly is a bit of a practice,
and beat the town up quite a bit. Initially, as
a very young child, I was terrified. They were very
noisy and he had very threatening to me, as I recall.
(06:12):
But then at the end of the war, which would
have been in nineteen forty five, when I was about three,
there was an occasion when there were lots of aeroplanes
flying around outside. The sky sind me full of aeroplanes.
I can only imagine it was celebrations for the end
of the World War II in the Pacific. Dad was
home and he put me on his shoulders and we
(06:33):
walked out to the front of the house on the
front lawn. For the first time in my life, I
was just all struck by these aeroplanes all flying around.
There was something clicked in my brain then that that's
where my destiny is up there. I want to be there,
and I sort of spent the rest of my life
sort of chasing that along until I was able to
gain the dream in nineteen sixty five and it's all
(06:55):
gone on from there.
Speaker 2 (06:56):
Not many people know what they want to do that
young at an age, so that's pretty amazing that you
were able to follow through.
Speaker 1 (07:03):
Yeah.
Speaker 2 (07:03):
Wow. So how old were you when you first got
behind the controls of a plane.
Speaker 4 (07:08):
If you like, twenty four?
Speaker 2 (07:09):
Twenty four? Wow? Wow? And so since then you've done
all sorts and you know, you've helped spot bushfires and
you've flown tourists. What's some of your highlights?
Speaker 4 (07:20):
Crraky, There's a lot of highlights in sixty years of flying.
But I've been very fortunate to have a career which
has touched so many bases. I mean, I've been involved
in the tuna spotting industry to what I initially came
to Port Lincoln for. In the early years. When I
first came to Port Lincoln, the company that I worked for,
Commodore Aviation, had the contract to fly patients to Adelaide
(07:45):
when we had medical emergencies. This is in the days
before the Flying Doctor was based down in these southern areas,
so we used to fly patients back and forth to Adelaide,
maybe two adelaid rather than coming back, and I enjoyed that.
We've got frequently called out at all hours of the
day and night to take people over. And then we
(08:09):
went into the agricultural flying business and my wife and
I started the business and we worked up to Cummings
for a few years and built our big base up there.
That was very rewarding flying too, and I really enjoyed.
There was lots of challenges in it. We had our
share of incidents, and in saying that now, I've just
(08:29):
got emotional here because we just had an accident which
when a compatriots was killed in that industry, which is
just a terrible, terrible shame.
Speaker 2 (08:37):
It definitely is. Yes, I was going to ask you
about that as well, whether you knew of that young
man who passed away. So yeah, obviously things can go
wrong pretty quickly when.
Speaker 4 (08:46):
You're up there, it certainly can, and that's yeah. I
mean you're down and dirty. I mean you're down amongst
all the things that can kill you, power lines and trees,
and when it gets very rough, there's a hell a
lot to think about. And when you're going that far,
so close to the ground, you know, it's things can
just jump out at you and there is no time
to react. And I had a few accidents in my
(09:09):
time in that industry toute, but for some reason, I
walked away from all of them with barely a scratch,
even though I I wrecked a few aeroplanes. So, yeah,
this has sort of rents things around a bit again.
Speaker 2 (09:20):
Absolutely, Yeah, Yeah, it's kind of a bit of a
brings you back down to earth sort of thing.
Speaker 4 (09:25):
It certainly does.
Speaker 2 (09:26):
Yeah, what about training wise for yourself getting started sixty
years ago versus now, do you find that, you know,
maybe people are going through different training, maybe people aren't being.
Speaker 4 (09:36):
I've noticed the emphasis that appears to have been placed
on aviation training over the years since I did mine
seems to have been more of these days on knowing
all the rules and regulations as against physically flying aeroplanes.
I've noticed that the amount of regulation that we've had
to contend with to run out various businesses, and and
(10:00):
now with our charter business that we've got, the amount
of regulation that we come under is just horrific. And
yet I've had numerous young pilots come across aspiring to
start a flying job in the same way that I did.
They've got to start somewhere, so they come to operators
like myself. We give them a go. I take them
out and let them fly the airplane and see how
(10:21):
they're going. And some of the flying standards have been terrible,
which is really very sad.
Speaker 2 (10:26):
You did mention that you had a few close calls
and or you know, a few crashes. So how did
you handle that and not get in your heads and
stress about going up again?
Speaker 4 (10:35):
A bit more emotional. I've got older because I realized
my responsibility and that when I was younger, you handle
this sort of but it never ever bothered me when
I was younger anyway. I mean, in the same way
as people have a car accident, and it rarely stops
people from getting back and driving their car again. We'll
flying the airplane. It's no worse. But yeah, the one
that probably should have killed me. I hit a wire
(10:57):
up in the hills out from Tumby Bay, quite high.
I was slung across a big gully. I misjudged it
and as I pulled up to because I thought I'd
gone past. As I pulled up to make the turn,
I flew into the wire and hooked it across from
a left hand wing and over the front of the windscreen,
and that sort of turned me over to the left
(11:18):
and I was coming straight down at the ground. I
still remember seeing all the windscreen full of rocks, everything
blow and I thought of myself, this is going to hurt.
And there we was just you know, one big thump bang.
Everything came to stop and I ate my eyes up
and I was okay. But the aeroplane was on fire.
It was fire all around my feet. But luckily I
was able to get out the other side and walked
(11:40):
away from it and looked back at my airplane as
it burnt to destruction.
Speaker 2 (11:44):
Jeez, that's a close caol I've ever heard one, really,
my goodness. And here you are so many years later,
you know, turning eighty.
Speaker 4 (11:51):
Three yep, yeah, that's right, and still flying. Yeah. And
like I say, it makes me wonder sometime, you know why.
I mean, fate works in funny ways, doesn't it. I
Mean I've seen so many times, not just around here,
but my other compatriots and that who are in the industry,
and that who have had accidents to a much lesser
(12:11):
degree and they've died as a result of and you think, well,
you know, why did I not? What saved me out
of it? Was it skill or luck? I like to
think it's probably a combination of both.
Speaker 2 (12:21):
But what are your plans, you know, following your retirement.
Obviously you're going to miss it. It's been part of
your life for so long. So is there going to
be a way that you're still involved. Are you going
to be mentoring some up and comers.
Speaker 4 (12:32):
Or oh yeah, well my plan is to mentor whoever
decides to buy the business, or you know, we'll certainly
have to stay involved for a little while to show
them the rope sort of thing. And I intend to
keep my private license for as long as I can,
which means I'll still be able to fly myself for
you know friends in that around. It just means that
(12:52):
my commercial flying days are over.
Speaker 2 (12:55):
Obviously, over your career you would have witnessed some enormous
changes in technology for planes as well. So what stands
out the most in your time and how things have evolved,
what's kind of changed and what's your advice for pilots
moving forward?
Speaker 4 (13:10):
I think the biggest change that we've seen that's been
most beneficial for people in my position, like flying smaller aircraft,
probably right across the whole board, is the advent of
global positioning systems in the airplane. When where I started,
in order to go somewhere, you'd have to pull out
a whole heap of maps and everything and draw lines
(13:31):
on them and measure the angles and measure the distances
and so on and so forth. But now you can
take out your iPad and put your finger on Port
Lincoln and wherever else you want to go, there's your
course and there's your distance, and then way you go
find do you.
Speaker 2 (13:46):
Find that maybe young young pilots rely on that too
heavily and don't rely on their skill. As you mentioned.
Speaker 4 (13:51):
Before, they are still as part of their training until
they get their license, they they're not allowed to use
a GPS for their navigation flight training, so they have
to still do it by the old method, if you like.
But of course once they get away from that, they
all fall back to using their GPS. The only problem
(14:11):
about that is to make sure you've got a GPS
signal which is reliable.
Speaker 2 (14:15):
Very happy eighty third birthday, to you.
Speaker 4 (14:17):
I'm just spit overcome by the interest that come about
as this has gone on over the last week.
Speaker 2 (14:24):
That's it for this week. Don't forget you can hear
I Heart Essay and the iHeart app or wherever you
get your podcasts. I'm Jackie Lim. Join us again next
week for more of the stories you want to hear.
I Heart Essay, The Voice of South Australia. I Heart Essay,
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