The International Civil Aviation Organization (ICAO) has launched a video contest on YouTube to promote careers in aviation among young people. Entitled Aviation: The Future is Yours, the contest will run until 22 February. Participants are asked to produce a video of 30 seconds or less on why a career in aviation would be exciting. The prize will consist of a paid trip to the World Aviation Training Conference and Tradeshow in Florida in April 2012. The contest is part of ICAO's ‘Next Generation of Aviation Professionals’ initiative, which addresses the anticipated shortage of skilled aviation professionals in the near future. For more information click here.
In a sad example of the ever-present dangers of live props, the UK’s Daily Mail reports that 67-year-old flight instructor Alistair Mathie, also a former RAF pilot and airline pilot, died late last week after walking into a live propeller. Mathie had just landed a Piper J3C-65 at Priory Farm air strip in Norfolk and was exiting the aircraft, with the engine still running, so his student could conduct a solo flight when he accidentally walked into the live propeller. The fact that Mathie had flown Jaguar fighter jets in the RAF and also flown commercially for the UK’s Thomas Cook Airlines, is clear evidence that these kind of tragedies came happen to any pilot and presses home the importance of being extra careful around live props. Read the full story here.
Two pilots have this week been sentenced to 15 years in the slammer after they were busted transporting more than $7 million worth of illicit drugs by light aircraft from Bankstown Airport to Jandakot Airport. After making the flight, claimed to be a ‘joy flight’, on March 5, 2008 in a twin-engine Piper Aztec, a sports bag containing 30,000 ecstasy tablets and 21.85kg of methylamphetamine was found on the aircraft by police at Jandakot.
A Virgin Australia pilot is suing the company for back injuries he claims were the result of having to carry his heavy charts and documents bag instead of an iPad loaded with all the data. How did we all manage to get by when those flight bags were the only option?
An RAAF AP-3C Orion Maritime Patrol Aircraft lent a helping hand late last week in support of Papua New Guinean search and rescue efforts after the sinking of the ferry MV Rabaul Queen. The AP-3C Orion crew located two survivors clinging to debris and directed vessels involved in the search to them.
Michael Bryce AM AE, husband of Governor General Quentin Bryce, has agreed to be the patron for the RAAF’s No 75 Squadron Association. No 75 Squadron was formed on March 4, 1942, crested with the magpie and motto ‘Seek and Strike’. Today the fighter squadron defends Australia from the north, based at RAAF Tindal near Katherine in the Northern Territory and equipped with F/A-18 Hornets. 2012 marks the 70th anniversary of No 75 Squadron. No 75 Squadron fought in the Battle for Australia defending Australia’s northern approach from Port Moresby in Papua New Guinea. With 25 Kittyhawk fighters and only nine days to prepare themselves, 75 Squadron was on its way north to fight back against the Imperial Japanese forces. More recently, in 2003 75 Squadron deployed 14 F/A-18 Hornets and about 250 airmen and airwomen to Iraq for Operation Falconer in support of the US-led Operation Iraqi Freedom. Bryce has strong ties with the Australian Defence Force, having served five years (1956 to 1960) in the Air Training Corps before joining the RAAF Reserves as an Intelligence Officer. He was awarded the Air Efficiency Award (AE) in 1970.
The 24th annual Aeromedical Society of Australasia/Flight Nurses Australia scientific meeting will be held in Cairns from 29 August to 1 September. A call for abstracts has just been issued. Further details: www.aeromedconference.org.au
The Australian reports this week that the last known surviving veteran of World War I, Florence Green, has passed away last Saturday at the age of 110. Green was serving with the Women's Royal Air Force as a waitress at an air base in eastern England when the guns fell silent on November 11, 1918. Read the full story here.
The International Civil Aviation Organization (ICAO) has launched a video contest on YouTube to promote careers in aviation among young people.
