scene. I knew [the accident scene] had knocked me about, but back then, you had to toughen up and get on with it. Then, five days after that we had Australia’s worst
earthquake, right on our service’s doorstep in Newcastle. I thought my whole world was falling apart. I was the only full-time aircrew officer at the time, and there were none of the rules they have today about fatigue. I was doing it all at the time. I didn’t get any downtime. I was just married, and I thought, “This isn’t the life I thought it was going to be.” But, like I said, the era then was to toughen up and get on with things. That [atti- tude] has certainly bitten me in the ass down the track. But I continued until 2018, when I pulled stumps.
How have you seen helicopter rescue change over the years? As the service grew, the demand grew, as did the tech- nology. We went from single-engine JetRangers and LongRangers to an SA 365 Dauphin ... one of nine made with skids. We evolved from being a VFR helicop- ter to an IFR helicopter. Twin-engine flying with instrument-rated pilots was a huge transition and move forward for the service. As demand grew, we moved to bigger aircraft. We then transitioned to the Bell 412 and Bell 407. From there, we moved to the AW139. We have four of those today.
One of the biggest transitions was when we had the
Bell 412, when we added night-vision goggles [NVG]. I think that was the biggest game changer in the ser- vice’s history, in terms of crew safety, to be quite hon- est. With NVG, we can much more clearly see the hilly terrain where we operate. We needed the technology to get down to our safest and lowest [level] for confined areas, not do any nap-of-the-earth flying you see the mili- tary do. We use the NVG strictly for safety. Before, we were using a Nightsun searchlight. Now, everyone on the crew is goggled up on our flights. Today, we also have a very good system in place to deal with the mental health side of things. Back in the day, it was just sit around and talk about it with your mates and, “Here’s a phone number to call if you’re hav- ing trouble.” Now, we have a very good employee assis- tance program. That [resulted from] people putting their hand up to get out of the job. It was shocking—after 38 years, I was still having nightmares and I knew it was time to put my hand up when we went to a motor acci- dent where an innocent young girl was killed by an intox-
MARCH 2022 ROTOR 19
icated driver. I was talking to her one minute and she passed away
the next. Unbeknownst to me, she was critically ill. I didn’t realize she was as bad as she really was. That knocked me for a six. I’d just had enough. So I went to talk to the HR department. I’m not averse to talking. I talk about it all the time.
I’ve talked to New South Wales Police about men’s men- tal health and putting your hand up when you’re strug- gling. When I asked to leave, they said who better to talk to people about what it’s like to work in the service than
WATCH Westpac
Transport Young Girl in Urgent Need of Hospital
“Today, we have a very good employee assistance program. That [resulted from] people putting their hand up to get out of the job. After 38 years, I was still having nightmares [from the trauma].”
someone who’s done it for 38 years. So that’s what I do now, tell my story and the story of the rescue service. I’m just as fulfilled doing this job as I was when I was
in the air.
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